The big five-oh

No merdeka post this year. The big five-oh doesn't mean much to me except that my coursemates and I at CBN (1) are asked to perform tomorrow on behalf of all the teachers in school. Sheesh...and they only told us before we left school just now. That means that we only have less than a day to prepare. Best part was, they asked us to prepare for 2! What they think, we all superhumans meh?

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So anyway, preparing for tomorrow we did. Since the easiest to perform was to recite a poem, we decided the guys could do one in BM and we girls would do one in English. Actually, I'd rather sing but since I've lost my voice due to sore throat and shouting at the monkeys who were talking and walking around during test...poem it is!

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Scouring the internet for patriotic poems about Malaysia is a bit difficult. Good thing Americans are very patriotic and generous as they share their poems on the net. We found one that we think we can use for tomorrow, but of course, we adapted it. No plagiarism ma! So here it is:

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THE ORIGINAL: Flag of the Free
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Look at the flag as it floats on high,
Streaming aloft in the clear, blue sky,
Rippling, leaping, tugging away,
Gay as the sunshine, bright as the day,
Throbbing with life, where the world may see-
Flag of our country, flag of the free!
..
What do we see in the flag on high,
That we bare our heads as it passes by,
That we thrill with pride, our hearts beat fast,
And we cheer and cheer as the flag goes past-
The flag that waves for you and me-
Flag of our country, flag of the free?
...
We see in the flag a nation's might.
The pledge of a safeguard day and night,
Of a watchful eye and a powerful arm
That guard the nation's homes from harm.
Of a strong defense on land and sea-
Flag of our country, flag of the free!
..
We see in the flag a union grand,
A brotherhood of heart and hand,
A pledge of love and a stirring call
To live our lives fro the good of us all-
Helpful and just and true to thee,
Flag of our country, flag of the free!
...
Flutter, dear flag, o'er the lands and seas!
Fling out your stars and your stripes to the breeze,
Righting all wrongs, dispelling all fear,
Guarding the land that we cherish so dear,
And the God of our fathers, abiding with thee,
Will bless you and trust you, O flag of the free! -by Walter Taylor Field-
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Our version: Stripes of Glory (Jalur Gemilang)
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Look at the flag as it floats on high,
Streaming aloft in the clear, blue sky,
Rippling, leaping, tugging away,Gay as the sunshine, bright as the day,T
hrobbing with life, where the world may see-
Flag of our country, the stripes of glory!
...
What do we see in the flag on high,
That we bare our heads as it passes by,
That we thrill with pride, our hearts beat fast,
And we cheer and cheer as the flag goes past-
The flag that waves for you and me-
Flag of our country, the stripes of glory?
...
We see in the flag a nation's might.
How our forefathers had fought for our right,
Promising safety, unity and harmony,
Flag of our country, the stripes of glory!
...
We see in the flag a union grand,
A brotherhood of heart and hand,
A pledge of love and a stirring call
Despite the difference in skin colour and all-
United and true to thee,
Flag of our country, the stripes of glory!
...
Flutter, dear flag, o'er the lands and seas!
Red, white, blue and yellow dancing in the breeze,
Bearing the spirit of Merdeka,
Guarding our beloved Malaysia,
And the Gods of our fathers, abiding with thee,
Will bless you and trust you, O stripes of glory!
...
Hahah..ok la, so we didn't change much of the poem, but what do you expect? We have our own work to do still, you know? Anyway, while looking for suitable poems, found these three poems which I think are not bad either...check it out:
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Malaysian Mentality
You are a 3rd World Country (A gentle reminder to all Malaysians)
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Progress is not solely about prosperity
Nor buildings that look pretty
You may have the KLCC
But some places like Penang are still dirty
So you are still a 3rd world country because of your mentality
...
You try to beat the queue to get a taxi
And don't even bother about road courtesy
Not to mention parking indiscriminately
Without signalling you overtake randomly
And abusing lanes for emergency
Rising deaths on the roads is how you celebrate festivity
...
You created the MSC
To emulate Silicon Valley
You talk about high technology
And preach about (each family having a) PC
But broadband is (still) denied to many
...
You also can't supply stable electricity
Your roads have potholes and are bumpy
And tyres fall off your LRT
So this is Malaysian quality
...
(Creating) the best schools, roads and toilets in the country
Are what Malaysia Boleh should strive to be
But (in truth) Malaysia Boleh is so (lame and) funny
You break records just to make yourself feel happy
...
Decades passed but this mentality I still see
Will this carry on till the next century?
Or will this change when we turn 80?
You are helpless and just let it be
Let it be
Will tomorrow be better for you and me?
15 years from now come 2020
If this goes on you will still be just another 3rd world country
Because of your mentality.
...
...
...
3rd World, A Reply
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I know Penang is dirty
But I've been to Birmingham you see
The buildings in Bronx are full (with) graffiti
How bad is that compared to 3rd world country?
...
Have you seen the London cabbie
Or the New York taxi
And what about Italian drivers,
Who are famous for their manoeuvres?
...
Vision is a sign of progress to me
Ambition is a good thing you see
Perhaps fishermen rather go to sea
No matter how accessible broadband can be?
Go to London if you don't mind
How many cyber cafes can you find?
....
How many countries have LRT?
Even Shinkansen got derailed, mind you
But this is certainly news to me
That Malaysian built LRT train too?
My goodness what a shame
When everything goes wrong, Malaysia gets the blame
....
There is one thing I can tell
Criticising people without fail,
How can Malaysia do well
When it's always failure that YOUR KIND dwell
Constructive criticism is the name of the game
Contribute something to Malaysia's fame
If you are too good for Malaysia my man
Get out of our country as soon as you can
Don't earn a living in our land
....
I'm wasting my time, there's a lot I can do
But I just can't stand people like you
..
..
Fellow citizens,
There are two poems on the net,
One criticizes, the other objects,
Both poems have different views,
But both have points but not the clues.
....
Malaysia has room to improve,
If you can't see it, you ought to choose,
Between being patriotic and being brave,
But to 'self criticize' is not a waste.
Why should we compare ourselves,
To countries that destroy themselves?
If Birmingham has graffiti,
Are we right, to leave Penang dirty?
If Malaysian drivers are rude these days,
Did they learn it from overseas stay?
....
If you've been to advanced land,
You can find they have broadband,
They use technology that we still lag,
Why is that? You might add.
....
We invest (lots of) money to gain new things
We have KLCC and highway links,
But when things fail, we say "we don't know",
We set our standards far too low,
....
If we believe that "MALAYSIA CAN"
Let us "self criticize" and improve my man
If we sit back to wait and see,
We will always be a 3rd World Country.
.....
For those of you who might want to read the discussion about the poems, you may click on the link which I got the poems from here. Anyway, gotta go do my own stuff now. Happy holidays people!