By Ili Aqilah
July 23 marked the first ever Ipoh Cultural Parade held in conjunction with Perak Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (PCCCI) 110th Anniversary. The parade, aimed at celebrating the multicultural races in Malaysia, was witnessed by over ten thousand people and even made it to the Malaysia’s Book of Records as the largest cultural parade in Malaysia, with a total of 2296 participants from 55 groups and 120 floats. The record was conferred by Malaysia Book of Records Chief Operating Officer, Christopher Wong.
The one-day parade started at 8am with crowds, including Menteri Besar Perak Dato’ Seri DiRaja Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, State exco Dato Nolee Ashilin Mohammed Radzi and Dato’ Dr Mah Hang Soo, Mayor Dato’ Zamri Man and president of PCCCI Datuk Liew Sew Yee, gathered at Jalan Panglima Bukit Gantang to see over 55 teams participate in the parade.
Crowds of spectators, with their cameras and smartphones, were eager to get the best view as the parade started as soon as it was officiated by Zambry. PCCCI’s enormous three-tier cake float was among the biggest seen that day.
The parade also became the platform for not only locals but also international tourists, who were given a chance to witness the Malaysian diversity in cultural weddings, religious chariot processions and more.
“This is our second day in Ipoh and we couldn’t be happier to be able to see this parade. Back in our hometown, we don’t have anything like this before,” said Ronja Stein and Matthaeus Nader from Frankfurt, Germany who have been in Malaysia for almost two weeks.”
As for Haryati Yunos, 41, from Station 18, together with her family, came as early as 7am just to see the parade, “Every year, my family and I wouldn’t miss the annual Independence Day Parade. So when we heard about the Ipoh Cultural Parade, it was definitely a must go for us,” said Haryati who didn’t mind standing under the hot sun while watching the parade.
Perak Wushu Lion and Dragon Dance Federation was awarded the Best Performance followed by Au Yong Events that won Best Costume. While Sunway Lost World of Tambun secured the Most Entertaining award, SMJK Ave Maria grabbed the Most Creative award and leaving Eastern Decorator Sdn Bhd to win the Best Float category thanks to their creative use of colourful bedsheets and decorations.
“Today we are able to see the beauty of our multicultural people. This is the kind of events that I hope to see more of in Ipoh. We need to have more programmes that would involve everyone. I would like to congratulate everyone especially Datuk Liew and his PCCCI team who worked together with Dato’ Nolee to organise the first Ipoh Cultural Parade. Hopefully, we get to see this parade annually,” said Dato’ Seri DiRaja Dr Zambry to the members of the media.
As part of their anniversary, PCCCI also ran the Tour de Perak cycling event where 20 cyclists succeeded in cycling across seven towns in the state and the Jungle Trail Event where over 1000 contestants took part in a 10km trail-run at Kledang Hill.
From Ipoh Echo, we would like to wish PCCCI, A Happy 110th Anniversary!
