PUTRAJAYA: Tens of thousands of Malaysians thronged the Dataran Putrajaya to catch a glimpse of the 2019 National Day parade, marking 62 years of independence.
This is the second year the National Day parade has been held in Putrajaya and the theme “Sayangi Malaysiaku: Malaysia Bersih” was chosen to invoke the love of the country and to cultivate good governance, high integrity and to reject all forms of corruption.
The event kickstarted with the arrival of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at 7.50am to the raucous applause of the audience.
This was then followed by the arrival of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah ibni Sultan Hj Ahmad Shah Al-Musta’in Billah together with Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah binti Almarhum Al-Mutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj at 8am.
Also present was Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail together with husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo and other Cabinet ministers and deputy ministers as well as foreign dignitaries.
The ceremony kicked off with the raising of the flag followed by a 14-shots from the royal cannon salute that represents the 14 states of Malaysia by the 41st Field Battery, Royal Artillery Regiment.
Then, as many as 62 people took part to read the Rukun Negara pledge, followed by the shouts of “Merdeka!” for seven times.
A special performance of Sayangi Malaysiaku and Malaysia Bersih took place after that.
One of the highlights of this year’s celebration is the Human Graphics Display, which involves 2,250 students from 53 schools to portray various graphics and messages throughout the parade.
As many as 34 contingents and some 15,000 participants took part in the march and procession this year, together with the floats and showcase of assets by each agency.
Another highlight of the show is having 19 fighter jets flying in formation just above Dataran Putrajaya to the amazement of the crowd.
The parade ended with the rendition of Sayangi Malaysiaku sung by popular band Bunkface. Then, the song “Negaraku” was played again before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Raja Permaisuri Agong left the grand stand to shouts of “Daulat Tuanku”.
