By CHRISTINE CHEAH
alltherage@thestar.com.my

They are currently about 15,000km away from home, but the distance won’t stop the young Malaysian students in Purdue University in Indiana, United States from expressing their love for their country.

About 50 Malaysian students participated in the project which took place in the Purdue University grounds itself.

They created a beautiful music video infused with the spirit of 1Malaysia, and the five-and-a-half minute clip, which is available on YouTube, has already garnered a few thousand views. Final year engineering undergraduate Kenneth Tan, 22, said the Malaysian students in Purdue were extremely close and decided to show their unity through this music video.

“We wanted to show everyone the ‘family’ we have here,” said Tan, the main man behind the video.

The video features around 50 members of the Purdue University Malaysian Student Association (Pumsa) singing the Satu Malaysia song, originally performed by the AMP All Stars.

Purdue University final year chemical engineering undergraduate Kenneth Tan wanted to show how united Malaysians were thousands of miles away and came up with the idea to record a music video.

It also features a guest appearance by the West Lafayette city mayor, John Dennis.

“We met his wife, Mary through the Purdue Alumni Association and she connected us to her husband. He was very supportive of our efforts and we went on from there.”

The students chose several iconic spots in Purdue to shoot the music video, including the campus’ bell tower. According to legend, any couple that shares a kiss below the tower and walks past the nearby fountain will end up getting married.

Despite having mid-term examinations during the filming of the video, Tan worked with fellow coursemate Muhammad Afiq Junaidy, 20, to produce the clip. He said that the most difficult part about production was not the gathering of the students, but generating ideas for the shoot.

“We wanted to show off our campus and highlight our togetherness and it took two brainstorming sessions and some trial and error before we selected the best (scenes),” he said.

The actual shoot itself took five hours, while editing took three days.

“We went through the video many times to ensure that it was presentable,” said Tan.