COMMENT | After 63 years of independence and eight prime ministers (including one who returned the second time), Malaysia is nowhere near the dream of becoming a land of "happy abode".

What had started off on a promising note on Aug 31, 1957, turned out to be quite a different story from the one the father of independence Tunku Abdul Rahman had in mind.

When Tunku proclaimed independence to the 20,000 crowd at Stadium Merdeka on that "greatest day" in the country's history, he passionately hoped that the peninsula, now freed from the chain of colonialism, would be a "beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world".

Today, the world is no better than in Tunku's time. It is not only disturbed and distracted but torn by internecine political conflicts, senseless wars, religious strife. And the light that shone from our new nation grew ever dimmer with the passage of time.

Granted, the country had made great strides in various fields of endeavour but in modern Malaysia, there is a feeling of uneasiness at the way the narrative has been unfolding.

The most telling comment about the country is that it is falling apart along...