My Malaysia, My Merdeka

A certain elderly, distinguished lady once shared the above two-lined elegant stanza with me. She spoke of a Haji Hamilton who translated the Rubaiyat Omar Khayyam into Bahasa Melayu.

How beautifully it describes the paradox that is Malaysia.

No matter the difficulties we face, growing pains we endure, the socio-landscape we choose for ourselves, our ties that bind will help us emerge as a country diverse and strong, united and complex, ancient and new at the same time.

Merdeka will be here soon. Flags are waving in the neighbourhood - and pretty much around the country. In the kampong and the city alike, I feel a nostalgia and poignancy that is inescapable this year. Perhaps there has been too much hurt. Too much pain. Too much distrust.

It is time to heal.

This is what the #SaySomethingNice Campaign is all about. Initiated by Anas Zubedy to promote nation-building, The Tunku’s quote ‘‘Our future depends on how well many different kinds of people can live and work together” is a guide that remains even more relevant and pertinent, achingly so, today.

Our home - which we now call Malaysia, has been in existence millions of years ago when the tectonic plates moved to severe Australia from the continents. A 400-year colonial rule does not obliterate this reality. It is however, part and parcel of our country, as necessary to the story as all other pieces of history.

But there are grander and more marvelous facets to our homeland. Here, we witnessed the birth of the oldest rainforest in the world. Our aquamarine seas and pristine islands are among the most beautiful on the planet and house world famous diving spots.

Malaysia is magic.

More than that, the peninsula saw the movement of people to and fro the Kra Ithmus from the ancient cities Langkasuka to Gangga Nagara to Gellangui. Melaka to Inderapura. Settlements began to fill out at the mouth of major rivers, sea-masters braved the pirate infested seas to seek new territories and bewitched Ptolemy to call it Aurea Chernosese.

At the end of the 16th century after the fall of Melaka, copies of the ancient manuscript Sulalat us-Salatin or Sejarah Melayu began to appear. In addition to the Malay Hikayat, the pantun took centre-stage as the highly stylised Malay literature. In no other form of poetry in the world, the relationship between the metaphor and the reality is so intricately woven.

Malaysia is classic.

In the 19th century, if not earlier, the peninsular was called Tanah Melayu or Malaya. Intrigue was abound during this era, especially in the tin rich land of Perak. A dying and choked empire was the playground of the writers of the day. Of murder. Of mystery. Of love. Celebrated authors Conrad and Kipling, Maugham and Agatha Christie all found inspiration in the irrepressible Malaya.

Malaysia is intrigue.

It suits the purpose of my narration at this point to relate that the then Sultan of Perak, Sultan Abdullah was exiled to Seychelles in 1877. He mastered French, Creole and English. His favourite tune among others included a classic 18th century chanson de Francais - La Rosalie composed by Pierre Jean de Beranger. His daughter, Raja Hadyah used to play this tune on the piano in their home in Seychelles accompanied by her famous brother, Raja Chulan, who was a violinist. It has now been established that this song made its way through the centuries as the origin of our national anthem Negaraku.

Malaysia is so cosmopolitan.

Described as the most Universal of Man, the former Sultan Abdullah travelled extensively to England and certainly, it is not too farfetched to deduce that he visited France. This was in the 1880s. Victor Hugo, himself a political exile during the reign of Napolean III, championed the cause of many and constantly took up cases with the government of Queen Victoria.

Here, I come to the matter of the pantoum. The Larousse Encyclopedique says:

In short, it says that the pantun, a Malay word describing the Malay poetry, was introduced into mainstream french poetry by Victor Hugo and Theophile Gautier. In the 1880s there was a resurge of interest in the pantoum and translations of original Malay pantuns into French.

Sultan Abdullah was a cultivated gentleman who was at ease in London society and spoke French flawlessly. Victor Hugo was the celebrated French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France. A fanciful notion of mine imagines Sultan Abdullah and Victor Hugo having a tête-à-tête together with their many friends and associates in a salon, having political and cultural discourses including exchanging pantun at the end of a chilly winter evening.

Such as this...

Malaysia is romantic.

There is a song that brings a threatening tear when I listen to it. It dredges up a plethora of emotion, of patriotism, of longing, of love for my fellow countrymen and women.

It is not strange that I thought of the exiled Sultan today. For, it was his great granddaughter who shared the wonderful stanza above.