KUALA LUMPUR: Popular American hip-hop and pop group Black Eyed Peas (BEP) will always regard Malaysia as a "special place".
A fan of the group, identified only as Imran Syaffi uploaded on his Twitter account a video of BEP performing in town last Dec 7, and its leader William Adams or Will.I.Am was shown praising Malaysians for their friendliness and humanitarian spirit.
Adams said that he fondly remembered his first visit to Malaysia in 2005 to perform in a charity concert in aid of the victims of the Dec 26, 2004 tsunami which hit Aceh in Sumatra, Indonesia.
He said: “Let me tell you why I love Malaysia so much. That tsunami devastated a lot of people’s lives and in March 2005, I flew to Malaysia on my birthday, March 15, because Malaysia was doing some outreach and tsunami relief in Indonesia.
“It was a beautiful experience. Witnessing Malaysians helping out a neighbouring country was one of the most magical, heartbreaking, heartwarming, and mind-opening moments for me.
“I want to thank the people of Malaysia for helping out the people of Indonesia even though it was way back in 2005. It was a beautiful thing and that’s when I realised how much love this country has.
“We don’t have to go around asking where is the love anymore because the love is right here in Malaysia!”
BEP comprising Adams, Allan Pineda Lindo or apl.de.ap, and Jaime Gomez or Taboo, performed at the annual dinner of airline AirAsia last Saturday. The trio performed some of their popular hits including Where Is The Love?
Imran's tweet received more than 170,000 views and 13,000 retweets from Netizens, who told him that they were equally moved by Adams' words.
BEP was founded in Los Angeles in 1995, by Adams, Lindo, Gomez and a fourth member Stacy Ann Ferguson or Fergie who left the group in February last year.
The group achieved high record sales after the release of its third album Elephunk in 2003, and has sold more than 75 million records.
Besides Where Is The Love?, its other hit singles include Don't Phunk With My Heart, My Humps and Pump It.
The BEP video