CARA BICARA-#24-Aug. 2000
 
 
 

MERDEKA 2000 and forever....
 

In less than a week, the nation will repeat the ritual of celebrating our Independence-our Merdeka from the British.This is our 43rd anniversary.There will be great speeches,parades,dinners etc. as last year and the year before last.After that,life goes on as usual....
Within days, most people will forget about Merdeka and its meaning ,if any.
 

I was born five years before Merdeka and could hardly remember the big day 31st August,1957.As a nation, we have gone through a lot of changes, be it political,economic and social. Similarly, my family and I have undergone similar changes. My mother still lives in the kampung(village) but my family has moved to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. My generation has a blurred memory of what was like before Merdeka and the hardships we encountered had almost escaped our memory. In general,my generation has had a good life;we did not have to endure  the sufferings of our parents during the second World War II. In case of my children ,all  were born after 1980; they could not imagine life without electiricity, piped water ,toilets in the house,tv,phones and the like ...........not to mention video games,cellular phones and the Internet.
 

Most people celebrated the 21st century this year even though technically speaking it should be the year 2001. Whatever it is the year 2000 should be the watershed year where we should examine what major issues that matters most as we enter the next century on the 1st January,2001. The world had undergone many changes in the last 50 years and it is not going to stop in the next 50 years,at least( I think). The change will take place in all aspects of our life and the major issues that matters most to us   will  also change. Are we prepared for this change? The first premise is to accept that change had taken place and will continue, otherwise all of us will become irrelevant in the first decade of the next century! At the current rate of technological change,it may be sooner. What scares me most is not the change itself but the rate of change which will occur many times faster than the last 50 years.
 

Before we answer this question, we must identify what changes have taken place and how these changes will change how we live,work and play? I am not going to list down for you;everyone has his own list and it differs from person to person.Just do a comparison between the life of our parents and ourselves and compare again the life of our children against our childhood. Our parents lived under their colonial masters and fought hard to be independent. They brought us up so that we can become what we are to-day.Now , it is our turn to educate and bring up our children,however the challenges and issues are mostly different from our parent's time.So is our kids' time when it comes to their turn.
 

Most of us have heard about the New Economy( not the local New Economic Policy). It is the new way of commerce and business, driven by ICT ( Information and Communication and Technology) .According to the ICT pundits,all aspects of our life will be affected by this 'disruptive ' technology. The way I see it,it is not the question of will it affect us; it is more of when it will affect us? Different people have their own versions of the New Economy,but whatever it is the old ways will undergo the digital tranformation. It is not the ICT alone is driving the change,but the educated consumers are themselves are changing.
 

My generation carries a lot of  historical baggages. Some othe contents( refers to knowledge,sentiments and prejudice) are out dated and irrelevant.We have only four months left to decide which 'clothings'  to discard and which new 'clothes' to wear.The new economy is a new 'warzone'  where 'keris' and 'lembing' are museum pieces. We have to learn, unlearn and relearn new tools to be able to compete,let alone surivive the new waves of political,economic and social turmoils of the 21st century.

Fifty years ago our parents fought for independence from colonial masters and had to ride the industrial waves. Now, it is our time and our children time to ride the new economic waves where we ourselves are not so sure where we all are heading. However as Malaysians, at least we have Vision 2020.

As a final note to Merdeka 2000, I wish to reinterate the imperatives of having the relevant knowledge and technology to enable us the remain independence in the coming decades.

Merdeka forever....