Negara ku

Negara-Ku is from Yin’s collection of “Poems of Protest and Resistance.”

As children

We drank from the same cup

Ate from the same plate

Our houses were open

To each other       

As adults

We sat in coffeeshops

Me with my stout

And you whatever you fancied

Talking about everything

And nothing

Without fear of offending

But that was another time

So long it seems a dream

Dream we did

Of Negara ku 

Where rakyat hidup

Bersatu dan maju

But with a stroke of the pen

Negara ku

Terpechah-belah dan malu

One a bumiputra

The other not

Our distance grows wider

Our hopes turn to despair

Our anger turns to sorrow

What is our tomorrow?

How did we come to this?

They have divided us

So that they can rule

But I know

We will be friends again

As is Allah’s will

In the green fields beyond

Where flowers

Of many colours are allowed

A realm above

The greed

And ostentatious piety

Of the self proclaimed Tuans

Once more

Negara ku bersatu selalu 

(From: Poems of Protest and Resistance)