Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

In 2 days, my beloved country, Malaysia, is going to celebrate her 51th Independence Day. Being a post-independence child, I never really thought much about 'Merdeka'. For me, that day is just like another holiday. Nothing to be fussed about. Sure I know about the history, Tunku Abdul Rahman, etc...and being a Johorean, I'm well aware of Dato' Onn Jaafar, and Malayan Union.

However, something changed my perspective. When I was on my way to LA, I spent my time watching an in-flight movie: "1957:Hati Malaya". It started quite slow. But then it described one by one, the events that triggered our independence from the British. One scene touched me the most, that I found myself stiffling cries..and tears running down my cheeks. It's when the character 'Tunku Abdul Rahman', was telling the people that he and his men were going to London, to meet Lyttleton, to discuss about independence. However, they're lacked of money and resources. Spontaneously, the people attended the meeting decided then and there, to give whatever little money they have, to sponsor the journey. Men gave out their cents and dollars, and women gave their precious gold bangles, rings etc. Such were their sacrifices. Nothing can stop their hunger for independence.

Another thing that I noticed was when the Malays rejected Dato' Onn's idea of bringing in non-Malays to UMNO. That idea conflicted with the purpose of UMNO, which is to stand up for the Malays. I could see that Dato' Onn's intention of doing that was to convince the British, that we, people of Malaya can work together, and eventually we would be capable of running the country ourselves, even when we were from different races.

When Tunku Abdul Rahman took over UMNO, he actually came up with the same idea. It was fundamental to do so, because the British has concluded that in order to give our independence, they expect all races to work together. Honestly, in my personal opinion, the British sincerely thought that we won't be able to do this, hence they would have the reason NOT to give us our independence. However, Tunku's idea was a bit different from Dato' Onn's. He didn't bring in the non-Malays into UMNO. Each race sticked to their own parties. The Malays with UMNO, the Chinese with MCA, and the Indians with MIC. But they were brought together in a coalition named Parti Perikatan. They eventually won the election and was able to form a Federal Government and led to Tanah Melayu's Independence.

Watching the movie, I realised the significance of UMNO. UMNO started it all...Dato' Onn started it all..the day when the British announced Malayan Union, UMNO has worked hard for us.

However, the UMNO today is not the same as the UMNO then. The leaders today are NOT the same with the leader then. Then, they worked for the soul purpose of giving a better life to the Rakyats. Tun Abdul Razak died without even having his own house. Dato' Onn died with only a few dollars in his pocket.

Can we say the same about the leaders today? Cronism and briberies are everywhere. The rich is getting richer, and the poor is getting poorer. Sure, there are always talks and discussions about how to improve this and that...Corridors and mega projects here and there, but who will actually benefited this project?

I sure hope that the leaders of UMNO today would eventually realised what the people want. We love UMNO, we know what UMNO has done for us. But we are not living in the history. There's nothing wrong with UMNO. It's the people who's running it.

With the winning of DSAI in Permatang Pauh, Malaysia is slowly, but surely, in the verge of changes. We're witnessing another cycle of historic events that might change the course of our future. Whatever it turned up to be, I sure hope it would be the best for the Rakyat, especially for our future generation.