51st Merdeka - Where Are We?
It’s August, the month of Merdeka and our National Day is just 2 weeks away but things have been strangely quiet on the front. The rats are probably having a party on Dataran Merdeka!
Yesterday, I watched the news and there were the usual laments about how the youth of today see Merdeka as simply a public holiday to trawl the malls. I like the answer given by one of the interviewees who said:
Sure, we appreciate that we are now independent but that was 51 years ago. What’s more important now is how we are going to move forward.
Yup, 51 years since Tunku Abdul Rahman delivered his famous Merdeka speech and where we are we today?
51 years later, the underlying sentiments of racism has never been stronger when we were once fiercely proud of how the world looked upon us, impressed at how we lived, worked and mingled in harmony despite being of different races and religion.
51 years later, we have our national Proton car which despite its many versions, still unfortunately remains the most popular car on the road simply because its cheap and not because its high quality.
51 years later, and the newspaper headlines are full of accusations that people have stopped reading them because we all know what tomorrow’s news are already going to be.
51 years later, inflation is at an all time high, the man on the street is wondering how to make ends meet, the share market is in the doldrums and we are all encouraged to take up second jobs.
51 years later, parents worry more everyday about what their children are being taught in school and this are the future of our country.
51 years later, where are we?
I had the opportunity to read the Singapore papers and as much as I didn’t want to, I couldn’t help contrasting the patriotism the people of our neighbouring country had for all their misgivings. When it rained during their National Day parade, they pulled out their red ponchos from the goodie bags given and sang “Stand up for Singapore” in a sea of red.
I dunno, should someone conquer us again for us to feel national pride and get our act together?!
- Pacesetter’s 5km Run and Happy Merdeka
- Don’t Stalk Me!
- Is English Not Important Anymore?
- Life In The Little Red Dot
- 8.4 Richter Scale
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We are where we were 51 years ago dude!
“We are where we were 51 years ago dude!” —- if not worse
we used to compare ourselves with singapore…thailand cannot fight with us.
then singapore overtook us….and we compared ourselves with thailand.
now…thailand overtook us……we’re comparing ourselves with vietnam….. but vietnam seems to be getting more foreign investors than we do.
so….maybe…we’re going to downgrade a bit n compare with myanmar, cambodia and laos?
True..maybe we can compare ourselves to Ghana again or perhaps Mali in West Africa!