A friend asked me some probing questions about “the realities of celebrating Merdeka Day.” As you can tell from the following questions, she’s a funny girl:
“Does patriotism mean you have to hang flags everywhere? How is your Merdeka like? Will you be arguing with your spouse?”
Well, to be completely honest, I don’t think Merdeka has ever meant more to me than it does this year. Now that I’m prompted to think about how I celebrated Merdeka Day in previous years, I must confess that they were non-events.
You know, either the usual lazy days at home or enjoying the national pastime of congregating at shopping malls. Hey, perhaps we could start a new religion where weekends are holy days and shopping malls are churches. Anyway, you get the point.
This year though, thanks to a whole series of events and insights, I see things differently. I see the dire situation we Malaysians are in but I also see the glaring light at the end of the tunnel. Before I sound too naïvely hopeful, the tunnel is a very long one.
Anyway, because of what I have personally experienced since 31 August last year, I am more determined than ever to make a change in Malaysia—starting with myself.
Please allow me to digress for a few of paragraphs.
If we are posed with the question, what is it about Malaysia that you really want to change, what would the most probable answers be? Here are some of them, in an approximately correct sequence:
1. The government.
2. The unjust/repressive/archaic laws (abolish, not change them).
3. The education/health/public transport system.
4. The housing/immigration/economic policy.
5. My noisy neighbours and/or their dog.
I deliberately omitted a specific and critical issue from the short list above. Not because it’s seditious to talk about it or because I don’t want to hurt the feelings of my sensitive fellow Malaysians, but because I would like us to really give this question some serious thought. In any case, if you read to the end of this article, you will see what I’m talking about.
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