Last Updated on May 9, 2012
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We returned to Malaysia for a few days last week, and finally visited Melaka. We expected a quaint little town with Chinese temples, relics of the colonization by the Dutch, Portuguese and the British, a few beautiful shophouses and tricycle rickshaws similar to the ones we loved in one of our favorite parts of Malaysia – Georgetown, Penang.
What we did not expect in this UNESCO World Heritage City were four (!) huge golden and bronze statues of a bodybuilder, who turned out to be the most famous person Melaka has produced: Datuk Wira Dr. Gan Boon Leong. Born in 1937, he is Malaysia’s the most successful bodybuilder – having won countless bodybuilding prizes, including Mr. Asia and even Mr. Universe. Also known as the ‘Father of Bodybuilding in Malaysia’,85 year old Datuk Wira is now, decades after finishing his career as a bodybuilder, a local politician, runs a gym in Melaka, and is President of the Malaysian Bodybuilding Federation. To honor everything the prominent athlete did for Melaka, the city erected several golden statues of him, which are now just as much photographed as Melaka’s more traditional tourist sights.
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Haha he’s awesome!
Great Sight!! The interesting things you learn while traveling.
Ruth – definitely an interesting, unexpected, random, trivia fact we learned here 😉
Wow that’s something you don’t often read about, rather kitschy cute.
It was definitely not what we expected to see in Melaka – and then it was not only one statue, but several ones!! 🙂
Lol, i would love to have a picture with him too! I admire his abs. 🙂
Love this photo and miss you two! We need to have a re-meet-up somewhere in the next 12 months.
Hey Michael! Aw, that’s sweet 🙂 Let us know your plans for the year, hopefully we can re-meet up again! 🙂
Thats very interesting! Never heard about this.
Are you in India right now?
Hey Arti – we had never heard about this either. We are indeed in India right now, yes.
haha! He is definitely built!
For sure! There are at least three golden statues of him around town. Just not what we expected in this Portuguese colonial city!!
HE WAS NOT MR. UNIVERSE ! YOU CAN’T FIND HIS NAME IN THE ALL TIME LIST . SINCE 1948 ALL MR. UNIVERSE ARE LISTED ON WIKIPEDIA… BUT THIS IS TYPICAL FOR TRAVELING IN ASIA !
He was Mr. Asia in 1956 and awarded an honorary Mr. Universe title in 2000.