Michael Yip | 叶志坚

On this day, 50 years ago, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia (Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj) declared the independence of Malaysia with cries of MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA!

For the tourist, Hari Merdeka (Independence Day) is a national day of Malaysia commemorating the independence of the Federation of Malaya from British colonial rule. In a wider context, it is to celebrate the formation of Malaysia. On August 31, 2007, Malaysia celebrates the 50th anniversary of its independence.

A Quick history on the independence of Malaysia.  

The Federation of Malaysia, comprising states of Malaya, North Borneo (later renamed Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore was to be officially declared on the date August 31, 1963, on the 6th anniversary of Malayan independence. However, it was postponed to September 16, 1963, mainly due to Indonesian and the Philippines’ opposition to the formation of Malaysia. Indonesian opposition later escalated to a military conflict.

Indonesia considered Malaysia as a new form of colonization on the provinces of Sarawak and Sabah in the island of Borneo (bordering Kalimantan, Indonesia), which they laid claim on. To assure Indonesia that Malaysia was not a form of neo-colonialism, a referendum, organized by the United Nations, and the Cobbold Commission, led by Lord Cobbold, were formed to determine whether the people of Sabah and Sarawak wished to join Malaysia. Their eventual findings which indicated substantial support for Malaysia among the peoples of Sabah and Sarawak, cleared the way for the final proclamation of Malaysia.

The formation of the Federation of Malaysia was then announced on September 16, 1963. However, the Independence Day celebration is still held on August 31, the original independence date of Malaya. This has caused some minor discontent among East Malaysians in particular since it has been argued that celebrating the national day on August 31 is too Malaya-centric. But to the rest of the citizens of Malaysia. It is still a historical day to remember./p>

So once again, let us all join our hands and raise it high and shout MERDEKA MERDEKA MERDEKA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MALAYSIA! 

Now, check this link out, an article from BBC about the Merdeka Celebration. Whoever that wrote it sure needs to work on their journalism skill.

On Monday, Kelab Autoshow’s staffs head over to Chef & Brew for lunch. Not many people know of the place unless they work around the area of Plaza Damansara or live among the residents of Bukit Damansara. It’s located opposite Just Heavenly Pleasures.

What did we have for lunch? The usual toast and butter was served as starters. For the set lunch menu, they have the Crapmeat soup.

And the choice of main course is the Meatloaf with onion Sauce, mashed potatoes and baked beans

or the Bali Style Fish Fillet served with rice, salted egg, achar and ikan bilis.

The dessert is just a small measly little cake and to end the list, they have coffee!

Those are not what I ate, what I had was these.

Carlsberg (Apart from mineral water, it’s the cheapest drink on the menu)

and Chicken Chop.

Oh yeah, the manager of Chef & Brew was kind enough to serve all of us desserts and coffee even though some of us didn’t order the set lunch. 

ARGH! I’ve been tagged by MiSsMyNx

Are you a blogger? Are you ready for something BIG

Let’s celebrate the third blog day on August 31.

What is BlogDay?

BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors. With the goal in mind, on this day every blogger will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs. This way, all blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, previously unknown blogs.

What will happen on BlogDay?

One long moment on August 31st, bloggers from all over the world will post recommendations of 5 new Blogs, preferably Blogs that are different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.

BlogDay posting instructions:

1. Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting
2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending them as part of BlogDay 2007
3. Write a short description of the Blogs and place a link to the recommended Blogs
4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and
5. Add the BlogDay tag using this link: http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2007 and a link to the BlogDay web site at http://www.blogday.org

Person that tagged by me has to do the same thing. will be introducing 5 new blogs here.
Hope everyone of you who own a blog, can join this wonderful event too!

I am tagging along:

1. Pagan’s

Quite an interesting blog in it’s own artsy way. Even though she’s busy with her work, she can still find time to write reviews of food and stuff.

2. Kukujiao’s 

The name says it all.. kukujiao write with both is big head and small head.

3. Alvin’s 

We see him online in KS’s CB, almost 24/7, I wonder where he finds the time for his work.

4. Munak’s 

Got to know him from KS’s as well, an African in Malaysia living his live the Malaysian way, I still doubt that he’s not a Malaysian because of the way he writes.

5. Pietro Felix’s 

You’ve heard him get his chest hair pulled, teased by Serena C and Ika, watched his radio ad pretending to be Timberland, now you also get to see him rant about his daily life online too. By the way Piet, I WANT THAT OPTIMUS PRIME CPU CASE!