Count Your Blessings!

With love and passion, everyone can have a nice garden...Elaine Yim

Count Your Blessings!
Count The Garden By The Flowers, Never By The Leaves That Fall.
Count Your Life With Smiles And Not The Tears That Roll.
..... Author unknown.

Knowing me, Knowing you..... Aha.....!

Notice Board

Malaysian Flora USDA Zone 11
Welcome to our exotic world of everlasting summers and tropical rainforests!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Merdeka - Independence Day

On August 31st, Malaysians will be celebrating our 52nd Hari Merdeka or Independence Day. I shall dedicate this post to our National Day.

Picture courtesy of 3ff.com

The Malaysian Flag is also known as Jalur Gemilang, meaning stripes of glory.

This 'supermodel' comes from my garden.

As the Bunga Raya (Rosa Sinensis), can be found abundantly everywhere in Malaysia, our first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman declared it our national flower in 1960. The five petals of bunga raya symbolise the Rukunegara, our 5 Principles of Nationhood.

This year, the theme is 1Malaysia - People First, Performance Now . Our current Prime Minister wishes to unite all races to live harmoniously with mutual respect and work together towards national interest.

This year's Merdeka Day celebrations will be scaled down due to two reasons.
1) It falls on the muslim fasting month of Ramadhan
2) H1N1 pandemic

We are therefore encouraged to fly/display our Malaysian Flag instead.


During this season, the flags are everywhere; at the roundabout and traffic junction, under the flyover. Also hanging from tree trunks, lamp poles, flag poles, from window ledges, taxis, public transport vehicles and passenger cars. Also, shops, offices, temples, churches, mosques and homes. Yes, on rooftops too!

At shopping complexes, we have the month long Merdeka Sales and more displays of Malaysian flags everywhere. To bargain hunter tourists, this is the best time to visit our country for shopping. Prices are slashed down to 50%, 60 or 70%! Now is the time to buy, buy, buy. We locals can also shop in advance for Hari Raya, Deepavali, Christmas and New Year. There is cost savings in the long run. Trust me.

At schools, school children group together and have fun decorating their classrooms and compound with more flags. The spirit of patriotism is alive here. Are there any contests for 'guest the number of flags' here?

At government offices like this Fire Brigade, creativity is put to good use. Can you spot how many flags are there in this picture? You must observe carefully, look at the passing car too.

This is the parking lot of Tesco Hypermarket. From left to right, the 4 flags represent Malaysia country, Selangor state, Tesco store and Sime Darby group.

Tesco wishes everyone Happy Independence Day.

My own experience:
Since I was little, Independence Day was spent at home watching the National Day Parade on live telecast from TV. I remember my elementary school teacher's advice to value our freedom which was hard to attain in the first place and also to value and exercise our right to vote whenever there is a chance to decide the future leaders of this democratic country.
It is also a day when we remember the soldiers who have sacrificed their life and family in defending our beloved country.
The most patriotic and touching feeling I get is the moment when our own athlethe wins an international or world event, stands on the podium and everyone around salute to our nation when the national anthem, the Negaraku is played as the flag is being raised.
What about yours?

14 comments:

  1. Happy Independence Day to you and your people Autumn Belle!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Autumn Belle, hope you have a fun celebration on this special day...so parade watching, then party with lots of good food?? Thanks for all the flag sightings ;) Btw, I HAVE to find that yellow hibiscus you posted on Wordless Wednesday...amazing!
    Lynn

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Independence Day. pics of flags are great. i always enjoy the flowers on your blog. just pleasure.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka... No real parade this year it seems. We just stay at home..., Kakdah had been hinting to buy cloths for her grandbabies...... baju raya. Huh, another round to Alamanda...
    ~bangchik

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for this post - I love learning about your culture! The country sure sounds patriotic. Enjoy your holiday!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I hope you have a lovely day

    ReplyDelete
  7. Autumn Belle, may we all be thankful for our freedom and understand that which was sacrificed by many. Happy Independence Day for you and your country!

    Your Rosa sinensis is stunning! Di

    ReplyDelete
  8. Enjoy the holiday Autumn Belle! You really deserved a good rest after this comprehensive post. You have really detailed down everything that is needed to know about our independence day! I just came back from shopping and the mood is every where. And on TV, 'merdeka' songs kept repeated. I hope you would have an enjoyable holiday with your family and friends! Happy merdeka!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh what a delight to learn more about your land and independence day, Autumnbelle! I love your Prime Minister's ideas too. He sounds like a wise man. The national flower could not be more beautiful too. The patriotism is apparent everywhere, with a love of land and country that is admirable. I still choke up at the playing of our national anthem at Olympic ceremonies. Instilled since birth, I suppose. :-)
    Frances

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi, Tatyana, Lynn, Muhammad, Bangchik, Wendy, Joanne, Di, Stephanie and Frances.

    Thank you very much for dropping by and for the warm wishes on Malaysia's Independence Day.

    Yesterday there was a fireworks display near my home. I didn't go partying tough. Today, I watched the celebrations on live telecast from TV and got the lump in the throat and touchy-touchy feeling when the familiar songs were played. Later, I went shopping to enjoy the great discounts and bargains (up to 80%!) during this special season of Merdeka Sales. Everybody seemed to be doing just that because it was very crowded at the shopping complexes. I returned home very happy because I spend very little money but got a lot in return.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Happy Hari Merdeka to you! Keep well!

    ReplyDelete
  12. A lovely post on Merdeka Day. I agree with you concerning the rest & shopping thingy.

    I went to Tesco Selayang yesterday and regret going as it was very crowded. I did spot a plant which I liked but contemplating whether to buy or not to buy and at end - put it back at the rack.

    Manage to do some gardening for during the holidays... still in the aftereffects of unfinished garden works...

    But I'm very surprised that I didn't spot any flags on the cars, houses or anywhere compared to last year. Glad to note that you manage to get those pic. in your post.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your blog has such lovely pictures...
    Thanks for stopping by my blog...

    http://theurbanbalcony.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lili, James and Urban Green. Thank you veyr much for the warm wishes and nice comments.

    ReplyDelete

Words are like the voice of the heart... Confucius

Note: If you are unable to comment on my latest post, click on the post title to reopen the post and try writing your comments again. Comments under "Anonymous" will be automatically treated as spam if no name is included.

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin