INDEPENDENCE: THE STRUGGLE TO RETAIN IT

“Merdeka !, Merdeka!, Merdeka !”. For the past fifty years, this word has been exclaimed by Malaysians on 31st August every year. Even the younger generations yelled the word “Merdeka !” with enthusiasm. But do they really know the meaning of “merdeka” or independence? As time goes by, we can see that the spirit of patriotism among Malaysians; especially our youngsters are fading away. Why does this scenario occurs? I did some interviews with the public regarding the topic.

According to Hj. Ardiah Shah, 46, a ticket seller at Port Klang, said that the meaning of independence is free from the domination of colonist. Alas, younger generations today failed to understand the true meaning of patriotism and independence. They are socially and psychologically colonized the by Western ideology. These youngsters are easily influenced by the western lifestyle through mass media such as; movies, televisions, magazines and others. Most of them didn’t comprehend why Independence Day is held every year and what was the meaningful story behind the achievement that had been attained by our forefathers. “The only thing they know is to celebrate Independence Day by attending to concerts held during the midnight count down. But do they attend the parade and marching on the morning of 31st August itself? I really have a doubt about that”, he said.

Furthermore, Roslan Sally, 42, a fruit seller from Port Klang, suggested that a thanksgiving prayer and “hajat” prayer should be held instead of concerts. This would help in avoiding social problems from ascending. “We should be thankful to Allah S.W.T who had given us the prosperity and harmony in this country. By holding such concerts and parties we are being ungrateful and encouraging the society to do more sins. Supposedly, we must commemorate the sacrifices that had been made by our ancestors to gain independence”, said Roslan. He also claims that it is very disappointing to see that the youngsters are idolising the Western culture. It is absolutely against our Eastern norm. They should educate themselves and learn to follow the footsteps of our forefathers such as; Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Onn Jaafar or the poetic Usman Awang and Za’ba which contributed a lot in Malay literature. Youngster should be proud of the heritage that we have in Malaysia, not criticising it and claiming that the Western ideology is better.

In order to have patriotism spirit and enthusiasm in celebrating Independence Day among youngsters; is to encourage them to participate in the parade themselves. Concerts are not an option. Better yet these concerts that are so-called celebration of Independence Day should be annulled. This is because, such concerts would create more social problems and at the same time escalates the crime statistics. Few years ago, there was a case where a girl was raped during the night of the Independence Day count-down concert. Sadly, this case is been taken lightly by our youngsters. Instead of having some awareness within themselves, they still went out for the sake of having fun.

Even though some may give good responds on the questions regarding the Independence Day, there are several ignorant people who feel that Independence Day is not something to be proud of. This person whom physically seem to be in his early fifties even, exclaim his anger about the economy and social problem which had not been resolved by the government. He also accused the media for sending out false facts about the current issue that is happening in our country. In my point of view, this type of person should be given motivation in controlling his anger and dispute. He should play his part as an elderly in educating and advising the younger generation, not spitting out bad words and fury. His attitude really put me into perspective that there are still people who are not appreciative of what they have.

So, how are we going to make the younger generations and generally Malaysians really understand and appreciate our independence? In the first hand, we must make them understand the “Rukun Negara”. “Rukun Negara” is fundamentally aimed to unite the multi-ethnic group in Malaysia. Therefore, it is important for all Malaysians to comprehend the meaning of “Rukun Negara”. They didn’t realise that the “Rukun Negara” is the foundation of integration in our country. Alas, society nowadays does not know how to imply the “Rukun Negara” in every aspect of their life. On the other hand, parents must nurture their children about the meaning of independence. This is because, the elders especially parents play an important role in teaching them to appreciate our country and the freedom that our forefathers had obtained for our nation. Activities such as motivational speech or storytelling from our grandfathers, would make the children realise that the struggle to get what they have now is not like eating a piece of cake. The spirit of determination, perseverance and patriotism is still vivid within our elders’ souls because they were involved in fighting for our nation’s pride and honour. Every wrinkle, every white hair and every wound tells a story of how they live their life to defend our country and make independence happen.

As younger generation, we must continue the effort of retaining our country free from any colonization. We must not be negligent with the luxury that we have now. Without the struggle of our forefathers to achieve independence, we might not be able to stand proudly as the other developing country. Therefore, we must free our minds from any colonial ideology that would bring our independence and culture towards extinction. Should such situation occurs, it would be end of our heritage and independence. There would be no more 31st August celebration and we would be a joke to the rest of the world. Are we ready to face such humiliation and discrimination?

Therefore, it is our time to roll up our sleeves and play our part for our beloved country. We must set our mind to protect our country from any kind of colonization in term of economically and socially. We must learn and understand our history regarding the political struggle, segregation and nationalism. My late grandfather once told me that even though we have achieved independence we still have to fight in defending our honour and pride. He was a political figure and also a soldier during the World War 2, said that the struggle and fight was more meaningful back then. So it would be disappointing if the younger generations did not appreciate it. It is extremely vital for the youngsters to carry on the fight in preserving our nation’s independence. Our nation won’t be as democracy as today if we did not sustain it in the right way.