COMMENT | Merdeka then and now

COMMENT | My primary school, Brickfields, School (2), took in its first students, me too, in 1957.

For the first 8 months of my Standard One, the students would assemble on Monday mornings in front of three flagpoles in front of the school, and squeakily pipe or belt out “God Save the Queen”, followed by the “Negara Ku”, while the Union Jack, flanked by the Malayan flag and the Selangor flag, edged its jerky way up the centre flag-pole, the students so tasked trying to time the arrival of the flags at the top with the end of the second anthem, miscalculations turning a regal saunter of the flags into an undignified rush.

On the first Monday of September, 1957, what Merdeka meant for us 7-year-old kids was that from then on Monday morning’s musical preamble was shortened with the absence of the Union Jack and the prayer that God will save the Queen. We will pray for other things now.

Then, I lived in Rozario Street, about half a kilometre from my...