Taking a leaf out of Kalsey's book and his Newly Digital Project, i submit to you the "Newly Merdeka Project", an appreciation of what Merdeka means to us, allowing us to celebrate our country's 46th year of independence blogger-style.
To participate, please use this post's its Trackback feature. Alternatively, please leave a comment either in this blog or use Kalsey's Simpletrack to send a trackback to this posting (the tb URL is http://www.aizuddindanian.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/77)
The rules are simple. Tell us your earliest memory of Merdeka. Perhaps what you were doing the moment you realized what Merdeka meant. Perhaps, something someone said to you one Merdeka day. Perhaps, what Merdeka meant to you on that day when you teacher in school taught you about our national independence.
Your earliest, unadulterated memory of the day. Write on.
My answer to my own question is below.
I remember opening my eyes that morning, i must have been 7 or 8 years old. There was a buzz at home i found unusual - it was so early, yet mom and dad were pestering me to get up and get ready. Dutifully i did, but i protested all the way: today wasn't a school day, my teacher had said so yesterday. So why all the fuss?
A few minutes later we were out the house, in our car on the way somewhere. We parked, we walked, we were joined by a throng of people. We sat by the side of the road, together with everyone else. I remember nearly everyone had little flags of our country to wave. I pestered mom to get me one; with a smile she did. Suddenly the King pulled up the curb, got out and took his place. Then, loud music. Then the float parade started. I stared and stared and stared. This was my country flashing before my eyes. I looked at dad and asked, "Why are we here?"
Dad said, "Because we are free."
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