Anwar - Kita perlu hentikan dasar segelintir orang mengaut kekayaan dan meminggirkan rakyat...

 Anwar Ibrahim mengajak rakyat negara ini menyingkap semula lembaran sejarah dan memberi makna baru  bagi kemerdekaan tanah air.

“Mari lah menggilap semula semangat perjuangan, memberi makna kemerdekaan. Kemerdekaan menjanjikan kebebasan dan kebajikan kepada rakyat, bukan segelintir pemimpin.

“Kemerdekaan menjamin kepedulian, siapa saja yang mendapat amanah untuk memimpin negara, mereka tidak mendapat mandat  sepertimana penjajah. Mandat itu  dinilai oleh rakyat hanya setelah mereka terbukti dapat memberikan khidmat,  pengorbanan dan kebajikan sebaiknya kepada rakyat,” ujarnya.

Beliau yang juga Penasihat Ekonomi Selangor berkata demikian ketika sambutan Ambang Merdeka yang diadakan di Dataran Shah Alam malam tadi.

“Dalam menyingkap lembaran sejarah ini, kita harus insaf bahawa kemerdekaan tidak dicapai dengan seruan dan slogan.

“Kemerdekaan dicapai dengan sumbangan ibu bapa kita yang bertungkus lumus dan sejarah yang lalu, ada yang korbankan nyawa dengan menentang kuasa besar penjajah Inggeris.

“Tokoh besar nasional, Almarhum Datuk Onn Jaafar, Almarhum Dr Burhanuddin Al Helmy dan lain-lain seangkatan harus kita hargai dan perlu ketika ini kita singkap sejarah perjuangan mereka,” ujar Anwar.

Menurut Anwar, generasi sekarang khususnya generasi muda harus menanyakan kembali erti kemerdekaan yang menjamin kebebasan, di mana dasar negara, ekonomi dan budaya ditentukan oleh rakyat sendiri.

“Kemerdekaan bererti, negara tahu peritnya penjajahan, kita benci dengan imperialisme atau kolonialisme sebab ada unsur penindasan.

“Oleh itu soal legitimasi pemerintahan mana-mana negara dalam negara merdeka itu harus ditentukan secara yang sah, pilihan raya yang bersih dan teratur, dan itu semangat kemerdekaan yang dijanjikan dalam perisytiharan kemerdekaan oleh Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj.

“Kita mesti hentikan dasar yang membolehkan segelintir orang memunggah kekayaan dan meminggirkan rakyat. Selangor di bawah pimpinan Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim menekankan supaya khazanah Selangor dipulangkan kepada rakyat Selangor, ini erti semangat kemerdekaan.

“Semangat kemerdekaan itu tidak berhenti dengan perbarisan, dengan pesta-pestaan.

“Semangat kemerdekaan itu harus mampu menimbulkan rasa kecintaan kepada negara dan tanggungjawab yang harus dipikul oleh generasi hari ini,” tegasnya.- keadilandaily
Sekarang masa untuk kembali tuntut kemerdekaan- Anwar

Of Merdeka themes...

“Sebangsa, Senegara, Sejiwa” sounds right, doesn’t it? As opposed to “Janji Ditepati”? Never mind that one came from the government and the other from the opposition.

Let’s admit it. Before this, many of us couldn’t care less what theme is was for National Day. How many of us are able to remember any of the themes from the previous National Day celebrations? Did it even matter to us what theme or logo was used?

 We still got a holiday. We still got to see a celebration with colourful processions and floats; wondered how masses of people could be moved in choreographed movements; ooh’ed and ahh’ed at fighters moving in formation across the sky streaming coloured smoke; pointed at paratroopers jumping out from helicopters; and gaped at the military hardware on display.

How many of us can actually and honestly say and admit that National Day celebrations mean something other than a day off? With the exception of one occasion when we watched in amazement and delight as the then-Yang di-Pertuan Agong single-handedly stopped the procession and mounted a motorbike, I can’t think of any National Day celebration which has been memorable.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I don’t mean to downplay and discount the work and effort of the thousands of people involved in the celebrations. It’s amazing and great that we are able to get together, commemorate and celebrate our National Day in such a fabulous way.

But the thing is, we have taken it for granted that every year it would be a show that the government would run without fail. It would be the government’s show. 

In fact, this year the government took it a step further and decided to not have the annual logo design competition. The whole thing was outsourced to the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture. The minister himself was even the writer of the theme song! Very few people seemed to care or give a damn before, so why should this year be any different, right? Wrong, apparently.

The “cincai” work on the logo, the arrogant tone of the accompanying theme song, even the inappropriately political “Janji Ditepati” as the Merdeka theme have been thoroughly thrashed by all and sundry. Apparently, Malaysians do give a damn. So what made this year so different?

I think that the events over the past few years have succeeded in uniting and making people aware of what it means to be a citizen of Malaysia, and have resulted in many of us reclaiming our stake in the future of this country. Many of us, who would otherwise be apathetic towards the whole National Day exercise, have decided that enough is enough.

National Day is a day for all Malaysians and not an opportunity for the government of the day to boast about its achievements and political agenda. That it is a chance for us to reflect on our progress and development as a people and as one nation.

That is why “Janji Ditepati” is so jarringly wrong and opportunistic. Besides it also being the slogan of the Barisan Nasional government’s political campaign, it also feels and reads like an unspoken threat: we have fulfilled our end of the deal, now it’s your turn.

The political spin doctors can spin however they want to, but many people have read it this way. Which is why, it is a pity that the government has remained obstinate in wanting to continue on its present course. Many National Day themes will come and go. But the “bodoh sombong” manner in which the concerns of many Malaysians regarding this year’s celebrations were dealt with will be remembered for a while to come.

In the meantime, I will go with a theme which feels and sounds right to me as a citizen of this great country because we are “sebangsa, senegara, sejiwa.”

Happy 55th National Day everyone!- Azrul Mohd. Khalid@malaysian insider

Terkini...

Tok Guru Nik Aziz Di Wad HUSM...

Bismillah, saya dinasihatkan oleh doktor untuk berehat di HUSM hujung minggu ini. Pagi ini, saya dibekalkan dengan bahan-bahan bacaan dan akhbar-akhbar termasuk Utusan Malaysia yang membawa tajuk utama "Anwar Tolak Hudud PAS.."

Di Malaysia ini, ada akhbar yang langsung tidak boleh dipercayai. Daripada sembilan berita yang ditulis, sepuluh daripadanya perlu diselidiki terlebih dahulu sebelum dipercayai. Salam hormat dari saya -Tok Guru Nik Aziz - siasahkini.blogspot

Semoga cepat Sehat Wal 'Afiyat ...

cheers.