Race to Istana Negara

Aug 1 -Heavily influenced by reality shows like the Amazing Race and such, Malaysia hopped on the bandwagon and organised its own program, ‘Race to Istana Negara’. Unlike the Amazing Race, contestants are not expected to run around in circles navigating themselves and cross the globe to search for clues. Instead, the routes are laid out for them and they are not required to run the distance as of a marathon.

A piece of cake you say? Here’s the catch. To add more excitement, the police were stationed at strategic places as obstacles and roadblocks for the participants. Sources informed that the cops have equipped themselves with tear gas and water canon for this event. This, however, did not discourage the participation of more than 30000 people. Due to the overwhelming response, the organisers divided them into two teams, Pro-ISA and Anti-ISA. Each wearing white and red t-shirts respectively. Participants were to work in teams, and the team that reached the finish line the fastest wins.

There are three possible outcomes awaiting the participants. The first is reaching the finish line, which is Istana Negara (National Palace). Second is stumbling to a roadblock midway which will lead them straight to jail (kind of reminds you of monopoly isn’t it?). The third is you can opt to exit the race by diverting from the route.

As the final tally showed, only 1 person managed to reach the finish line (Pro-ISA), more than 400 were sent to jail (Anti-ISA) and the others decided to call it a day(mostly Anti-ISA). Even though the participant from Pro-ISA finished the race thus claiming victory for his team, participants from Anti-ISA claimed there is preferential treatment towards this individual and should be disqualified for it. Consequently, the Anti-ISA claimed that they are the real winners of the day. Below are their reactions.

The man who reached the finish line: I wore the pro-ISA T-shirt underneath a Visit Malaysia T-shirt, to avoid being noticed by the authorities.

Pro-ISA: We won since we reached the palace and given the memo to the palace.

Anti-ISA: Victory is ours. The world has known our struggle.

Barisan Nasional: This race is a waste of time and public funds. This is all PR's doing. The security of the country is under threat.

Pakatan Rakyat: What security threat? It is our democratic right to do so.

Agong: What Race????