Its Ramadan, yet another by-election has passed, and we are now on the eve of the 52nd anniversary of the declaration of Independence by Tunku Abdul Rahman. For The Nut Graph, this moment is tender and special, because the Merdeka month this year also marks the first anniversary of our publication.
And so, we have compiled a totally arbitrary list of what we think are the 10 best cultural expressions our country has offered to help Malaysians understand Merdeka better.
A lot of these expressions are more recent phenomena, and you will notice a high proportion of works discussing the country’s progressive left-wing history. On one hand, we feel this is justified — after all, the multiracial left-wing‘s contribution to Merdeka and nation-building have been ignored and even suppressed over the years.
But we are also not claiming that this list is definitive or exhaustive in any way. These are our picks. We welcome you to include yours in the comments section to make the picture complete.
But to start off, we give you our selection of The Nut Graph‘s first Merdeka Awards!
10 Tahun Sebelum Merdeka
On 20 Oct 1947, a multiracial, Malaya-wide political action — the hartal — brought the British colonial government to its knees. Sixty years later, filmmaker Fahmi Reza made a rollicking, insightful film about the hartal.
But this is not the only reason why Fahmi’s 10 Tahun Sebelum Merdeka is one of The Nut Graph‘s picks. Fahmi didn’t just make a film — he has created a movement that raises consciousness among young Malaysians about the nation’s untold and suppressed colonial history. In fact, on 25 Aug 2009, Fahmi was one of three esteemed guests on TV1’s Di Luar Lingkungan live talk show, on the theme of independence.
