21 May 2011, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Held at Dataran Merdeka, (Merdeka Square in English), Dennis and I were amongst over 179 participants from 21 countries, of Tourism Malaysia’s Mega Familiarisation Programme, invited to witness the 13th edition of the Citrawarna, Colours of 1Malaysia, Malaysia’s annual night parade. The Travel agents, TV crews and journalists came from as far South Africa, Sweden, UK, USA, to nearer nations such as Indonesia, Laos, Singapore, Philippines, Brunei and many others. The parade comprised 5000 performers, made up mostly of volunteer children.
The focus for this year’s festival was on parks and gardens, sports tourism, contemporary arts, fabulous food, fruits and shopping, eco tourism, and the 1Malaysia Green 1Malaysia Clean campaign. The audience and 5000 volunteer performers was blessed with a heavy down pour prior to the parade as well as the earlier part of the parade. Colours of 1Malaysia is a rain or shine event and the show had to go on. There were a few unfortunate slips as the floor was wet. The weather soon dried up half way through the show and that was when we could all remove the rain coats that Tourism Malaysia provided us.
Officially launched at 8.30pm today by His Majesty The King of Malaysia, Seri Paduka Baginda Yang Di Pertuan Agong, Al Wathiqu Billah Tuanku Mizan Zianal Abidin ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah. Amongst the VIPs present were Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister, YAB Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Minister of Tourism, YB Dato’ Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen.
Dr. Ng Yen Yen mentioned in her welcome address that tourism is one of the largest contributors of the Malaysian economy. Tourism generated RM56.5 billion in tourism receipts in 2010 on the back of 24.6 million tourist arrivals. She also mentioned that Malaysia aims to welcome 36 million tourists with receipts of RM168 billion by 2020.
[st]
The 1.5km procession was a myriad of colours that started from Jalan Raja and proceeded to Jalan Raja Laut, Jalan Isfahan and ended at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman. We were all treated to a colourful display of fireworks with the clock tower and what used to be the old train station (Communications and the Arts Ministry) in the foreground.
Video Excerpts of the Parade
(Taken with Canon Legria HFS30)
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUSG0bMw33I
We were invited down to the parade grounds to join in the traditional dance in the “Joget 1Malaysia” finale. Dennis and I grabbed the moment to snap close up shots so that you could get a better close-up view of what we got to experience. If you were there yourself, I am sure you would be able to share the joy of the performers and the Malaysian hospitality. The parade ended at 11pm but the festival continued on………. but we were too exhausted to stay on and furthermore, we had to prepare for our next item on the itinerary the next day – our journey in Perhentian Islands.
There is also an online dance game contest at www.facebook.com/CutiCuti1Malaysia which was created in conjunction with the annual event. Ministry of Tourism created this Citrawarna 1Malaysia online contest which will be on until end of June 2011. Players with the highest accumulated scores a chance to win an iPad 2 and tourism-related prizes.
The Malaysia: Truly Asia Song
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5LIiM_9Rpw
Related articles
- Malaysia Airlines Introduces Multiple Consumer Innovations (superadrianme.com)
- PHAR Partnerships Appointed as AirAsia’s Exclusive Media Sales Agency (superadrianme.com)
Pingback: Relax And Enjoy The Beaches Of Pulau Perhentian, Malaysia | SUPERADRIANME
Pingback: Putrajaya - The Modern City of Malaysia | SUPERADRIANME
It’s always worth having you around for events, you always give your best 🙂 U helped me to somehow change my mind about this event. Which I never thought was nice 😛
I know what you mean. I also never thought much about our own chingay or national day parade events here in Singapore. We tend to take it for granted at home. 🙂 But when we really get involved in them, we realize the beauty of people getting together to make a show work.