The meaning of Merdeka..

It has been a great day celebrating the forty eight years of independence...I am among the fortunate that saw Independence from day one...I was there seeing the first Malayan flag been raise on that historical morning at the Kuantan padang, a town on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia... We were then young and actually did not really understand the true meaning of Merdeka...We all knew that we were colonized by the British but then life was good under the British, unlike under the occupation of the Japanese just before that...The second world was saw some of the worst of the Japanese atrocities...And then after the Japanese were defeated, came the rule of the Komintang, a communist terrorist group that wanted to take over the country and turn it into a communist country...But with the coming back of the British and then later with independence...The horror of murder and carnage were soon defeated...And from that hence forth the country progress from one phase to another and now is what you see the progress of a nation that had made it good...A country which is as prosperous as ever and the population enjoying the peace and harmony, with plenty of jobs to go around...We no longer talk about just having a roof over our head, foods to survived for a day and clothing just to wear but more then that...Malaysian now talk about getting a better housing, a condo, a second homes and now live to eat rather than eat to live...Clothing has became a fashion and we seem to have more then we need...The quality of life have improved much and are at par to those in the west. Malaysian have been lucky that they had great leaderships and with that have progress faster then any other nation in this region and it would be a developed country by twenty twenty... In fact some part of the country are already there, Kuala Lumpur the capital of the country is already a first world community, with amenities comparable with any other cities in the world..Anyone who arrived at the KLIA [Kuala Lumpur international Airport] would be transported into the first world instantly...Take the fast train to KL Sentral, the mega railway station that connect the capital with the rest of the country...Then jump into the Putra LRT and in just five minutes you are at the KLCC or the Petronas Twin Towers..Voila you are in a first world shopping mall...You are pampered with all the hospitality of Malaysian in every ways you ever thoughts...Shops till you drop...Enjoy the Malaysian cuisine that only Malaysian could do it right...Mingle with the multi racial, multi religion and multi language Malaysian that throng the mall and see the smile on their faces.....The truly Malaysian smile...Walk into our Art gallery, our Museum, and other public amenities, you would see more of our history...If you had the time, visit the new capital city at Putra Jaya and you would be amused with the modern architects in these modern administrative capital of the country...That is Malaysia today, my beloved country, a country that I was born and saw its development and progress...To become of what it is today...A prosperous country where races blended well into a truly Malaysian national...Merdeka!!