Happy Merdeka, Malaysia!

The eve of Merdeka.

I must say, though, that many of us Sabahans are suitably upset that Malaysia is known to be 50 years old this year. Malaysia as a nation is actually only 44 years old. The Federation of Malaya became Malaysia only in 1963 when Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined the country.

Ah well. Some say details are trivial. I think not.

Back to the matter of celebrating Merdeka in KK.

This was the first year I have ever been a part of the official Merdeka celebrations in any way. Don't get me wrong. I love being Malaysian. I even use the 'Tanggal 31, Bulan 8, 57... Merdeka!' song as my ringtone for the whole month of August. I just never got round to making it to any of the padangs or celebration grounds.

This year was special. The Sarios got an invite to the Konsert Gemilang Ambang at Sabah's Padang Merdeka. We had nice, vip seats and didn't have to risk being manhandled by the masses. ;p

And it was all cos my little brother, Bryan, was performing! (I never knew that young punk was so talented)

Bryan's the lead singer of his band, 5th Generation. The (rock-ish) band, consisting of Tim, Kevin, Gordon and Yazid, were to sing 10 songs throughout the night, and even given the task of singing two songs when the Guests of Honor arrived.

The boys in practice

The concert grounds

We couldn't stay the whole nite cos of Daddy and Mummy's flight to Japan. But we managed (after 2 hours of waiting from 6pm onwards) to catch the band in action. And at the risk of sounding biased, 5th Generation was AWESOME! Bryan was superb, his bandmates on the guitars and drums were like professional musicians, and Daddy, Mummy, Leanne and I beamed with pride. Kesh and Don, you two shoulda been here.

5th Generation in action

Happy Merdeka everyone!

Love,

Heather