Happy Merdeka Day - Tales of motoring since '57 and some advice to all Malaysians

Happy Merdeka Day. That's Happy Independence Day to those that do not understand Malay. Malaysia celebrates fifty seven years of independence today, well, with the small note that Sabah and Sarawak joined us a few years later in 1963. Anyway, the ride from 1957 to 2014 has been exciting, right?

In the nineteen fifties, a period right after the great world war, was an era where rebuilding was happening throughout the world. It also was an era where change was at hand for those in Malaya (and to some extent Sabah & Sarawak). The British were more focused on rebuilding their homeland rather than grasp on their empire. The British then had plans to unite the administration of Malaya under a single crown colony called the Malayan Union but that plan was met with strong opposition from the Malays, who opposed the weakening of the Malay rulers and the granting of citizenship to the ethnic Chinese (and others). After all, whether most like it or not, the Malays ruled Malaya in one form or another since the 1400s, when the Empire of Malacca happened, followed by theJohor Empire, the Sultanates of most of the states in Malaya and so forth. Of course there were some states taken over by the Portugese, Dutch and then the British.

The Malayan Union, established in 1946 and consisting of all the British possessions in the Malay Peninsula with the exception of Singapore, was quickly dissolved and replaced by the Federation of Malaya due to unwavering protests of the Malays in general. Malaya gained independence in 1957 and after this a plan was put in place to federate Malaya with the crown colonies of North Borneo (which joined as Sabah), Sarawak, and Singapore. The proposed date of federation was delayed until 16 September 1963. Oh, Singapore gained their own independence in 1965. I suppose that is a short version of how things happened, without any further description of blood, violence and table top negotations that happened along the way.

So we have been independent for a while. We've progressed in leaps and bounds, stalled and restarted as well as trundled along on autopilot as a nation. As for us petrolheads, gearheads, motorheads or plain car enthusiasts, we have seen through decades of change in the motoring scene. And in the 1950s, with things on track in most parts of the world, Malaya too was developing. We had a lot of Malayans buying their first car during this period.

During this period, I remember my maternal grandfather telling me that he bought his first car. It was a second hand British car which I could not remember the make. This was a chap who used to travel on a motorcycle or a scooter and now he could travel in relative safety especially on his commutes from Taiping to Ipoh. He was a government clerk then and bought the car with whatever he saved. In those days, it took people about two hours to get from Taiping to Ipoh. It took over five hours from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur (if there were no lorries) And you could only travel during the day, with your eyes alert as the communists could and would suddenly ambush you. You had curfew that went on till the early 1970s in some of these parts which limited travel at night.

In the 1960s, there wasn't much change from the 1950s. Progress was still slow as I suppose we were too busy dealing with independence rather than actual progress. But the motoring scene was pretty good in those days. I remember my grandfather telling me that he was running an MG Magnette by then (he bought that used too) and also remember my dad telling me that the racing scene in Johor Bahru and Penang was quite happening. He remembers attending street races, properly organised ones that had Austin, MG (like the MG TF I drove above a few years ago), Jaguar and other mostly British makes racing one another. He even remembered an acquaintance of him actually getting killed whilst piloting his Jaguar E-type into the Tebrau Straits during a race. I don't know how true the story was but I am aware that these accidents happen in an era where seatbelts and to an extent helmets were optional items.

Anyway, the cars of the 1950s and 1960s were miles better than what they had prior to this. The cars first started having synchromesh gears on them which did not require the dreaded double de-clutching move. They also had a unibody construction or monocoque style instead of a separate chassis. They also had bodies that had flared over wheel arches instead of just coverings like an extra large bicycle. There were lots of improvements for car enthusiasts to appreciate. And so they did.

So back then, it was a simpler time. Money was tight and most who could buy cars were the slightly affluent. Travel time was also long but those that could still had fun. And I suppose things stayed the same till the mid 1980s, when the first stretches of the north-south highway was opened. Those that were old enough would remember that a trip from Penang to Kuala Lumpur took over 9 hours and sometimes required an overnight stop as there was only a single lane on each side. Being stuck behind a few lorries meant a heck of a delay especially when going uphill (and there were many uphill sections on the old roads). There were no such things as overtaking lanes (which basically started sometime in the 1990s at the earliest). In fact, if you were travelling from Penang to Singapore, you would have had to spend a night somewhere in Kuala Lumpur or Seremban before continuing your journey down south.

These days, the highway system allows travel to be relatively smooth and on normal days, Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur takes only an hour and a half, Kuala Lumpur to Penang about three hours or so and Singapore about the same time. We have highways crisscrossing the Titiwangsa mountain range and we have better roads in Sabah and Sarawak too. We have the longest bridges too. So there has been some progress.

We had maybe a million or so people to twenty nine million or so people today. Due to this, a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Penang may take as long as it was during the 1970s and 1980s prior to the highway being built. That is the price of having more road users.

We are the only country in S.E.A that can design and build a car. I am darn proud of this fact (even though sometimes their execution falls slightly short).

This price of progress means that a whole lot of us could afford the comfort of their own car. Yes, we have one of the highest car prices in the world but in 2013 we had over 500,000 vehicle registrations. One of the largest markets in South East Asia. We also started our own national car with Proton in the 1980s and is the only South East Asian country that has the capability to build a car from scratch. And yes, from an overall point of view we are still not very good at car making but we're getting better (hopefully before people get fed up of it). But let's look at the fabulous stuff we have. We are fabulous at food. We have a fantastic, rich and diverse heritage of various races and cultures. We have fabulous holiday destinations. We have fabulous rainforests and mountains. We have great (to an extent) roads for enthusiasts to drive on. We have a heck of a lot of good stuff going on here.

But the point I am trying to make is this. If some small tropical country like Malaysia can progress the way we have, with quite a few large achievements under our belt, we should all treasure our freedom and independence. We should all strive for personal gain but not at the expense of ruining our country. So what we should not do is let those that will harm our peace and harmony destroy everything we have. Those that will do harm are the politicians. Do not listen to most of them. They are there to politicking every little thing out there. Especially racial disharmony even though they are telling us that they are promoting unity.

Any racial disharmony is mostly caused by them - For example, by each of them promoting vernacular schools and also keeping government 'Sekolah Kebangsaan' type schools with the rich sending their kids to private school does not allow racial integration at all. I used to go to St John's Institution in KL, did my form 5 in 1989. There we mingled with the rich and poor, royalty, all the races and we had a diverse set of teachers all of whom spoke English which even the normal Malay boy from Kampung Baru could understand those days. So one school stream to teach them all is the best – and seconded by a lot of my schoolmates who were of Chinese, Malay and Indian of ethnicity.

So what needs to be done by us normal Malaysians? Just continue with your lives. Just remember that the person next to you is also trying to egg out a living. He may be poorer, he may be richer but he is a Malaysian. You may need his help one day. You may not. Your cake may be small compared to his but you should remember that he may have gotten his larger cake by working hard. What most Malaysians do not have nowadays is patience. This is your downfall. You listen to all the hype the politicians are saying more than you are willing to pick up a cangkul, a pen or even a book to do what you are supposed to do.

If you are a farmer, farm. If you are a writer, write. If you are a student, study. In due time and with some perseverance you too will succeed. Look, I didn't get to where I am by complaining a whole lot and doing nothing. I did my share of shit. I did my share of nonsense. I drove a hand me down 1981 Honda Civic when I started college in 1992 and continued driving it when I first started work in 1997. Drove it for another year before I got a Proton Wira. Drove that for a good seven years before I bought another car and then another seven before I got another. Being prudent and patient pays off. And your time will come. Trust me. So don't jeopardize everything including your soul and your ideals because you want it all now. But remember this, it will not come if you do not work at it. If you sit and complain nothing will come out of sitting on your behind whilst you drink teh tarik and complain, complain, complain. 

Malaysia wasn't built in a day. So you should take your time too.