Lavish prizes used to garner Merdeka Day support

Although availability of public seats inside Stadium Nasional for the federal government’s National Day celebration is uncertain, the ability to score lucky draw numbers for the mammoth event seems more probable.

According to a post on the 55 Tahun Merdeka, Janji DitepatiFacebook page, in order to stand a chance to win many of the lucrative prizes, one merely has to collect a red card from the local Information Department branch.

When contacted, the ministry’s Public Relations Department spokesperson Jasminawati Jamin confirmed that the website is authentic.

The 55 Tahun Merdeka, Janji Ditepati Facebookpage indicated that the top prize offered is the pride of the current Proton fleet - the Preve. 

Also up for grabs are four motorcycles manufactured by another local automotive brand, Modenas.

But oddly enough, the other prizes does not have the same nationalistic flavour.

These foreign makes include a Chevrolet Cruze, a Vespa scooter, 50 Huawei tablet computers, 10 fixie bicycles and three Blackberry smartphones.

Stranger still, another prize consist of two return tickets to London - the capital of the very country from which Malaya gained independence 55 years ago.

Final prize line-up

The range of prizes is different from what was promised during a technical briefing by the Information Department yesterday.

The ministry's Selangor Culture and Arts Department director Ghazali Bidin told reporters yesterday that prizes also included an Apple iPhone 4S and the company’s latest iPads.

Jasminawati explained that this is because the information presented yesterday was preliminary, and the prizes listed on the Facebook page is the final prize line-up.

Ghazali also explained that the lucky draw event and other entertainment activities will kick off after 10.30pm tomorrow night when Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is scheduled to hold a walkabout-cum-meet-and-greet with people outside the stadium.

He said that this was to discourage the crowd inside the stadium from leaving and causing congestion outside.

According to the Information Department, those outside will be able to follow the proceedings by huddling in tents laid out in the stadium carpark. 

According to the seating arrangement plan shown to the media on Monday, all the seats have been allocated to VIPs, BN component party members, civil servants, schoolchildren and other specially-picked groups, leaving no room for members of the public.

However, the Information Department has been on an aggressive drive - including sending phone text messages - to encourage people to attend the event.