Monday, August 31, 2009

Merdeka Day in Kuala Lumpur



Today, August 31, is Malaysia's National Day. It is the nation's 52nd anniversary. Because it falls in the Ramadhan (fasting) month, national celebrations this year have been scaled down. Instead of the usual two-hour national day parade, it has been cut down to a mere forty minutes involving only 1600 participants allowed entry into the grounds. The location has also been changed to a smaller one (at the Parliament Square) instead of the usual place at Merdeka Square (locally known as Dataran Merdeka).

This is Merdeka Square.


And this is where the parade normally passes where the dignitaries are seated.


There is not much in the form of decorations this year. The people have been asked to maintain low key. There is only the usual flag displayed in business premises and some giant flags draped across buildings and some buntings. No fireworks display at KLCC and such. Overall, it's going to be a quiet national day.

I was at Suria KLCC last week and true to form, the decoration was indeed low-key. Too low-key I thought.



Decoration at Parliament grounds..


..at National Heart Institute Foundation


But hey, Google Malaysia has not forgotten to commemorate the occasion..


How is the decoration at where you are?


Happy Merdeka, Malaysians!


Image source:
The Star
Wikipedia

11 comments:

  1. Happy Independence day Malaysia! :)

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  2. I guess the country is run out of money and the H1N1 is really getting worse.
    Happy National Day!

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  3. Anonymous1:47 PM

    Happy Merdeka! I see flags up everywhere.

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  4. Wah! Those BIG flags are everywhere huh? I love the "google" too. we don't have it here :o)Perhaps only for (dot)my.

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  5. Happy Merdeka! My brother went up to Genting last night and they had a huge celebrations up there complete with one of the most beautiful fireworks display that lasted about 15 minutes, according to my brother.

    I asked him how come he did not quarantine himself before coming back today. Haha!!

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  6. I wanna hang a Malaysia flag outside my house.

    But I scared the Singapore government will revoke my employment pass. =(

    Happy Merdeka everyone!

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  7. Tekkaus, hope you enjoyed the holiday.

    Superman, there's a thought. Hope you had a fun-tastic National Day.

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  8. Mei Teng, you did? So, did you also fly a flag at home? I do. So you know.

    Ken, hope you had a fun Merdeka day too.

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  9. Ai Shiang, yeah, there are some huge flags around town and they do brighten up the place, actually. Nice.

    As for the Google logo, I'm sure Google(dot)com.au does that for Austalia's National Day. You may want to watch out for it when the time comes.

    Foong, hope you had a happy Merdeka day. Your brother must have enjoyed himself. Such events up at Gentings are usually fun. I have friends who never fail to be there on New Year's eve, unless they were overseas.

    LOL on your brother's quarantine. He'd have you for company then - under the same roof, housebound.

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  10. Shingo, you are funny!

    Is there any law against flying a foreign flag? I don't think so. But better find out before you do it, just in case.

    Aww... it was a workday for you, wasn't it?

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  11. Less Jalur Germilang around for sure compared to a few years back when Pak Lah was high in the PM office... as illstrated http://bit.ly/aoSLlI

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