Aren’t we in the mood to celebrate?

Look around you. Does it look like we are going to have a massive 50th Merdeka party at the end of this month?

Do you see any signs of Merdeka celebration in the first place? Where are the obligatory flags? They are missing from buildings, vehicles, roadsides and everywhere else.

The situation is so bad that the government is contemplating fining building owners who refuse to fly the flag. Similarly other sweeteners are being offered to business premises to remind people that the Merdeka bash is around the corner. TNB has started the ball rolling by offering tariff discounts for lighting up these buildings.

However the main issue is WHY has there been no activity by the man-on-the-street to celebrate Merdeka? Is this a sign of discontentment? Aren’t we in the mood to celebrate?

For obvious reasons, the local mainstream media will not take up this issue. However it is not the case with dailies from our neighbours.

The Singapore Business Times yesterday offered a possible reason:

"If his (Abdullah’s) administration chose to listen, what they would hear is this: there is little accountability, the racial and religious divide is widening, crime is going up and foreign investment, as well as high-value job creation, is going down.

It should be hardly a surprise that not many are in the mood to celebrate."