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| Astro Awani pix |
Nine years ago, I took part in the National Day parade. It was the country’s 50th year of independence but Aug 31 was, to many of us, just another reason for a holiday.
Growing up, celebrating National Day was about waking up early in the morning to sit in front of the television set to watch the parade.
After the parade, we would go back to sleep; if we hadn’t fallen asleep in between the live telecast.
A few years after I started work, I remembered going to Dataran Merdeka with my housemates and their friends on the eve of Merdeka Day. We did the countdown as the clock at the tower of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building struck 12 at midnight. After shouting Merdeka three times, we made our way to what was called Bangsar Boulevard (the open air stalls at one of the roads in Bangsar Baru) where we had supper until the wee hours of the morning. In later years, Merdeka eve was spent watching fireworks at KLCC.
One year, I actually took a room at a hotel near the Twin Towers where from the balcony, I could clearly see the fireworks going off into the sky. It was deafening. I had thought then that if a war zone sounded like that, I was grateful that I was living in peaceful Malaysia.
While I think that I would still enjoy watching the fireworks, I think I need to find something more than just watching the sponsors “burn” money (which could go to better causes) for a few minutes of joy.
Well, I can tell you that I had no regrets whatsoever in signing up for the National Day parade in 2007 although we were subjected to the kawad (marching) exercises with the Army and followed by rehearsals in the heat of the afternoon. We got yelled at by the Army instructor and also when we went out of step in front of the VIP stage during rehearsals.
Heck, we were part of the country’s 50th Independence celebration. Nothing, not even the harsh words from the instructors, could break us although some of us very nearly quit the team because we felt that civilians should not be subjected to the National Day parade.
It should be left to the Armed Forces and the Police, whose personnel do it well as they have been trained to kawad during their own training.
We proudly wore the flag, which was part of our team uniform. Well, actually we were initially embarrassed with our uniform but there were others worst off than us. The Jalur Gemilang actually covered half of our anatomy. I actually walked half the city in the uniform after the parade.
This is of course nothing compared to my mother’s own experience at Padang Pahlawan in Malacca in 1956 when Tunku Abdul Rahman announced the country’s independence. She was 16 years old. She said she cried when she listened to the announcement.
Our past leaders struggled hard to achieve Independence. Our current leaders worked doubly hard to maintain it.
And we have to remember that they did not build the nation alone; it takes all of us to do it.
I believe each and every one of us contributes in whatever way we know best.
I have always thought that the Merdeka month would be a fitting time to raise patriotism by any means possible.
We used to have a month-long Fly the Jalur Gemilang campaign. Was there any announcement of such a campaign this year? Was the campaign so effective that we no longer need to maintain that? It is pretty obvious that we are showing our patriotism and loyalty to the country only in August.
After Merdeka month, we take the flag down and keep it in storage for next year’s celebration. What about the rest of the year? Why not make it a year-long campaign?
Better still, why not make it an ongoing campaign? Let’s fly the flag every day. With the younger generation, how do you instil patriotism, loyalty and pride of the country in them?
And we have to remember it’s a changed Malaysia from 59 years ago. Engaging Malaysians of today is different from the time of our forefathers. Our struggles are different, too. My fear is that soon we will lose sight of why our forefathers fought for independence because Independence Day has become just another public holiday or a day to party.
For as long as I can remember, our Merdeka Day celebrations centred around parades. In Kuala Lumpur, it would be in front of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, taking advantage of Dataran Merdeka for the field display. Then, it moved to the other states. For the past few years, it returned to Kuala Lumpur.
My wish is for us to do it differently. By different, I don’t mean changing the location but changing the format of the celebration. Doing it differently doesn’t mean we’ll lose the essence of our Independence.
I HAVE the Pokémon Go app on one of my mobile phones. Yes, 54-year-old me. Curiosity got the better of me.
Baby boomers like me are not alien to video and computer games. We started our adulthood during the Space Invaders, Asteroids and Pac-Man era. I believe if we were to play Pac-Man again, we could beat the pants off some of the millennials.
Pokémon Go is relatively easy to understand. I found out fast enough to know that you (called a trainer) can catch these Pokémons at public places while you refresh your supplies of the balls (used to catch these Pokémons) and collect other stuff at what is called a Poke Stop.
Since I began on Saturday, I have collected 60 Pokemons and surpassed Level Five (now at Level Six) where you can join a team and fight battles against other trainers for fame, glory and loot. My niece, nephew and I have since joined Team Valour but we have not had any battles as yet.
The Pokémon Go application for Android has registered some 100 million downloads so far. Some parents have had requests from their children to get their phones and data plans upgraded to enable them to play the game.
But, even before the game reached our shores, there were attempts to get the authorities to ban it, even to the extent of involving the religious authorities. Muslims here are discouraged from playing the game due to its negative effects.
The Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) has in fact supported the decision by the Federal Territories Islamic Legal Consultative Committee in forbidding Muslims from engaging themselves in Pokémon Go.
Apparently, the decision was said to be consistent with the views of other Muslim countries which found the game to be dangerous, resulting in fatal accidents.
It is a different story across the Causeway.
I was drawn to a Facebook posting by the Muslim Converts’ Association of Singapore — Darul Arqam Singapore, whose building is one of the Poke Stops in the republic. They have not stopped anyone from entering the building. In fact, they encourage trainers to use their facilities. They welcome trainers "to step in to cool down your body after a whole day of outdoor activities.
"For Muslim trainers, do perform your daily prayers before continuing your quests to catch ‘em all". They also encourage trainers to stay safe while on the move.
When you start up the app, it actually warns you to heed your surroundings and not trespass but as long as we are human, we are bound to make mistakes. Trainers tend to ignore these warnings in the heat of chasing after these creatures of all shapes and sizes. Their concentration will be on the screen of their mobile phones. That is when accidents happen. We have read about injuries and even deaths because of Pokémon Go in other countries.
One thing good about this game is that you will have to do a lot of walking. My nephew, who shunned outdoor activities before, is now spending more time outside the house, but we cautioned him to be careful like we always did even before the Pokémon Go craze.
While there are many reports of the negative side effects of playing Pokemon Go and any other video or computer games, there are numerous articles that give the benefits of it.
The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) reported this week on a study by associate professor Alberto Posso, an economist from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology of Australia, who said playing computer games could boost a student’s school performance and should be incorporated into classroom activities.
Posso had used the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s test results and information on the amount of time Australian students spent in the digital world to measure the impact computer gaming and social media had on 15-year-olds’ performance in maths, science and reading.
Social media was outed as a pastime with little return on investment. He said games like Minecraft let students apply and sharpen skills such as problem-solving and analytical thinking.
"They have to solve puzzles, use their cognitive skills and even solve some maths when playing video games," he said in the (SMH) article.
Posso said for a generation whose lives had become increasingly virtual — 97 per cent of Australian teenagers have access to the Internet, which is above the global average — incorporating gaming in education made sense. "We shouldn’t be dismissing these games," he said. "These are the tools that they are using... and the curriculum perhaps has to be a bit more flexible to reach this generation."
Well, I would not worry too much about Pokémon Go. It is a craze and like all crazes, the novelty will run out.
Take, for example, Facebook’s FarmVille. Launched in 2009, it became the most popular game on Facebook but by 2011, it experienced a considerable decline in popularity. By May 2012, it was ranked as the seventh most popular Facebook game.
As at April 30, its rank had fallen to the 110th most popular Facebook game by Daily Active Users, while FarmVille 2 is at 42nd place.
Millions of mobile phone users, like some of my older friends, may have downloaded the Pokemon Go app just to see what everyone is talking about. They will likely uninstall it.
And depending on how aggressive these players are, they will reach the end of the game in no time.
Don Bluth, an American video game designer and once a Disney animator, was quoted as saying the shelf life of a regular video game is usually about three to five years.
So, let’s see how long Pokemon Go will last.
