Yearning for a lost homeland

Nostalgic: As we celebrate our 60th year of independence and our 54th year together as Malaysia, our longing for the homeland of the past should compel us to create something better and make this country good again.

Like much of the world, Malaysia is a country worth fighting for, so there is a need to recover a sense of integrity and regain its values. 

AT last year’s George Town Literary Festival, I was asked to give the keynote address on the theme of hiraeth, a Welsh word that means a longing for a homeland that is no longer there. Homesickness tinged with grief and sadness over the lost and departed. A mix of longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness. An earnest desire for the land of the past.