Malaysia Town

Image from RSC site.

The Royal Selangor Club (RSC) has been a Kuala Lumpur landmark since 1884. It is the nation’s most renowned and respected sports and social institution.

It celebrated its 125th Anniversary and also the 25th Anniversary of the Sultan of Selangor’s royal patronage with pomp and ceremony on Dec 20.

Today, 20 December 2009, in front of the Royal Selangor Clubhouse, which is the Dataran Merdeka (or Independence Square), its 125th Anniversary was greatly celebrated.

The Independence Square is a very prominent symbolic landmark. It was here that Malaya (now Malaysia) was officially granted Independence on 31 August 1957. It is probably the most photographed place in the city. The square hosts the annual Independence Day and the New Year’s Day celebrations.

At 3 pm, the Royal Malaysian Police Band (PDRM), which is acknowledged as one of the best bands in the world, was getting ready for their performance as the first event.

Eva, one of the Chinese tourists from Shanghai I befriended, was excited to hear about the event too.

At 3:30pm, the long waited performance started.

Please view the video below for a part of their amazing music (1 min). I’m sure you wouldn’t want to miss it! Mind you, it’s truly one of the world’s best.

After that, another band, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall Brass Band, performed too.

The Malaysian Royal Police Band (PDRM) and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall were indeed two important elements at the celebration as a recognition of their strong link and lasting relationship with the club since 1884.

For the whole afternoon, varied and colourful activities were held. But in this post, I would like to share with you the most entertaining moments.

Now, the Royal Malaysian Mounted Police rode their horses onto the field. They displayed their skills of controlling the horses.

One of the tough skills they displayed was crossing each other’s ways in a line, shown in the video below. If the riders were not 100% skillful, the horses would collide with one another. They also rode in circles.
Suddenly…! One horse was not used to the new environment so it dropped the master and ran away!

It was because the horse was in tension. I was so worried that it would run into the crowd and hurt them. I think you would feel the same too.

Luckily, according to the MC, the horse would not do so. Instead, it will go and find its master. Amazing. Please view the video below if you want to have a glimpse of the horse running amok.

Next, the mounting police jumped over some obstacles riding their horses. They also jumped over a ring of fire.

It was followed by tent pegging (using a spear to spear, pick up a wooden fire tent peg nailed to the ground.) individually and in a group. Really exciting! Loud applauses were heard. Won’t you clap for them too?

Video below (30 seconds).

Then, these four gorgeous bikers did some marvelous bike ramp jumps.

First, they jumped over the ramp and landed on the field. Then they jumped through a ring. Fantastic! Video below (22 seconds).

Then, something unexpected and funny happened. A clown, riding on a mini motorbike, tried to jump through the ring but failed… What happened next?

A little boy (about 2 years old) who sat next to me shouted in tension. Then I told him the clown actually purposely did it, according to the MC.

Please watch this fun moment! (24 seconds).

Now, the most exciting event was going to happen. 16 people lied down on the field.

Two clowns came over. One lied down as the 17th person on the field.

Another one hid under the ramp to show (pretend?) that the event frightened him.

I asked the people beside me whether they would volunteer to lie down there, as the MC challenged. They said they would not. Would you dare to?

Now everybody was in tension. We all waited for some time. Finally the moment came…….

Then another exciting moment arrived. Seven Kancil cars lined up for the bikers to jump over. Were they successful? Guess what was the action of the 2-year-old boy next to me?

Please watch the video below (40 seconds) of the jump over the 17 people and also the jump over the 7 cars.

Finally, many vintage cars paraded for everyone to see. They were driven by the club’s sport section members with children of Sunbeams Home as their honored passengers. Here is a slideshow of them (31 seconds). Those who love vintage cars will surely be delighted.

Of course, there were other activities carried out by the Royal Selangor Club member’s too, like line dancing, female rugby, and children soccer.

The Klang Valley denizens and visitors were really happy and satisfied attending this 125th Anniversary bash of RSC. I am. I think you are too!

If you want to know more about RSC, please visit their website, http://rscweb.my.