Wow! Malaysia is 51 today. I am ever so proud to see how my country has developed over the years. 51 years our country has grown to achieve success and development. Thanks to our honorable and dedicated leaders who successfully lead us to who we are today.
Merdeka means a lot to us and we must continue to embrace the spirit of merdeka within our hearts forever. Merdeka doesn't solely refer to our independence from being conquered by other supreme external powers (penjajah asing) but we must always free our mind from being severely overpowered by sick mentalities. Mentalities that we have been having since the birth of our country.
We must constantly remind ourselves that this country belongs to ALL OF US despite of race, religion and political beliefs. Let us uphold the nation's supremacy. Break the boundary of racism and move forward TOGETHER to enhance our country in all possible means. Remember that our country has not fully developed as we are still lacking in many things. We are waaay behind in our economy in comparison to other developing countries. We are not yet in the comfort zone. Even if we are, we still need to improve ourselves at all times. We will never be at the best but we definitely can strive hard to be better year by year. Start strategising ourselves to be more competitive and to excel better than others in the near future. We know we can do it!
Selamat Hari Kemerdekaan yang ke-51 Malaysia! May Allah bless our country! :)
Merdeka means a lot to us and we must continue to embrace the spirit of merdeka within our hearts forever. Merdeka doesn't solely refer to our independence from being conquered by other supreme external powers (penjajah asing) but we must always free our mind from being severely overpowered by sick mentalities. Mentalities that we have been having since the birth of our country.
We must constantly remind ourselves that this country belongs to ALL OF US despite of race, religion and political beliefs. Let us uphold the nation's supremacy. Break the boundary of racism and move forward TOGETHER to enhance our country in all possible means. Remember that our country has not fully developed as we are still lacking in many things. We are waaay behind in our economy in comparison to other developing countries. We are not yet in the comfort zone. Even if we are, we still need to improve ourselves at all times. We will never be at the best but we definitely can strive hard to be better year by year. Start strategising ourselves to be more competitive and to excel better than others in the near future. We know we can do it!
Selamat Hari Kemerdekaan yang ke-51 Malaysia! May Allah bless our country! :)
I have a nice story to share. I got it from Malaysiakini. It is a simple story of Merdeka in 2057. When our country is 100 years old. Malaysia is under the renamed Supremacist Alliance (Barisan Nasional today) - the world's longest-staying political party in power.
Merdeka in year 2057
Lim Teck Ghee | Aug 31, 08 9:39am
It is Merdeka Day 2057. The Supremacist Alliance is in power. Having successfully re-engineered (and renamed) itself several times over, it has the record of being the longest-staying political party in power in the world.
Interviewed over Mal-Jibberish, the sole media agency (all other printed and electronic news media had lost their licences in the great media purge of 2020 or had been swallowed up by the national media Goliath) the Supreme Minister (SM) proclaimed that the Supremacist Alliance looked forward to another hundred years of ruling the country based on its past record of successfully managing the multi-racial society.
The SM also proudly announced that the country had, on this momentous day, reached the target population of 70 million proposed by one of the country’s founding fathers many decades ago as part of the national mission to becoming a fully developed country.This achievement was a full 43 years ahead of the date of 2100 initially envisaged by the country’s Population Ministry and was a testimony to the strong support for the government’s policies from all segments of the country’s population.
At the same time, the SM reminded Malaysians that all challenges, including the horrific effects of rapid global warming on coastal communities - over 10 million Malaysians had lost their homes in the previous five years and had to be resettled in the mountain ranges - could be met if Malaysian stood fast by the original, immutable and sacrosanct ‘social contract’ of 1957.
Out in the streets, the great majority of Malaysians walked past the numerous 1,000-inch interactive TV screens of the live recording of the interview without missing a step or throwing a glance at the giant screen.
They had ceased to care about what was going on. Apathy, demoralisation and fatigue had long set in, and the average Malaysian was just too tired from the daily grind and two-hour work commute.
Despite record oil and gas prices and vast new discoveries that had enabled the country to reach the magical RM100 trillion export figure, Malaysia had lost its economic edge in many fields. Oil revenues enabled the state to subsidise the basic necessities and the country was enjoying its record 13th year of zero inflation according to the Bank Negara and Department of Official Statistics.
But jobs and capital that had left the country had not returned, new employment generation had long ceased and most Malaysians were working a minimum of three jobs to maintain the lifestyle they were used to.
The consolation was that nearly everyone was in the same ‘sampan’. In fact, moonlighting was so widespread that it was rumoured that more than half of the 500-member Malaysian cabinet were engaged in it; although their moonlighting was to regional jobs especially in Burma, the new darling of global investors and recipient of the prestigious United Nations award for “Most Outstanding Multiracial Nation”.
Back home though, the SM called on the nation to renew its vigilance against new plots to destabilise the country by neo-colonialists and local disgruntled malcontents using the United Nations, World Trade Organisation and other external bodies as tools of subversion.
War against Pan-Asian look
These individuals and groups were long-established enemies of the state that could be easily dealt with - their strategies and tactics were familiar. More difficult was the enemy lurking within. The SM was especially forthright about the dangers posed by young unthinking Malaysians that had fallen for the lure of the new ‘dadah’ - the Pan-Asian look.
The Pan-Asian look - which had died out in the early part of the century - was now rapidly gaining popularity, despite government discouragement. Because of the local ban, aspiring parents were going overseas to take advantage of advances in bio-medical technology to order the Pan-Asian look for their new born ahead of conception. Those who could not afford to do so were opting for cut rate advanced plastic surgery offered by illegal and unscrupulous Petaling Street operators.The spread and popularity of the Pan-Asian look had caused serious concern to the ministry responsible for Safeguarding Nationalism, Race and the Social Contract (formerly the Home Ministry). Senior government officials viewed the Pan-Asian look as the major threat to the country’s distinctive ethnic roots and to the status quo which was built on the understanding that categorisation and differentiation of racial groups was the glue that held the country together.
Dramatic advances in eugenics during the past 20 years had made available racial gene pools that would allow for ‘pure’ races. This technology, although frowned on in many countries of the world, had been officially adopted by the government as an essential tool of the national programme aimed at achieving separate racial communities and discouraging - if not demonising - people of mixed races.
The conservation and preservation of pure races was essential to ensure the continuity of the country’s unique historical development but it was also central to the maintenance of state power which had - since what appeared to be time immemorial - been erected on the basis of separate race consciousness and racial (elite) bargaining.
As a result of the popularity of the Pan-Asian look, the race dynamics that entered into every aspect of individual and group consciousness and action was suddenly being undermined.
If Malaysians were not able to look different and deal with each other on the basis of ethnicity, how was social order and stability to be maintained? How could religious tolerance and unity be fostered if mixed races were to become the norm and religious differences were to become blurred or non-existent? The very heart and soul of the country’s character built on separate racial and religious identities was at stake.
The day following Merdeka, the SM announced the setting up of Mission 2080 aimed at revitalising Malaysian’s traditional racial and social order, and the establishment of the National Race Preservation Council to implement the new mission.
On the following day, Mal-Jibberish headlined that business leaders, civil society leaders and the elite from the various ethnic groups pledged their full support to this new - yet old - chapter of Malaysian history.
DR LIM TECK GHEE is former United Nations regional advisor and World Bank senior political scientist.
