THE crowd was burgeoning and it swelled over to the edge of Tanjong Pagar Port, Singapore, that evening on Jan 1, 1956, as men, many of whom were Parti Perikatan or Alliance party members garbed in white shirts and pants, jostled and chanted "Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!" while holding placards and bunting with immersive slogans.
More than 10,000 people of all races had gathered to give a rousing send-off for Tunku Abdul Rahman and his Merdeka entourage to London with a mission to gain independence from the British Empire after a series of negotiations lasting almost 10 years.
This momentous trip by these fine gentlemen with the backing of the Malay rulers and overwhelming support of the rakyat led to the birth of a sovereign nation on Aug 31, 1957.
At the stroke of that midnight, the Federation of Malaya attained independence, marking the end of the British colonial era in the Malay states.
Well, the British would rather prefer others to see them as a "protector" despite the fact they had been a colonial master for centuries.
Ever since the trading post of Penang was founded by Sir Francis Light circa 1780s, the struggle for freedom was imminent. The Malay rulers were "tricked" into entering a series of "protection treaties".
British negotiators, who had acted as advisers (to the rulers), promised protection from any enemy attack and to make the Malay states safe havens from rabble-rousers who could disrupt peace since tin mining and rubber became the mainstay industries.
Even in the early 1940s, there was no telling that Britain would support a self-governed Malaya. The promise made by the British to Malaya was finally reaffirmed in 1946 in times of crisis.
No citizen of Malaya at that time would cooperate with the "protecting power" in the governance of the country.
The Malayan Union perished that year. Tunku and the leaders who negotiated with the British at Lancaster House in London for 20 days from Jan 18, 1956, successfully signed the agreement on Feb 8, with Merdeka permanently in sight a year later.
The British were impressed with the representation of different races that Tunku brought to the negotiating table. It showed genuine cohesiveness among the people from the start.
We achieved independence through negotiation. Tunku told a roaring crowd at the Selangor Club field (now Dataran Merdeka) 63 years ago that independence was achieved by constitutional means through mutual goodwill, understanding and trust.
"Let us not abuse this trust, but honour it so that others will honour us. A nation born with honour will tread the path of glory," said Tunku.
These mighty fine words leave us with an everlasting impression of how a country should and would be.
As much as we want trust to be the backbone of unity for the nation to move forward in this millennium, it's sad to see that trust among us is still lacking after 63 years.
We can't allow trust issues to negate the peace and harmony that our forefathers had helped build. It's our duty to safeguard this delicate balance of peace and harmony.
One good thing to emerge from the horrid depths of the Covid-19 pandemic is that Malaysians have come together to help each other out in the darkest hour. That's what we should continue to truly practise and believe in.
C'est la vie.
The writer, a former NST journalist, is now a film scriptwriter whose penchant is finding new food haunts in the country