31 August, to Commemorate or to Party?

i arrived klia from bintulu at 9.30 pm 30 august. as the family is at suitestay apartment jln ampang to best view the fireworks, i headed there. had a change of clothes into my duty uniform and by 11 i was at klcc park amidst the thousands.

as usual, where there's a concert there will be a few foolish ones creating trouble thus suffered the wrath of the police and the fru. oh yes, what a party it was. when rosyam nor the mc shouted MERDEKA only a soft shout returned from the crowd. trash was all over the place. patriotic?

31st august i was on duty at dataran putrajaya. we had to be there as early as 6 am. first i noticed was lack of surau to cater for the thousands parade participants. the mosque is a good distance away. im not suprised many missed the subuh prayers. patriotic?

the arrival of the yang dipertuan agong almost went unnoticed. only as his carriage approached 100m from the center stand did the announcers "woke up" and asked the crowd to wave their flags. no music. no cheering. very somber. almost like a funeral procession. patriotic?

then it was followed by the national anthem, but not amplified by the sound system. at 150m away, no one noticed. only when a few of us saw some policemen at attention did we hear the soft sound of negaraku. immediately we came to attention and sang along so as to alert the others. patriotic!

what national event can it be without speeches. this year's speech somehow did not catch people's attention. could it be the sound system again? maybe. and then the national anthem was played again, thankfully over the sound system thus all heard and stood at attention. some sang along together. and BOOM the firing of the guns accentuated the negaraku. SHOCK!!! three national service trainees in their blue uniform broke rank and ran towards the firing gun for a close look. and negaraku is still playing. what a blatant display of disrespect to the national anthem. merdeka?

the morning ended with a good amount of trash on the ground, plus some discarded flags. jalur gemilang lying on the ground? ohh.. how patriotic is that?

and this morning i passed through the national stadium bukit jalil, a day after the tv3 sure heboh carnival. trash littered all over like a waste dump. is this how the current generation define merdeka?