JOHOR BARU: The streets were abuzz as the annual Chingay parade, participated by colourful floats, cultural performances and tens of thousands of devotees on foot, made its way through the city centre.
The event was officiated by Johor health and environment committee chairman Ling Tian Soon as the official representative of Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim on Monday (March 9) night.
Ling said more than 150 years ago, the parade was held to unite the Chinese community in Johor Baru.
“Today, it has evolved into an event that unites people from various races and backgrounds, and truly reflects the Bangsa Johor spirit,” he said before officiating the event.
He added that the festival was made possible by collaboration across various government departments and agencies as well as non-government organisations.
Shouts of “heng ah, huat ah!” (fortune and wealth in Hokkien) accompanied the parade as it set off from the Xing Gong temple in Jalan Ulu Air Molek at 7.20pm and made its way through various roads in the city centre before reaching the main stage at Jalan Wong Ah Fook more than two hours later.
The parade then made its way back to Xing Gong to complete an 8km “tour” of the city where the five deities on palanquins representing the Hainan, Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien and Teochew dialect clans were brought out to bless the place and its people in conjunction with Chinese New Year.
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The parade is expected to end well past midnight.
Spectators began gathering at parts of the city centre from as early as 2pm to watch the parade, where lion and dragon dances, cultural performances, colourful floats and giant flag stunts wowed the crowd.
The Chingay Festival is celebrated from the 18th to 22nd day of Chinese New Year, which falls on March 6 to 10 this year.
The festival will conclude on Tuesday as the deities are brought back to the Johor Ancient Temple, where they will be housed for the rest of the year.
