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Sunday February 24, 2013

All aboard the Keretapi Sarong

By LOSHANA K. SHAGAR
loshana@thestar.com.my


KUALA LUMPUR: Self-employed Maej Azripedita loves dressing up as his favourite comic characters but this time his Spider-Man costume came with a sarong.

“My mother suggested tying the sarong over my suit and I was surprised at how cool it looked,” said Maej, 25.

Together with his friend and fellow Spidey Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Fatah, 27, they turned heads when they boarded the LRT at the Titiwangsa station in conjunction with Keretapi Sarong.

“The sarong I'm wearing is my first, which was given to me by my father when I enrolled in boarding school,” said Abdul Muhaimin, who is a bank officer.

Comfort zone: Participants of Keretapi Sarong posing at an LRT station. Comfort zone: Participants of Keretapi Sarong posing at an LRT station.

The duo joined hundreds of others who ditched their jeans and skirts to wear the versatile cloth yesterday evening.

Keretapi Sarong, now in its second year, is modelled after the No Pants Subway movement in New York, which mobilised 1,200 New Yorkers to wear anything but pants on the train in 2009.

It was organised by bizarre events group Random Alphabets, which was also behind the KL Freeze and Glee Flashmob Dance.

Traditional chic: Student Ain Farahin Norihan, 23, getting some help from her friend Abdul Karim Bial Kurus to tie her sarong. Traditional chic: Student Ain Farahin Norihan, 23, getting some help from her friend Abdul Karim Bial Kurus to tie her sarong.

Many people also stopped to take photographs with project coordinator Hazri Zainuddin in his black ninja costume.

“I dressed up as a colourful sarong ninja last year,” said Hazri, 23, who boarded the train at the Pudu LRT station.

Click on graphic for larger view. Click on graphic for larger view.

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