Malaysia, Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku

"If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree"

Last week, I was at the Maxis Centre waiting for our number to be called and there was a young family near us. The parents were looking at the phones on display trying to decide which phone to buy, their eldest daughter was singing the Negaraku (although the melody wasn't completely right) repeatedly and the younger kid was in a pram. Seeing this made me wonder if this young girl knew what she was singing about and whether many years down the road she would still sing the Negaraku in the same high spirit. Reflecting on this incident, I decided to write about my love hate relationship with SE.JA.RAH.

When I was in secondary school, History was a subject I didn't quite like until a brilliant teacher named Encik Siva was my History teacher in Form 4. He was the reason I scored an A for SPM, really. If it wasn't for his enthusiasm for the subject, interesting ways of explaining the facts and lame jokes added in, I probably would have failed Sejarah. It is quite a boring subject isn't it? Learning about the definition of certain words that sounded very foreign to me, the different tamadun, about kerajaan agraria, semangat nationalisme etc etc. I liked history but the fact that I was being examined and given marks for how much I knew was daunting.

Prior to entering secondary school, I already had an interest for Malaysian history but my knowledge was limited. I only listened to older people talk about the history of Malaysia and how important it is for us (the younger generation) to know about the past in order for us to either learn from it or not to repeat the same mistakes. I'd often wonder how it was like to live in the olden days. I've only heard of my grandmother (on both sides) telling me how hard it was to live when the Japanese invaded.

Now that I'm older (and forgotten most of the things I learnt in Sejarah = "dah bagi balik Cikgu"), I find myself drawn to articles or documentaries about Malaysian history and the history of rulers of the nine Malay states. It reminds me that we have rich customs and traditions that is often forgotten or not appreciated by the current generation, the historic events that happened during the pre-Merdeka years that we know little of and the sacrifices the past generation made to pave the way for a better future.

Found this old photo taken in 2009 during our group study a few weeks before SPM (it was supposed to be at the TTDI Library but all of us ended up in One Utama)

I am currently on a mission to read as many books or articles as well as watch any documentary that I can find and learn more about this beautiful country that I call my home. Malaysia, tanah tumpahnya darahku.

Next up, a blog post about my family history. Give me another week or so to complete that post. It's been in the draft for weeks. Heh