Malaysia Day: A Quiet Reminder



Every year, 16 September comes quietly. There are no fireworks as grand as Merdeka, no parades filling the streets. Yet Malaysia Day has a special weight — it is the day we truly became a nation.

On this date in 1963, Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore came together to form Malaysia. It was not just a line on a calendar; it was a promise — that despite distance, culture, and history, we could build something together.

Perhaps that is why Malaysia Day feels reflective. It asks us to pause and look beyond the surface — beyond flags and slogans — and ask what it really means to be Malaysian. It is in the laughter at open houses during festive seasons, in the morning queue at the roti canai stall, in the mix of languages at the pasar malam. It is in the quiet understanding that we share more than we realise.

Malaysia Day reminds us that nationhood is not an event we commemorate once a year. It is a work-in-progress, built every time we choose cooperation over conflict, understanding over suspicion, and unity over division.

So on this day, let us not just celebrate — let us reflect. Not only on how far we have come, but on how far we are willing to go, together.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA WAS MY TEACHER, NOW IT’S YOUTUBE

Image
Remember the encyclopedia? I had an uncle who kept volumes (from A to Z) of the Encyclopedia Britannica in a cupboard. No one could touch it. It was as if these books were put in there as a display. At the school library, I use the encyclopedia as my reference books. Just like the dictionary, only the encyclopedia had a lot more information than just on words alone. It was my teacher. I refer to it mostly when teachers can’t give me a satisfactory answer to my questions. These days, kids (and adults, included) have Google and the many search engines available. All they need to do is type in what they want to know and voila … the answer is there for the taking! But it is YouTube that has replaced the encyclopedia as my teacher. Some of the things I’ve learned and become good at are because of the videos on YouTube. Baking is one of them. Decourage is another. The third will, insya’Allah, be playing the guitar. When I was in school, I used to follow my mother to her bakin...
Read more

“DARI RUMAH KE TANAH” …

Image
Have you heard of this term before? I can bet you have not. It’s my mother’s favourite line on her squabbling grandchildren. Well, they don’t squabble all the time. You know how teenage siblings are; they can be best buddies one minute and get on each others’ nerves the next. One word, one sentence or an action can trigger an outburst. And it can happen anywhere; hence, “ dari rumah ” (from home) and “ ke tanah ” (to mean outside the house). And it can be irritating to the grandmother because she’s with them in Putrajaya. Whenever they start quarrelling, the nenek will go, “ dari rumah ke tanah …” and starts her rant. Mysara and Danial will start blaming each other on who started the quarrel first.   And because the nenek uses it often enough, they will, in the midst of their squabbling, say “ dari rumah ke tanah ” before she can say it herself. And they will burst out laughing. And nenek will be annoyed. “ Tengok tu, dia main-mainkan kita ,” she would say. I don’...
Read more

A Wednesday's Child

Image
Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go, Friday's child is loving and giving, Saturday's child works hard for a living, But the child who is born on the Sabbath day Is fair and wise and good in every way. -           A. E. Bray's Traditions of Devonshire (Volume II, pp. 287–288) This is a new blog. Does this mean a new life? Well, maybe. This is my third blog, to be exact. I don’t remember the first blog. I accidentally deleted the account when I wanted to change the blog name. Lucky for me, there weren’t that many postings yet. The second blog was initially called Latte @ Chinoz on the Park as I used to hang out there quite a lot with my good friend Helen, who has now moved to Kuching, Sarawak. We had a good time watching people from all walks of life there. I started it on a Wednesday, on 26 July 2006 to be exact. I ...
Read more