Liew (third right) and representative of Nationlink the main sponsor Raymond Sim (fifth left) together with the organising committee members hold the Merdeka Auto Convoy 2015 promotional posters in a photo call. — Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING: This year’s Merdeka Auto Carnival to be held at the city’s latest corporate and business centre, iCOM Square in Jalan Pending here, will definitely be bigger and better as organiser anticipates it will draw over 400 cars for the annual Merdeka Convoy.
Organised by Sarawak Auto Society (SAS), the two-day event aims at bringing like-minded youth and community together in the largest single gathering on Aug 22 and 23.
SAS patron Dato Patrick Liew told a press conference at iCube Innovation here yesterday that the event, now in its fourth year, would be a blast at the new, spacious and vibrant venue.
“We have included healthier activities like Zumba, street workout and street dance to cater for the larger community this year. So we expect to attract about 5,000 people a day.
“So far we have 350 confirmed participants for the Zumbathon and we would like to invite more members of the public to join in the fun.
“The highlights will be the Merdeka Convoy in which some 400 vehicles from over 40 automotive clubs in Sarawak and car enthusiasts have confirmed their participations,” he said.
The Merdeka Convoy will cover a 37km route across Kuching City featuring different types of vehicles from sports, modified to restored vintage.
The carnival, SAS chairman Wan Asraf Arif, said would serve as a platform not only for car enthusiasts to gather but also for exchange, networking and enhance understanding among people in the diverse community through social, leisure, recreational and healthy activities.
“The car scene in Kuching has really grown over the years but we need a lot more hype to steer the car enthusiasts towards the best direction that would contribute to community building.
“Therefore, we have decided to focus on building this annual event to provide a good platform for quality outdoor event and opportunity for everyone to have fun and celebrate Merdeka Day,” he added.
Wan said the celebration would also instill the spirit of patriotism and promote better interaction and ties among the people.
“Our long-term goal is to further improve Sarawak automotive scene, looking at activities involving defensive driving, autokhana and various auto sports event.
Organising chairman Kelvin Chen hopes to develop the event into a family affair in years to come so as to reach out to the bigger community.
“We have expanded the content of our activities as we are moving towards creating an outdoor event that will suit people of all ages,” he added.
Meanwhile, major activities to be held at the carnival include exhibition featuring various automobile products and merchants, food and beverage, as well as government agencies and non-governmental organisations, Ismaco Jimisar car joy ride, photography competition, drift demo, car limbo, lucky draws, street workout, zumbathon/aerobathon and street dance competitions.
There is also the Kone Attack Final competition as well as automotive show and audio show competition.