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What Merdeka Day is not

MERDEKA DAY, NATIONAL DAY, MALAYSIA Day, whatever you call 31 August, is in Malaysia loosely interchangeable. What it stands for is lost in this regular, persistent devaluation of what this nation is about. It is important in our lives only in the month of August. That is when an officially-orchestrated campaign to celebrate the anniversary of independence suffuses itself and us in an orgy of irrelevance. The scale and scope of it depends on which cabinet minister is in charge. This year, it is the tourism and culture minister, Dato' Seri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadhir, and his focus is not on what this day should be but how he can attract tourists to say how wonderful this feast is. Others in the administration saw it as a brilliant backdrop for unfair advantage in the runup to the general election. The affliction this year, as in the past few years, decides on one's nationalism and patriotism soley by flying the Malaysian flag on vehicles and houses. All it helped are the flag makers.

August 31 is the day in 1957 when the Federation of Malaya became independent. What we celebrate today, 31 August 2003, is not that event, although we count the years from that date, but the later event in 1963 when Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaya to form the Federation of Malaysia. Even that is wrong. That union was formed on 16 September 1963, but the powers that be had decided it shall be celebrated in subsequent years on 31 August. We devalue and destroy our national symbols and monuments, ignore the contributions of past leaders, and the month of August is used by the government to divert attention from the problems and contributions of the day to an irrelevant tamasha. So why not change the date to fit into a larger agenda of Malaysia as a Malay nation?

This year's celebration in Putra Jaya is narrowed down to an irrelevant focus: to give the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, a fitting send-off after 22 years in office. Nothing more, nothing less. This is when it began to unravel. The 46th Merdeka Day celebrations in 2003 is important for two historical dates: the centenary year of the birth of Malaya, and Malaysia's, founding father, Tengku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, and the fourth decade of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia. Both are indubitably ignored. One can see why. The Merdeka celebration this year is contrived so the governing National Front (BN) coalition could present its best foot forward in a not-so-subtle campaigning for the general elections. It was to rouse the crowd in frenzy to back the BN. It did, and could, not. Something had gone awry. Instead, the BN government tried to generate interest with concerts and entertainment programmes that had nothing to do with celebrating a national history marker. The crowds would not gather otherwise. The organisers of the celebration were as tired as those watching or participating in it. You cannot flog a dead horse for too long.

Even TV and radio announcements of Merdeka Day had to be interspersed with songs and entertainment so people would not switch their sets off. There was no nonsense of the people taking part except as a digit in an officially prepared scheme to tell the world about how Malaysians have not lost their enthusiasm for independence 46 years after the date. But this year showed the cracks that must come in future on how we celebrate or mark our independence. It is the second generation, the sons of the independence generation, that should have been in charge, but it is still the first that is. With a government that cannot be returned to power if it relied on the Malay community, it now arduously woos the non-Malay, especially Chinese, communities and Sabah and Sarawak to remain in power. But the Merdeka celebrations showed to all and sundry that that is an election gimmick, not a change of heart to bring the non-Malay back into the centre of the Malay-based and -led National Front (BN) government. This must start with concessions and policy directives the BN, notably UMNO, could not announce, not with a Malay community that continues to sit on the political sidelines.

More than that, this conscious political effort to telescope historical events into the persona of the Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed, besides making nonsense of what Merdeka Day even its devalued form stands for, highlights historical slights and devalues contributions of past leaders. Perhaps the greatest figure still alive in the formation of both Malaya and Malaysia is 81, ailing and a pale shadow of what he once was. He was sent an invitation to the Putra Jaya Merdeka Day parade to a non-existent address a month agree, and the organisers called him up the day before requiring his presence at the parade the next morning. He explained why he needed more time to arrange it. He has neither car nor driver, and he cannot venture out on his own. The officer then thought the clinching line that the Prime Minister expected him to would make him change his mind. He was right. But not this time.

He would not discuss this hurt, and I could see it in his face when I heard of it and asked him. But it seems to me he was called as a last resort, perhaps with Dr Mahathir himself asking why he was not invited. My friend is charitable at this but when one puts this in context, it is unfortunately all too common: the Merdeka celebrations is not, as in other countries, a celebration of our freedom but of a narrow political agenda from which all who do not matter or could question what is going on are studiously kept away. Given the wholesale destruction of our national symbols and the regular re-arranging of our national anthem and flag, and of historical references to the declaration of independence, as the Stadium Merdeka and the Stadium Negara, demolished, this does not surprise. They still stand because the financial crisis intervened, and the crony business man would have taken a financial bath if he had gone ahead to 're-develop' the area. The Prime Minister himself thought these historical markers could as well be replaced with suitable plaques but they should not stand in the way of financial rapacity. As no doubt in time the National Mosque and Parliament House could to tell future generations we once had them.

This celebration showed the wide gulf between what the leaders believe they have achieved and the reality. They do not believe in historical continuity if it brought no political benefit. They showed no interest in changing the system to bring the non-Malays and those from Sabah and Sarawak into it. While at the same time preaching how important they were. Forty years after Sabah and Sarawak was incorporated into Malaysia, there is not a single army officer from those two states above the rank of colonel. Those from the two states, like the non-Malays, are regarded in the BN-run system as an inconvenience which could go away with a few scraps thrown their way. It brought a national resistance it did not anticipate, confident of their growing strength, still leaderless but with hope in their young who could in time provide it. It is not a pleasant summing up of what should have been the most important day of the year. But it is time the BN government took stock of what is ranged against them. If only to warn themselves of what could happen, if and when the natives rebel, to this blessed nation of ours as they are swept into the current of sectarian and irridentist anger in the years to come.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my