The national day eve celebration slated to take place on Friday, Aug. 30 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has been cancelled.

This announcement was made by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) on Facebook on Aug. 28.

The post's caption indicated that the "Sambutan Ambang Merdeka 2024" celebration to be held at Dataran Merdeka at 8:30pm has been called off.

Reason for cancellation

The post provided a reason.

It read: "This cancellation is to respect the victims of several incidents that happened around the city of Kuala Lumpur recently."

Malaysia is celebrating its 67th national day on Aug. 31, 2024.

While the post did not mention the exact incidents, commenters speculated that one of them was the Aug. 23 Jalan Masjid India sinkhole event.

The incident resulted in a 48-year-old female tourist from India going missing after falling into the ground that suddenly opened up.

Commenters also suggested that the event's cancellation could be due to public safety concerns, as it would have attracted many attendees, despite a fall in visitors in the vicinity in recent days.

This was after two holes in the ground appeared in KL on Aug. 27 and 28.

The hole that appeared on Aug. 28 was about 50m away from the sinkhole that the tourist fell into.

There was also talk of maintaining a more sombre tone in the capital in light of the sinkhole incident.

Event at Putrajaya to proceed

A National Day celebration at Dataran Putrajaya is set to proceed on Aug. 31, Bernama reported.

The event, featuring a parade and procession, will see the involvement of 17,000 participants.

Top photos via Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur Facebook & Google Maps