31st August was our nation's 55th birthday, but it did not feel much of a celebration to me. I remember when I was small, Merdeka Day was a very big affair. Because it is a holiday, I get to watch TV and the parade that was going on live. I loved the different costumes and the crowd cheering and I have always wanted to grow up and go there to witness it live.
But somehow, after growing up and living so close, this desire died off. I am not sure if it is because of other things in my way, or Merdeka Day does not seem to be an event anymore. More so, when I look at the state of affairs in the country. Sometimes I wonder if it was better to have been ruled by the British and not gotten our freedom.
Look at how Hong Kong has flourished under their rule. Small tiny dot on the map of the world, and yet they have so much riches. By comparison, we have so much more, yet our country has little significance to the outside world.
The main inheritance from the British which is the English language itself has been politicized by the ruling party, what a shame. To deprive its citizens of learning the language used by the world in favour of a language used mainly in Malaysia. Isn't that interesting now?
And what about the famous changes which happened to our country's history in our kids' text books?
I did not even bother to switch on the TV and show my kids any parade. It is such a pity. All the fights our nation's leaders did over 55 years ago seems to have been forgotten.
What about you? How has the long weekend been? My kids had lots of fun. We went to 1Utama, got to do plenty of rides and toy shop visits. Saturday was a day at the hospital for Megan and drama class for Ryan. We had church service and my parents came to visit. Today we had water play at home and Hungry Ghost festival air pollution happening.
The kids are all tired out. I am too. It has been a long weekend. Thank you Malaysia for the holiday, I hope next year we will see some changes.
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