Today is the 16th of September 2007.
On this day forty four years ago, Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaya as equal partners to form the Federation of Malaysia, despite the fact that certain quarters that cannot count would like us to believe otherwise.
Lets get some dates clear up first:
31st August 1957 is the day Malaya achieved independence.
16th Septenber 1963 is the day of the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.
31st August is gazetted as our National Day and I don't have any problem with that.
The year 2007 is the 50th year of the independence of Malaya and the forty fourth year of the formation of Malaysia.
As far as I am concerned Malaysia is 44 years old, and not 50 as claimed by certain quarters that can't count.
This is important. Otherwise a younger generation will grow up not knowing their history.
But did anyone care? Not much, a few maybe. Today's significance is not even mentioned in today's newspapers. In Sabah, today is a public holiday, but not because it is Malaysia Day. They gazetted today in the state of Sabah as the Birthday of the Head of State.
Happy Malaysia Day.
Lest we forget.
On this day forty four years ago, Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaya as equal partners to form the Federation of Malaysia, despite the fact that certain quarters that cannot count would like us to believe otherwise.
Lets get some dates clear up first:
31st August 1957 is the day Malaya achieved independence.
16th Septenber 1963 is the day of the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.
31st August is gazetted as our National Day and I don't have any problem with that.
The year 2007 is the 50th year of the independence of Malaya and the forty fourth year of the formation of Malaysia.
As far as I am concerned Malaysia is 44 years old, and not 50 as claimed by certain quarters that can't count.
This is important. Otherwise a younger generation will grow up not knowing their history.
But did anyone care? Not much, a few maybe. Today's significance is not even mentioned in today's newspapers. In Sabah, today is a public holiday, but not because it is Malaysia Day. They gazetted today in the state of Sabah as the Birthday of the Head of State.
Happy Malaysia Day.
Lest we forget.
4 comments:
Being a Sabahan, I don't really get into the hype of Hari Kemerdekaan. Because Sabah has NOT "merdeka" on August 31st.
Why don't they celebrate Malaysia Day on Sept 16th for the whole of Malaysia.. since that is the day when Malaysia was actually formed?
Oh and yeah, when they changed Sabah Day into YTY's birthday, I was kinda pissed.
cindy: Correction. Technically Sabah and Sarawak were independent from British rule on 31-8-1963. They were totally independent for 15 days without ties to Malaya, due to delay from the U.N. in verifying the so called referendum in Sabah. Then on 16-9-1963, they formed Malaysia with Malaya and Singapore.
That is why I say I can accept 31st August to be our National or Independence Day. But I would like people especially the future generations to appreciate the fact that Malaysia starts from 16-9-1963 and not 31-8-1957.
It makes my blood boil when certain politicians say without thinking that Malaysia is 50 years old this year when in fact it is not.
Some may say I am being picky. But if we cannot even remember our own history, what good are we?
Maybe some politicians just read history book as much as you. :P They prefer books like: How To Make More Money for The Dummies :D
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