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I'm a child of the 80s. Loved the music back then. Loved TV. Still do. Being a TV-junkie, I have memorized scripts/songs/themes to the detriment of many other useful facts / skills

So, it was particularly funny when this song played in my head the past few days as this issue of "racist remark" became the focal point of my Merdeka holidays.

Malaysia Berjaya

Malaysia kita sudah berjaya
Aman makmur bahagia
Malaysia abadi selamanya
Berjaya dan berjaya

Berbagai kaum sudah berikrar
Menjunjung cita-cita
Satu bangsa satu bahasa
Malaysia berjaya

Dari Perlis sampailah ke Sabah
Kita sudah merdeka
Negara makmur rakyat mewah
Kita sudah berjaya

Dengan semboyan kita berjaya
Gemuruh di angkasa
Satu bangsa satu negara
Malaysia berjaya

You may even get to hear it here.

I'm so happy Bernama (here also) and Kosmo Online shares my sentiments.

Here's a little bit on the composer of the song, Saiful Bahri.

Jason Kay Kit Leon

Wait a minute. To conflate all the Chinese in Penang or even Malaysia as "pendatang" is a bit over the top.

My Hokkien forebears came to Kelantan in the early 1800s and then shifted later to Penang many years later.

My paternal grandmother's father, a successful Cantonese forty-niner in the California gold rush, even donated to the erection of the Penang Police Headquarters by the colonial authorities. His photograph is supposed to be there, although I never bothered to check on this since it happened so many years ago, long before I even became a twinkle in my father's eye.

I have grave stones, some unmarked, to prove this. Maybe, Ahmad Ismail's forebears, being Indian Muslims, came much later than my forebears. Let me run a check on this with the Indian Muslim community.

And what I do know is that my paternal Cantonese grandmother's brother was one of the main benefactors of the oldest school in Penang called Shih Chung in Love Lane. His photograph is among only three still gracing the school hall.

How this Cantonese gentleman benighted by the colonial government got involved with the Hakka-organised and Hakka-run school in Penang is actually a love story.

As a social historian, I find that Ahmad Ismail, as an Umno leader from Penang, does not know Penang's social history. For instance, during the colonial days, it is well known than the Goddess of Mercy Temple in Pitt Street was the result of a joint effort of the then preponderant Cantonese and Hokkien community, both of whom were at loggerheads at one time.

Even the Chinese schools in Penang are separately organised.

For instance, of the six famous schools, the Hainanese organised and ran the Aik Hua Chinese School, the Hakka organised and ran the Shih Chung Chinese School, the Hokkien organised and ran the Penang Chinese Girls High School which began as the Penang Hokkien Chinese School, and the Cantonese organised and ran the Shang Wu Chinese Girls High School while the Hock Chew organised and ran the Sam Sun Chinese School and the Teo Chew organised and ran the Han Chiang High School. The following table captures this, though not listed in any chronological order.

Hainanese ... ... Aik Hua Chinese School
Hakka ... ... ... Shih Chung Chinese School
Hokkien . ... ... Penang Chinese Girls High School (Penang
Hokkien Chinese School
Cantonese ... ... Shang Wu Chinese School
Hock Chew ... ... Sam Sun Chinese School
Teo Chew ... ... Han Chiang High School.

The famous Chung Ling High School which came much later was a joint effort within the Chinese community. It was organised under the auspices of the Penang Philomatic Union which has now turned its historical MalAlister Road premises to the Sun Yat Yen Memorial.

As can be seen, the Chinese cannot be simply conflated. They are organised by dialectic tribes, if you will. They are also organised by clans or surnames as they are organised by territorial linkages and even artisanship.

So, a Chinese can belong to a Hakka Association, while he can be a member of, say, his Tan clan, as well as a member of, say, the San Chiang Association and, say, the Traders' Association or even the Carpenters' Union.

Stephen Tan Ban Cheng