IT had been a lacklustre Merdeka on Monday, with muted celebrations and hardly any fanfare in the city. But it was a different story on the KL Monorail when groups of youngsters hopped on the train and started decorating the coaches with the Jalur Gemilang, balloons, streamers, stickers and even sprayed Merdeka messages on the windows.
They sang birthday songs to Malaysia, and belted out Negaraku with so such passion and gusto that the train passengers can’t help but join in. The unsuspecting passengers shook their heads, others giggled and joined in the fun, but what’s for sure is everyone disembarked from the train in good spirits.
The monorail drivers too joined in the celebration, sounding their horns to greet Merdeka revellers waiting to hop on to the train.
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Participants of the Merdeka Train Party on August 31, organised by R.AGE and RandomAlphabets.com, agreed that it was a great way to spend national day. |
The seemingly impromptu public Merdeka celebration was certainly infectious, and it must have been the best train ride ever for everyone that Monday afternoon.
The “guerilla style” event, called “Merdeka Train Party” was organised by RandomAlphabets.com (who has previously organised KL Freeze in Unison and the Pillow Fight events around the Klang Valley), in partnership with The Star’s youth space, R.AGE.
“Basically what we did was that we decorated the interior of the train like we would decorate a house for a birthday party, except this is for ‘Happy Birthday Malaysia’,” said Zain HD.
For the past few weeks, RandomAlphabet’s front man Zain and his crew had planned the train party painstakingly. In true flashmob spirit, they kept the location of the party a secret until the last moment.
Almost 200 youngsters turned up at the designated meeting place on Merdeka Day, raring to shout out their love for their country. After a short briefing, they were split into groups of around 20 each, and boarded the trains.
Moving in seven groups to match the number of monorail trains in operation on that day, the participants struggled to keep their excitement hidden until they could finally begin decorating the coaches.
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For the first eight stops, each group of flashmobbers looked like any other train passenger – hanging on to the poles, staring blankly into space and playing with their cellphones.
Everything went according to plan. At the designated station, the participants got off to get their decorations and props before hopping on the next train. Once onboard, they decorated the carriage all the way until the Titiwangsa stop (which is the last one on the line), where crew members rushed into the trains and filled them with hundreds of helium-filled, colourful balloons.
From then on, the participants evoked curious stares from passengers as they sang patriotic songs like Tanggal 31, Negaraku and Happy Birthday in Bahasa Malaysia and English while decorating the trains with flags, balloons and stickers.
Participant Raja Azlan bounded back and forth through the train, hanging flags up wherever there was space.
“This is the best way to relate to the people, and to get them to join in the celebration – by getting their attention on the train,” said the 20-year-old.
Smita Sharma, 24, and her friend Wei San, 31, had a blast singing along to the patriotic songs, dancing around and generally having a good time.
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“It’s a great way to celebrate National Day in a unique way. I don’t think people do this very often at all,” said Smita.
Mastermind of the party Zain was glad the event was a success.
“The response to the Merdeka Train Party was great,” he said. “Passengers started singing along with us and a mother and her child were so excited they got back on the train at the last stop to party with us.”
Finnish tourists Marja Valtonen and Hanna Lappanen, who were initially disappointed that there was no large-scale National Day parade this year, were thrilled to be a part of the party.
“In our country there isn’t anything like this. We’re glad we got on this train and happened to be here to join in the fun,” said Valtonen.
Meeting new people was one thing many of the participants had looked forward to – they mingled and joked with new-found friends and exchanged numbers after the party.
“It’s just great to meet all these new, ‘random’ people that are interested in the same things I am,” said Syarifah Syazaliyana, 22.
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Removable foam spray was used to decorate the outside of the monorail trains during the Merdeka Train Party. |
“I’m glad I came today, it’s a much better way to spend my time than just sitting around at home.”
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Syarifah Syazaliyana, 22, was excited about meeting new people at the Merdeka Train Party. taken from star online. |
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