Happy 50th National Day..... Merdeka!

Today we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Malaysia's Independence Day. How grateful I am to be a Malaysian & more thankful that my children do not have to go through what our grandparents experienced in the olden days. Of course I won't fail to remind them of how tough it was before the independence. Together we pray that we will stay independent forever.... Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

The Poem - Merdeka!!

In conjunction with the National Day, the girls' school organized lots of activities for the students. Wardah took part in a choir competition & her class got fourth place for singing the "Jalur Gemilang" song. Way to go Wardah! Yasmin, on the other hand was voted by her classmates to represent her class in a poem recitation competition. Today the result was out. I could see her smiling away heading towards me when I fetched her up this evening. She won the the first place & was given the honour to recite the poem again today during the school's National Day celebration. What really made her proud & me even prouder was that the fact she composed the poem herself. The day she brought it home for me to read, I was really amazed that my daughter could write. Here is the original piece of her poem which she named "Merdeka!" (being free, independent). Of course there were spelling mistakes which I have corrected earlier.

Merdeka!! From 1957 till 2007, we're free!!
Free from Englishmen,
Free from Japanese,
So what shall we do next?
Let's celebrate National Day!

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!
Let us celebrate 50 years of independence!
Let us rule our very own country,
What about calling our country "Malaysia"?

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!
We promise to be honest,
We promise to learn well,
We promise to respect the elders,
But...
Shall we promise to take care of your name?
Yes, of course we do!

Now we are telling you,
We are proud of you Malaysia,
Thank you Malaysia! Merdeka!