Merdeka: Sharing A Friend's Thoughts.

Read this on my Big But Beautiful friend's blog and found it such a piece I had to put this here. For me, it voices many of my unspoken thoughts...thoughts I sometimes don't let myself take a sniff at for fear that it will certainly rock my rose-tinted world.

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HAPPY 50th INDEPENDENCE DAY FOR MY COUNTRY, MALAYSIA.

What's Merdeka to me? Wanna hear the standard anwers or the truth? The standard answers will be......"erti kemerdekaan bagi saya ialah Malaysia telah bebas dari penjajah....""orang putih keluar dari tanah melayu...so merdeka lah".....duh! Truth is, I trully can't answer the question.

Bagi orang lama yang 70+, 80+ of age....YES! Merdeka amat bermakna. For me at age 35....Merdeka is more of remembering the event yang dilalui oleh datuk & nenek moyang kita dulu but honestly can't feel it.

Saw the Merdeka Celebration on TV tonight......jiwa rasa kosong....like my daughter I was lebih teruja nak tengok bunga api.......plus I was curious, is Merdeka only for the UMNO people? Is Merdeka only for the Barisan Nasional components? Is Merdeka only for rakyat Malaysia yang menyokong parti kerajaan sahaja? What about PAS? What about DAP? What about Keadilan? What about those opposition parties in Sabah & Sarawak?

I know that they are the 'pembangkang'......but isn't Merdeka was supposed to be a national celebration? Kenapa ada situasi macam ni walaupun after 50 years of independence? What if I sokong the opposition party.....don't I have the right to celebrate Merdeka? Pembangkang or not, kita semua rakyat Malaysia kan? Why can't we put all the political differences aside and embrace the special day. Is this the Merdeka spirit? It's really bugging me. Are we really free from the so called penjajah or are we still dijajah by our own people? Do we actually have the freedom of speech? Oh! my.....there's the ISA if you say something 'they' don't wanna hear. So much for being merdeka......it's clogging in my chest. I don't feel merdeka. I can't feel freedom. I don't. Still don't.

Talking about the history of our country's independence.....lots are still unclear, well at least to me. It's Tunku, Tunku, Tunku all the way......I'm not saying Tunku tak important dalam sejarah kemerdekaan kita.....memang dia played some part in the process of independence.....tapi rasanya macam terlebih promote Tunku aaaa..... What about nationalists like Dr Burhanuddin Helmy, Ahmad Bustamam, history of how Tunku 'took over' UMNO from Dato Onn Jaafar.......well, yes partly being told but cerita tak penuh kot?.....

What about wira - wira yang betul - betul berjuang menentang British untuk mendapatkan kemerdekaan like Tok Janggut, Datuk Maharaja Lela, Mat Kilau, Tok Gajah, Datok Sagor, Datuk Bahaman, Dol Said, Mat Seman, Datuk Haji Abdul Rahman Limbong, Mat Salleh, Rosli Dobi.......most of these heroes died sewaktu berjuang menentang penjajah. Berjuang dengan darah....Tunku? Well, after all the adegan tumpah darah & susah payah oleh wira - wira ni, Tunku hanya mengisytiharkan kemerdekaan........Nenek I pun boleh isytihar kot? No, No, No.....before you bombard me with maki - hamun yang I ni kurang ajar dan tak bersyukur and what not......all am saying, 'somebody' should highlight sejarah - sejarah perjuangan wira - wira yang terdahulu dengan jelas dan adil. Especially to the younger generations, those yang lahir in the 70's yang paling penting sebab generasi batch yang lahir in the 70's ni yang akan mengambil alih tampok pemerintahan kerajaan selepas 'group' yang ada sekarang retire. So kalau batch 70's sekarang pun blur about national history.........lagu Beatles....."Imagine all the people sharing all the world....."

Annnnyways.........selamat menyambut hari merdeka kepada yang menyambutnya. Ya! Ya! Ya! Laungkan Merdeka 7 kali....MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA!.....lepas tu? Hmmmmm......Happy holidays, have a wonderful long weekend :-)

Lupa , lupa....of all Malaysians in Malaysia.....Mr KJ which happens to be PM's son-in-law took the limelight and honours of raising the Jalur Gemilang ceremony last nite......50th Merdeka celebration, big event tu......Sejarah negara beb......so KEKKWA nominated Mr KJ as the man to do it? Why aah? Must pemuda UMNO led the event semalam? Agensi lain cannot aaah? Agenda besar macam ni why not PM sendiri yang naikkan bendera kita? Lagi bermakna kot? But no.......Hmmmm.....choop! Zip mulut :-}