Bonded Freedom

[author's note:The writings in this post are solely the opinions of the author himself and not of the blog]

"Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!" 50 years ago, this phrase was shouted out in front of millions by a visionary leader who wanted to see Malaysia free from the penjajah that had for so long ruled and exploited the land for their own good. After 50 years of 'kemerdekaan', Malaysia is still not as merdeka as Tunku Abdul Rahman had hoped for. Malaysia's freedom is under threat, not by penjajahs but by our very own government.

For instance, the freedom of religion. The Federal Constitution of Sarawak, Article 11 states the any citizen has the freedom to choose any religion they wish to believe in (might not be the exact statement but something to that effect). Recently, the government has banned Article 11 from being used in the Syariah court. The funny thing is that the changing of religion for Muslims can only happen in the Syariah Court. Is this freedom of religion? And there's the case where even deceased people's religion are being fought over for the right to bury the deceased. Another Operasi Lallang is not very far fetched.

Then we have the freedom to vote for our leaders. Yeah right. For government servants, they are forced to vote for BN only and no other party. Failing which, they will be fired from their job. That's some real freedom there. Maybe we interpreted it wrongly. I think they meant the freedom to vote for any BN leaders.

Next is the freedom of speech. Freedom of speech that comes with the ISA ( Internal Security Act )!The government don't like what you are saying with the freedom of speech you have been given, BAM!!, police storm in your house in the middle of the night, blind fold you, cuff you up and send you to jail without trial ( or they could just blow you up with hand grenades on some hill ).

On the bright side, Malaysia still has a fighting chance to change all this. Like Andrew said, teens like us have the power to make changes. Malaysia boleh ma, but will Malaysia do?