Hari Merdeka (Malaysian for ‘Independence Day’), also known as Hari Kebangsaan(National day), refers to the day when the Federation of Malaya’s independence from the British Empire was officially declared. At exactly 09:30 on 31 August 1957, the declaration was read by Tunku Abdul Rahman at the Merdeka Stadium in the presence of thousands of people including Malay Rulers, members of the federal government, and foreign dignitaries. The effort for independence was spearheaded by Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, who led a delegation of ministers and political leaders of Malaya in negotiations with the British in London for Merdeka, or independence along with the first president of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) Tun Dato Sir Tan Cheng Lock and fifth President of Malaysian Indian Congress TunV. T. Sambanthan. The formation of the Federation of Malaysia was then announced on 16 September 1963, as Malaysia Day. 

This is a common knowledge for Malaysians who paid attention during history classes in school. But what’s not a common knowledge for most Malaysians is during the times of military insurgency before indepence was achieved. There are many untold stories during this time period, and rarely any production houses made any effort to feature the stories from that timeline in their movies.

But here’s one during that particular time; Malay Regiment. Will be shown in the silverscreens nationwide from 31st August 2017 to commemorate 60 years of independence, Malay Regiment was told in flashback where the story takes the viewers back to the time where the Malay Regiments fought the communists.

I’m not quite a fan of military movies, and therefore, I found the story rather baffling and not quite my kind of thing. Plenty of memorable scenes, though the story felt as if there are missing pieces in it. Storytelling was quite mediocre and it is hard for me to go back and forth from the present to the past. An okay watch if you like history and action.

I rate this movie a 3 star out 5, mostly for effort made to aknowledge the Malay Regiment’s contribution in nation building through the movie.

For more information, please visit: https://www.instagram.com/malayregiment/