What Independence Means For Me

Independence has a different meaning for everyone. Before this country achieved independence, it was colonized by British and Japan. For some, independence means a public holiday, no work and no school. For me, it means our country is free and unshackled from colonization of other powers such as British or Japan.

Many people today do not realize the true meaning of independence. They simply regard it as a public holiday or a day to relax. For example, the Independence Day countdown at Dataran Merdeka, older generation there seemed to understand the true meaning of independence better than the youngsters. As for the latter, they seemed to be there just for the fun of it. Some were even seen misbehaving during the countdown.

The youngsters were not aware of the significance of Independence even though that they sing the national anthem “Negaraku” every morning and watch the “Jalur Gemilang ” flag raised everyday during school assemblies. They were born with a silver spoon in mouth.

There are many ways to show our patriotism, the most common way and known by many is to fight enemies of the country. Fortunately, we do not need to fight in the world today as our country is peaceful. Some alternative to show your patriotism is by contributing to the country by fighting in the field of sports. For example, Lee Chong Wei fought a battle of skills in the Beijing Olympics 2008, representing Malaysia in Badminton. He made our country proud by winning a silver badge at the Olympics.
Nicol Ann David made all of us proud by being the world’s no.1 Squash player. Not to mention,
Michelle Yeoh has made not only Malaysia but also Asia proud by being one of the few Asians to achieve a international celebrity status in Hollywood.Recently,Malaysia’s own Lai Ming has been nominated for a Golden Horse Best Supporting Actress .Everyone is contributing to Malaysia in their own field of expertise. Even singers such as Michael Wong or Guang Liang and Jaclyn Victor is bringing Malaysia to the limelight.

Many Malaysians does not realize that they are lucky to be born in Malaysia instead of a war-ridden country such as Gaza, Palestine .Gaza is wrecked by war and it is hard to find even one family that is living comfortably there. What do we do in Malaysia? We live in such comfort but complaint about imperfect government, politics and economy. Most of us are unable to think rationally because the comfort in our country blinded us from seeing greater suffering outside. In Malaysia, even though that we’re independent, there are still many problems. For example, fuel price hike and scandals.

My conclusion is that many people do not understand the true meaning of independence and many is not thankful for being born in such a peaceful country. For me, independence means that we are in control of our own country and not being shackled or colonized by other powers. I hope that everyone will be playing their part in protecting for the common good of all Malaysians and continue contributing to Malaysia in all aspects.

Chin Chee Keong
3 MAJU

Something i wrote for the school,its diwajibkan (isn't everything =.=)
Comments and Constructive Critics are appreciated
I'm not perfect, u know?

/ck