KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 — The Malaysian Armed Forces Chinese Veterans Association (MACVA) has received the green light to hold its Remembrance Day at the Taman Tugu Negara (National Monument Park) this Saturday.
MACVA honorary secretary Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Wong Ah Jit said Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) granted its approval late last month for the commemoration event to be held this Saturday (October 12) from 7am onwards.
“We did it for the first time in a long while, on July 31 last year. Around 140 veterans from four associations, including MACVA, were in attendance,” he told Malay Mail.
Remembrance Day commemorations at the National Monument in KL were discontinued sometime in 2010 and subsequently moved to Putrajaya as part of the annual National Heroes Day celebrations.
Wong said for 2019, MACVA first wrote to DBKL and sought approval for it to be held on July 31.
“However, we realised that it would take place on the same day as the National Heroes Day, in addition to being very close to the Installation of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong this year.
“The National Heroes Day for 2019 was then moved to September 19 so as not to clash with the Installation, but had to be postponed later on due to the haze problem,” he said.
MACVA then wrote to DBKL in early September, asking to hold Remembrance Day on September 29 instead. It was eventually granted to them after DBKL sought approval from the Prime Minister’s Office to do so.
“But the approval came in on September 27, leaving uswith less than two days to prepare. So I personally went to DBKL and requested it be shifted to October 12, which they have agreed to,” Wong said.
The other three veteran associations participating alongside MACVA this year include the Malaysian Armed Forces Indian Veterans Association, the Malaysian Armed Forces Sikh Veterans Association, and the Royal Health Officers Corps Veterans Association (Persatuan Pegawai Veteran Kor Kesihatan Diraja)
“We are expecting up to 200 veterans and their family members will be joining us. Members of the public who happen to be around are also welcome to participate alongside us,” he said.
Malaysia’s Remembrance Day ceremony is similar to other memorial counterparts observed by Commonwealth nations around the world.
It pays tribute to those who sacrificed their lives to defend the nation during the Second World War (1939-1945), the First (1948-1960) and Second (1968-1989) Malayan Emergency, the Malaysia-Indonesia Confrontation (1963-1966) and other conflicts since then.
