MALAYSIA DAY

There is a debate going on whether our Independence Day should be on 16 September instead of 31 August which is celebrated every year without fail. I think our Independence Day shall remain as that is the day we became a sovereign nation free of British interfearance and control.

The US celebrates the 4th of July as the Independance Day every year eventhough the full formation of the United States which consists of 51 states including Hawaii and Alaska happened at least 200 years later i think. And yet, i never heard of the United States Day, is there such a day?

Personally, i think the debate is academic and being made into a political issue to cause discontent among Sarawakians and Sabahans as they will feel that the lack of recognition when they joined the Federation of Malaya to form Malaysia on that day.

However, it can be resolved amicably without loss to anybody except to the government and private sectors productivity when 16 September becomes another public holiday on the calendar. Malaysia already has plenty of public holidays due to the various ethnics celebration days, Prophet Birthday, Awal Muharram, Sultan and Agong coronation days and so on. Couple these with weekends throughout the year, we have one third of 356 days as off days, wow!

So, Mr PM why not just declare 16th September of every year as the Malaysia Formation Day and give all of us an additional public holiday. Asian are hard workers, surely it is good for them to have an additional off day to spend some quality time with their families. A happy home will motivate staff to become more productive and will balance the loss of productivity on that day i hope.

Besides, if we are targeting to be a developed nation by 2020, we need to take care of our human capital and their welfares like in the US where a lot of companies are practicing a 4 days week or Scandinavian countries which have the highest public holidays in the world. Yet, they are very productive and strong economically.

It is also good to put this matter to rest as the opposition cant use it anymore to score more political points and become more popular, and everybody can start debating on real issues which require more attention from everybody.

Happy Malaysia Day, yay!! I need to plan a fishing trip if it becomes a reality....where is my tekong's phone number?