Independence day of Malaysia is August 31, 1957🇲🇾
Celebrating the day Malaysia gained independence from the United Kingdom after almost 100 years of colonial rule, August 31 is usually declared a national holiday throughout the country and is celebrated by the people in a variety of ways every year️🎊
This article, entitled "Merdeka Square", means "Independence square" in Malay, because the declaration was taken place there.
How I Came to Visit Merdeka Square
The first time I went to Merdeka Square was on April 3, 2022, just one day after I arrived in Malaysia, and I had no idea at all that the square was related to Malaysia's Independence Day from the UK. However, L, a local Malaysian man of about 40 years old who worked at a guesthouse in Bukit Bintang where I stayed for about three weeks after arriving Malaysia, he liked me and quickly took me to the square.
L was an interesting man, no matter how many times I told him my name, he would call me 'Matsumoto', which was completely different. Plus he always drank alcohol and walked around with a dog, although he was a Muslim. The dog was called Pochi, and she was a medium-sized, black-furred, beautiful stray dog. In Japan, dogs have long been kept as pets rather than cats, and dogs have more charming expressions, but in Malaysia, dogs are sometimes considered unclean creatures like pigs for religious reasons, and they are not loved and tend to be more afraid of humans compared to cats. However, Pochi was loved by L and all the people around Bukit Bintang, so she had a lovely expression on her face.
The night before L took me to Merdeka Square, he took an interest in me and asked me why I had come to Malaysia, and I replied,
"I didn't know anything about Malaysia. But when I decided to leave Japan, I searched on the internet with the keywords 'people speak English', 'warm climate', 'multinational', and 'colonized by Britain', and suddenly a country called Malaysia appeared on my computer screen."
In fact, England was my favorite country for many years, where I had studied English literature for six months in the past. I probably told him how much I loved British culture.... Now it is obvious why he brought me to Merdeka Square.
British Colonial Architectures Frozen in Summer
At around 8pm, L took me to the Purple Line bus, one of the free "Go KL" city buses that run from the centre of Bukit Bintang. Pochi happily ran around us to the bus stop, but then wandered off on her own because she knew she couldn't get on. L and I took the bus west for 7-8 minutes, got off at Kotaraya and walked another 6-7 minutes west to Merdeka Square.
I was fascinated by everything - the urban KL view of the big buildings we passed on the bus, the view of the back streets of the Bangla town of Kotaraya, the strange stories L told - but the moment we arrived at Merdeka Square was extraordinary.
The wide street with about six lanes, had been closed to traffic and turned into a long pedestrian zone. On the south side of the street was a large lawn where children played happily with bubbles and toys that glowed in the dark, while adults chatted, ate snacks and just relaxed.
On the north side of the street, the "Sultan Abdul Samad Building", the former British colonial government office was lit up.
The street was also lined with palm trees at regular intervals, and I stood there for a while, excited, to see both the British-style architecture I used to love, and the palm trees, a symbol of the tropical country I had been waiting for so long.
Merdeka Square
Sultan Abdul Samad Building, named after the king of Malaysia at the time of the declaration of independence in 1957, is said to still be in use as part of the Malaysian government court. However, I have never seen anyone going in or out of there, probably because I usually visit at night, or I also suspect that it is not used as a court on a daily basis. It is probably literally just a landmark in Merdeka Square.
In addition to this old government office, there are some other buildings in Merdeka Square, including the "Old Chartered Bank Building", once used as a branch of the British bank, and the "Kuala Lumpur Railway Station". However, the bank building has been closed and turned into a historical tourist building, and the railway station is still used as "Kuala Lumpur Station", but not many people seem to use it. The main hub of KL is not that, but at "KL Sentral Station" in Brickfields.
I remember, L was pointing to another large beautifully lit up building across over the lawn. He said it was the library. I later found out that the building was "Kuala Lumpur Memorial Library", however, the word 'library' did not seem to excite me at the time. Without asking a single question back to him such as 'what is the name of the library', 'where is the entrance' or 'what are the opening hours', I replied, 'huh'.
Note that Kuala Lumpur Memorial Library is a European-style building that blends in with the surrounding British colonial architectures, but it was not built by the colonial government, as its new appearance suggests, and the library seems to have been built more than 20 years after the Declaration of Independence.
I just stood there. The beautiful scenery, the palm trees, the relaxed atmosphere and the warm breeze, my heart pounding with the thought that I had finally arrived in Malaysia.