THE TRUE " MERDEKA " MIND

The Independence Day of Malaysia will arrive 7 days from now . Today is 24th of August and the DAY is on 31st of August . Well , the only reason I want to write this article is to express my gratitude and proudness of being an independent Malaysian who had the freedom to control his own destiny without being subjugated to the wrath of the colonial master from the Western world .

It is widely known that Malaysia had been a sovereign , independent nation for almost 55 years . The independence was achieved as a result of excellent diplomatic skills displayed by our forefathers and also as a part of decolonization process by the mighty British Empire which was hugely endorsed by United Nations ( UN ) and the Queen ' s colonies all around the world . While it is true that the former colonial master , British had leaved our beloved shores for more than half a century ago , they are actually still a coloniser of our mind .

When the British made Malaya the Queen's colony , she does not only wrest the control of economic and political power from the local sultans , she also put the mind of most Malayan under her charm . Through the missionary schools and English government schools , they imparted the impression that anything Western is superior and anything Eastern and Oriental is inferior . They also brainwashed us that it were the Western scholars who had invented and created some of the finest scientific theories in the world .

I had to confess that the Western world did contribute a lot scientific and literature marvels to the world but please remember that the advancement and discoveries that they had made were a result of studies on Eastern scholars such as Avicenna ( Ibn Sina ) , Ibn Battuta , Confucius , Mencius , ancient Hindu scholars and so on . Shall I elaborate longer ? When the whole Europe was going through Dark Age , Eastern civilization such as the Umayyad Caliphate , Abbasid had already established universities and colleges for their subjects . Who could not forget the invention of gunpowders , silks and papers in which the process was discovered by the Chinese , only to reach European market a few centuries later . The modern numbering system was actually derived by the Arab scholars who had learnt it from the Hindu scholars in India .

Now , do you get a clearer picture on the state of our mind . Our mind are still being " colonised " .  We are too busy admiring the Western civilisation when they had actually benefitted from our Eastern civilizations . Therefore , I believe it is the time for us to actually study or own civilisation in depth while not abandoning the centuries of Western legacies and knowledges that exist until today . If we can somehow do just that , I think the Malaysian society as a whole , had achived the true " Merdeka " mind . Be global in your thinking , but be local in your attitude .

Thank you for reading this .
SALAM MERDEKA
SALAM LEBARAN