Merdeka when I was young

Richard Loh

I was 3 years old when Malaya got its Independence and at that age I cannot recall what actually happened, so I had to learn in later years from history books. History is written by men or historians but along the way depending on the whims and fancies of those in power, it can be rewritten.

What I learned in the sixties was that Malayans comprising of all races led by Tunku Abdul Rahman fought for our Freedom from British rule. Following our Freedom, the country had to fight the communist insurgencies and Malayans of all races fought off the communists.

During the sixties, when I was a teenager still, the country was peaceful and harmonious (other than the communist insurgencies which had no effect on us civilians). All the races mixed around with each other without any inkling of what racism was all about while religions were never a conflict.

The whole landscape of peace and harmony started to deteriorate after May 13 1969 with many versions written and told of what actually caused the fatal riots. The actual truth will never be revealed as some of those in the know are dead and gone while those still alive would not want to jeopardize their comfortable positions. What I can say is that the disparity between the haves and haves-not among the races is only part of the reason.

No one has ever questioned the NEP or seriously asked how it deviated from its original true intention and the way it was implemented. It has now been twisted and turned into part of the constitution which no one can question or remove. Just like the ISA which originally was used against the communist insurgencies and is now being used as a great political tool.

Whatever is happening now to the country should be blamed on the wealth of our country. We are blessed with natural resources and free from natural disasters. Such bounty leads to greed and power-craze, with those in power clamoring to reap as much as possible for themselves.

In order to continue reaping the country's wealth, they must remain in power and that is where dirty politics come into play. Before the 308 tsunami, the balance of political power was one-sided leaving those in power to do whatever they liked with the country's wealth. Divide and rule was the best option to use to ensure victory and it never failed them.

After 308, the whole political scenario changed and those in power are now scrambling to find solutions to ensure they can continue to stay in power. But their shallow application of this divide-and-rule policy seems redundant in this new era.

The only way left to cling to power is to create confusion among the people. How to confuse the people? It is easy - just introduce the slogan "1Malaysia, People First Performance Now". Within the ruling party, they break up into separate groups with the PM leading one side as the nice guy while the other groups play bad guy to create as much distortion as possible. They also misinterpret the constitution, the PM's slogan, the use of religion and racism to the tilt.

The good guy, that is the PM will keep on talking (I am very certain that his Merdeka speech will be all about peace and harmony and his 1Malaysia concept) while leaving the bad guys to do his other dirty job, i.e to break up and cause chaos among the races.

Many have said that their actions will cause their own downfall but we must know that there are also many that will fall prey to their dirty plots. Non-Malays will be blinded by the good guy rhetoric while the Malays will believe that their religion and status are being challenged.

We fought to free ourselves from the British and to get rid of the communists but instead of enjoying the real freedom, we are now enslaved by our own greedy government.

Once a year we are told that we are all Malaysians, we must be patriotic and fly our national flag to celebrate Merdeka day. The rest of the days in the year, I am Malay first, you are pendatang, beggars or prostitutes with racist slurs coming from the leaders and media every other days.

Merdeka day is the only day where we are all recognized as Malaysians, so enjoy the 24 hours that you are truly Malaysian.

Malaysia for All