Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email since this was the 50th anniversary of independence, I decided to take part in the independence day parade. we had about 6 practice sessions at office in the evenings before having 3 more sessions at the Dataran itself between from 27th till 29th August. For the rehearsal at Dataran, we had to assemble around National Mosque area by 7am.
It was quite enjoyable. Training was conducted by some army guys, albeit in a less strict manner. We learnt few simple commands. Most could follow, except the odd ones who are confused between “left” and “right”. In the end, we had about 300-strong contigent prepped for the march.
The good thing was the cool weather throughout the rehearsal which helped to reduce the stress. This was also one way to have a bit of exercise and outdoor activity, since most of the time, we are in air-conditioned offices and sitting on cosy chairs. did I mention that we received free t-shirts and also the parade costume? 🙂
Few things spoilt my rehearsal sessions. One was constant smoking by fellow participants while waiting for rehearsals to start. It was like in a fog at times…and spoilt the environment. Secondly, was the constant heckling and disturbing of ladies by fellow participants. As we are asked to line up near to offices, lots of office workers will pass by us. The moment some ladies walk by, the guys – from old to young! – will whistle, hoot, and make comments. Really irritating and embarassing for the contigent! Imagine a guy disturbing a girl which looks like his daughter’s age. Now I wonder about all those incest cases we read in papers. Worse is, most of the contigent seem to enjoy it and this motivates them to group together and make more noise, all in the name of “just for fun” and “passing time”. And we complain about our youths 🙂
Anyway, the march took about 20 minutes, from the start of dataran (near the underpass of Jln Raja) until we pass by Medan Mara. It finished at about 10am everday.The waiting time (2 hours) was longer than the marching time (20 minutes).
The pictures below were taken on the second rehearsal day (Tuesday 28th) from the overhead pedestrian bridge near Star LRT station and also along the road. There were representatives from private sector, school brass band, the army, and other organisations. The army came in their camoflouges and looked very realistic. Some of the tanks and armoured vehicles were on parade as well. The whole place was a kaleidoscope of colors for the 3 days! View the slides below, or view the bigger pics at Picasa.
