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Average user rating:  / 4
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Contributed by Ong Jiin Joo
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Aug 06 2005 12:08 PM |
It was barely six in the morning. Sounds of prayer
on amplifiers woke him up as usual, but Nick tried to press his pillow
against his head to muffle it. It’s an important day, he thought, and
I’ll need every bit of energy and concentration for the performance
tonight. He dozed off for a while before waking up to the call for
breakfast.
It was July 25th 2020, a historical day for the
small nation of Malaysia. The ancient Olympics Games that started two
and a half millennium ago from the Greek world had finally arrived in
the young nation of Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur is again the center of
attention of the world. Athletes from all corner of earth would be
competing in this scorching hot country in the coming month. That
night, the opening ceremony of the games brought together 400,000
volunteers from all around the country, even from neighboring Brunei
and Singapore, who were co-hosting parts of the games.
After a morning jog with his team, Nick took his
trumpet mouthpiece from his case and started warming up. Nick plays the
trumpet in high school, and he plays it very well. After rounds of
rigorous selection, he was selected to play in a newly formed “KL
Olympic Marching Band”, which would be part of a spectacular
performance tonight. He was very nervous in the beginning. Rigorous
practices were taking away time from his studies, which his parents did
not approve. But he was determined to be part of history.
Seven years went by with such speed, Nick thought.
He still remembers vividly when his parents practically jumped up and
danced around the house when the announcement was telecasted to the
nation. For many years his father, Chan, was one of the Olympic Games
steering committees, teams dedicated full time to cover the various
criteria before a nation can apply for the games. A seasoned lawyer
himself, Chan put his lucrative fulltime position in a law firm on
hold, so that he could concentrate on dealing with the environmental
standards around the infrastructure that was built for the Games.
Chan’s dedication inspired Nick, who followed his dad to some of these
committee meetings. Even at his nimble age, Nick already decided that
he will take part in this event somehow.
The bus left the hostelling complex that KLOMB
stayed in the past week, together with many other yellow school busses,
for the Olympic Stadium. Everyone stopped calling it Bukit Jalil
Stadium, and started referring to it as the Olympic Stadium, when it
was determined that the area will be upgraded from its previous setup
of hosting the Commonwealth Games in 1998, to hosting the Olympic Games
in 2020. The bus breezed through the new highways. The air still wasn’t
that clean, Nick thought as he stared out the window, but at least the
trees were already full grown.
Back in Cyberjaya, Lucy was trying very hard to get
through to Nick’s hand phone. Lucy’s family moved to Cyberjaya from
Tanjong Malim, following the increasing number of jobs in this new
high-tech city. After enrolling in the same high school as Nick, she
found herself surrounded by friends with cosmopolitan outlook and
thinking unlike people in her previous surrounding, which didn’t gel
well with her own. Fortunately, she met Nick along the way in school
band. Nick spent a lot of time getting her settled in, and started her
off on playing the clarinet. Nick finally answered her call, assuring
her that he’ll find her a good view from the backstage. The tickets for
the opening ceremony vanished too quickly; Nick couldn’t decide whether
it was because it was popular or the high entrepreneurial spirit of the
middle man…
To host the world’s largest games in Malaysia was an
arduous task that only a fanatic would have taken up, or so was the
prevailing thought a decade back. Learning from experiences from the
Greeks themselves, who were scrambling to get Athens in shape back in
the year 2004, the committee was quick to address the lack of certain
infrastructure that would have taken years to complete. One by one the
lavish plans were shot down, replaced by down to earth investment for
the future. The moves were bold, yet meticulous. After the London Games
in 2012, the government was ready to take the risk. People were jolted
with optimism when the announcement of KL being selected as a candidate
city was made.
Luckily for Lucy, Nick managed to find her a
replacement volunteer pass for one of the volunteers who followed the
band around, but got sick on the day. Security was very tight around
the stadium, and no one was allowed in or out without proper
documentation. Lucy kept herself busy with moving instruments, food and
water from the busses to the staging areas, while Nick reported on the
field for the last time for a final round of warming up. We are ready,
Nick thought, we have been doing this drill for the past year for so
many times, sure can one.
So did the athletes, who practiced their whole life.
Never had there been so much interests in sports generated in this
country. National sports teams across all sports reported an increase
of the standards of applicants. World class coaches were brought in to
further develop the skills of the local athletes. Obstructive policies
were dismantled quickly. A larger percentage of the education budget
has been channeled to sport schools, as well as upgrading the sporting
facilities around the countries. Many facilities that were built for
the Olympics were used to train the athletes, giving them an edge in
competing in a home game. The media and the Internet have bombarded the
country with a lot of advertisements that are aimed at increasing the
general public awareness. Any kid along the shop corridors can hum you
the Olympic jingle without skipping a beat.
*
* *
The sun was setting across the horizon. The audience
begin to sigh with relieve even though there’s no sign of the stadium
cooling down any time soon. From a distance, choruses of kompangs and
rebanas are drumming to the arrival of various leaders of nations
around the world. Huge spotlights illuminate both the stadium and the
sky, grandiose orchestral music leading to a climatic parachuting that
starts a chain of symbolic presentation of the ancient cultures around
the South China Sea, early migration patterns, chiefdoms and empires
that once ruled the straits of Malacca. Finally it led into the
entrance of the remaining of the VIP and the flag raising ceremony.
Oohs and Aahs followed a spectacular change in
stadium lighting that aided in presenting the many works of art. Nick
was all ready together with his other 599 professional musicians cum
companions at the gate ready for their performance. Nick had seen the
show numerous times in the past month. But tonight, it’s so different,
with real people and live cameras flooding all over the stadiums,
broadcasting the event to billions in the world. Words of his
instructor rang in his head every now and then, “concentrate on your
performance and don’t let your emotion and environment overcome your
concentration”, but his nervousness was showing.
The theme of the band performance was based on a
neoclassical notion of modern Malaysian that was born ironically out of
a group of Malaysians in Singapore. They based their views on the
traditional union model, much like the union of states in US and EU,
where Malaysia essentially becomes an aggregating symbol for the
various disparate cultures of South East Asia, keeping up to the beat
of globalization. It was an energetic model where multinational
cooperation in all aspects was very important, to the extent that
certain customs and believes should be altered to follow a certain
trend. This is represented by starting from introducing a cacophony of
musical elements from all over Malaysia’s 13 states as well as symbols
from numerous races, religion and denomination, into an unprecedented
symphony of musical motives with swift and synchronized movements.
The band impressed the crowd. Nick wondered if they
understood the performance. Nevertheless, he felt relieved when he
played his last note, as he did not make any mistakes, even though the
stadium was more blinding and more boisterous then the rehearsal
nights. As Nick retreated from the center of the stadium, he saw
contingents started parading into the stadium. Athletes from around the
world are warmly welcomed to the Olympic Games for the first time in
Bahasa Malaysia, the national language.
Under the blasting internal broadcaster within the
prep room for the band, Nick found sanctuary next to Lucy, who was
watching a TV on the wall that was the live broadcast of the event
going on outside. A great sense of happiness and relieve entered him as
he place his blissful eyes on Lucy, as the performance is now over. His
thoughts wandered around what he wants to accomplish next in life, what
he can do for Lucy, and where he can find more water.
On the TV, Tan Sri Syamsul Hasran gave one of the
most memorable speeches. Interleaving with the high volume of chatter
and laughter in the room, Nick heard Syamsul mentioned something about
the nation building projects and how peace is ensured by our commitment
to celebrate humanity through sports. He also said something along the
lines of Malaysia’s role and responsibility in the world as a newly
modernized nation, promotion of freedom and equality by setting
ourselves as an example, and the inspiration that sports gave to our
competitive yet collaborative nature. Nick and Lucy watched as the
torchbearers carried the Olympic flame into the Olympic Stadium and lit
the KL 2020 Olympic Torch, where it will light throughout the Games.
Tomorrow, the games will commence all over the
country, Nick muttered to himself. I’ll definitely be following
badminton and also sepak takraw, which will be competed for the first
time in the Olympics, on TV. I’ll need to find a way to get myself back
into study-mode now, but I guess it will not be too hard. And I mustn’t
forget the dinner that dad ask me to join this weekend with one of the
local media.
I think true changes are brought by big but tangible
dreams, and each dream is made possible by small little dreams.
Everyone has a small part to play. It can be one trumpeter, without
which a marching band would sound different, and the picture they are
forming on the field would be broken. It can be one 10-minute
performance by a single marching band, without which an opening
ceremony would have lack parts of its glamour and symbolism. It can be
one night of entertainment, without which a great event like the
Olympic Games would have no beginning.
Lucy looked back and smiled broadly.
 Trumpeters
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Dreamers have classified this dream as: project
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Last Updated ( Aug 08 2005 11:54 AM )
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