Braving the sun to make history
Two hundred students form the number ‘60’ to celebrate love for Malaysia
PETALING JAYA: More than 200 pupils from SK Puchong Perdana stood under the hot sun to form the digits “60” and spell out “Malaysia” while being photographed by a drone above them.
The students from Years Four and Five held up decorated T-shirt templates and Jalur Gemilang cutouts from The Star’s Raise The Flag pullout, as religious studies teacher Azrul Izzat Azmi hovered the drone, snapping a series of photos, to celebrate National Day and the upcoming Malaysia Day.
According to Azrul, the photography session lasted almost three hours because it took a long time to arrange the students into the perfect formation.
“We even rehearsed it a day earlier,” he said, adding that all the teachers at the school were involved in the activity.
English teacher K. Devi Kavitha said that initiative was a good way to teach students about unity and cooperation.
“Activities such as this help instil the right values in the young, such as unity, cooperation and patriotism, and in fun ways,” she added.
Other than SK Puchong Perdana, which had ordered 1,800 copies of The Star’s Raise The Flag special issue, other schools in Puchong were no less keen to support the initiative.
More than 10,000 copies of the special issue flooded the schools, with SMK Pusat Bandar Puchong, SK Puchong Utama, SK Puchong Batu 14, SK Taman Putra Perdana and SK Seksyen 1 Bandar Kinrara placing large orders.
SJKC Kheng Chee Puchong, which had ordered 1,000 copies, also organised a photoshoot with the pupils waving their Jalur Gemilang cutouts.
Senior assistant (student affairs) Tan Ting Xiu said the activity helped instil love for the nation among the pupils.
Star Media Group’s two-month Raise The Flag initiative aims to strengthen patriotism and unity among Malaysians. It ends on Malaysia Day, Sept 16.
The main sponsor is Aset Kayamas Sdn Bhd and co-sponsor is Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd.
To greet Malaysia Day in style, look out for the paper’s final special issue on Sept 14.
To bulk order this issue, contact The Star’s customer care unit at 1-300-887-827 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
Malaysians can participate in the campaign by using the cutout templates to create the Jalur Gemilang and a ‘T-shirt’; pose with the flag and decorated T-shirt cutout for a photograph and post it on social media with the hashtag #RaiseTheFlagMY.
You can also share your photo at facebook. com/raisetheflagmy.
And if yours is among the best poses, you could win prizes such as staycations and dining vouchers.
Submissions with at least 15 people “wearing” the T-shirt cutouts and waving the flags stand to win a RM4,000 buffet for 100 people from Original Kayu Nasi Kandar; winning group school entries will receive Pizza Hut vouchers.
For details and the full list of prizes, see