On the morning of Awal Muharam, my neighbor’s 10-year-old son Yu Wei, came rushing to my gate with a greeting “Happy Merdeka, Uncle Ravi!”

That reminded me of one thing that I had overlooked — placing my Jalur Gemilang in front of my house.

I thanked him, with an added treat of a pack of Snickers.

Not everyone needs reminders, I guess. Merdeka, which falls on August 31 every year, must be celebrated with lots of joy and enthusiasm.

Merdeka is an inspiration for all. It gave us the freedom to be a nation. A nation without any chains nor pains. A nation full of blessings and jubilations.

It must never be forgotten that this historic day changed the mindset, livelihood, economy, political landscape and social status of our beautiful nation.

We must all take pride and recalibrate ourselves by celebrating this momentous day.

One may argue why celebrate with the pandemic around your neck and politics on your back. My response is, no pandemic nor politics should bar anyone from our celebration. We can still shower our patriotism and love for our country by flying the flag, be it at your home, office, workshop, bank, factory, worksites, parks, gardens or even at strategic junctions of our town.

The pandemic may prevent us from dining out or partying, but we can still show our love and respect to the momentous day of Merdeka by flying the nation’s flag; start today and instill the greatness of our independence and its intrinsic values that it beholds.

To anyone who feels that politics sucks and refuses to pay any attention to this, I think you must review your thoughts.

Politicians are here only for a short period. They are here today and replaced tomorrow. However, the sense of patriotism shall never be changed, ceased, or erased overnight.

It must start from young. We as parents, elders, teachers, employers, bosses, friends, neighbors must make an extra effort to start these celebrations where the young will learn and stereotype from our actions.

Nationalism, of course, does not come from merely flying the flag or singing Negaraku. It comes from many interconnected actions and activities like safety, security, employment opportunities, economic and social well-being, health care, human rights and overall peace and good governance.

Yes, we are plagued by political drama. We have a situation where the parliament is literally hanging on a numbers game. This game will end soon. Let’s not give up hope or get immersed in this sad state of political affairs.

Remember, we will pass these dark clouds looming over our nation. Yet, our sovereignty and love towards our motherland should never be doubted or faltered.

We should stand upright and sing our national anthem and show our love, respect and loyalty without an ounce of doubt.

Politicians are a passing cloud. They will soon pass and there will be great leaders governing our nation.

This temporary period of instability is not the yardstick to measure our nation’s strength or its caliber.

Celebrations such as Merdeka are not merely a public holiday to pass. We must make it a point to engage with our family members, neighbors and friends to bring about the camaraderie and spirit in rejoicing the national day celebrations.

Though COVID-19 is an issue, we can always organize zoom meets among our friends and families to exchange pleasantries and greetings marking the significance of the day.

The Merdeka celebrations need not be crowded with people. It must be crowded with positive thoughts showering love to our nation and the sovereignty.

We should all understand that the pandemic will soon be a thing of the past. The political impasse will soon see its end. Never shall our love, respect and loyalty towards our nation be a pass.

It will continually blossom into several million hibiscus flowers coloring our nation as one beautiful country.

Malaysia and Malaysians need a break. We are bombarded by too many negatives issues. Every mobile phone is laden with fake, sad, gory and made-believe stories, affecting the people. Suicides are rampant.

Politicians are not getting it either. They are issuing statements to show who has the numbers, but failing to see that the infection is skyrocketing to 21,000 daily as of August 12.

We are not here to read and see these unwanted stories and news; we are here to build a nation that was once known as Swarnabumi – a land of gold.

We want a better nation. We want our people to be happy. We want our children to be back in school and in the universities. We want the hospitals to return to their norm. We want every COVID-19 patient returning home with hope and determination. We want the shops and places of worship opened. We want football fields and badminton courts filled once again with people playing and rejoicing.

It is exasperating to contain children within the four walls of the home; parents, mainly mothers, are struggling to manage this.

This is my Merdeka wish. I want a nation that is happy. I want people to smile forgetting their pains. I want enough food at every B40 kitchens. I want people talking about the next Olympics and World Cup with Malaysia playing and participating in it. I want our nation to completely eradicate poverty. I want our nation to provide equal opportunities for everyone.

From Sabah to Sarawak, from Kedah to Johor, we want every Malaysian returning to normalcy after these pandemics and political uncertainty.

Let’s all pray while rejoicing for our Merdeka. Let’s celebrate this unique day/month of independence with hope, courage, enthusiasm and patriotism.

Happy Merdeka to every Malaysian, here at home or abroad. May the Jalur Gemilang fly high in all your hearts wherever you may be.

(Ravindran Raman Kutty is an active social worker.)