Happy Merdeka Day, Malaysia!

I haven't yet bought a new flag to hang at my house door. May be tonight... or maybe I'll just wash the old one tonight and just hang it up right away... Or maybe I'll get a new one, wash the old one and have Jalur Gemilangs all over my house tonight. hehehhehe

Whatever it is I'd be doing, I can't help feeling a small sense of belonging - this is my country, my Malaysia. It doesn't matter if I hate the jams when a small spat of rain happens, no matter how much I hate how Malaysians are kay-poh-chee even when the accident happens on the other side of the highway, no matter how much I hate the politics, it is still my Malaysia and the Malaysia to many others.

It is the Malaysia that has diversified cultures, multi-languages, many colors and tonnes of attitudes. It doesn't matter if you were born a Malay, a Chinese, an Indian, a Bidayuh or any ethnic background whatsoever, you'll be complaining when it rains and you'll complain even more when it doesn't. Just because you're a Malaysian.

I can't help but feeling patriotic when the date comes closer. As I age, I learn to love the day more, as it means more and more to me as the years pass by. When I was younger and just got back from the States, I really wished I had decided to stay there and not come back. I wondered why I came back. The heat was driving me crazy, constructions were everywhere, horrendous jams, costs of living were high, difficult to get jobs, I just wasn't happy to be home. I wanted to go back to the States where life seemed easier, calmer and more organized. To me the States was home. I never realized I was home.

Every since then, I kept comparing life between the 2 countries. How grass seemed greener there than here. How things were cheaper. I observed 4th July, not loving 31st August. I hated that Sudirman's song they kept playing over and over again on the radio and television channels.

But one day, a stone from Jupiter hit me. I am here, not there. I was born here, not there. I went to school here, not there. I had most of my growing up years here, not there. Why can't I love this land here more than there?

Put the silly politics aside, put the heat aside, put all the negativities aside, this is my country. This is my Malaysia. I have as much rights to it as my neighbors, as much rights to it as my schoolmates, as much rights to it as my colleagues. It is a beautiful country when the skies are blue, it is a beautiful country when the dark clouds hoard the skies. It is just as beautiful as New Zealand, as colorful as Africa, as diversified as the States. And why must I compare?

I love it when I open my house door and I see the different ethnics living together in harmony. It doesn't matter if you pangkah dacing, bulan or bulan biru or whatever it is that you pangkah, you open your house door and you greet your neighbor who is born a Chinese, or born an Indian or born a Sikh. When I jog and pass all the houses, I love the combination of cooking aroma - the scent of rendang, the scent of fried garlic, the scent of strong curry, all become the scent of Malaysia. During Ramadhan, and we're coming to it very soon, I love the sight of the non-Muslims buying food together with their Muslim counterparts. When I break fast at restaurants or malls, I love the sight of the multi-cultures all together waiting for the azan, to eat together and indulge in the delicious food already waiting on their tables.

I probably can get this anywhere else. I probably can get this in Jakarta, or in Singapore. I probably can get this is Colchester, or Glasgow, or Edinburgh for that matter. But no, I am feeling it here. In my Malaysia. Your Malaysia. Our Malaysia.

So I ask you my friends, let's all hold hands and celebrate this day. It's not for the sake of our forefathers, it's not for the sake of our children. It's for us, now, present. It's for Malaysia, our Malaysia.

Happy Merdeka, Malaysia... I love you...