Jamaluddin Ibrahim & National Day

This is an interesting interview of a Mandarin speaking Malay by a Mandarin speaking Malay reporter in Malaysia. It was from the Star online, during the Chinese new year sometime ago. It was a beautiful interview, where three languages of Mandarin, Malay and English were used. Suddenly I feel like sensing something familiar. The reporter's pronunciation is beautiful, like a typical Malaysian Chinese. The interviewee's English is also like a local Chinese speaking English.

I suddenly remember Kelantan, where a large population of Malay are in Chinese school, and majority of the local Chinese speak Kelantanese Malay like a typical Kelantan Malay.

I remember Kedah, I remember the common people where they can speak beautiful Malay. I also remember the Pasar Malay spoken by people of different background. I also remember a Penang Malay speak Hockkien. An Indian in Ipoh speak Cantonese, and a Chinese classmate from estate, who can speak Tamil. Oh, what a beautiful life in the ordinary people.





I remember P Ramli......

Our National Day is coming on 31-8-2010, the interview will give us some time to wonder, and ponder.... is it the time for One Malaysian, One Malaysia....of diversity or commonality?

Why when we are oversea, our feeling of Malaysianess is greater than we are in the country?...that is the question we need to ask, is the environment rich enough to nourish our spirit of nationalism?. Then, why the foreign environment?...

Look at the way we fly our national flags, the old torn down Malaysian flags all over the country, even in some government offices, old dirty national flags....the total lacking of the appreciation of symbolic nationalism, our national flag. Do we know the meaning of nationalism, and the national flag, despite many official campaign to fly national flags.....the lacking of discipline? or cultural "tidak apa" culture?...

Are we proud of the achievement of our Malaysian oversea, regardless the racial background?......and ponder why they can do well oversea, is it the free, liberty environment for them to excel? ...

What is our barrier? official policies? private prejudice / misperception? .... When will we walk out from the cocoon, and be a beautiful butterfly that fly high in the sky, happily and proudly.....as a confident Malaysian.

We are Malaysian, regardless of race, religion, class, language.....

Merdeka, merdeka, mederka..... another 31st August, and we are now 53 years old, an old nation, but ......with the mentality of new nation over the teething problems....lack of maturity to face the challenges ahead?....

What we had done for the past 50 years and more?.....do we have the criteria to become a great nation, a developed nation, a cultural nation?

Are we coming back to the beginning after more than 50 years? ...... some even forgot about the nation building history.....your history, our history, amend history or no history?....

Now , I remember the promise of the nation building when I was young 50 years ago.....and now I am an old Malaysian.....looking back, more than 50 years, the school days, I wonder why there must be such thing as politic. Otherwise we are still watching P Ramli show in the coffee shop and having laughter in our heart.......ya, we have lost something, something is missing.....

I have a dream, like Martin Luther King, may not be the same dream; but a dream for a better days, the same day on 31st August.....a dream for a greater, freer, better national environment....

But better keep to myself.....Happy Birthday....