There are still things to be thankful for

As National Day approaches in stormy times, it is important to remember the people and values that bind us together

I TRY to think of what I have to be thankful for every National Day.

I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if many Malaysians struggle to do so this year, what with the death of a bullied child of 13 filling our hearts with grief, with a politician showing no care for the dignity and safety of other Malaysians and bringing trouble to the doorstep of honest Malaysians trying to make a living. Then of course there is a whole list of promised changes that still remain unchanged after two and a half years of governance.

Thankful for what, you ask?

Well, my spiritual path always reminds me to be grateful for what I have been given and what I have in this life.

I am thankful for my father, Haji Rasdi, and my mother, Jaharah, who raised six children in tiny, two-bedroom police ­barracks apartments. I am thankful for my older sisters who looked after us siblings; they even sacrificed their further education to assist our frail mother in caring for my disabled brother. I am thankful for my big brother, who never spoke to me as a brother but who, at the end of his life when he stayed with me, left much-needed funds for my family and my sisters.

I am certainly thankful for my many teachers through the years, beginning with St Mark’s in Penang and SMJK Hua Lian in Perak.

Their full names escape me now, but I still remember with gratitude people like the Indian headmaster Mr Robert, who made me squirm as he sternly dictated passages for us to write with perfect spelling and also made me almost fall off my chair laughing at his very British jokes told so funnily.

I remember my art teacher, Mr Chung, showing me the wonder of building a whole village with tiny matchsticks glued to paper. I am indeed grateful for this awakening of my interest in architecture in Standard Five.

I am thankful for my Hua Lin friends and classmates who were so disciplined and who have the very convivial Chinese habit of having many, many events and dinners over the years.

I’m usually the sole Malay face among a sea of Chinese faces at these events, yet I always feel welcomed.

I remember particularly my Form Five English teacher, Miss Lam, who still resides with her family in the hills of Taiping, Perak. Thank you, Miss Lam!

I am also grateful for the leaders of Umno, MCA, and MIC from the days before independence who formed the Alliance Party and, subsequently, Barisan Nasional in the 1970s.

It was their policies that saw the son of a poor police constable take his first aeroplane ride all the way to the United States to study on a Public Service Department scholarship.

I don’t have a lot of admiration for some of our politicians nowadays, but I certainly have a lot of respect for those from the pre- and post-independence years.

I am grateful, too, to the leadership at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) for giving me the honour of starting my career as an academic in architectural ­studies in its halls.

UTM supported me getting my PhD in Edinburgh and set me on a course of developing a bridge between Western ideas of design and the values of Islam to redefine Islamic architecture and the mosque.

After my early retirement, I was taken in by the Chinese Christian chairman of a private university who saw me for not only my expertise in architecture but also for what I could contri­bute to Malaysia.

I believe my application for a professorship was rejected by three public universities because of my writing in the public sphere, which has often been labelled anti-Malay and not Muslim-friendly. But I’ve always been guided by what I have learnt from the Prophet Muhammad and the Rukun Negara when I write as a Muslim and a Malaysian.

And of course I am grateful for my wife! I married Norhayati Yusof when we were 24 years old; we were among the 11 boys and girls in the same batch on my first trip outside the country when we went to the United States.

My wife stood by me throughout my career, my mental health challenges and my physical health issues – staying right there in the same ward, sleeping on uncomfortable chairs or makeshift beds.

We persevered through five children, numerous mortgages, broken-down cars, and, regrettably, the bullying of some of our children.

Finally, I would like to record my gratitude to my editors and media owners for giving me the opportunity to reach out to all Malaysians so we can work together on improving this nation, despite the politicians trying to drive us apart. Thank you, Nelson, Anand, Chong and Malini.

As National Day approaches, I offer you, my brethren citizens, the true colours of my life that no flag or coat of arms can eclipse: the true sense of pride and gratitude I have for all Malaysians that have crossed my path. May God bless you all.

As the Malay saying goes, “Berat sama dipikul dan ringan sama dijinjing” (to shoulder the heavy together and to carry the light together). Our fate lies in all of us working together to get through these tempestuous times.

Happy National Day, Malaysia.

Prof Dr Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at the Tan Sri Omar Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Studies at UCSI University. The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.