Happy Merdeka Celebration

Today marks the 52 years of Malaysia freed from colonization. On 31st August 1957, Malaysia (then called Malaya) was declared independence from the British. My generation of post Merdeka (Malay word of Independent) has not seen the struggle by our great grandparents and leaders on claiming independence via peaceful mean. So, sometime we might have not appreciated what our seniors talked about in fighting for independence. We tend to use our own assessment in evaluating what we, Malaysian should be gone through in years to come. I think our generation share universal value of good governance, transparency, justice, accountability, respectful, mutual understanding, hardworking, honest and etc. I believe these are values, if promoted and executed fairly will unite all of us.

1Malaysia as envisioned by our Prime Minister is timely reminder of us that despite with a multiculturalism and ethnic society, we can nurture a society with shared vision and direction. And I believe we can. When we go oversea, we always introduce ourselves to foreigners that we are Malaysian rather than Malay, Chinese or Indian as what we have been calling ourselves in Malaysia. All of us like nasi lemak, choy koay tiew and roti canai, the authentic Asian food we have enjoyed for the past century in Malaysia. We should further enhance the similarities we have.

We must be able to agree to disagree. Happy Merdeka...