Start small Re: reasons:-
(1) The food (whatever ppl say, you cannot replicate M’sian street food anywhere in the world, except on M’sian streets!).
(2) The white sandy East Coast beaches.
(3) The manned ‘automatic’ parking machines and barriers at our shopping centres (the man’s job is to slot your money into the machine or press the button to lift the barrier. That always comes handy for the arthritis sufferers and urbanites like me, who are incapable of performing complicated tasks like that).

For all her flaws, Malaysia has achieved some.

My 3 year old son and I put up the Malaysian flag at our house last weekend. We talked about why we love Malaysia – for me, it was the sun and beaches; for him it was the durian, his favourite! In the car later that day, we caught ourselves singing “Malaysia Berjaya”, although all he could remember from the song was 1 word – “Bersatu (unity)!”.

But as a mother to a tod and a baby, I worry whether my children will have a place under the Malaysian sun.

Still, I am proud to call Malaysia home. I will nurture my children with all the good things that she has to offer. And if all my 3 year old can remember from a patriotic song is “Bersatu”, that will do.

Happy 50th Merdeka, Jenn.

(By the way, you write masterfully – without pretense, and full of heart and substance – you do deserve the blogitzer. Your ramblings on parenthood often hit the spot and melt the heart. Your tech-savvy-ness (admittably way above the average mommy and even the average blogger!) and pictures make a classy blog. Blog on.)

Thanks Sheryl. The husband and I had sort of the opposite kind of conversation yesterday. I asked him, “So how? Are we staying?” His answer: “What’s there to go back to?” I was sad not because I missed home but because there was no practical reason why we’d go home I could bring to the table. Nothing whatsoever.