— Dr Kamal Amzan
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 01, 2011
JUNE 1 — The country of nasi lemak, rendang, pasembor, rojak and yong tau hu.
A nation of colourful festivals and public holidays that dot the yearly planner, turning any calendar into a polka-dot collage.
It is where you find everyone is related. We are somebody’s “uncles”, “aunties”, “pak ciks” and “mak ciks”, akin to a super big family celebrating our differences in fashionably colourful ways.
A country blessed with pristine, tranquil mountaintops, sandy white beaches and whatever remains of our rich rainforest heritage everywhere.
A place where the east converges before greeting the west.
This is my country. My home, my heaven and my paradise.
I was offered many jobs with mind-boggling salaries and better working conditions overseas. To the cynics: I turned them down, not because I was stupid or short-sighted.
I turned them down because this country means more than just money to me. Its magic and splendour cannot be translated in terms of ringgit and sen. It is indescribable in words, and lost in translation should I even try.
That is the very same reason why I want my children and my grandchildren to live and grow up here. I remain to allow them to experience life and see all the cultures as I saw it, through their eyes and grow up into a being of tolerance and moderation.
Where else can they experience Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Christmas, Thaipusam and Hari Gawai under one roof and receive colourful green and red packets for luck?
My future children and grandchildren aside, I remain here on a quest to make my home, a home to my fellow countrymen who have been disillusioned by the politicians that pollute this beautiful country with racial ideologies for an inch of political mileage.
I want my countrymen to be my brothers and sisters, living in an environment that promotes respect, tolerance, and celebration of each other’s differences, and not one that antagonises, suspects and oppresses one another. This should be the country where we stand equally tall, speak equally loud and strive equally hard to realise each and every one of our dreams.
I remain to ensure that this fight continues, and that this beautiful country remains in the hands of Malaysians, and not those of the pirates who misinterpret our Constitution to justify their greed, which if left unchecked, will threaten to rip the very colourful fabric that makes Malaysia Malaysia.
I remain in this country for all that, and then so much more.
I grew up reciting the Rukunegara every morning. It was a pledge I made, and it is a pledge I plan to keep.
As long as I live, a Malaysian I will remain. So help me God.