31st August

August 31st, 2006

i just wanna share with you the best Merdeka moment i had this time around. it beats seeing little Msian flags waving happily from the roofs of usually-jaded malaysian citizens, it beats seeing the guards at my apartment building pasting flags and ‘We Heart Pak Lah’ stickers all over the guardhouse, it beats the lady at the photocopy place shyly wishing me a Happy Merdeka on the 30th, and then when i reminded her that Merdeka is tomorrow, she said “we should celebrate Merdeka everyday”.

so i was walking into the airport, that cold sterile place with too many perfunctory overhead announcements and overpriced Mcdonalds (that said, i actually love the airport). the moment i walked in, i heard the ending vocals of ‘Keranamu’ being played. i started laughing and said to no one in particular, wah damn semangat!. memang. it put a smile on my lips to know that KLIA was making an effort, albeit one that was fairly giggle-worthy. this is very nice, i thought.

then suddenly, Keranamu faded away, and Negaraku started playing. i was tickled beyond belief - the national anthem was playing in the airport! it was the exact same version we sang along to every Monday morning back in high school, and i immediately thought of Kezanne reciting the Rukun, and i thought of that cute junior prefect who raises the flag during every assembly. everytime he does that, all of us would follow the flag with our eyes until it touches the top of the flagpole - it was like an unconscious habit that everyone subscribed to. either that or you’ll be staring at Mr Kenny and thinking, eh actually this guy is quite buff wan.

i was interrupted from my nostalgic highschool reminiscence when someone behind me suddenly said loudly, “woi, Negaraku ah!”

i turned around to see who said it, and it was this gangly gawky teenage boy who was sitting in the lounge area. he is elbowing a boy who is younger than him, presumably his younger brother.

“so?” the younger boy asks.

“so stand up lah!” gangly gawky teenage boy says with a big grin, as he stands up and hauls the younger kid to his feet as well. he’s only kidding around, good-naturedly making fun of the situation - but when he and his younger brother stand up in mock stiffedness, something cool happens. something great.

the people in the nearby seats start to stand up as well. newspapers are folded away and handbags are set on the floor. coats are adjusted and skirts are smoothed out. people are standing up in acknowledgement of our country’s national anthem.

at this point i am very awed. a couple of people are smiling embarassedly, but they are standing nevertheless. people who are walking past, upon seeing the people at the lounge area on their feet and with their arms by their side, stop mid-step as well and stand up straight. there were all these businessmen with briefcases who were standing still in such seriousness, i couldnt help but gawk. i couldnt help but stand up straight as well.

i hear Negaraku a lot. usually it’s just something we just wanna get over with as quickly as possible. but this time around it sounded different. it felt warm and personal in its out-of-placedness, it felt lively and energetic against the professional crispness of the airport. and standing amongst people who were also standing in honour of the national anthem, people who werent forced to stand … it was something else altogether. it was very cool.

and when the song ended, we all shared a little smile and a little tilt of the head. then we continued on with our lives - checking in luggage, getting a book from the airport bookstore, playing games on the PSP. we all went our separate ways to do our own individual things, but for that brief moment in which we stood up together to sing the national anthem, we remembered that we are Malaysian.

Entry Filed under: General, Musings

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