To be Malaysian at its core.

By Brian Yip

We’re setting up a stall on campus, as is club tradition. It’s not much, really.

We just want to host a community event as the Malaysian and Singaporean Society in UTAS this August. The objectives aren’t that groundbreaking either - let everyone have a good time while giving it a Malaysian flair, which is how we ended up with the whole pasar malam theme. Bonus points for making it coincide with Merdeka as well.

Well, you’ve heard this sort of thing before back home. It’s just normal event planning, and as long as you put in a little effort then good results should be guaranteed (bar some extraordinary circumstance).

Year in, year out.

Same old, same old.

The same…always the same.

…

I don’t feel good about all this.

We often hear about grassroot incentives. Fiery, passionate people that bend together for a cause. Done correctly it is magical, I think - watching a new movement grow to take its place within the wider world of everything. Because at the end of the day, it isn’t solely just sending a message. No.

It’s the fact that you sent it. You fought for a message that you believed was worthwhile enough to share with people.

That’s usually how the story goes. The protagonist works and struggles to conquer the top. And then they make it. Victory!

As far as tales go, not bad. But that’s where people stop reading the book.

We don’t really pay attention to what comes after that, which is preserving that success. And admittedly it’s difficult to do so, because that initial struggle to get there is already over. There is no further hook to keep people engaged.

We become careless. Tired. Unwilling to understand what makes these incentives so important in the first place. In other words, we have forgotten our roots.

That’s the struggle I’ve been having with my Society so far.

The planning has been going along quite well, yes. Yet sometimes, it feels like we turned it into a chore. A necessity that must be done for the sake of the Society. Without this event, there is no Society after all.

Which raises the question, “What is the purpose of the Society?”

Complacency kills. And it’s a slow and dreadful one.

I’m worried, to be honest.

In our haste to make this happen, it feels like we have forgotten the true purpose of this event. We’re talking about our Independence - one of two major events that made today’s Malaysia. It’s one of the only events that can truly showcase the Malaysian idea here in this place. Fully, completely! Across all walks of life.

But we placed that on the sidelines to prioritise getting vendors first. Facts and figures. Manpower, location and equipment. We are rushing to get this event to exist at the cost of its identity.

True, I concede that slogans themselves cannot carry an entire event. The abstract must be backed by concrete efforts. However, the opposite is true as well. A festival that has lost its message is simply a proceeding.

It dismayed me, but also provided something else to consider. The Society is still in a fortunate position. We have enough funds and resources to stake a claim that we are no longer grassroots.

Is that not what all pioneers want?

To see the day where their dreams finally soar?

And yet, trouble remains in the form of what stands to be lost.

I want Time to answer my questions:

Would our fathers of Independence feel relief knowing that this country still remembers?

Or would they feel unease, seeing how we objectify it?

Lofty statements that mean so much with what’s happening now.

Being able to move away from the grassroots is a cumulative effort. And I also believe that such dedication will also be recognised. You tell the world just why oh why(!!) did you place so much heart into this message you carry. Shout it loud enough and recognition will follow.

Yet this recognition is subjective. It demands the right fortitude in handling it. It is not kind towards apathy or forgetfulness. Ultimately, it is a weight of its own - you can only carry it and get stronger if you know what you’re doing.

Leaving the grassroots label behind is a privilege, not a right. The past members of the Society worked hard to spread the concept of Malaysia and her Independence because they knew this. That voice cannot be drowned away!

There, right there! That’s our great struggle. This vision and hope that stems from back then - it must be kept alive. If my team doesn't understand how to remember our country, then everything this Society stands for will fade. It will be a social club just as much as the next one.

If that happens, we don’t deserve to have that voice any more.

It will collapse back into the grassroots, and then into the earth beneath.

Lest we forget.

Every pioneer wishes to welcome a better tomorrow. One that allows those who come after them to lead a more comfortable existence. It should let people thrive but also encourage them to improve. This can only be done if everyone is on the same page.

So the message at hand must resonate.

This is the hurdle my Society must overcome, I think. For the answer to my question isn’t a secret whatsoever.

This organisation exists to give Malaysian students “home”.

A place to gather and enjoy each other’s company. It is supposed to be a place that can unite people, all the more so when you realise just how small the Malaysian student community is here in UTAS.

And Independence! The moment where we put aside our differences because of shared hope. All of us are here today because that moment let it happen. There is no place for us to return to without that.

This Society has a heart, and it is alive and warm. It should not be a machine that treats its very existence as replaceable (and even worse, optional) components.

Our Independence is not a slogan. It is not marketable and promotional. It’s the only thing some of us have known since we were born.

Respect that!!