COMMENT | August carries a special weight for Malaysians. It is the month when the air turns reflective, the nation recalls the day the Union Jack was lowered, and when freedom from colonial rule was finally won.

Independence in 1957 was no small feat; it was the triumph of a people of many races who stood together to say: “Enough.”

The joy of that moment was universal, shared by Malays, Chinese, Indians, and others in Malaya who could, for the first time, imagine themselves as one people.

Yet, in truth, the story of independence is also one of lost opportunities. In 1963, scarcely six years after Merdeka, Malaya was pushed into a new political arrangement: the formation of Malaysia.

The federation that included Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak altered the course of our history. It was not born out of a long-term national vision, but out of external pressure and geopolitical fear.