BB Drumline Celebrating Patriotism Day

Report by Corporal Brendan Eu Che-Jie of 12th Kuala Lumpur

October 1st, 2014                                   

SENTUL - Every year, the nation celebrates its independence on 31st August and its birthday on 16th September. Back in my school, we would have our Annual Patriotism Day to commemorate these two significant events; whereby the school is instilling the value of patriotism in its community. We are taught to show our love and respect to our beloved Malaysia in even the smallest deed that we could. I recalled from my Target class during my Form 1, The Boys’ Brigade was introduced to then Malaya in 1946 and since then, a sequence of events had taken place. As I flipped back my BB Handbook, it read “British soldier Mr Robert Davis founded the 1st Penang Company …” and BB has been in existence for the past 68 years and is still counting! Praise God!

Just yesterday, my school celebrated Patriotism Day in a simple yet meaningful way. This year theme was “Di sini lahirnya sebuah cinta” (This is where one love began). We were told that the theme was quoted from the late Almarhum Dato’ Sudirman Haji Arshad. A quote from John F. Kennedy – “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" echoed our theme this year.

As customary for any official school functions or events, we assembled in the school hall by 7.45am for our Patriotism Day celebration. Not too long ago, we displayed our patriotic spirit by celebrating Pre-Merdeka as a Company. For this event, teachers and students from the Departments of Moral Studies, Civics and History had come together for hours of planning, rehearsal and meetings to play host. We were seated by classes in the hall by 7.50am while waiting for the VIPs and guests. Everyone was seemingly anticipated for the event or rather couldn’t wait to see their friends performing on stage.   

The clock in the hall ticked showing 7.50am and the hall was filled with drumbeats. The event started with the Boys’ Brigade Drumline Team marching in as an opening act, ushering in Jalur Gemilang and the flags of all the States. The Scouts from WMS KL were given the honour to march in with the flags, preceded by the Jalur Gemilang. This was followed by the welcoming of the Vice Principal of WMS KL, Madam Pearl Moses, accompanied by the Assistant Vice Principal and the three Heads of Departments of Moral Studies, Civics and History. 

Students and staff were reminded to remain standing to sing the National Anthem, the Wesley Anthem and followed by a patriotic song – “Merdeka Tanggal 31”. The tune of the patriotic song “Merdeka Tanggal 31” was so meaningful to remind us of the pride the nation having achieved its independence without any acts of violence. We were reminded of how much our ancestors had done in the past to bring the whole nation, rich in cultural diversity and ethnicity, to come together to fight for our independence. We have enjoyed the fruit of their hard labour and hence we should be thankful.

Next on the itinerary, the highlight of the event – our very own Drumline performance, led and supervised by our Instructor! They had been practicing hard for the past few weeks before by staying back three days in week to perfect the drumbeats. Although they were given only about 5 minutes, the drummers gave their very best beats on stage – such lively performance full with energy. The audience gave a loud applause at the end of their performance; a sign of acknowledgement and recognition that their hard work for the past few weeks for the practice was worth it. All of us too shared the joy because the Drumline members have been doing so well since its inception last year.

Following after the Drumline performance, our Vice Principal, Mdm Pearl Moses gave an inspiring speech. In her speech, she reminded on how we could show our loyalty to the country in the little deeds that we could. Another quote by Adlai E. Stevenson reads “Patriotism is not short, frenzied out-bursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of lifetime.” As students, we were also told to that being patriotic is not just one day, but is being patriotic in mind and spirit in our daily affairs so long as we are part of the nation. Just as the Malay proverb that says “Di mana bumi dipijak, di sana langit dijunjung,” loosely translated as which soil we step our feet onto, there we lift the sky up high – to be proud of our nation as we are born in this land, rich in its cultural diversity.

I felt proud too as one of our Privates, Loo Yu Qang was given the privilege to recite his patriotic speech in Bahasa Malaysia. He was also the champion for Syarahan (Speeh) category during the Bahasa Malaysia Week held in June this year. I also found that Yu Qang used to win in many speech recitation competitions during his primary school days. Listening to his inspiring speech, I could tell that he is proud of reciting his speech in our national language. Well done, Yu Qang!

Amongst other performances were two songs sung by two teachers and accompanied by students and two dances put up by students. The ceremony called to an end with the cake cutting ceremony at about 9.20am. We all then returned to our classes to resume our lessons of the day. In a nutshell, the patriotism celebration this year was meaningful and splendid with varieties of performance.