After Tough Year, Malaysians Celebrate National Day

Thousands of Malaysians congregated at Independence Square in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday to celebrate Malaysia’s 59th year of independence, setting aside worries about troubles buffeting their country.

The fanfare contrasted starkly with a student protest held near the same square four days earlier that called for the arrest of Malaysian Official 1 (MO1), a person named in U.S, lawsuits aiming to seize assets acquired with money that was allegedly stolen from troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). MO1 is widely believed to be Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Also this week, Kuala Lumpur and much of southern peninsular Malaysia was blanketed by thick haze from fires in nearby Sumatra, Indonesia.

Meanwhile, alarm was growing over the potential spread of Zika, as cases of the mosquito-borne virus soared to 82 in neighboring Singapore. A 47-year-old Malaysian woman was the first person confirmed infected with Zika in the city state, where tens of thousands of Malaysians work each day, commuting from neighboring Johor.

On top of this, two months ago Malaysia suffered its first Islamic State-claimed terrorist attack when a grenade was thrown outside a nightclub near Kuala Lumpur, injuring several people who were watching a football match on television.

Balancing the bad news, Malaysia’s best-ever showing at the Olympic Games in Rio this month gave people something to cheer about: four silvers and a bronze medal.

In his National Day address broadcast on Tuesday night, Najib urged Malaysians to guard against “moments of disunity” that could disrupt peace in the country.

“Merdeka [independence] means standing on our own two feet, according to our own mold of what we want. Merdeka means being free of outside interference,” he said.

The Federation of Malaya gained independence from Britain in 1957. Sarawak and Sabah, both Borneo island states, along with Singapore, won freedom from Britain and joined the Federation of Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963. Singapore left Malaysia in 1965 but Sabah and Sarawak remained – occasionally complaining that their powers are being eroded.