Promise of a Nation
My people,
The covenant we made
so many years ago,
The time when we
endeavored to build a country,
Shoulder to shoulder,
Brother to brother,
Have we forgotten
that promise of a nation?
-
Men freed from the
shackles of servitude,
Able to forge our own
ambitions,
Able to dictate our
own destinies,
Able to realize our
own dreams,
A race of merdeka
men.
-
Oh far still lays the
fulfillment,
Of our promise of a
nation,
Did we not dream of
celebrating our diversity,
Yet we use miscellany
to distance ourselves,
To divide ourselves
into clusters of separation,
Misguided by false
notions of differences.
-
Have we not live
beside each other far too long?
Have we not suffered
together through many ordeals?
Have we not forged an
identity that we call ours?
Then why are we not
embracing each other?
To accept each other
as seeds of the pertiwi.
-
We made promises of
unity,
To build a nation of merdeka,
Where minds are free
from all prejudice,
And knowledge is free
from all prices,
Where words come out
from the wells of truth,
And actions guided by
the compass of reason,
Where a man can reach
forth to clasp the fruits of success,
Not because of fame
or fortune,
Or because of colour
or belief,
But because of hard
efforts and tireless striving.
-
This promise of a
nation,
Still left
unfulfilled,
By the very people of
the covenant,
My people.
-Syahredzan Johan
