National Day 2025: Contingency Plan In Place For Rainy Weather

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 28 (Bernama) -- The National Day Celebration Main Committee will activate a contingency plan to address the possibility of rain during the highlight of the 68th National Day celebration this Sunday.

National Department for Culture and Arts (JKKN) director-general Mohd Amran Mohd Haris said a special meeting was held to coordinate preparations, including involving movements of dignitaries and the arrival of His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia.

“Today, the weather was not favourable for us to conduct rehearsal at the scheduled time. This is one of the challenges faced by the National Day programme committee when dealing with factors beyond our control.

“At the main committee level, we have held meetings to ensure the contingency plan will be activated on Aug 31,” he told reporters when met at Dataran Putrajaya today.

Earlier, the rehearsal scheduled for 8 am had to be delayed by two hours due to heavy rain.

Mohd Amran said although the weather was less than ideal, the spirit of participants and contingents involved remained high to ensure the rehearsal could continue as planned.

The full dress rehearsal will take place tomorrow, while Aug 30 is dedicated solely for technical coordination ahead of the official event on Aug 31.

“Our priority is to ensure that the entire programme runs on schedule, with the duration not exceeding two hours from the arrival of His Majesty until the end of the event.

“For now, there are still areas that need improvement, particularly in terms of the involvement of parade contingents and assets. These matters have been discussed, and after each rehearsal, a post-mortem is conducted to identify aspects that can be further improved,” he said.

The 2025 National Day celebration will begin as early as 7 am this Sunday with the arrival of the country’s leaders and Sultan Ibrahim.

The celebration will start with the hoisting of the Jalur Gemilang by Royal Malaysian Navy personnel, the recitation of the Rukun Negara pledge, and a parade featuring participants from various agencies, including government bodies, private organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), along a 2.1-kilometre route.

A total of 14,010 participants, 78 vehicle assets, seven decorated floats, 116 animals and 21 marching bands will feature in this year’s main parade.

Among the highlights this year are a float parade involving seven agencies, including the ASEAN Chairmanship and Visit Malaysia 2026, as well as a special performance by the Malaysian Armed Forces featuring 130 bagpipe musicians.

-- BERNAMA