Closing ceremony marred by ugliness in KL Tuesday 22 September, 1998 (2:07am AEST) BY ABC

At the Commonwealth Games, ugly scenes inside and outside the main stadium have marred the closing ceremony.

With the fireworks display exploding above them hundreds of Games volunteers showed their displeasure at being blocked from entering the stadium.

All had been promised they could march into the stadium but many were left disappointed and angry outside.

Baton carrying police were brought in and most of the volunteers retreated from a locked gate without confronting the authorities.

Inside partying by some members of the New Zealand team got out of control.

Scenes of drunk athletes remonstrating with police and in some cases being blocked from entering the grassed area had many local spectators booing.

Around 40 police responded by restricting their movement, some athletes ere forcibly blocked from entering the grassed area of the stadium.

-----------BY BERNAMA--------------

Monday September 21, 11:53 PM

Games Ends In A Party Of 100,000 By D.Sundaraja and Ruhil Amani Zainal Abidin

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 (Bernama) -- Never before has Kuala Lumpur seen an open-air party with 100,000 merrymakers and that is how the most successfully organised Commonwealth Games came to an end at the National Stadium at Bukit Jalil here tonight.

A sea of people from 70 nations and locals freely mingled and let loose their hair as they danced to the pulsating music, kaleidoscopic lights and fireworks display.

After 11 days of intense competition in the second largest games of the world, the sportsmen released their pent up tensions at the National Stadium with rare abundance.

The sportsmen and sportswomen were joined by the games volunteers and the spectators in the pitch which turned into a massive dance floor.

The dancers waved flags of the various nations, buntings and `bunga manggar' to rhythm of the music. Foreign visitors did not feel left out gyrating to the local tunes like `dangdut' and `Melayu asli'.

The revelry easily overtook the fun and merry-making at Woodstock in the Sixties but minus the drugs and booze.

The camaraderie expressed was a direct contradiction of the trouble at the closing ceremony predicted by some sections of the foreign media. There was also minimum prescence of uniformed police personnel.

After Queen Elizabeth II closed the Games officially and left the stadium together with the Yang di Pertuan Agong, the mood was spontaneously set for the party to begin.

As standup comic cum commpere Harith Iskandar took the mike and introduced the artistes, the sportsmen and volunteers in the pitch took the que and got into a party mood.

The spectators in the terraces then streamed into the pitch and the merrymaking began in earnest.

Jamal Abdillah, Amy & Gang and other local artistes started the ball rolling in entertaining the jiving crowds.

Old and young alike mixed freely and celebrated into the late night.

Foreign artistes like Donna Lewis and Irish group Corrs joined Sheila Majid, Amelina, KRU and Raihan in entertaining the crowds with non-stop music.

Foreign and local pressmen after caressing computer keyboards over the last 11-days also joined in the fun.

Bathed in a myriad of dancing lights and colours, foreign athletes and Malaysians melted into a poutpouri of cultures as international barriers came down.

The two giant screens at either end of the stadium besides projecting the entertainers also showed the revellers doing their various antics.

Sports fans also took the opportunity to take photographs with foreign sportsmen in the midst of the partying.

The partying truly reflected the friendly games spirit as people made use of every inch of the field, the tracks and the jumping pits.

The milling crowds were in no mood to break-up the party despite tomorrow being a working day and the night seemed ever younger. --BERNAMA

-------------------------------------------------REUTERS

Proud Malaysia ends big night in style

By Philippe Naughton

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 - Proud Malaysia brought down the curtain on Asia's biggest-ever sports show on Monday, basking in the success of an 11-day festival that defied most, if not all, predictions.

Military bands played 'Rock around the Clock', streamers burst from the roof and fireworks shattered the hot night air before Britain's Queen Elizabeth formally closed the 16th Commonwealth Games at a full-pomp closing ceremony.

With the Kuala Lumpur stadium ringed by police, anti-government protesters were far out of sight -- but not always out of mind.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, whose former deputy was arrested on Sunday accused of sodomy and treason, entered the cavernous arena to loud cheers and chants of "Malaysia, Malaysia".

Several hundred of the 4,200 athletes from 70 nations and territories of the old British Empire who took part in the Games marched past.

Malaysia's night

But it was Malaysia's night, even if it had to pass the baton on reluctantly to the northern English city of Manchester which is to host the next Commonwealth Games in 2002.

Manchester sent Sir Bobby Charlton, the English World Cup hero who had survived the 1958 Munich air disaster that almost wiped out one of the world's best-known soccer teams, Manchester United.

"Thank you Kuala Lumpur," Charlton said from the stadium stage. "We would like to invite you all to Manchester."

And, as thousands of volunteers who had helped run the Games followed in their own march past, 100,000 people chanted "Boleh, Boleh" -- "We Can Do It".

And they had. Before the Games started, few expected everything to fall into place quite so well.

This time last year Malaysia was covered by a blanket of smog from Indonesian forest fires. The La Nina weather phenomenon, which has brought more rain than usual, prevented a repeat this year.

There were concerns too for transport and result systems, but there was none of the organisational chaos which blighted the Atlanta Olympics two years ago.

Lack of spectators

One problem was a lack of spectators. Monday's closing ceremony was the first time the grand new Bukit Jalil stadium had been filled anywhere close to capacity.

What began as an interesting sideshow downtown upstaged the Games in its final days. More than 30,000 people protested in central Kuala Lumpur on Sunday to call for Mahathir's resignation and in support of his sacked deputy, Anwar Ibrahim.

Police used tear gas to to disperse the protesters and Anwar, former heir apparent to the veteran Malaysian leader, was arrested and charged with sodomy and treason.

There was a repeat of the protests on Monday.

But fears the protesters might target the full-pomp closing ceremony proved unfounded. The only protest at the ceremony was by a group of about 100 Games volunteers who were locked out of the party which followed the ceremonies.

Instead, Games organisers proudly thanked the public for their support of Malaysia's first major international outing and Malaysia's athletes for efforts which brought 10 gold medals, 14 silvers and 12 bronze.

That put them fourth in the medals table, behind sporting powers Australia, England and Canada.

"Malaysia promised us the best Games ever and they have delivered on that promise," Commonwealth Games Federation chief Michael Fennell told a jubilant crowd.

And the Queen performed her task. "I proclaim the 16th Commonwealth Games, Kuala Lumpur 1998, closed," she said and issued the formal invitation to athletes of "the Commonwealth family of nations," to the next "Friendly Games" in Manchester.

Then the party began, with the entertainment provided by local and international pop stars, including Irish folk-rock group The Corrs.