From: cheu@venus.its.uci.edu (Kelvin Cheu)
Subject: Re: Merdeka - Malayan Style
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
Reply-To: cheu@venus.its.uci.edu (Kelvin Cheu)
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 7 Sep 92 22:39:05 GMT

In article <1992Sep7.015329.23277@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg>, eoahmad@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg (Othman Ahmad) writes:
|> u3169709@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au (Numero Uno) writes:
|> : Merdeka was the achievement of independence.  Presented below was an
|> : eyewitness account of the event:
|> : 
|> : 
|> : 		NO SENSATIONAL EVENT HAS OCCURRED TODAY
|> : 
|> :   Most people had regarded Merdeka as a kind of sword of of Damocles
|> :   over their heads.  The pessimists had expected the celebrations to
|> :   turn into race-roits and bloodshed; but even the optimists had
|> :   anticipated demonstations and increased tension.  No one spoke of
|> :   this in public, no suggestion ot it went into print but fear was
|> :   general and Merdeka was, for many, a dreaded day.  And then came
|> :   came the colossal sensation: nothing happened.  The celebrations
|> :   were inspiring and dignified.  There were no demonstrations, no
|> :   clashes: there was general rejoicing:  NO SENSATIONAL EVENT HAS
|> :   OCCURRED TODAY.
|> : 
|> :   Why not?  It all went too smoothly, too rapidly - and this was the
|> :   fault of the British.  Malaya did not become independent on August
|> :   31, 1957: to all intents and purposes it had been independent for
|> :   the two or three preceding years.  Merdeka was the formal celebration
|> :   of Malaya's becoming something it did not really become; and also
|> :   for becoming something it had already been.
|> : 
|> : 
|> : Now, that's Merdeka - Malayan style.
|> 
|> 31st August is meant to be the National Day. I cannot join in the Merdeka
|> celebrations because I'm a Sabahan, but I join in the National Day celebration,
|> because I'm a Malaysian, I think so. Unfortunately a lot of Malayans do not
|> think that I'm a Malaysian, and they are the educated ones.
|> 	Another unfortunate event is that the National day does not fall on the
|> date Malaysia was formed. As a result the majority of Malaysians(99.9%), all
|> over, including Sabah and Sarawak, do not know when Malaysian was formed.
|> 	Even our history experts, the Musuem negara made this mistake, let alone
|> RTM. No, it is not the fault of our history books, it is actually mentioned
|> there but in just one sentence. So you can imagine the effect on the Japanese
|> students when told about the Nanking massacre.
|> 
|> 	How many usenet readers know when Malaysia was formed? The date is
|> actually subject to argument. I had argued with my Scholarship interviewers
|> when I was 18, but because of lack of time we did not dwell on it.
|> 
|> The parallel is the 4th of July celebrations. Is it called the Independence
|> celebration? Students in USA can discuss it better, in relationship to 
|> the Malaysian national day celeberations.
|> 	Officially it is not called Merdeka, rather Hari Kebangsaan, national
|> day. 
|> 
|> 
|> 
|> Othman bin Ahmad, School of EEE,
|> Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 2263.
|> Internet Email: eoahmad@ntuix.ntu.ac.sg
|> Bitnet Email: eoahmad@ntuvax.bitnet
|> 

As far as I can recall the facts I learned from my elementary school in
Johor Bahru in 1971, the 'day' when Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak joined the
federation is September 16 1963.  I am not quite sure about 9/16, but
I'm sure it was in 1963.  Does it sound the bell ?

Kelvin Cheu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean,soc.culture.australian,soc.culture.bangladesh