~mErdeKa Are wE?~

Happy Merdeka. Yes if you notice, I put a pull stop, without needing to shout. That’s how I feel today. What is independence? What I know, independence also brings to mind about self governance, sovereignty, impartiality, liberty and freedom.

But personally, I feel like the gist of Merdeka is not there like what Austin Powers’ said, there’s no modjo. For Malaysian (or maybe Aseans), we only ‘celebrate” Merdeka without her gist. We know when we achieved our Merdeka, but the celebration is without soul. To me it’s only a repetitious celebration, empty and a time for me to sit back and relax from my hectic days in the office.

At night as I was watching TV, I was thinking. Is this how people celebrate Merdeka? Just like the Americans and other kuffar? So what makes us different from the kuffar? Celebrate it with something that makes we forget our root to achieve independence? So I turned off my TV and instead catch a book. Both my late grandfathers were “fighters” when they joined Force 136 before Merdeka. They have lived through the Japs and Brits occupancy, during that difficult era. Nenek used to go around her village in a lorry to see whether her village men are okay during the May 13 mayhem. Then she continued on to fight for her people in UMNO, but for some reasons she stopped being active in politics.

How they lived and still living the meaning of Merdeka? They always said Alhamdulillah and they told their children and grandchildren to always be better than yesterday, but never fail to turn your head back and see where you came from. That was from my beloved Atuk Zubir. But the blood and spirit of both my Atuk Zubir and Atuk Bujang runs through my veins and mind – to let me “see” the world in different perspectives, and not to succumb to failures but to learned from it. Never give up but to give out. In what I do, I give my all and not half heartedly. A perfectionist? Maybe so.

Merdeka? What is Merdeka if people have been happily swayed by music that makes us forget? What is Merdeka when her soul is not there? What is Merdeka if one cannot enjoy her freedom of expression, a liberty to be friends to everyone, not to be hated or not to be a hater herself? That’s only the tip of the iceberg…

Merdeka! You shouted, when you are tightly bound to financial credits? Merdeka! when material achievements spelt success? Merdeka! when your kids are back, drunk and worship hedonism? Merdeka! when you say you’re Muslim but not a practising one? Merdeka! when you say, “Matlamat menghalalkan Cara?” that the goal is important to be achieved in any way, any form? Even evil? That we adore Karl Marx for that?!! Aren’t that communism?

I feel sad that there is still this mental block among Malaysian. Shallow people who sets rule just for their own advantages. That if the rules aren’t working for them, they make other people suffer. What is the right to believe a person without listening to the other party? Is it right to judge people based on misleading “facts” and hearsay? Is it right to side a person without even TRYING to discuss with the other party? Without bias? Without prejudice? But based on WHAT the person think? Just because of some misunderstandings and how people perceived and assumed things? Is this the Merdeka that Malaysians celebrated? If this mental block still exist among us, and what Malays called as PHD (Perasaan Hasad Dengki), then they are far from being a Merdeka soul, and was still a typical backdated, uncivilised people.

Jangan bangga menjadi manusia maju jikalau hidup penuh songsang dan rapuh…

For that, I end up my Merdeka writing. Happy Merdeka. And what’s left of it.