I am a proud Malaysian. Just as I am a proud mother to my children and the proud daughter to my parents. Because if you have and feel a sense of belonging, you’d be darn proud of who you are and / or what you have been privileged enough to be a part of.
I wasn’t there when Tunku first proclaimed “Merdeka” back in 1957 at Dataran Merdeka. Obviously! I’m not THAT old! But everytime I see it on TV, I get goose bumps … every time. I wonder why? Maybe its because I feel so blessed to be living in a country that allows me to live a life of almost my choosing.
To me, Merdeka means an opportunity to choose how you would like to live your life… where no one (other than you dad… for me at least) can dictate. You may choose to live modestly in the city; you may even choose to move to Australia for awhile to get a taste of something different or you may travel the world; only to come back to the one country that you can really call home.
Malaysia despite its multi ethnicity and diverse cultures, amazingly come together in the world of sports and pallet of food. Proud to wear the harimau malaya jersey and even prouder to wave the jalur gemilang. We take our nasi lemak and char keuh teow very seriously… no matter where we are in the world.
Merdeka to me, means being able to hug your kids at night no matter how late you come home. Merdeka to me, means you get to choose what kind of job you want; even if its just from the confines of your smartphones. Merdeka to me, means not having to worry so much about your safety even when you don’t have an alarm around the house.
Malaysia, you’re in my blood and no one can take that away from me. Maybe one day my children will be able to draw something that will make history of my memories of you.
#inimalaysiakita
So I just wanna say terima kasih to Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, & Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak for all their perfect imperfections… because with all that is going on in this world, I am the one that gets to sleep peacefully at night.
