MIRI: It was not only about celebrating Malaysia Day on Thursday.
The auspicious occasion also brought happiness with the birth of nine babies at Miri Hospital.
Five are baby boys, the racial breakdown being Iban and Malay (three each) and Chinese, Kenyah and Indonesian (one each).
A staff on duty when contacted yesterday said the first infant, a girl of Iban parentage, was born after midnight at 12.42am.
The last born at 10.28am yesterday was a baby boy belonging to a Chinese couple.
According to the staff, two babies were the heaviest at 3.35kg.
“One is a boy of Iban parentage and another, a girl belonging to the Chinese couple who was the last one delivered at 10.28am,” she said.
The smallest, a baby girl of Indonesian blood weighed 2.6kg.
While the Labour Ward was busy handling deliveries of Malaysia Day babies, Miri City was bustling with roaring celebration to mark the special day.
Centred at North Yu Seng Road, the Miri Street Party kicked off at 7.30pm and the celebration went on until 2am.
The event , organised by Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Miri was to commemorate the day Malaysia was born, Sept 16, 1963.
This is in recognition of the role played by Sarawak and Sabah in the formation of the country that year.