National Day Just Another Holiday

Merdeka is mean that Independence in Malaysia. On 31 August in every year, we will always celebrate it as our Independence day in Malaysia.  One day more to go, it will be 31 August 2020. I still remembered vividly that during my school times, our headmaster in school would be stand at the front stage, shouted loudly "Merdeka" for 3 times while raising up his fist. Then, all students who gathered at the assembly area also following exactly what the headmaster did. It is a symbolic norm in Malaysia for Merdeka day since 1957, the year of Independence. As usual, we all Malaysian will celebrate together at Merdeka Square, Kuala Lumpur. Then, citizen would crowd at the road sides to watch the performance of Merdeka Parade. The National Day parade in conjunction with the country’s 63nd independence anniversary was held in the federal administrative capital, Puterajaya. A parade is a procession of people, normally government servant like security forces and polices, usually organized along a street, often in well-uniform sit in the tank and truck, and often accompanied by marching bands, floral floats moved through the streets under mostly sunny morning. Parades are held for 5-8 KM long distance along the street to demonstrate the magnificent achievement since independence. Children were seen laughing and waving the Jalur Gemilang, singing along to the various patriotic songs being played over the public announcement system. The crowd of Malaysians from all walks of life was as colourful as their attire worn today. Young women clad in Jalur Gemilang cap stood next to others clad in shirts and pants with the national flag as the motif. Others colour-matched their pants, shirts and caps and socks to the Jalur Gemilang with red, blue, yellow and white as the theme. Sometimes, a few parade-goers were also spotted using stilts to get a better view of things. Many people would take photo and selfie as remembrance of this great day. However, these all are not the main reason of the celebration of National day. The most important things are the lesson we learnt from the independence. About 63 years ago, we all were still colonized by the western empire. We did not have our identity and the basic right to govern ourselves. The independence characterized that we have our own identify as Malaysia who have the fully right to govern themselves without bowing down yourselves to great power. We must remember the contribution and scarification of our ancestors who had brought all this for us. Nowadays, youths are said that they take the country for granted, media have been misused to intensify the hatred of different race, SME are try to exploit the wealth of lower class citizen, politician are trying intimidated citizen to stabilize his power, big corporate intend to keep their umbrella away during the heavy rainstorm and so on. If we all still not realized the risk and danger of the consequences of these matters. At the end, the country will be destroyed by ourselves, not the colony. No more National Day for citizen, only the END Day we find it for ourselves.