Himpunan Sejuta Belia 2011

By Jinn, Lyn, Sue Ann and Amily

Putrajaya: A gathering of a million Malaysian youths in Putrajaya in 1 day? Free admission to catch some of the top acts like South Korean sub-group Super Junior- M? Impossible! But that was clearly what happened on 28^th May 2011, where the Malaysian Prime Minister himself, Datuk Seri Najib Razak officiated the Himpunan Sejuta Belia 2011. Well, there was only a reported of 200,000 youths who attended the event, nevertheless, it was deemed to be a huge success for the first event of its kind held in Malaysia.

On learning that Super Junior-M would be performing for free for a full hour at this auspicious event, K-Generation (K-Gen) of Taylor’s University immediately organized a bus to the said event for the convenience of the die-hard ELFs (Ever Lasting Friends – fans of Super Junior) who are members of the club. 16 members and Taylor-ians alike became the K-Gen entourage to this event, as other members prefer to go to Putrajaya earlier or with their other friends

Super Junior-M (SJM) is a sub-group of South Korean boyband Super Junior, and this group performs only Chinese songs. SJM consists of 8 members – Sungmin, Ryeowook, Henry, Zhoumi, Siwon, Donghae, Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun. Unfortunately, Donghae and Siwon were unable to join this event due to filming of drama in Taiwan. However, the remaining six members were enough to create overwhelming responses to public

As the show was slotted to perform at 10pm, our entourage arrived at Putrajaya at 6.30pm. By then, the stage had already been surrounded by fans and curious onlookers. Fortunately we managed to find a good spot to view the performances. And there we stood for 3.5 hours, just awaiting the appearances of our beloved idols.

Local acts warmed up the crowd from 8pm onwards. To build our anticipation longer, the stage crew used almost a full hour to check the stage! 15 minutes before 10pm, the emcee started to introduce the next act. THE act of the night. Well, for us anyway. And then as if on cue, screams started to echo all over the place as 6 smartly dressed boys emerged from backstage. They immediately started to croon their song titled Perfection, which signalled the fans to sing along with them too.

SJM proceeded to mesmerize the adoring fans after the song by introducing themselves in 4 different languages - Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese and English. Their witty Malay choice of words like “Aku cinta padamu” managed to amplify the screaming of the fans even more. SJM member, Henry then proceeded to communicate with the fans in English while Zhou Mi spoke Cantonese.

Although Super Junior have successfully held 2 concerts here in Malaysia, Kyuhyun gladly announced that it was the first time to visit Malaysia under SJM and hopes to continue coming to Malaysia under SJM, even though the weather is very hot. Eunhyuk also thanks the fans for supporting SJM and proudly announces that all the Malaysian ELFs are his girlfriends which made the crowd scream in delight

After the hilarious introduction session, they proceeded to belt out another of their hit song, Blue Tomorrow. A short fan interaction session was held after this song, where 6 lucky fans were randomly picked from the crowd and were asked to play a game with the SJM members. Each fan was to pick their favourite member and a short Q&A session ensued. Everyone walked away a winner as they managed to get a hug or a hand shake from the charming boys. One lucky fan even managed to get a kiss on her hand from Zhou Mi who even kneeled down in front of her. As predicted, all the other fans screamed in jealousy over the sight of this.

Each member of SJM proceeded to exude their charm with their solo performances. Henry performed Off My Mind while Zhou Mi opted for a local flavour by singing 3AM, which was originally sung by his Malaysian friend – Chang Zhi Chen. Next, Ryeowook belted out Teresa Teng’s Wo Zhi Zai Hu Ni (I Only Care About You) while Kyuhyun tackled Taiwanese singer A-Mei’s Ru Guo Ni Ye Ting Shuo (Have You Heard). Eunhyuk exhibits his sleek dance moves to the sounds of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean and Smooth Criminal.

Before exiting the stage, the boys took some time off to say a few phrases of parting in Malay to the fans. They then proceeded to sing their last song, which was Destiny, before leaving the stage. A final encore by the fans had SJM performed their popular hit Super Girl, which was a perfect ending to the short performance of the night

Our entourage, satisfied with SJM’s performance, boarded the bus at 11pm and headed back to campus. All of us had an enjoyable and memorable time, and expressed their hope that there will be more opportunities like this for them to go as a group under K-Gen, which we certainly hope so too!

K-Gen is a non-profit club set up in Taylors University, Lakeside Campus, aiming at providing a platform for youths in Taylor’s and Malaysia to gather and share their interest in Korean culture and entertainment. They can be contacted through Facebook at K- Generation(K-Gen) @Taylor’s University, or email kgen.tlc@gmail.com.