Its 23th February in Brunei. The silver jubilee - 25th National Day Celebration. I can say i am among the thousands of proud bruneians who attends the event at the Stadium this morning.
Before this, attendance on such celebration was never my interest. However,this year is different mainly because of few reasons. I think the celebration reminds me of my childhood in a way.
Back in 1985 (2nd national day), i remembered taking part in the flip cards presentation together with the rest of my schoolmates. I was only 9 at that time and with the excruciating heat of the sun during the rehearsals, it was quite a task. But it was an experience.
In 1986, at 10, i joined the march past with the rest of members of the Girl Guides Association.
Now after 25 years, i thought that who knows if i will still be here to witness the Golden Jubilee in the future. So perhaps this may be one of those chances you don't want to miss.
Another reason for that 'sudden interest' (believe me some of my friends did made fun of me about being patriotic all of the sudden hehe) was that i wanted to be there for my dad and my two sisters who were taking part in the march past.
My Dad marched past the celebration with members of the 'Kejiranan Kampong' (Neighborhood watch). He was kinda looking forward to it, judging from his look of excitement everytime he left for the rehearsals - he always came over before proceeding to the stadium. I guess retirement perhaps bored him a bit. In 1984 (Day of Independence), my dad was a government school principal before he transferred to the ministry until his retirement in 2004.
Susi, my sister too took part in the march past with the Red Crescent Society. She was leading her students from Sekolah Menengah Jerudong who were Red Crescent members. During the Independence day, she was only 4 years old.
My other sister, Dahlia and her colleagues joined the ministry of defence on the march past and field presentations. In 1984, she wasn't born yet.
Since my mother and my other two sister and hubs were equally interested to attend, then why not jump on the wagon and enjoy the ride..
I was calculating at first, because i do not want to wake up very early just to beat the congestion while all roads to the stadium closes as early as 7 am. But then hubs announced that a day before, he was given a parking pass allocated in front of the swimming pool complex, just outside the stadium so we don't need to leave too early. And so mom, my 3 younger sisters, me and hubs had a fun time.
Meanwhile, hubs shoot some photos and it was a so and so attempt hehe...
p/s what amazes me the most was the 1984 veteran singer .. Cikgu Haji Husin bin Tuah who sang the national day theme song this year. The announcer said since it was Silver Jubilee so the theme song will be sung by 2 singers - the major who sang the 'Brunei Bumi Bertuah' in 1984 and the young singer from this generation. However, i find the legendary old school in his 60's sounds better than his subordinate ... amazing huh.
