Happy Birthday Malaysia

First of all, let me apologize...

I'm not a flag bearer or flag waver or flag anything.. In fact, I don't like flags that much at all. I have never, nor will I plan to be caught holding a flag, waving it enthusiastically like some person high on caffeine, not even on National Day......

I'm indifferent about Malaysian politics most of the time.... I didn't go marching during the ISA protest in KL last month, nor did I oppose those who did go marching. I was just sitting in Starbucks sipping coffee... I couldn't be bothered if PAS and DAP can't get along, or if the former Menteri Besar of Selangor's bungalow was 5 million or 24 million... Anything more than 1 million is more than my brain can count. I don't really bother if people think our PM is mysteriously involved in some Mongolia murder or that his wife seems to look a bit like a witch character in old Malay movies (am I going to be arrested for saying that?). And I certainly couldn't be bothered if elected State Assembly Men driving a Toyota Camry instead of a Proton Perdana is considered less patriotic. If I could have a say, we'd all be riding bicycles anyway. And to quote from Henry Ford, you can have any colour you want, as long as it's black. Less polution, we'd all be slim and fit, and guys, they girls all think its a hell lot more romantic...

Everyone likes to criticize, everyone likes to complain.. It's understandable.

We say our government is corrupt, we say the anti corruption agency shoves people off roof tops after they testify, we say the police rather take bribes that issue you summons, the customs take a cut in custom duties savings, and the immigration along with every other government arm is corrupt, and we use big giant fancy words like nepotism and cronyism to make the government look like the big bad wolf, always there to prey on the people. We say the government servants are leeches feeding off the system and hindering our countries progress. And perhaps many of the times, it's true...... there are corrupt and useless people in our government.

Then we complain that our laws are oppressive. We say things like the Official Secrets Act and the Internal Security Act stifle our freedom of speech, that we can't say the things we want to say, that we can only say the things the government allows us to say. We argue that no man should be detained without a fair trial and people aren't allow to simply say things to challenge the government.

After that, we complain that our country and has lousy facilities.... Internet is still 10 years behind everyone else, broadband connection is limited to cities, roads are filled with pot holes, toilets are dirty, public transport system is hopeless, and every year or so, Dataran Merdeka turns into a swimming pool even after the 5 billion ringgit SMART tunnel was built.. supposedly to solve this very problem...

What else?... What else do Malaysian complain about?

But wait a minute...

Isn't there something about the health care in America being in a complete mess recently? Weren't prisoners unlawfully detained in Guantanamo bay for months and months? Wasn't half the British Parliment MP's caught with their pants down cheating on claims? Wasn't the Italian Prime Minister reported to be 'consorting' with 17 year old girls? Wasn't China accused of completely blocking google from the country and introducing the Great Firewall of China, completely filtering the internet the chinese access? Wasn't there a riot there between the Hans and the Muslim in the inner parts of China?

Isn't there still a crisis going on in Sudan, when their leader was declared a war criminal? Isn't Myanmar on the verge of being kicked out of ASEAN over Aung San Su Ki? Didn't the Japan just report it's economy is shrinking.. again? Isn't there 6 million people (or more) in the US who just lost their job? Wasn't there just a complain today that basic hospital care standards in the UK were appalling?

Yup, it's no bed of roses anywhere in the world. There are problems high and low in every corner of the earth. Malaysia is no exception.

I'm not asking you to accept it. I'm not asking you to be indifferent. I'm just asking that before you open your mouth to complain how lousy a country we live in... think about all the above. Read what other people in other countries are doing. You will see the good, the bad and the ugly. By doing this hopefully before you get to the bad and ugly part about this country (which we all know exist anyway), you would not have forgotten the good parts. Be fair.

We live in a great country. Maybe not as charming, or as romantic as other beautiful places in the world, but still special in its own way. Everytime I drive to KLCC, and look up at the tall Twin Towers, I am awed, and filled with a sense of identity.. It might not be the tallest in the world anymore.. but you know what, it still is the coolest around the region. I went up the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai... and the most exciting moment didn't come when I saw the view of the city. No, it came, when I saw this...


There is just something about standing in the middle of a foreign land, thousands of miles away, only to find yourself staring at something from your own backyard... You feel proud, you feel excited... patriotic even... It's not so much about my country having one of the tallest building or the biggest stadium, that wasn't why I felt excited to see this picture... It's about identity. I felt excited because I could point at that picture and say "I'm from that place!" and people would know it.

Case in point:

The Eiffel Tower isn't the tallest building in the world.. but it is by far one of the most recognizable, most visited and most photographed structure in the world. The french are immensely proud of it, because it is the symbol and identity of Paris, and by extension, France. People come because they consider it special. But really, there's nothing special about it at all. It's only special because just like everything else the French make, they treat it special, therefore it becomes special, as an extension of their French identity. . A self fulfilling prophesy. Think about it; Evian is just water from a lake in Geneva, Champagne and Cognac are really just name of places in France these drinks are named after. Anyone else could make something equivalent or better.. but only the french can make it French.

My point is, the French are proud to be French not because the country is great.. or that their laws are perfect, their government good or their facilities are excellent. It's simply because that is who they are. They take pride in who they are, the things they do and the things they make.... and when you treat something special enough, such as your identity, eventually, it becomes special.

Every great nation in the world exhibit this trait, this sense of pride for being just who they are; Americans, French, British, Germans, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean..... just ask and you'll see it in their eyes.

Can't we do the same? We are Malaysians. Our country is young, we have imperfect laws, our government is far from clean and less than efficient, our public transport is hopeless, our internet is slow and our road signs are only good for getting you lost..... but can't we just be proud of who we are anyway? We have a skyline instantly recognizable around the world, food in Malaysia is THE BEST (I don't care what other people say), our weather is sunny and warm all year round, we have no typhoons or natural disasters, we have oil and natural resources, our standard of living relatively good considering the cost of living here, petrol is the cheapest in the region, education all the way to secondary school is practically free, and the Malaysian people.... I tell you...

The Malaysian people are probably one of the quirkiest people you'll ever know. Most of us know at least 3 languages, we speak English in the most peculiar way (which probably only Malaysians and Singaporeans will be able to catch), we regularly take Indian chapatis in the morning, chinese noodles for lunch, western black peppers steaks for dinner and Malay nasi lemak for supper. We shamelessly take a holiday and celebrate anyway when other religious festivals arrive. We have so many holidays throughout the year; Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Wesak Day, Thaipusam, Deepavali, Christmas, Federal Territory Day, the Kings Birthday, respective state Sultan's birthday, Labour Day, Prophet Muhammad's birthday... the list goes on and on.... And if you are a shopping freak, we have 3 nationwide Mega Sales promotions per year, each lasting a month, and in between we have Christmas Sale, Year End Sale, Chinese New Year Sale, Hari Raya Sale, Deepavali Sale, Stock clearance sale..... We pretty much find every excuse to have some sort of sale to go shopping.

You know what I think? I think at this teenager age of 52 years old as a country, we are doing pretty ok.. In fact, we have it good. When the people of a country start fussing about civil liberties and media reforms and human rights, you know their moving in the right direction, even if their not quite there yet. About the anti-ISA marches that went on last month, don't these people have better things to do on a Saturday morning than march for miles just to hand a memorandum to the king? No, they don't. Because they have good jobs, with enough money not to have to work on weekends, because their children are in the malls shopping since there's a sale, and their house is not flooded with water so there's no need to evacuate. And so they busy themselves with finer issues like transparency and rights and justice and what have you....These are signs that our country is growing, and that its people are growing. We have graduated from the cradle.. but we aren't quite full grown adults yet. Is that so hard to accept?

So, what I'm just trying to say here is; love your country, even if you don't like waving flags. Love it for all it's beauty, all it's peculiarities and even it's ugly side, warts and all. Love it simply because it belongs to us. If everyone does this, I assure you, come rain or shine, riots or protest, you will be able to hold your head up high anywhere you go in the world when you say: "I AM A MALAYSIAN."

I leave you with this MTV done by this Malaysian student that caused quite a controversy here in Malaysia back in 2007. It hit a lot of nerves, maybe because a lot of it were true, but you can't deny this man loves his country... despite his sharp criticism. I've never heard a more hip or passionately song version of Negaraku than this anyway. Happy Birthday Malaysia.....