This is not to say September 16, the day Malaysia was actually formed as a federation comprising Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore, is not of equal or perhaps greater significance. But the day of Malaya’s liberation is significant because of what it meant in terms of national unity.
A group of representatives from every major race in the country had finally wrung the right to national self-determination. This in turn eventually led to the formation of Malaysia. Under our first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia would begin her struggle to determine her identity.
Nearly 60 years later, that identity is still largely undefined. Malaysia, seen as an example of a successful moderate Muslim country internationally, is being pulled into two directions culturally.
As has been seen in any number of countries, the increasing liberalisation of culture brought on by the Internet age has prompted a backlash from conservative elements on any number of issues, leading to a sort of ideological clash between city-dwelling and rural Malaysians and, somewhat starkly, between the two major races of the country.
The Chinese, who have a culture built upon the worship of power and, above all, prestige, see liberalisation more as an opportunity than as a threat. This might apply even to the conservative elements of the community, that is, those who have little to no tolerance of many liberal causes, such as the causes championed by the LGBT community.
In the Malay community, however, the entanglement of racial and religious identities makes things somewhat more complicated. If you ask a Malay whether he thinks of himself as Muslim or Malay first, the more likely answer you’ll get is that he’s Muslim first.
But most Malays would hasten to add that his racial and religious identities are meshed into one. Since religiosity is, rightly or wrongly, often associated with conservatism, we can assume that a large number of Malays are suspicious of liberal ideas.
However, this does not mean that the Malays are all of one mind when it comes to deciding on the characteristics of a Malaysian identity, and this is reflected in the number of political parties catering to them. Indeed, they seem to be approaching something of a politico-cultural tipping point.
The emergence of Bersatu and Amanah alongside Umno, PAS and, to a certain extent PKR, is representative of an ideological split in Malay society.
There are many questions going forth on what the Malay identity will eventually look like, but as Malaysians, we can at least say that we all, regardless of race, do love our country. That is our common cultural reference point, and it’s the simplest uniting factor there is.
Furthermore, there is a certain consensus that things must change for the better around here.
We Malaysians must reach out to each other to bridge the ideological gaps between cultures. There is much less separating us than we think, and working out the middle point isn’t all that hard if we draw upon our love for our country. Merdeka was a united effort and should continue to be one.