There were three speakers on the Malaysia Day celebration.

First speaker, Minister of Information, Communication and Culture Y.B. Dato’ Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim. (left)

Second speaker, Chief Minister of Sarawak, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (DR) Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud. (right)

Third speaker, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Y.A.B. Dato’ Sri Mohd. Najib Bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak. (Center)

The performers on the stage moved themselves and changed their positions in order to welcome each VIP to go up to the stage to give their speeches.

Frankly speaking, not everybody like to listen to a speech.  We were same too especially when our stomach were hungry after waiting there for so long before the ceremony started.  However, our prime minister speech was the most interesting which woke me up to listen about what is the meaning of One Malaysia.

Prime minister Najib wake up the stage, welcomed by students in red shirts holding small Malaysia flags.

They continued waving the flag.  We could see that Najib was accompanied by another VIP and a few bodyguards.

… …  They kept on waving the flags until Najib stood still in front of the mic.

While Najib was talking, the big screen on the stage showed the facial expressions of others VIP who sat behind us.

The most interesting part of his speech was that he explain the meaning of 1Malaysia:-

1.  When we pronounce the words 1Malaysia, we should feel proud being in a big family of Malaysia regardless what race we are, where the main purpose is to promote unity.

2.  The word “1Malaysia” also means that Malaysia is the No.1 best country in the world, which motivates all Malaysians to be more confident moving towards our vision and mission.

I have read from Najib’s 1Malaysia website, which tells that there are 8 values of the 1Malaysia concept.  You can read it here.

Prime Minister Najib finished his speech with a loud applause.  Again, he was welcomed along the way to return to his seat.

Again, they kept on waving the flags until Najib was seated.

In between the speeches, there were singers singing the patriotic songs.

Look at the lyric on the screen, the MC invited us to sing along and wave our flags together.

Let’s listen again the this popular patriotic song. Malaysia Satu by Faizal Tahir.

Ku teguh berdiri tiada lagi ragu atau gentar
Ku terus berani melangkah maju terus ke hadapan
Satu impian nyawaku pertaruhkan

Genggaman tanganmu,
semangatku terus membara janji ku pada mu,
harapanmu ingin ku laksanakan

kau adalah ilham pada mereka yang ingin berjaya
Kau terus berjuang demi membawa perubahan
satu impian oh berjuta harapan

Genggaman tanganmu,
semangatku terus membara janji ku pada mu,
harapanmu ingin ku laksanakan

Satu Malaysia,
kita inspirasi pada dunia Nama kan dijulang,
kita menjadi kebanggaan
Satu wawasan bersama bergandingan..

Genggaman tanganmu,
semangatku terus membara janji ku pada mu,
harapanmu ingin ku laksanakan

While the artist was singing, the performers on the stages start doing their jobs - waving the flags and moving their body again.

Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (DR) Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud was the second speaker.

Y.B. Dato’ Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim was the first speaker, who was welcome by youngsters in yellow 1Malaysia shirts.  They put their hands in the way to express the meaning of welcoming.  They had made good use of body language.

They did the same thing when Y.B. Dato’ Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim returned to his seat.

I have learned a lot from this event about the way to invite VIP to go up to the stages.

Salam 1Malaysia.

… … to be continued.

A group of people were holding our Malaysia flag and marching in front of the VIPs.  Later the national anthem was played for the second time for the raising of Malaysia flag.  All of us stood straight and I stopped taking photographs while the national anthem was played to show my respect.

The national anthem was played two time, as I mentioned earlier, the first time was played when the ceremony was started, and this is the second time when our “Jalur Gemilang” was raised.

Let listen to a patriotic song called “Jalur Gemilang”.

They were also waving the flag in front of the VIPs but behind us.  I have to turn my head backwards to take this picture.

This is the first time in our life time, standing in the middle of the crowd, and waving our Malaysia flag.  We followed the tempo of the music and waved the flag left and right.

We have never joined a celebration like this such as “Merdeka Countdown” / National Day Count Down before.  In our mind, we had labeled such event as noisy, crazy, and risk of getting hurt in the crowd.  We have taken our risk this time.  Luckily the crowd did not shout crazily.  We only shouted the word “Merdeka” for 7 times and “Satu Malaysia” for 3 times.

I think we were lucky because our area was in front of the VIP and they have limited the number of people.  That’s why it was not really crowded and noisy from people’s shouting.  The loud sound was only from the speakers.

Have you seen so many people in front of you waving the flags?  We have never, and this was our first time, very exciting.

SiewPeng helped me to wave the flag while I was taking photos.  I did not take photos all the time, after I have taken enough photo, and before the song ended.  I took my flag back from SiewPeng and I waved it to proudly enjoy the spirits of patriotism.

The interesting part of this photo is the lady looked at her flag while waving it.  I should have shifted my camera to the right to take the complete shot.

Now everybody was standing up, turning backwards and facing the VIP area, I was actually looking at the stage direction.  They were actually sitting in front of us.  I noticed a number of kids were sitting in their parents’ arm, were also waving the flags.  Their parents hold them in their arm, so that the kids could see what was happening.

There were empty space behind us, it was later filled by the students from a famous college.  They were also waving the flag.

The flag carriers were waiting under a tree for their turn to go up the stage waving the flags.  They were carrying the flags of different states in Malaysia.

… … to be continued.