The Rising Together Baton Run, organised in conjunction with the 29th SEA Games and the 9th ASEAN Para Games (also known as Kuala Lumpur 2017 – KL2017), will reach its final destination when the baton arrives in Singapore on 13 May 2017. Starting on the 5th of March 2017 in Brunei Darussalam, the Baton Run has since journeyed to 9 participating South East Asia nations, before arriving in Singapore. The Malaysian delegation to Singapore will be led by the Minister of Youth and Sports, YB Brig. Gen. Khairy Jamaluddin and will be accompanied by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS), Dato’ Lokman Hakim Ali and Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Organising Committee (MASOC) Secretariat of KL2017, Dato’ Seri Zolkples Embong. Also present, will be the Chief Operating Officer of the Malaysian Organising Committee (MASOC) Secretariat of KL2017, Mr Shaiful Subhan bin Zahrin and the Chairman of the Rising Together Baton Run Committee, Mr Ajitpal Singh Santokh Singh. The Rising Together Baton Run in Singapore will flag-off at 9 a.m at the SCAPE Playspace, and conclude at this location. The 15-kilometer run is scheduled to pass through several iconic buildings in the country such as the Youth Olympic Park, Marina Bay Sands, The Merlion and the Sir Stamford Raffles Statue. The baton run in the Lion City will witness participation from Singapore’s national athletes including para athletes from various sports as well as the country's top sports personality. Among those who are expected to attend are Veronica Shanti, the 200m gold medalist in the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore and Singapore’s football legend, Fandi Ahmad. The baton run in Singapore is a continuation of the run in Indonesia which was held on 30 April 2017. As the final stop, the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth of Singapore, Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien will hand-over the baton to YB Brig. Gen. Khairy at the KTM Woodlands Train Checkpoint (Woodlands CIQ). The Minister of Youth and Sports will then bring the baton back to Malaysia via a train ride to Johor Bahru which will be the starting point of the KL2017 Torch Run held on the same day. The Rising Together Baton Run is organised by MASOC with the cooperation of the participating countries and as a prelude to KL2017. It is one of the initiatives to promote KL2017 amongst participating countries as well as to create awareness of the Games within the region. As the host country, the Rising Together Baton Run is the first ever held in the history of the Southeast Asia Games. Malaysia hopes that it will leave a legacy that will be continued by the next host of the Games. KL2017 will take place on 19th to 30th August 2017 for the 29th SEA Games and 17th to 23rd September 2017 for the 9th ASEAN Para Games.
