By Opalyn Mok
GEORGE TOWN, Feb 11 — Korean superstar Psy wowed the massive crowd that turned up at the Barisan Nasional (BN) Chinese New Year open house at the Han Chiang school field this afternoon.
The crowd went into a frenzy and cheered when the K-pop star made his appearance at around 12.15pm. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and BN leaders were among the thousands at the open house.
U were hotter than weather hotter than ever!! One Malaysia!! — Tweet from Psy’s Twitter account on his performance in Penang
The audience sang and danced along as he belted out his hit song “Oppa Gangnam Style” while backed by an all-Korean dance group.
“I wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year, this song is for Asia and Malaysia,” he said when he came on stage.
Psy also announced that he would be releasing a new single in April and promised to come back to perform in Malaysia amidst cheers and applause.
Also at the celebration were Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon and Penang BN chief Teng Chang Yeow.
The crowd had turned up as early as 8.30am for the festivities at the Penang BN celebration.
Immediately after Psy, whose real name is Park Jae-Sang, finished the song, the crowd demanded for an encore which he obliged and belted out the song a second time, this time asking the crowd to join in the singing and dancing.
The Korean star took off his white jacket, leaving only a sleeveless shirt and also took off his sunglasses during the second performance.
About an hour earlier, Asian Wave 2012 winner Shila Amzah entertained the crowd with her rendition of four popular songs, two Chinese songs titled “Conquer” (by Na Yin) and “Forever Love” (by Lee Hom), one English song titled “Set Fire To the Rain” (by Adele) and one Malay song titled “Patah Seribu”.
Cultural performances and dances were also held throughout the morning leading up to Shila Amzah’s performance.
Najib also led BN leaders up to the stage to sing two Chinese New Year songs just a few minutes before Psy made his appearance.
Police have officially said about 100,000 people had turned up for the event.