Happy 49th Merdeka Day!

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

The Merdeka Day is here again. Pie and Sara were quite busy for the past couple of weeks, drawing the flags, making Merdeka hats, singing the Jalur Gemilang and the evergreen Sudirman’s Merdeka songs at their nursery. I think the nursery did that more to occupy the kids than commemorating the Merdeka Day. Either way, they really did a good job.

Back at home Pie would asked us to download all the states flags, sketched them on papers and he would diligently coloured the flags. His intention is to make a book out of them. As for Sara, give her a prompt, and she would belt out the “ Tanggal 31, bulan lapan, lima puluh tujuh…” with such spirit and gusto. Even the late Sudirman would have been proud! Well, I am! When we “balik kampong” a few weeks ago, her grandma, uncle and aunt were having quite a whale of a time, getting free entertainment listening to Sarah’s Merdeka song rendition. At 4, Sara still having few “baby talk” moments and her grandma found it hilarious when she was having difficulties singing the lyrics long words. Sportingly however, the grandma would raise one hand and shouted “Merdeka!Merdeka!” at the end of the song and gave Sara a big hug and kisses.

In previous years, we introduced the Jalur Gemilang flag as “Merdeka” to Pie and Sara, and they knew it as a colorful pretty thing with stripes, a crescent and a star on it. This year they can sense that there’s much more to it, something big, significant and joyous that calls for celebration, thus their interest in making the Merdeka paraphernalia.

Why Keranamu Malaysia since 2000?

I’ve been planning to take the kids and join others watching the Merdeka celebration procession this year but something is missing; the urge, the desire is just not there. As my sister once remarked in year 2000, “ tengok keadaan macam ni, dah tak seronok nak celebrate Merdeka” or “ in situation like this, it is not fun anymore to celebrate Merdeka".

Let us revisit the year 1999 to know why she said that. It was the election year and the Anwar saga was very much the issue of the day. In previous elections, the opposition parties could hardly attract decent size crowds to their campaign venues. The Anwar issue had let opened the Pandora’s box and since then people were more exposed to politics, good governance and their civil rights and gave the oppositions more opportunities to be heard. Not surprising then, they won many seats that year. And it was no coincidence, from year 2000 until now we have the same theme and logo for Merdeka Day, Keranamu Malaysia!! As if the ruling parties were saying “shut your eyes and be ignorant for the nation’s sake”.

Ohh!Ohh! Now you know which side I voted for in 2000. I voted for neither the Barisan Alternatif nor the Barisan Nasional. My conscience was clear, I voted for the people! (Yeahh.. spoken like a seasoned politician!). To cut the chase, I think the reason why the lukewarm response to raise the Jalur Gemilang is that people are dispirited and dismayed by government-of-the-day conduct. The message is clear, clean-up your acts!

Raising The Flag

Some people raise the flags to avoid getting summons from the local council enforcers. Some “lori hantu” and taxi drivers do to evade the JPJ or police officers scrutiny at road blocks.
Some do raise the Jalur Gemilang with the same spirit and resolve as the late Tunku Abdul Rahman had when proclaiming that famous word “ Merdeka! Merdeka!” 49 years ago.
Maybe I could raise the flag to entertain my kids and I hope someday I could bring them to the Hari Kemerdekaan parade and tell them what Merdeka really means.

Happy Merdeka Day!