Our beautiful home country celebrated National Day for the 63rd time last week, and as always, the Coffee with STAD crew was on point to delve deeper into the spirit of Merdeka (Independence).
The Merdeka Day special featured in-depth discussions on what it means to be living in an independent nation, while questioning if we were losing touch with the values that led our forefathers to this historic achievement.
Featured during this session were interviews with retirees like K.R. Gengadharan who was 17 years old when Malaysia achieved Independence – where he shared some of the hardships he went through under Japanese rule.
“There wasn’t enough food at that time. We really suffered at that time, and the Japanese occupants thought they could do what they wanted here,” he said.
“Back then we were much more understanding. We didn’t really care what race you were because we needed each other to survive – survival was the big question mark.”
“Currently people are divided because of their mentality. We are all Malaysian – we have different features but we all bleed the same.”
In addition to the inspiring interviews, the chat session also featured quizzes on Malaysia and her independence, performances, and a video screening of the historic Merdeka announcement by our first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman. Kudos to the STAD team for another great job!
So what does Merdeka mean to you? Click here to watch a video on what it means to some of our members of the QIU family!
