Alright, I know this post is one day late, but I can't do anything about it as yesterday wasn't a holiday for me. Haiz... The pains of being overseas and having to go to school on your national day!
There was a countdown party and all the Malaysians in boarding school came together in the tiny function room. Eventually there wasn't even enough chairs, but who cares about such trivial issues? There was a screening of National Day programs on RTM, and many noted that they had not watched that channel for a long long time...
We counted down (in Malay! to think that many of us there hadn't counted in Malay for YEARS...), full of gusto and enthusiasm. "... Tiga! Dua! Satu! MERDEKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Everyone was screaming their hearts out. We then sang Negaraku to the raising of Jalur Gemilang. All of us sang at the top of our voices; I'm sure we woke up some people who were sleeping! :P
The countdown party was really great. To come together as a nation and celebrate 50 years of independence is simply wonderful, more still when you are in a foreign country. All of us sang with so much enthusiasm and gusto that I'm sure it's the only time we had ever sang with so much feelings! I personally had never sang so loud and passionately, and I'm sure it was the same for the others, especially those who were in their first year overseas. And we CHEERED for our leaders! We cheered when the flag was brought out during the reenactment, we cheered for the entourage of 'Tunku Abdul Rahman', we sang SUPER LOUD with the patriotic songs, basically we just CHEERED NON-STOP! I ended up with a hoarse throat :P
Malaysian are uniquely Malaysian. We don't usually show the fact that we love Malaysia but there is that part of our hearts that makes us love Malaysia. Being overseas strengthens this fact - you stand in respect of the host country when they sing 'Majulah Singapura' and take The Pledge, and this is especially painful when you think of the good old days when you had to sing Negaraku everyday or once a week at least, and recite Rukunegara.
On hindsight, I do regret not having sang passionately when I had the chance to sing Negaraku, and I long for the day when I can once again hear the voice of Kwang Hua singing Negaraku full blast. To hear 3500 voices singing the national anthem live is simply different from singing in you heart, or singing with some 80 others who similarly have not sang it for even years, or even listening to the live telecast (from home!) on RTM, when most of us had not watched it for ages...
Do treasure the moments when you can love your country and show it there. I try my best to do Malaysia proud but still nothing beats being able to do it in your homeland itself. I miss the days when I could walk around being the majority, but now I'm ever proud to say I'm Malaysian. When my friends of other nationalities have a misconception of Malaysians, I'm ever ready to correct them. Example: "You are a Malay so you must join Malay Dance!" "Aren't you a Muslim?" I'm glad to be able to carry the name of my homeland; who cares about being under misconception? It's even fun to explain to them and see their bewildered faces as they realise how mistaken they've been always...
Love your country! Love your homeland, for you have been born and bred there, and Malaysia's the one place that you can call home. No matter whatever the past, love Malaysia and be proud to be Malaysian. It's hard to complement the implications, but being away from home has helped me see the true picture and realise how much I love Malaysia.
Allow me to quote from a well-known song:
Oh! Tanah pusaka
Biar putih tulang jangan putih mata
Oh Malaysia, tanah airku yang tercinta!
~~yq~~
