Something feels different this morning in Kuala Lumpur. Usually, taking the MRT is nothing more than a dull routine—tired faces, hurried footsteps, and a silence broken only by the hum of the trains.
But today, everything has changed. The stations are alive with color, sarongs in every imaginable pattern flutter in the air, and thousands of smiling faces seem to recognize one another, as if they’ve been friends forever.
I stand in the middle of the crowd, and honestly, it feels like I’ve stumbled into a giant street festival. No one cares who you are, where you’re from, or what you do for a living. Everyone is equal, united by a single piece of cloth: a sarong. And it feels beautiful.
“Serumpun” in Full Swing
This year’s theme is “Serumpun”, and it’s clear that it’s more than just a slogan. From Subang Jaya to KL Sentral, from Putrajaya to Gombak, waves of people move together toward the city center. Once gathered, I see Malaysia in its most vibrant form: diverse, noisy, yet wonderfully united.
Around 20,000 participants this year donned their sarongs and boarded trains from 11 starting stations across the Klang Valley. From Subang Jaya, Kajang, KL Sentral, Putrajaya Sentral, UPM, Gombak, and more, they all converged in Kuala Lumpur.
There, the atmosphere turned into a Malaysia Day celebration filled with music, performances, and cultural showcases. This year’s edition was made even more special with its Serumpun focus, highlighting Malaysia’s chairmanship of ASEAN and transforming the event from a local celebration into a symbol of regional solidarity.
And beyond Malaysia, I felt the presence of the entire Nusantara and even Asia. I heard Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, and the accents of Sabah and Sarawak blending together.
But when the music started, all those languages melted away, replaced by the same shared laughter and cheers. I couldn’t help but think, “Perhaps this is what the face of ASEAN should look like, not in diplomatic meeting rooms, but on the streets, on the trains, in the bodies swaying to the same rhythm.”
A Heartfelt Finale
The event ended with something I never expected: thousands of people dancing the lamba to Tabola Bale from Flores, Indonesia—a song I first discovered not at a cultural festival, but on TikTok.
Strange, isn’t it? A viral song, usually just a bit of light entertainment on a phone screen, suddenly became an anthem of togetherness for thousands of people in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, uniting cultures from across the region.
Watching Malaysians and other Asians dancing to an Indonesian song warmed my heart. There was a sense of closeness, a quiet realization that "we are not so different after all", despite the seas and flags that separate us. It was such a simple moment, but it carried so much weight.
More Than Just an Annual Event
Honestly, I came here out of simple curiosity. But I left carrying something else: a sense of hope.
In an age when people are becoming more absorbed in their own worlds, events like Keretapi Sarong remind me that we can still come together, still celebrate community in ways that feel beautiful and grounded.
The sarong may be simple, but today it bridged tradition and modern life, Malaysia and Nusantara, and brought people together. And I feel lucky to have witnessed it with my own eyes.
Kuala Lumpur is celebrating one of the country's biggest annual festivals this morning. It is also showing the world that culture never grows old. As long as there are people willing to celebrate it together, it can dance, laugh and even go viral on TikTok.
And to me, that’s the most human kind of hope: that despite all our differences, we can still dance to the same rhythm.
