By Anthony Dylan Anak Frankie Jurem
The month of September has just arrived. By the time you read this article, the National Day or Hari Kebangsaan has just passed. 31st August has always been a date where Merdeka will be celebrated. However, let us go revisit what the date signifies.
On 31st August 1957, MALAYA declared independence from the British rule. SINGAPORE also made a declaration of de facto independence from the British on 31st August 1963. NORTH BORNEO (now SABAH) also made a declaration from the British rule on 31st August 1963 whereas SARAWAK made the declaration from the British rule on 22nd July 1963.
These dates were all in anticipation of the formation of MALAYSIA which was supposed to be on 31st August 1963. This birth date for a new country called MALAYSIA was later pushed forward to 16th September 1963 as the United Nations insisted on doing a survey amongst the people of North Borneo and Sarawak first.
The MALAYSIA AGREEMENT was signed between the 4 parties on 9th July 1963. However, SINGAPORE separated from MALAYSIA with a separation agreement as an independent and sovereign state on 7th August 1965 and made official on 9th August 1965.
The important documents can be found here:
Lest we forget. Again. We must continuously educate many about ensuring facts are correct. That is why in Sabah, they would celebrate their Merdeka from the British since 1963 on the 31st of August. That would be 61 years on that day. Malaya on the other hand would celebrate their 67th Merdeka since 1957 on the 31st of August. Sarawak on the other hand celebrated their 61st year on 22nd July.
It is not that difficult, but many politicians and council persons seem to be rather careless in understanding historical facts. The same could be said of many corporate bodies. Sadly, till this day, there are some who have yet to realise that such dates cannot be ignored and superseded. I do find this strange. It is not that difficult to even use Google if you are too lazy to even go to the library.
This year’s Hari Kebangsaan theme is “MALAYSIA MADANI: JIWA MERDEKA” Last year’s was “MALAYSIA MADANI: TEKAD PERPADUAN PENUHI HARAPAN.” These two are leading the current Parliament into the mid-term. The next General Election must be held by 17th February 2027. 2025 would be the mid-term and many would start to evaluate the current Government from then on.
As it is, it would be interesting to see how those who were born in 2008 vote in 2027. That would be the last of Gen Z and a group who would have no recollection of Bersih or politics before today. Those born in 2008 would not have appreciated the miracle of 2018. They would have to go through the dreaded Covid-19 years of 2020 till 2022 and the post covid after effects during their schooling years.
Politicians today in office and those yearning to run for office better take heed of the needs of these new upcoming automatic voters. They are a digital savvy generation and would have a mind of their own.
Understandably, today we are really struggling to get some fuel towards ensuring a united and stable country to press forward. Some politicians today in office have started to show that they are no better than the foes vanquished. Time would tell and that showed. For one, I cannot understand the decisions made by some of them.
The Federal Highway in Klang Valley has seen the motorcycle lanes made useless. Many have opted to not use them in view of safety and security issues and rather take the chance on an already busy vehicular highway. There must be something wrong when the authorities do not take heed of such issues. The roads leading to and out of Subang Airport remain a choc a block. Now, with some rather amusing decision made, we see this airport revived for the thundering jets ever since operations slowly ceased from 1998. I do hope this is not a populous decision as surely any common sense would have argued against, instead.
Has unity improved since 2018? Honestly, it got rather worse. Somehow, the digital world has made communications and propaganda speed up. We would be bombarded with unverified morsels which would eventually be no more than hot gossip. But such gossip has the potential for so much harm. In the last SUKMA in Sarawak, we saw how teams from all states and the region of Sabah, and the country of Brunei participated. SUKMA or Sukan Malaysia is a biennial event for those 21 years old and below.
Yet, some states chose to make religion and sport an issue. Some even try politics to score some brownie points with their supporters. These actions do more harm than good as the athletes’ sole aim is to participate. There should never have been issues to curtail or demonise participants. These are the new voters coming in. Would we mould the youth this way? Some state Governments have really gone overboard.
Sarawak has tried their best in moving away from the putrid politics of the Peninsula. To be honest, they should continue to do so. There are so many other things to fix to move the community forward, yet many still rather play divisive politics.
Come 16th September 2024, MALAYSIA would celebrate her birth. Lest we forget. Again. MALAYSIA was never colonised. Malaysia was a new entity made from the independent states of the Federation of Malaya, Singapore (separated and became independent on 9th August 1965), North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak on 16th September 1963. MALAYSIA would be 61 years old.
