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The Sky-Race at Merdeka 118: When Malaysia Runs Together With No One Left Behind
by Rahim Said
Sometimes you don't need a Merdeka speech to feel the meaning of being Malaysian.
Sometimes, you simply need to watch somebody climb 118 floors.
A friend recently sent me a video from the Merdeka 118 Skyrace that has been circulating on social media. She described it as “heartwarming,” and I think that is exactly the word.
But I would add another: Merdeka.
The video shows a woman who was apparently the last participant in the race. She may not have looked like the sort of athlete who would casually sprint up 118 floors. But she had something more important than athletic appearance: determination. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcXhzuvSTpE/?igsi=aTZ4bHNzamFyYjF4
And then something wonderful happened.
A group of fellow Malaysian sports enthusiasts stayed with her.
They accompanied her from the 40th floor all the way to the 118th. A medical team kept a watchful eye on her to make sure that her determination did not outrun her physical limits.
Floor after floor.
Step after step.
They encouraged her.
She kept going.
And eventually, they made it.
That is the part of the video that moved me.
Not who won.
Not who was fastest.
Not whose muscles were the most impressive.
But the fact that when one Malaysian was struggling to reach the top, other Malaysians decided that she should not climb alone. They sang along cheering her until the top floor: 118.
There is something almost embarrassingly simple about that.
And perhaps that is why it is so powerful.
We spend so much of our time arguing about race, religion, language, politics and identity that we sometimes forget the simplest identity we share: we are Malaysians.
At Merdeka 118, the tallest building in Southeast Asia, something far more meaningful than a race was taking place.
Different people, different backgrounds, different physical abilities and presumably different political opinions were brought together by something wonderfully uncomplicated — the desire to see another Malaysian finish what she had started.
There was sport.
There was music.
There was cheering.
There was laughter.
There was a medical team doing its serious job.
And there was a bunch of people saying, in effect: Come on, you can do it. We are going with you.
That, to me, is multiculturalism at its best.
Not multiculturalism as a seminar topic.
Not multiculturalism as a political slogan.
Not multiculturalism printed on a banner and forgotten after the ceremony.
But multiculturalism practised spontaneously — when nobody asks what race you are before deciding whether to encourage you.
We often talk about national unity as though it requires some grand government programme, another committee, another slogan or another official speech.
Perhaps it doesn't.
Perhaps sometimes national unity is simply a group of people walking up 78 floors with a stranger because they don't want her to give up.
And what better place for that little Malaysian lesson than Merdeka 118?
The symbolism is almost too perfect.
At the foot of the tower, Malaysia can look complicated.
At the top, perhaps the view is different.
From 118 floors above the ground, our little arguments must look rather small.
The woman may have been the last participant, but she was not alone. And there is a beautiful lesson in that.
Being last does not mean being forgotten.
In a society obsessed with winners, rankings and being first, there is something refreshingly Malaysian about cheering for the person who is still struggling to reach the finish line.
Perhaps that is the Merdeka spirit we should be celebrating this month.
Not merely the memory of how we became independent 69 years ago, but the question of what sort of country we want to remain.
A Malaysia where we race against one another, certainly.
But also a Malaysia where, when someone falls behind, we turn around.
A Malaysia where we can compete fiercely without forgetting compassion.
A Malaysia where our differences are visible but our humanity is shared.
And a Malaysia where the person at the back of the race can sometimes teach those at the front what winning really means.
She may have been the last person to reach the top.
But in that moment, she and the people who accompanied her had already won something much bigger than a race.
They had shown us, floor by floor, what Malaysia Boleh can mean when it isn't being shouted from a stage.
It can mean:
Malaysia, we go together.
And perhaps that is the most beautiful Merdeka message of all.
No One Left Behind.
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