Bunga in Malay means flower and kertas means paper but bunga kertas isn't really a paper flower. That's the Malay name for bougainvillea, a thorny ornamental plant which flourishes in areas with warm climates. The plant has small, white flowers which are not very conspicuous. What attract many admirers are mainly the bright colours of the thin papery but bigger bracts which could be pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, or yellow. I remember once in the seventies, there were talks about making Ipoh, the capital state of Perak,the city of bougainvillea. Unlike today, rows of the plants were then grown to adorn the roads. I suppose the flower has remain the official flower of Ipoh, just like it is the official flower of Guam and several other places in Taiwan, Philippines, America, China and Japan but not anywhere in South America where it originates. Funny, isn't it?
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