Fun seniors celebrate Malaysia Day with zest

You cannot deter these Goldie-Oldies, come rain or shine.

They are the toughest lot when you compare them to the youngsters, and they come in truckloads. They are the most patriotic people that I have ever seen and been.

All they need is to be guided on what to do, where to go, and they turn out in full support. This is the kind of Warga Mas we see in Taman Jaya, Petaling Jaya, Selangor on Sept 12.

They were seniors stepping up to celebrate a nation’s unity. They came from far and near, and by word of mouth, they had heard about the community in Petaling Jaya, and they came for the fun.

Waving flags, wearing sarongs in the best way they knew how, they congregated at Kak Nora’s café at the Taman Jaya park, and the environment, usually quiet, became alive with seniors’ chatter and laughter, with greetings, enquiries and hellos.

Some were acquainted with each other, some were new faces, but friend or no, these seniors don’t halt their conversations. There is always someone to say hello to.

They had on their body: sarongs tied as sampins, sarongs worn as head covers, sarongs worn as selendang, and sarongs worn as sarongs! I can only say these seniors are more patriotic than they used to be when they were young.

They ooze that usual Friday vibe; you can feel that they all can’t wait to hang out at the park. They had all polled to join the pre-Malaysia Day walk in batik sarong, and they had come from as far as Segambut, Ara Damansara, Ampang, Kepong, Mutiara Damansara, and as near as Bangsar, Bukit Jalil, Puchong, Subang, Jalan Gasing, and Old Klang Road.

We asked those who came from such a distance what made them take the trouble to come and join this Petaling Jaya community, and point-blank, they answered, “The Petaling Jaya community is fun and the members are friendly.”

The group is more or less a regular for seniors who need to have friends to walk together, talk together, and to be with people instead of being in isolation.

“Each time different people come, our group multiplies,” said June Chan, the group leader.

“We are fun, I guess, because all the members in the team are vibrant, supportive, very sensitive to what the leader needs, and everyone is just ever ready to step up to assist. We actually allow members to bring their guests to expose them to our activities. Maybe that’s why we are fun.”

About 25 regulars and some new faces participated in the Pre-Malaysia Batik Sarong parade in conjunction with Malaysia Day. Each came with a few sarongs and flags to wave.

There was even a string of batik sarongs being displayed on the verandas of the café to showcase our local and national pride! Like all great leaders with a heart to the tummy, Chan, replenished the members’ energy first with her meehoon Siam.

The morning then geared up with, first, a singalong flag-waving walk around the lakeside of Taman Jaya. Then the seniors took up the challenge to do what they had rarely done ever in their life … dance in public to tunes they had heard but never ever performed to.

They all danced up and down, left and right, to the rigorous moves and turns accompanied by Joget Pahang, Malam Pesta Muda-Mudi, and Chaiya Chaiya.

These Goldies never once felt shy when the music played — they took to the floor like John Travolta or Shakira, and they danced to Joget Pahang. They did the A-Go-Go and they twisted doorknobs and changed bulbs to Bollywood’s Chaiya Chaiya!

They all had good fun and were good sports — great role models for our future generation!

The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of Twentytwo13.