Happy 51st National Day, Malaysia!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBoqvZHcqY8

I felt emotional when I first saw this advertisement on TV. The part when En. Hanafi showed his son Aiman, the amount of money he has saved for him to study in a university abroad.. It is not a small amount after saving for so many years by selling cempedak.

How I wish if every kid in Malaysia has a heart like Aiman. He never gives up and the best part is, he finds alternatives when his beloved dad could not fulfill his wants. He is such a filial son to his parents that even he makes it a point to seek permission from his dad to study abroad. From the point he was young till he has grown up a graduate from a university abroad, he still knows his grassroots and he never neglects his dad's dream of owning a 'Abah Punya' Harley.

If you manage to pay attention to the manner En. Hanafi replies to Aiman everytime he makes a request (a fishing net and a toy car), he has actually used one of the many ways of how parents can communicate with their children and their children can listen to them (there's a parenting book in the market which I can't recall the title).

Aiman: Abah, boleh belikan Aiman jala ikan?
Dad, can you buy me a fishing net?
En. Hanafi: Aiman, kalaulah abah ni banyak duit, bukan jala ikan, jala ikan Jaws pun boleh beli, tau tak?
Aiman, if I had money, forget the fishing net, I'd even buy you a shark's net.
Aiman: Jala ikan Jaws?!?
A shark's net?!?

En. Hanafi does not scold or provide any negative answer. What he does is actually to allow Aiman to fantasize that he will only get what he wants if his dad has a lot of money and that the cempedak tree grows golden leaves... His dad shows sympathy that Aiman is not able to get what he wants by explaining that 'he wishes to oblige but...'

In a nut shell, a 3-minute and 3-second moral-valued commercial has made me to ponder and share my points of view. My National Day wish this year is I hope kids in Malaysia will do their best in their studies for the next generation of Malaysians to have a better tomorrow in their society, economy, politics and what-so-ever.

Happy 51st National Day, Malaysia!