The luxury of growing up as a Malaysian is that we were brought up to interact with people of different cultural background. There is always something new to learn and to explore. Despite all the negativity of racial bias and multicultural tensions, it is no doubt that everyone of us Malaysian have a sweet, touching story to tell about being in a multicultural community. With the coming up Merdeka Day (Malaysian Independence Day), there are lots of fun events to explore both in Malaysia and on the Internet.
15Malaysia is a project that compiles 15 short films produced by Malaysian film producers (Buatan Malaysia!). The theme of the films is on the socio-political issues in Malaysia. A Malaysian will definitely find that they can relate to each of the story, some might just be something that we have talked about among friends, or an event that we have witnessed, or even happened at some point in our own life. The films will be released every alternate days, with four already up online for downloads on the website as of today. My personal favorite so far is Chocolate by the late Yasmin Ahmad. (Mei, for some reason, it made me think of our Standard 6 days..hehe.) Will be looking forward to more great films!!
1Malaysia is an effort initiated by our current Prime Minister, Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Razak, to reduce the gaps between all the different unique races and cultures in Malaysia. Recently, a contest to pick a song that could represent spirit of Malaysians, where race and culture differences no longer holds valid. If one were to think back, what exactly is the cause of such strong racial tension in Malaysia? It is definitely not something we experience in our daily lives until we have to face the rules and regulations posted by the government. In fact, the racial tension is not a true racial tension. We don't pick our friends or who we hang out with based on their race, we do not decide not to eat at the nasi melayu stall at Jones Road just because it is not managed by a Chinese. It is our dissatisfaction over the way the government expresses their opinions on policies (which often take advantage of radical religion beliefts) that creates a scenerio that looks like racial tension.
Well, back to the main topic, the competition has picked the best 10 songs and is now open for public to make the decision of which song will represent 1Malaysia. Have you rank your top 10 1Malaysia songs? Here's mine.
1. Inilah Malaysia
2. Lagu Rakyat Satu Malaysia
3. Satu Malaysia
4. Nyanyikan Lagu Mu
5. Malaysia Satu
6. Sehati Sejiwa
7. Kami Anak Malaysia
8. Keranamu Hati Ku Malaysia
9. Perpaduan 1Malaysia
10. Satu
I find myself liking lyrics with the Rukunegara in it. It will be a great reminder to all Malaysians that when Malaysia was founded, the segregation according to religion was never incorporated into the principles in which the government is built on. True, "Belief in God" is the first principle but it says nothing about the path one takes to do that.
I dropped by Western this weekend when I went soil sampling. What a delight to see that the M'sian flag is flying high!
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