Not So Happy Merdeka

BolehGeneral, August 29, 2007

English, Side notes |

By Pinkpau

you know how it is. we’ve all heard it many times : ya ya ya malaysia is going down the drain ya ya government stupid opposition stupid all also stupid ya ya cant wait to migrate ya ya when i graduate there’s no way i will come back to work here blablabla aiyah but then actually ah deep down inside ah i really love Malaysia wan. because we got damn good food and we invented Manglish! so, happy Merdeka everyone!!!!!!!!

what does it say about the state of Malaysia, that after 50 years of independence, the only good things about the country the average Malaysian can come up with are the food and a hodge podge language that our government isnt very proud of anyway? what does it say, that there’s not much else that contributes to the awesomeness of our country besides some kuih muih and the concept of 24-hour mamak stalls?

yeah all these party invitations. all these countdowns and flag-flying and Merdeka Jumps. it IS a 50 year anniversary after all; if you’ve not been patriotic ever in your life, now is the time to jump on the bandwagon and do it.

wave that flag as if there is nothing seriously wrong with our country.

paint the jalur gemilang on your cheeks as if you know and embrace how half of your fellow Malaysians are treated as second-class citizens by the other supposedly superior half who seem to have forgotten why they have their ’special rights’ in the first place.

blindly believe that there is fairness in this country, despite how politicans constantly play the Sacred Constitution card, but doggedly believe and announce to the world that Malaysia is an Islamic state, is not a secular state, and was never secular to even begin with.

knock back a celebratory beer for the sad state of our gagged and bound state-controlled mass media outlets who brainwash 27 million Malaysians each day. knock back another for the silencing of truth and the filtering of information by an insecure and cowardly government, who would rather the people be kept ignorant and in the dark, all in the name of PRESERVING PEACE.

make a toast to Malaysia while bearing in mind the likes of Lina Joy who was denied her fundamental freedom by our country’s judiciary, Makkal Osai the Tamil newspaper suspended for realpolitik reasons cleverly veiled by an all too convenient scapegoat, Revathi Masoosai who was seized by Islamic authorities and forced to eat beef (despite her Hindu beliefs) as part of a rehabilitation process to Islamize her.

write happy clappy Merdeka essays or paint Merdeka buntings for your school while paying tribute to this Fear we’ve been brought up to live with and accept; to scare-tactics brazenly and comfortably employed; to a lack of censure in government because the system cleverly insulates them from such 21st century democratic liberties; to draconian devices designed to effectively keep the ruling regime in power.

look up proudly at billboards displaying our 5 Prime Ministers’ faces, and blissfully ignore the fact that high crime levels still plague the streets of our country and corruption of all kinds is still rampant in all levels of our society, despite firm and loud-ringing promises during election season.

three claps to non transparency, another three to non existent check and balance!

clap yourself on the back for having elected to power politicians who froth at the mouth over a tongue-in-cheek Youtube video, citing disrespect of the national anthem and screaming for the videomaker’s blood when it is all really a strategized case of rallying and capitalizing on dormant racial tension. ignore the fact that these same politicians never applied the same standards of ‘incitement of racial hatred’ when certain parties called for the revoking of citizenship for those who opposed Malay rulers, as well as when a certain leader promised his race that he would soak his keris in Chinese blood.

valiantly declare that you’re proud of Malaysia and its 50 years of contemporary achievements; laud it for the substandard rote education it has given you, for the censored and biased version of your country’s history that you grew up thinking was the truth; for the Societies Act and the University & University College Act that slyly impose a glass ceiling on mental growth and freedom of expression among our students.

jump up and countdown the seconds to the dawn of a country where in time to come, the intelligent and capable will have flown the coop, bitter and eager to be appreciated elsewhere; where the ones who remain are complacent in their non-competitiveness and mediocrity, lazy in their elevated positions, obtuse and unchallenged in their ignorance.

and while you’re at it, why not hop on the Eye on Malaysia. invest some moolah in the PKFZ. take a drive down that dumb Smart Tunnel. eat a plate of nasi lemak, because you know, apparently it rights all the wrongs in our country.

as August 31st dawns upon us this Friday, i urge all of you to think carefully about why you’re celebrating this 50th anniversary, about why you love this country as much as you say you do, and about what Merdeka really means to you.

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