For the love of art

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TIEW Tok Wong had to wake up at 6am with his three children aged eight, nine and 12 to travel from Klang to the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, but he did not mind it one bit.

The 38-year-old salesman’s children were eager to take part in the Kuntum-McDonald’s Colour­ing Competition organised by The Star and sponsored by McDonald’s Malaysia.

“The children are having fun. I don’t think they will win any prizes because I saw the artworks of some of the other children and they’re really good,” Tiew said.

Twelve-year-old Lum Ya Woon won the first prize in category B, and for her effort she walked away with RM400.

Sea of children: A total of 1,600 children aged between seven and 12 took part in the Kuntum- McDonald’s Colouring Competition held at the National Art Gallery.

But Lum, who goes for art classes once a week, has no plans to spend the money on anything. She will just give it to her mother.

“My favourite subject in school is Mathematics. My skills in art was taught to me by my teacher from the art class I go to once a week,” Lum, who studies in SJK (C) Chong Hwa in Setapak, said.

In second place for the same category was Aiman Hakim, 12, and third place was Tayshya Lakshmanan, 12, who both come from SK Puchong Indah and took home RM300 and RM200 respectively. Fourth place winner Yeo Yi Jin, 12, took home RM100 and fifth place winner Regina Joseph, 10, took home RM50.

Category A winners took home the same amount of cash prizes and Lizatul Aisah Azman, 9, from SK Subang came in first. In second place was Wong Chooi Yie, 9, from SJK (C) Jinjang Utara while Anna Lim Hiu Tung, 9, from SJK (C) Chong Hwa in Setapak came in third.

In fourth place was Tan Xuan Yin, 7, from SRJK (C) Kepong 2 and fifth place was Tharany Selvaraju, 9, from SJK (T) Vivekananda in Brickfields.

Colourful: A child colouring the Kuntum mascot Si Pintar that was depicted as riding a bicycle alongside Si Comel and Ronald McDonald

All winners received McDonald’s vouchers as well.

Shamsiah Abdul Hanan, 44, said her eight-year-old daughter had heard about the competition from her school teacher and along with her classmate and neighbour, joined the competition.

“My daughter used to give up easily in colouring. She’d start off doing it neatly and well but as time wore on, she’d just simply complete it as she’d run out of enthusiasm,” Shamsiah said.

For Shamsiah, the competition was not about winning but rather about allowing her daughter to mix around with children her age and to learn how to interact with others.

“My neighbour’s daughter was very upset when she passed up her picture because she had not finished colouring it and had her heart set on winning,” Shamsiah added.

Another two competitions will be held in Mawanita in Johor Baru on Nov 7 as well as in Penang in March.

Registration forms are available in the Kuntum magazine and walk-ins on the competition day are also welcome.