Valuing Independence...

MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA!

What runs through your mind when these words are uttered? Freedom? Independance?

What is the meaning of independence? What is the value of independence? What does fulfilling independence mean? Is it just physical? No more wars, we live in peace and harmony? Is it a state of mind? Are our minds truly independent? Or are we still colonialised?

There are many facets to this topic, be it social, economics or politics. We live in a multi racial country (Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Kadazan, Murut, Melanau, Bajau, to name a few), with multiple religions and multiple traditions and celebrations.

Just over 52 years ago, our fore fathers Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Sambanthan, came together and negotiated our independence with the British. What does that tell us? We used our common senses and intelligence to obtain independence. We never had to spill a drop of blood in 1957 like the Indonesians and some other nations did, though way before that, there were clashes with the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Japanese, the Communist and to a certain extent, the British. Till this day, even countries like Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not independent of ‘mother’ England. These respective nations are still governed by the Westminster.



Without independence, we would not be so fortunate to be here, in this once tallest building in the world, now the tallest twin buildings in the world and enjoy this nice view of developed Kuala Lumpur.



Without independence, don’t even dream to host the F1 races on our shores! Without independence, we would not have Putrajaya, our own stock market, our trade volumes surpassing the RM1 Trillion mark, these luxuries that we are enjoying now, these comfortable, luxury leather seats, ahhhhh...


Who would have thought, that a nation in the east, a nation other than America would ever the guts, courage and ability to build the tallest buildings in the world? Who would have thought, that this tiny nation in Asia, this tiny nation that is not Japan, will host the F1 races? Who would have thought that this tiny nation, called Malaysia would be free from Britain without shedding a single drop of blood?

How do we value these benefits? How do we value these luxuries? Should we go on harping on our differences or should we learn to appreciate, understand and accommodate our differences? Learn to understand each other better. Learn to work with and help one another to continue to develop this nation, to develop this land that we love, this land that we call Malaysia.

Are we going to use our common senses and intelligence like our fore fathers did, or are we going to follow our heart and thoughtless minds?

We have come a long way. 52 years is not a short period of time. Are we ready to sacrifice these luxuries that we have just to fulfil our greed?
United we stand, divided we fall. MERDEKA!