As Malaysia celebrated its 66th Independence Day, PAM extended the narration of Merdeka through the PAM Merdeka Weekend 2023 to spark interest in the buildings that aided Malaysia’s image as a newly independent country in the late 50s to early 60s. However, to set this in motion for the current generation six decades post-independence poses some challenges.
Through the PAM Resource Centre, PAM conducted a special project to gather information about the “Nation Buildings”, buildings built during the set timeline. A total of ten iconic buildings were identified as the first set of Malaysia National Buildings, ranging from religious institutions, and administrative buildings to sports facilities. The PAM Merdeka Weekend 2023 was set to revolve around these buildings.
The younger generations have always been referred to as the ‘Digital Generation’ as they came into the world that has already undergone a series of technological breakthroughs. Information exchange is usually fast, stimulating, and interactive. For us to impart important messages and stories to them, we played along with mediums familiar to them. In line with this, students from Taylor’s University adopted information from the PAM Resource Centre Special Project into an Augmented Reality experience. This was also presented to YB Fahmi Fadzil, Minister of Communications and Digital, during the PAM Merdeka Weekend Closing Ceremony on 20th August 2023.
To measure how the current generation appreciates Malaysia as an independent country, the Merdeka Video Competition was held in collaboration with GarisPXL.co. The participants manifest the theme of “What Merdeka means to you?” through their lens. It is refreshing to see that most of them agreed on one notion, which is embracing the old and new architecture as the background of Malaysia’s multi-racial façade. The new generation was not there during the Merdeka era but the buildings surrounding us have been portrayed as the background of Merdeka stories inherited through hearsay, folklores and school modules.
As far as that notion goes, architecture is visualised as the background of a memory or story embedded in our mind. It sets a context for the memory unique to ours.To bring the stories heard and seen throughout the years since the declaration of independence by Tuanku Abdul Rahman, PNB Merdeka Ventures Sdn Bhd has partnered with PAM to host the Merdeka Sketch Competition at the monumental Stadium Merdeka and Stadium Negara. The event was attended by close to 100 participants ranging from students to young professionals, many of whom had never set foot in the two stadiums before. It was an opportunity for them to behold the details of materials and construction while wandering around to sketch the venue where the Merdeka declaration happened in 1957.
To encapsulate the narration of this event, we intend to preserve the wonders of these architecture by dissecting the elements of the buildings and identifying the quality of each. This was achieved through a special collaboration with the Tudung People to produce three scarves of selected national buildings. The scarves were designed with the same stride and intention, taking the iconic elements of Stadium Merdeka, Parliament Building and Muzium Negara, and laying their intricacies out to be appreciated and valued by the public.The PAM Merdeka Weekend 2023 concluded with a guided tour of the exhibit by Kementerian Kerja Raya at the Parliament Building.
Malaysians are fortunate that our nation’s buildings have stood the test of time. PAM should continue the endeavour to entice the current and future generations to appreciate these buildings with the hope to pass on our stories and intentions.
