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Because Scarlett Johansson

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Because Scarlett Johansson. And some things are best seen on the big screen. 8-)It was Merdeka (Independance) Day, and cinemas have have been persuaded by the Communications and Multimedia ministry to screen the National Anthem, “Negaraku” before every movie, in the spirit of … well a promoting a patriotic spirit.

Negaraku
Tanah Tumpahnya Darah ku
Rakyat Hidup, Bersatu dan Maju
Rahmat Bahagia, Tuhan Kurniakan
Raja Kita, Selamat Bertakhta
Rahmat Bahagia, Tuhan Kurniakan
Raja Kita, Selamat Bertakhta

My country
The land where my blood has spilt
The people living united and progressive
May God bestow blessing and happiness
May our King have a successful reign
May God bestow blessing and happiness
May our King have a successful reign

Following the announcement, everyone stood up. Actually, I think if the guy in the front most row didn’t stand the rest might not have, but since he did, it was a chain reaction.

I realized I had not participated in the playing of Negaraku since my school days. As the words went by I pondered how differently many of us see our country since then.  As a child, in my Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan (Primary School), I never quite understood what “Tanah Tumpahnya Darah ku”  was about and “Rakyat Hidup, Bersatu dan Maju” seemed like stating the obvious in my multi-racial class.

These days reading the news it feels like we’re actually getting closer to the day when the former might occur, and the latter just a pipe dream. I wonder what children these days think of when they sing Negaraku.

The national anthem was followed by about 10 minutes of superficial patriotic videos, which barely achieved it’s objective of making everyone feel superficially patriotic, before the movie began.

#Merdeka
#Negaraku


Comments (1):

  • 2014-09-01 09:21:06+0800 Anita George Ironically here in Dubai we sang Negaraku at 8pm 30th so that we 3 could be part of the Merdeka midnight. When you are away Negaraku resonates through your veins and your heart breaks knowing Tanah tumpahnya darahku is where we’re heading if we don’t catch ourselves … because we want Rakyat hidup bersatu dan maju …. with the Rahmat bahagia that Tuhan (multi religious) kurniakan and may our constitutional Raja selamat bertaktha.

This post was originally published publicly on Google+ at 2014-09-01 01:35:30+0800

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