Of all the embarrassing comments I have heard about The Malaysian Pavilion, I rated this the most hilarious one:
"Indonesians were to be very proud, Indonesia has got two pavilions in the Shanghai World Expo".
While other pavilions were designed to project forward looking concept or showing best aspiration with abstract and artistic architecture, the Malaysia Pavilion is replicating the traditional Indonesia's Minangkabau architecture.
To make the matter worst, the interior of the pavilion is laid out resembling a typical "supermarket" or "hyper market" environment where merchandise are displayed on the floor or shelves for sale.
Besides, there are some "out of context" composition of artificial rock garden, water features and artificial plants strewed here and there - very "kampung" touch - typical Malay taste.
Even the Indonesia Pavilion is far more appropriate in terms of image they want to project to the world. In fact, I think Indonesia Pavilion is the only one endeavors to relate its nature based culture to the pavilion design, and reflects a lifestyle that is in harmony with the nature.
