Youth and Merdeka: Is there more to the national anthem than standing up and lip-syncing?
The national anthem or “Negaraku” is a song etched into the minds of every Malaysian, whether you realise it or not.
Unless you happen to be very forgetful, which is still a pretty difficult feat since almost every middle schooler and high school student in the country sings the national anthem every morning during the school assembly.
Eight lines with the latter half repeated twice, how difficult is it to memorise the national anthem? Negaraku pays honour to the King as well as the country and beautifully depicts the Malaysians blessed to be born in this country of unity and peace.
Let’s walk down the memory lane, shall we? Following the independence gained by the country in 1957, each state came up with their own regional anthems.
However, realisation hit the top leaders that there is no national anthem for the country.
The duty then fell onto the shoulders of Tunku Abdul Rahman, our Prime Minister. The solution he came up with? A worldwide competition.
Because what could be a better way to find the most suitable national anthem other than collecting ideas from the people through a friendly competition with rewards as the motivator? However, none of the 514 entries were deemed suitable.
Then, a selected few of internationally renowned composers were invited to submit their compositions and four were chosen for consideration including Benjamin Britten, Sir William Walton, US opera composer Gian Carlo Menotti and Zubir Said.
Is it even surprising at this point that none of the compositions made the cut either? Long story short, Perak state anthem ‘Allah Lanjutkan Usia Sultan’ ended up being rewritten by a Panel of Judges, led by Tunku himself and that was how the national anthem came to be.
Time flew by and despite the national anthem remaining the same way it is to us Malaysians, it is hard to deny that modernisation made people wonder if the feelings of nostalgia and appreciation remains the same for youths these days.
Today, the national anthem might be nothing more than a song you stand up to and sing along, simply because other people near you are doing the same or it is simply what you do because that is how it has always been.
Worse, some of us simply lip-sync to the song because they are too lazy to sing properly to the national anthem.
A Malaysian youth who only wanted to be known as Hazirah, 22, admitted that she always lip-syncs when the national anthem is being played because she was too lazy to sing it aloud.
To her, it is not a hassle but what is important is how she feels when singing the song.
She said she is still being respectful to the national anthem since she dropped whatever she is doing and what matters is that she feels grateful and thankful for the independence gained by the country, every time the song is being played.
As for standing up while the national anthem is being played, she said there are times when she just sings along without changing her position.
“Sometimes I stand up to sing and sometimes I just sing along without changing my position.
“However, I do think it is important to stand up and sing along earnestly to appreciate the national anthem,” she told Sinar Daily.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Jannatun Naim, who is in secondary school said he considered it a tradition where the students sing along to the national anthem during his school assembly before they were dismissed and could proceed to their classroom.
The 17 year-old said he does understand the sentiment to the national anthem but it is hard for students to feel anything but sleepy when singing it during the morning assembly.
“Standing up and singing the song properly is a way for us to show our love to the country and respect to our King.
“I am aware of that but when you have been doing it every morning throughout your school days, I usually stand up straight like a pole and lip-sync to the song because it is too early in the morning to feel high-spirited enough to sing loudly,” he admitted.
Another student in secondary school who wanted to be known as Aziz, 18, said he makes sure to stand up still and sing along until the national anthem is finished during the morning assembly.
He said he was not doing that to be seen as a good kid or because he has a strong patriotic spirit, but it has become a habit after doing it for a long time in school.
“Whenever ‘Negaraku’ is played during the school assembly, I will stand still and sing along until it is finished.
“Of course it is a way to show my respect but more than that it has become a habit for me that I find myself doing so even when the national anthem is played in events outside of school,” he shared.
Meanwhile, 24-year old Jenny Ng said she has never lip-synced to the national anthem but saw many of her friends doing it.
She said that it is important that the new generation have good etiquette when singing the national anthem (standing up and singing along).
“The new generation should have the proper etiquette when Negaraku is being played because they need to know that the gesture, although simple, shows how much we respect our country.
“Some of them might consider doing this to be traditional or not cool, but if we as Malaysians ourselves are not respectful or proud of our national anthem, then who will?” she said.
When asked about what the national anthem means to her, she said she views the song as a means to appreciate the sacrifices made by our ancestors in order to gain the independence she is able to enjoy today.
Muhammad Amiruddin Ramli, 24, from Kuala Lumpur also shared his opinion that standing up and singing along to the national anthem is a responsibility of all Malaysians because it is a must for us to respect the anthem.
He said the national anthem is a reminder that Malaysia is a country that has achieved independence and we should be grateful for that.
“I think the fact that Malaysia is a country that has achieved independence for 65 years is something that we should appreciate and be grateful of.
“Look at some countries out there where their people are not able to enjoy the peace and unity like what we have in our country.
“Let’s not take this for granted and Negaraku should be a reminder for us to always be proud of how far we have come,” he said.
With our country celebrating its 65th year of Merdeka, Sinar Daily would like to wish all our readers Happy Independence Day and for the nation to continue moving forward for the years to come.
