Warisan

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When I was in lower forms in koleq, we used to sing this song every week. We would line up outside classrooms after night prep, and donning our Full Malay attire, we would fill the night air with echoes of the song with pride. That was one of my favourite parts of my life back then, perhaps the moment I felt most spirited. I would wait patiently every week for Friday night to come just to savour the chance to sing the song. I was not pretty sure if my feeling was shared by my other 100-odd brethrens, I guess I could not care less at the moment. However it is a pretty long song; I would say that probably half of us did not quite memorize the lyrics. The other half, despite showing such vigour when singing it, perhaps could not let the thought of heading to dining hall quickly off their mind, for the supper were to be served right after the night prep. We were naive, 13-year-old kids, who can blame us? It was still a beautiful moment nevertheless, one that is surely able to capture any heart that sees it.

We still sang that song when were in Form 3, albeit not as frequent as we did in the first two years we were in koleq. If my memory serves me right, the last time we sang it as one, united batch, was on the night before our first PMR papers. We even had candles and all while singing it, making the 10-minute scene all too dramatic.

I think it is fair to say that I cherish this song more than Motherrussia, our own traditional batch anthem. While Motherrussia has its own amazing story and is also capable of arousing our spirit at any time, to me having the chance to sing it, claiming ownership of the anthem is more like a pure coincidence, something like a gift. Warisan, on the other hand, is an embodiment of responsibility, one that you cannot escape from.

I guess things change as we grow up, our life focus shifts direction. Tales of broken promises, dreams not realized are quickly forgotten as we make our stride forward. If only we can sit back, and try to recall the moment we sang Warisan proudly when we were kids, each line, what it means to all of us, I guess already we are a better person than yesterday.

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