Merdeka Haiku Contest

How quickly the year has flown by, once again the spirit of Merdeka is in the air. Patriotism is well and truly alive ... well, at least for this month ;)

I want to do something to celebrate our independence day, involving the readers of this blog. I thought of another guessing game, but in the end decided to put your creativity to the test.

And so, I hereby launch The Merdeka Haiku Contest. All you have to do is submit (via Comments) an original patriotic haiku. It can be about anything, as long as it's about Malaysia - doesn't have to mention Merdeka specifically. So if you want to focus on how much you love cempedak, or how much you admire Rafidah Aziz, go for it.

The winner will be chosen in a partially-democratic way. I will choose 3 finalists, and then let the readers of the blog vote for the winner. No cheating! You cannot vote for yourself, and please don't create new/anonymous identities to submit multiple votes for yourself/your favourite. Please be fair to the others.

The rules are simple:
(1) All haikus must be in English.
(2) All haikus must be about Malaysia.
(3) You can only submit one haiku.
(4) Closing date for submissions is Thursday, 25 August 2005.
(5) Results are final and binding. No protests will be entertained.

If you're wondering what the prize is, well, there isn't one. But surely having your haiku win and be published on my blog is reward enough ;)

For those who don't know, a haiku is traditional Japanese poetry that contains 17 syllables. The most common version has 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second line and 5 in the last line.

Eg:

Flags flapping gently
Merdeka wind is blowing
Freedom is savoured
© http://kucinggatal.blogspot.com

Now, get cracking!

I've got the Jalur Gemilang song stuck in my head now! Jalur Gemilang, di bawah naunganmu... I don't know most of the words but I just like to hum along...

Till next time, this is Kucing Gatal signing out with a patriotic Meow.