Empire's State of Mind.

Prologue: No, this entry is not really related to that song by Jay-Z and Alicia except a slight modification to the borrowed title featuring a possessive apostrophe. So what's the empire in question then? Well, this IS my annual Malaysia Day post so feel free to make your own conclusion. This one is going to be a quick one though featuring repeated theme interspersed with rant and/or yearning. In fact, it's going to be an adaptation to what I wrote on Facebook but probably with a little extra contents.

49 years ago, the idea seemed optimistic, feasible, sensible and convenient. Three subjects of the Crown will be going on a fast track towards statehood. One young nation who was born six years before got to expand its realm and along with its a common market, untapped wealth and greater diversity of people. One ailing master of yesteryear got to take off some weight off the burden they bore for centuries amidst pressure from a up and coming whippersnapper while keeping the looming iron curtain at bay. The enthusiasm and euphoria are supposed to be mutual and amicable. Everyone came together to form a newer, bigger, better family. In fact, the mutual feeling was it's going to be prosperity in perpetuity.

What was not anticipated however is how fast it hit various snags and hiccups, almost immediately within a short span of two years which inevitably resulted in the departure (or expulsion, depending on perspectives) of the more diminutive yet competitive one in animosity while the remaining two docile ones ended up in unprecedented dilemma, stunned and helpless. What followed since then is a downward spiral of disappointment, ignorance, dysfunction and bondage, optimism now a mere rump.

That idea is called Federation of Malaysia, now comprises of three constituent nations/states (the parlance that good old master of yesteryear, Britain uses the describe its own Home Nations. State has multiple nuances but I am using the more general meaning.) of  Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah.

49 years has passed since 16 September 1963. Perhaps it's time to revisit and review the deal we made and hopefully in the future, there will be a better, fairer deal for all of us, perhaps even as nations of equal stature and calibre in the world.

Happy 49th Malaysia Day and enjoy your extended weekend, fellow Malaysians. Enjoy the feeling of waking up on Monday naturally and yet no need to drag yourself up for all the drudgery five days ahead.

Where to, Malaysia? How not to hate sometimes considering how much grief dem Malayans gave us two Borneans stemming from naivete, ignorance or just pure sinister irrational hatred. All those irresponsible hate pages, those gaffes and/or smartasses on national television (the obvious highlight of course is the McDonald = hallmark of development theory by one idjit Yusry Hidrus. I am sure your faculty is entertained by your economic theory.) in which the perpetrators had no inkling of apology in their "official" apology and last but the least, the persistent, unshakable misinformation and stereotypes. How not to hate? Oh come to think of it with the election coming in less than a year, the excessive posturing by dem Malayans politicos is a unnerving with hints of maliciousness.

Epilogue: Progress (?) at last how ever inconsequential. Hopefully the wall will be filled before Armageddon cometh.