Merdeka On MY Mind

As a young boy, I was always excited about Merdeka. There was something about the yards and yards of flags, the pageantry and black-and-white images of Tunku Abdul Rahman that got me extra hyper.

I would get up early, jump around the house, scream “MERDEKA” three times and sing the Sudirman song. This was my ritual every year on 31 August.

I will probably be jumping around my house yelling like a maniac despite my family’s disapproval.

In contrast to my youthful enthusiasm, I know and have heard of Malaysians who do not honour 31 August. To them, Merdeka Day should be spent sleeping or wandering around shopping complexes.

Some people would even find celebrating our “independence” repugnant, seeing this day as a tasteless acclamation of all that is objectionable about Malaysia.

I am not making these comparisons to boost my patriotic credentials or to condemn the people from the latter group. I have listed them simply to illustrate the great disparity that exists between Malaysians when it comes to things like this. You can be sure that all Malaysians, despite our reputation for apathy, have a wide range of opinions on whatever issues that confront our nation. It is just that those opinions are so conflicted and differing from each other that they make the public anxious.

I am a member of probably the most fractured and contentious generation that has ever existed in any country of the world in history. My fellow young Malaysians are divided, some say irreparably so. The future for unity is bleak.

We are divided by race. We are divided by religion. We are divided by education, socio-economic status and cultural differences. Yet we are, have been, and will continue to be one nation.

All of this has led to Malaysians being the wonderfully, tragically complex people that they are. My fellow Malaysians are hardcore liberals and ultra-conservatives. They are socially progressive and total reactionaries. The utterly colour-blind exist side-by-side with the most irredeemable bigots. The virulent atheists live and work with the religious fundamentalists. Dyed-in-wool idealists and the bitterest cynics pass each other on the street. Government propaganda hails Malaysia’s diversity because several ethnic groups are supposedly able to live together in harmony. But I think what is truly remarkable about our country is that it has been able to produce such a wide range of ideological orientations in our citizens, and still maintain (perhaps against our will) some consensus of sorts.

It is because of these disparities that many people are pessimistic about Malaysians achieving unity.

No country in the world is totally sure of its identity or confident of its destiny. Celebrations around the world, like Australia Day, Waitangi Day in New Zealand and Independence Day in the United States, are contested and sometimes controversial.

Nations are imagined communities, and what constitutes a “nation” is determined by various states and provinces.

What is Malaysia? What makes us a country? No one can say that he or she has the absolute definition. But is that really such a bad thing?

It irritates me that Malaysians have a love affair with an absolute definition – one answer, one truth.

We want everyone to think like us and act like us. Woe to anyone who should disagree with us!

Malaysians are always afraid of something.

We fear change and leaving our comfort zones. We fear seeing others as equals.

I am not writing this to insult Malaysians. The simple fact is that we are unable to accept different opinions. If we want to move forward as a nation, we need to break free from this fear.

Hence I would like to propose a new discourse.

As for this to celebrate this 50 years of independence, nationhood, I hail upon the call of His Royal Highness the Regent of Perak, Raja Nazrin and The People’s Parliament by Mr. Haris Ibrahim to not disdain differences, but accept and celebrate them. We should recognise all forms of diversity and stop making people change against their will. We need to understand that conformity is not unity. There is no single vision, master plan for Malaysia’s future. Our success as a nation depends on various opinions and ideas.

I hail upon Mob1900’s efforts to promote the start of a new revolution, a new race, of “Satu Negara, Satu Bangsa, Bangsa Malaysia”. And for that I acknowledge his great effort and support with all my heart and soul for a better tomorrow by this badge “Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia. Cheers.

I hail upon kickdefella’s effort in promoting a unity among bloggers in honour of the heroes, i.e.: with respect dearest Rock’s Bru, Jeff Ooi, and all other Malaysian bloggers. Let the truth prevail. Towards this holy war, my salutation by supporting this badge of bloggers unites.

We shall rise upon the challenge as done by the Spartans in their Battle of Thermopylae.

At length, the preponderance of Spartan opinion elected to send an advance guard to the Pass to be followed by a larger army when the religious festival of Karneia was over. Leonidas selected 300 citizen warriors, a customary number when embarking on a special mission, but he only chose among the best who had sons so that no family line would become extinct through the death of the father. In all, 4,000 troops from the Peloponnesian states accompanied Leonidas north in that fateful August of 480 B.C.

And last but not least, where Leonidas orders only one man, Dilios, to retreat and use his rhetorical skills to tell the story of the 300 to the Spartan people, ensuring that they be remembered.

Let’s unite towards a better tomorrow in a nation-building and let our story of the great Bloggers to be told to our young. Let’s prepare for glory. We shall be remembered. Bloggers Unite.