Opening Ceremony

The Games will be declared open by His Majesty the King of Malaysia, Yang diPertuan Agong Tuanku Ja'afar Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman in the presence of His Royal Highness, Prince Edward. The opening ceremony will be held at the Main Stadium, the National Sports Complex at Bukit Jalil. The programme will last for approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes starting at 7:30pm on 11th September 1998. It will be conducted in 3 segments :-

a) Pre-Show
The Pre-Show will begin 80 minutes before the opening ceremony and will consist of three components comprising of performances by local artists and a combined schools brass band display.

b) Welcome To One And All
This segment takes place as the participating contingents march in and take their designated places. This is a welcoming celebration for the participants, spectators and television audience. This segment is estimated to last for about 10-15 minutes.

c) Cultural Show "Aur Di Tebing"
Being the centrepiece of the Opening Ceremony, this segment will take place subsequent to all the formal ceremonies ( after the oath declaration ) lasting for about 40 minutes.The theme behind this segment is "Unity Towards Progress". Reflecting the history, political, economical and technological achievements as well as Malaysians' vision of peace, prosperity and unity, this presentation is designed to entertain both "live" and television audiences.

Closing Ceremony

The Games will be declared closed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, Head of the Commonwealth and Patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation. The closing ceremenoy will be held at the Main Stadium, the National Sports Complex at Bukit Jalil. The programme will last for approximately 2 hours 7:30pm on 21th September 1998. It will be conducted in 2 segments :-

a) Cultural Display
This segment will consist of 3 components, first a perfomance by local Artists, then a presentation by the host of the next Commonwealth Games, Manchester City and finally Malaysia's Presentation to convey our appreciation and Bon Voyage. This segment will last for an estimated 40 minutes.

b) Commonwealth Top Singers Concert
This concert will take place after the Closing Ceremony subsequent to Her Majesty the Queen and His Majesty the King of Malaysia leaving the stadium. Six Commonwealth Top Singers representing the six regions of the Commonwealth Federation will be scheduled to perform at this concert.