In a few more days, Malaysia will celebrate her 68th Hari Merdeka. Malaysia has always been in my heart even from a young age. I see in our nation, Malaysia, the beauty of her diversity as well as the grace and blessings of God. Indeed, we have come a long way.
Let me share some of my 68th Merdeka Day thoughts. I learnt our Rukun Negara more than half a century ago in school. The five principles of our pledge are still etched in my heart. And I firmly believe every Malaysian who loves this nation should always recall and practice these principles: Belief in God, Loyalty to the King and Country, Supremacy of the Constitution, The Rule of Law, and Courtesy and Morality.
I pray that as we celebrate this Merdeka Day, sing Negaraku or wave our Jalur Gemilang, we will pause and ask ourselves, “How have I loved my nation? What can I do to live out the spirit of Merdeka?”
When we love our nation, we honour the principles of Rukunegara. In our diversity, there is bound to be differences in opinions and preferences. So, we give room for one another to express oneself, we correct in love instead of being on the lookout for another’s mistake so that we can highlight it, shame and punish the person. We live out the principle of courtesy and morality.
We live out our belief in God by trusting God to work out his sovereign will. As such, regardless of what we see happening around us, we refuse to give up hope. It is so easy to complain, despair or even compare but we choose not to be distracted or crushed by all these. Each day, we whisper a prayer of blessing upon our nation.
We demonstrate our loyalty to the king and country by standing at attention when we sing our Negaraku. Decades ago, the students sang the national anthem out loud during school assemblies or functions. These days, the national anthem is played out over the sound system while students merely mouth or whisper the lyrics. No wonder many do not even know how to stand at attention or sing our national anthem by heart.
When we practice truth, justice and righteousness, we are upholding the supremacy of our constitution. We do not bully, encourage half-truths or sow discord in our society. We look out for one another, encourage diversity and move forward as a united entity. We sow the seeds of confidence, trust and hope, thus strengthening the fabric of diversity.
May this 68th Merdeka Day bring us a fresh perspective and stir our people to love Malaysia. Selamat Hari Merdeka and God bless Malaysia!
August 2025
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Mei Wong (mwrejoice@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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