Saturday, August 30, 2008

The 51st National Day: Road to Nationhood

It is exactly 9.55pm on August 30th, 2008 when I wrote this entry.

I am back at my hometown in Melaka and was a bit disappointed with my wireless broadband service (heck, its only about an 10kpbs faster than my dial up connection). Then again, that would be a story for another day.

At the brink of Malaysia celebrating her National Day, there are a lot of things which I have been pondering, especially so since the last March 8 General Election. To put it in a nutshell, as a nation, are we really there yet? Was the last general election result really a sign of a maturing society dispensing its right to choose responsibly or was it an act of frustration of our society trying to teach "someone" a lesson but at the same time, maybe jeopardizing the very fabric of our social existance?

There are certainly a lot of pent-up frustration with the present governing coalition (with the main target being the backbone of it :UMNO) if the articles and comments on the blogsphere are to be taken. The people are becoming more vocal in their demands and when there are demands from certain quarters, there are bound to be uneasiness and sometime downright hostility to these demands. We are all for just society where everyone is treated as equals and given equal opportunity to succeed but given the very basis of the founding of our country, we should thread this issue with care. Nobody is promoting discrimination and no one is promoting the slave-master relationship (as being portrayed by the "ketuanan" issue) but unfortunately a lot of us seemed to forget our historical background and how independence came about.

Yes, we need to be progressive and look ahead, but not at the expense of discarding our history.

On this note, Happy Birthday, Malaysia.....

1 comment:

Shahrulmiza said...

Salam Bro,

Selamat Menyambut Hari Kebangsaan ke-51 dan Selamat menunaikan ibadah puasa.

Pada pendapat aku yang telah berada di luar Malaysia genap setahun, aku rasa apabila merenung sejenak ke belakang aku dapati negara kita banyak dah berubah dari segi landskap sosial, politik serta ekonomi.

Dunia juga telah banyak berubah dalam 1 tahun lepas. Dari segi ekonomi, sosial dan politik, perubahan demi perubahan dapat dilihat.

Malaysia perlu kekal relevan dalam dunia yang semakin kompetitif. Tun Mahathir telah meletakkan asas yang tepat bagi menjadikan Malaysia sebagai sebuah negara maju menjelang 2020.

Namun, sekarang ini nampaknya usaha2 kepimpinan dahulu seakan "terencat" sedikit lantaran kemelut ekonomi dan politik negara yang tak berkesudahan.

Bagi aku yang menjadi salah seorang "frontliners" di luar negara, kami semua cintakan negara. Kami bersemangat untuk terus mengibarkan Jalur Gemilang dan mempromosi negara sebagai destinasi terbaik untuk perdagangan, pelaburan dan pelancongan.

Back home, aku mengharapkan Malaysia akan terus kekal maju dan mara ke hadapan, kompetitif dan berdaya saing untuk menghadapi cabaran negara ASEAN serta kuasa2 ekonomi baru yang semakin berkembang dan terus kompetitif.

Semoga sinar baru ke arah Malaysia yang lebih aman, makmur dan berdaulat akan memberikan harapan dan membawa kita maju ke hadapan.

Merdeka!