KUALA LUMPUR: Most Malaysians know the road transport department (JPJ) for driving licences, vehicle inspections and enforcement. Far fewer probably know that JPJ also has its own marching band.
Mega Symphony was formed in 2017 at the Malaysia Road Transport Academy in Ayer Molek, Melaka - though its beginnings were anything but glamorous.
Instruments had to be rented or borrowed from other agencies, while finding enough people willing - or able - to play them proved an equally formidable challenge.
JPJ senior enforcement director Muhammad Kifli Ma Hassan, who helped establish the band, said the idea arose after a training graduation ceremony in November 2016. Former transport ministry secretary-general Saripuddin Kasim noticed that an outside band had been hired for the march-past and decided the department sould have one of its own by the next graduation ceremony.
That gave Kifli roughly six months to make it happen - and his first attempt at recruitment was not especially encouraging.
“I gathered the new recruits and asked who was interested in joining the marching band,” Kifli recalled. “Only three people raised their hands.”
A proper marching band generally needs around 30 members to produce a balanced sound outdoors, which meant three volunteers were not going to cut it.
Kifli began speaking to trainees individually, asking whether they had any musical experience at all. Some had played guitar, piano or drums. Others had experience with the kompang, flute or serunai during their schooldays or at family functions.
That was enough to work with.
By the end of the search, 35 candidates had been identified from JPJ branches across the country, including Sabah and Sarawak. Only three had any actual experience playing marching-band instruments.
The next challenge was turning that mixed group into something capable of performing in public - and doing it quickly. Specially appointed instructors were brought in and the recruits trained intensively for three months.
Against the odds, by May 2017, Mega Symphony was ready for its first official outing at a JPJ training graduation ceremony.
The band has since developed a personality of its own, favouring popular tunes that audiences can recognise rather than sticking only to formal marching repertoire. That lighter touch has helped Mega Symphony stand out at public events, including National Day parades and official ceremonies.
Unlike professional military or police bands, Mega Symphony’s members are not full-time musicians: they are JPJ officers and staff with regular duties, which means rehearsals have to fit around postings, enforcement work and other responsibilities.
The band currently has 36 permanent members, including 11 women, as well as 10 reserves who step in when others are unavailable.
And because members are stationed throughout Malaysia, rehearsing together every day is impossible. Instead, they are usually brought together for seven to 14 days before major performances or competitions.
“Our constraints are time, location and practice venues,” Kifli said. “But because our members have such strong interest and confidence, a short training period is sufficient for them to absorb and understand what they need to do.”
That makes every performance a logistical exercise as much as a musical one: officers from different parts of the country have to arrive, rehearse, blend their sound and get marching formations right in a matter of days.
Mega Symphony has since become part of JPJ’s public identity, performing alongside bands from agencies with much longer musical traditions, including the armed forces, police and prisons department.
JPJ has even formed a bagpipe band, which has been used to escort distinguished guests at official events.
For Kifli, Mega Symphony’s story is still rooted in those first months, when a group with little marching-band experience had to learn quickly enough to perform in front of an audience. “Imagine, in just three months, you learnt to read and study musical notes,” he said.
That achievement may be the most charming part of the story. Behind the uniforms and brass instruments are enforcement officers, clerks and personnel who discovered, or rediscovered, musical skills they may never have expected to use at work at the road transport department.