What is Malaysia Day for Sarawakians?

There are those who blame the text books for being selective about historical facts (though there are many who don’t even remember what the text books say).

We posed these question in Sarawak: Can all Malaysians celebrate Malaysia Day as one? Should we place more importance in one date, over the another, for the greater good?

“Both dates are important”, some say. “Let’s save cost and just do it at one go,” say those with the nation’s coffers in mind. For one or two who are extremely bitter: “I won’t celebrate Merdeka at all.”

During a visit by Astro AWANI to the state, one thing was clear: Finding those who understand the story behind our history was quite difficult.

Among the dozens of people we interviewed, awareness of the date Aug 31 was highest, September 16, Malaysia Day, less so. And practically no one knew of July 22, ‘Sarawak’s Merdeka Day’ until this year, when the state government publicly talked about it.

There are those who call for us to disregard these details as “dates are just dates”. They do have a point: how can we move forward as a nation if these dates turn into sore point for unity?

After spending more than a week speaking to Sarawakians from all walks of life, we found a common thread.

Like it or not, many Sarawakians still feel this way: “Yes, we’ve come a long way, but why after 50 years, we still have rural folk living without roads, clean water, electricity and so on?”