The second edition of Asean – India Car Rally has been scheduled to start on November 26, 2012 from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Indo - Asean relations.
Earlier in May 2012, commenting on second edition of Asean – India Car Rally, a senior official from Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said, “A team will leave for the physical mapping of the motorable road route and understand the logistics of fuelling, lodging and boarding facility en route the 8,000 km-long stretch that will be covered in the three-week-long rally. Also, dialogue with various government agencies, including the ministry of defence and home, is under process to finalise various approval plans and security issues.”
Aseem R. Mahajan, the Indian Deputy High Commissioner to Malaysia, has revealed that some 124 government officials coming from eight different Asean nations and India will participate in the expedition. Reportedly, the participants will be covering a distance of 7,816 km in 23 days, during the adventurous motor sport. The eight officials taking part in the second Asean – India Car Rally come from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.
Informing about the 7,816 km long adventure, Aseem Mahajan said, “This car rally is held to highlight the long-standing link between India and Asean countries, the road connectivity, people-to-people contact and also tourism as approximately a total of 700,000 Indian nationals came to Malaysia last year.”
According to Mahajan, the car rally will see 31 Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) fighting for first position that have been provided by Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) Limited. M&M, the countries leading utility Vehicle (UV) maker, will supply 31 units of its best selling XUV500 SUV to participants of the expedition.
Aseem Mahajan also informed that Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia since 2009, is expected to flag off the 7,816 km long car rally in Putrajaya on November 28, 2012. The Prime Minister will see off contestants as they arrive from Singapore on November 28, and continue their remaining journey.
Mahajan added, “The expedition will conclude on Dec 20 in New Delhi, India with the presence of India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and leaders of the eight participating Asean countries.”
Evidently, the first Indo – Asean Car Rally took place between November 23, 2004 and December 6, 2005. The maiden edition was a success and covered eight Indo – Asean nations, besides witnessing participation of 240 participants along with a total of 60 vehicles. The previous car rally required traversing a distance of 8,000 km, starting from Guwahati (Assam state, India) through all nations of peninsular South East Asia and finally ending in Singapore.
