Selamat Hari Merdeka! Happy National Day. I'm always telling people (foreigners) about Malaysia, and how it is a great place to be. Thinking about things this year, I realize that those of us who are sort of middle class have always been happy to just get along and enjoy what our country has to offer. We are often not aware of or interested in what is happening to others in our country, or we may be briefly outraged but feel powerless to do anything, and forget about it after.

I'm reminded of the saying attributed to Martin Niemoller, which is inscribed at the Holocaust Memorial in Boston:

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

This Merdeka Day, maybe we should think about those who have been marginalised in our society and what we can do about it.