Celebrating Malaysia's National Day (Hari Merdeka)

Posted by Chong

Let us celebrate Malaysia's 50 years of independence by reading some good articles and watching my handpicked videos on Malaysia's National Day (Hari Kebangsaan or Hari Kemerdekaan) and history of Malaysia (Sejarah Malaysia)!

Articles on Hari Kebangsaan and History of Malaysia

August 31 marks the nation's national day which is celebrated in Kuala Lumpur at the Dataran Merdeka or Merdeka Square situated in front of the Royal Selangor Club. Thousands of spectators converge on the city to watch the colourful parade along the streets of the city and performances held at the Merdeka Square. However, the celebrations are also rotated among other states.

In 1956, the then Prime Minister of Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj led a delegation to London to hold talks with the British Government concerning independence for Malaya. The Malayan delegation, comprising of four representatives of the Malay Rulers and four Alliance representatives, convinced the British Government to set a date for independence: 31st August 1957. Read more at Tourism Penang.

The earliest of the present-day inhabitants of Malaysia are the Orang Asli of the Peninsula and people such as the Penan of Sarawak and the Rungus of Sabah, many of whom still pursue a largely nomadic way of life. Their presence in the country probably dates back to over 5,000 years. These early settlers were probably the pioneers of the movement of people southwards from China and Tibet through Mainland Southest Asia and the Malay Peninsula to the Indonesian Archipelago and beyond. The next arrivals to the country, the Malays, represented the second and third wave of this movement. Read More at Virtual Malaysia.

In effect this meant that Malaya would be run by the Malays, particularly since they continued to dominate the civil service, the army and the police, but that the Chinese and Indians would have proportionate representation in the Cabinet and the parliament, would run those states where they were the majority, and would have their economic position protected. The difficult issue of who would control the education system was deferred until after independence. This came on August 31, 1957, when Tunku Abdul Rahman became the first Prime Minister of independent Malaya. Read more at Wikipedia.

National Day Theme (Tema Hari Kebangsaan)

Learn about National Day themes from 1970 to 2006. Images and descriptions in Malay (Bahasa Malaysia) are included. The latest theme for 2007 is Malaysiaku Gemilang (My Glorious Malaysia). Here is the logo.

Patriotic Songs (Lagu Patriotik)

Download Keranamu Malaysia and Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang in mp3 format.

12 Videos on Hari Merdeka Malaysia

I collected these videos from Youtube and most of them are actually Petronas Merdeka commercial ads. Hence you might be familiar with them since there were shown in television before. Thumbs up to Petronas!

I personally find these videos or television commercials to be specific very educational and inspirational. I hope all Malaysian students would learn something from these videos. What messages or values do you get from these videos? Let us discuss in the comment section.

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