Federal Territorial Day 2012

Flags of the Federal Territories in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR - The Federal Territories day in Malaysia, is a day that takes us back 38 years when the federal territories were divided into two parts Selangor (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya) and Sabah (Labuan).  History tells us that the clashes between the federal rule in Kuala Lumpur and the Selangor state government could arise if the controlling power is split. The suggested solution was to separate Kuala Lumpur from the state of Selangor by placing it directly under the federal rule, February 1, 1974 the decision was made, Kuala Lumpur become the first federal territory of Malaysia.

The crowd of people who came to witness the event

The second federal territory was chosen by the federal government for development. In 1984, Labuan became the second federal territory. Putra Jaya (the planned city) is the third and the last territory states. Putra Jaya named after the first prime minister of Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra; it was included to the federal territory on First of February 2001.

One of the Marching Squads 

At the event, there were so many people who participated in different traditional games. A traditional game called Kabaddi was included as part of the event. To play the game, each group consisted of about six people in a group, where one person from the opponent team had to be caught at the time where he had to touch one of the people from the other team. 

A game of Kabaddi

There were also Marching bands practicing before the battles start at the event. Almost all the participants and performers from the bands were still school students and it was the very first time for some of them to be either a leader of a band or competing at the battles. Judges to evaluate the marching bands could be seen seated on a stage. 

 

The Judges 

A lot of tourists were spotted at the event as well, taking photos and wandering around. Some were appeared to be lost, while others seemed genuinely look interested to witness Malaysians’ celebration of Federal Territorial Day event. 

We have interviewed a Kuala Lumpur City Hall officer, Mr Abdul Karim to get an insight of the Federal Territory Day celebration. Based on the interview, he has told us that the celebration of the Federal Territory Day had to be held earlier this year because the VIP of the event, Malaysian Prime Minister Y.A.B Dato’ Seri Mohammad Najib Tun Razak only has the time and chance to initiate the ceremony on Saturday.

He also reminded that the townspeople should pay their previous compounds as special counters will be opened on the 1^st of February for those who have not paid. Discounts are also provided for tourists, especially at Kuala Lumpur Bird Park on the public holiday. Mr Abdul Karim informed us that the closing ceremony will be held at Federal Territory of Labuan at the end of the month.

However, in the preoccupation to celebrate Federal Territory Day, a lot of things that can be criticized that we want to highlight here. One of it is the technical problems that occurred during the performance which made months of hard work and practice of the parties involved go to waste. As a national event, this sort of thing should not happen because it would show very poor quality in the event management of this celebration.

In addition to that, despite having the police and RELA officers involved to control the traffic and audience, we find that they are not well managed. Some spectators were walking around during a show is in progress, thus disturbing the presentations. Therefore, the parties involved need to correct these issues so that next year's celebration will run smoothly without any interruptions.

The most exciting part of the event would be the battles of the Marching Bands. It was fun to see the spirits of the teams and it was something different for some of us since our group includes foreigners. All in all, the event was a good experience for us.