62 years post Merdeka 1957.
Wow. Even my parents are younger than the nation at this point.
Having lived only less than half the age of the nation,
I don’t think I own much right to talk about Hari Merdeka 1957,
about what happened zaman atuk nenek saya.
However,
being born and raised
a Malaysian,
having spent 100% of my life here in Malaysia,
I have
every right to talk about being Malaysian
–
and about being independent and free in Malaysia.
Bad enough that when in school
my idea of Hari Merdeka
is all about flag waving,
about chanting the word
Merdeka at least 3 times
every time
and
about the (late) Sudirman’s
catchy song
(while all the time wondering why he was singing Tanggal when I thought Tanggal means to take off something).
Point is, sentiments have changed.
I am pretty sure my parents
do not even share
the same Merdeka feels
like my grandparents did.
Understanding less about
Merdeka over time
doesn’t mean that
we love the country a little less,
For one of the most obvious reasons,
we have never experienced the war,
we lived and are still living
in a pretty much peaceful country
(minus the on and on and forever on going cyber fights)
–
and the biggest difference I can say is;
we (our generation)
have never lived in Tanah Melayu,
our country has
been Malaysia all along.
We should,
and we must celebrate the memorial
of our beginning,
of us being independent from the foreign powers,
a remembrance of all the fights our forefathers went through.
But how,
other than being symbolical,
other than just waving flags
and
singing Tanggal 31
and simply
mouthing the words -
Before we get angry at other people
for making our rumah dirty,
see first,
what have we done to keep our rumah spanking clean.
Have we done enough?
Have we been spreading love instead of hate?
Do we really love our Malaysia?
And if we do,
don’t you think we need to love Malaysia inside out,
love her at her best,
love her at her worst.
Love her inside out,
loving fellow Malaysians
–
they are our family, right?
To believe,
to have faith
and
to fight for our independence and freedom,
that is what Merdeka 2019 is to me.
And 62 years post Merdeka 1957,
our independence and freedom
isn’t just about fighting foreign powers
because sometimes
–
the nation needed to be saved
from us.
And that’s the most scary part,
have we done enough?
Does the country really needed saving
from us?
At the end of the day,
Malaysians make Malaysia what it is now.
Let’s at least appreciate our independence from foreign powers
by loving the country that we have now
more than usual,
don’t lose faith brothers and sisters
–
’ve got you,
we’ve got each other.
Let’s mouth out loud
and mean it this time
–
by being a better member of the country,
to make our forefathers proud
that what they fought for
62 years ago,
is something worthy and meaningful,
6 decades later.
Remember,
Malaysia ni #kitapunya
–
Kita sama-sama punya.
Selamat Hari Kebangsaan, Malaysia.
We love you, lebih dari 3000.
Comments