It’s MERDEKA!!! [31st August 1957] HAPPY 49TH BIRTHDAY MALAYSIA!

As I was on my way to campus this morning in my friend’s car, the deejay on a chinese radio station was hosting a talk on cultivating the younger generation to love their country and one way was to know the country’s history. She went on about why was there less priority to promote the history of our country in school and as a consequence; the younger generation does not seem to appreciate the true meaning of MERDEKA anymore… well, since I didn’t listen to the radio long enough to actually hear what other caller’s thoughts on the subject was; personally… this is what I think.

History is being taught in high school… and if the syllabus haven’t change since I left high school (which *ahem* is quite some time back); lots of emphasis are being put into learning the nation’s history and its struggle for independence. Heck, even now in University we still have a subject called Malaysian Studies which is a compulsory subject to take! BUT the fact that so many other subjects which has higher priority is being emphasized by our parents, teachers and the government (eg. English language and Mathematics - yucks :P) this over-shadows the importance of History subject and at times are put as second priority. Since young we’ve told to pass our maths, our language subjects and our other science or commerce subjects -forget about History and Moral Studies first as they’re not important.

Hence, with such mindset… how can we actually have a strong interest to learn the history of our country? I must admit I’m no top student and thus I never really liked History… plus, the fact that the subject is taught in such a boring way (where all you must do is to memorize the facts) isn’t helping either. And so… my second worst subject is… tada - History! hahahaha…

Anyway, tommorrow is a holiday and they’re having a National Parade in Kuching, Sarawak. Hope the haze has cleared in Kuching and best of luck to all of Curtin’s student participating in the marching. I’ll try to catch glimpses of familiar faces on the telly tomm…

Cheers~!