The Federation is GETTING YOUNGER!!!!!
Click on the Picture to get a larger(and clearer version)
Yup, Malaysia is going to celebrate her Independence day in a few days time. Selamat Hari Merdeka.
What does it mean to be a Malaysian ? We the new generation certainly have it good. We were born in a prosperous nation, we did not have to suffer as our fathers or forefathers did. WE were born in relative luxury. We could hold our heads high when we walk in foreign countries(well most of the time, there are quite a number of ignoramus here who still think that we live on trees and you’d be surprised that some of them are ASIANS, what the @!#? (The term ‘Asian’ includes people from the Asian Continent. So people from the Indian Subcontinent, The Far East and from parts of the old USSR fall under this category ) Okay I’m not going to beat to death about such fellows, those of you who are studying overseas should be very familiar with what I mentioned…unless ofcourse your university does have a large Malaysian population, which in that case you’re one very lucky person!)
Okay back to the definition of being a Malaysian. What does it mean? Here in Canada, people are really proud to be a Canadian. Most of the people here are immigrants, be it Caucasians, Asians, Pacific Islander or from Planet Pluto, all of them are proud to be a Canadian. Almost everyday you can find an advertisement which proudly proclaims ‘ A Canadian Product ‘ or ‘ Supporting Canadian …. ‘. Every single thing, believe me from beers to foods! They even have a catchy Canadian jingle at http://iam.ca . The site is actually made by a beer company but the point I’m trying to make is that here, people are truly proud to be Canadian. They hate Americans( YAY!!!!).
Now, so as the next generation of Malaysians, what is it that make us proud to be Malaysians ? Can any of you think of any ? Is it making ridiculous records like the longest Lemang or the longest sandwhich just in the spirit of Malaysia Boleh ? or is it something more intrinsic, like waking up and thanking God for being born in a peaceful and economically sound country.
Our country is not without problems, in fact there are numerous problems with it. We’re all too familiar with them. The question here is how do we tackle it. Which comes back to the first question. What does it mean to be a Malaysian ? The British were very doubtful about a country with so many races co-operating to achieve success. Are we successful ? Yes to a certain degree.. but I believe Malaysia can be even more successful. Singapore, Korea and Japan has become very successful. Why not us. Let’s prove our detractors wrong. Let’s stand tall among GIANTS in this world. Actually, why not WE ourselves become giants.
Let’s eliminate the ugly race factor whenever a problem crops up in our country. It is difficult but let’s leave a positive lasting legacy to our future generations. This reminds me of a quote, it goes something like this, "The Earth does not belong to us, we’re merely renting it from our future generations". Playing the race card will not help the future generations or our country. Malaysia is now at a crossroad. We can traiblaze forward and leave our neighbours eating our dust or we eat theirs and get no where by getting ourselves stuck in the racial quagmire.
And what the hell has happened to our football and our badminton stars. We were so great that we were the envy of Asia and the world respectively . What happened ? I distinctively remember feeling proud when we won the Thomas Cup. When will the cup return to our homeland ? 200 years from now ? that’s way too long man. I want it to be here in the next Thomas cup! Can we achieve that? That remains to be seen.
And before I end, allow me to post the lyrics of Sudirman Haji Arshad’s Merdeka song. If anyone can send me the mp3 for this song. I’d be very thankful. Selamat Hari Merdeka!
31 Ogos
Tanggal 31
Bulan lapan lima puluh tujuh
Merdeka ! Merdeka !
Tetaplah merdeka
Ia pasti menjadi sejarahTanggal 31
Bulan lapan lima puluh tujuh
Hari yang mulia
Hari bahagia
Sambut dengan jiwa yang merdekaMari kita seluruh warga negara
Ramai-ramai menyambut hari merdeka
Merdeka !
Tiga satu bulan lapan lima puluh tujuh
Hari mulia negaraku merdeka
