KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30: Kuala Lumpur’s skyscrapers lit up with scenes from history on Thursday as Malaysia began celebrating 50 years of independence amid questions about the diverse nation’s changing identity.

Officials have arranged extravagant light shows and patriotic parties and the national flag will be raised at midnight, while a major set-piece parade on Friday will see fighter jets roar over foreign dignitaries and cheering crowds.

But the breathless build-up to the anniversary of independence from Britain comes as the multicultural nation questions its identity amid raging debate over what it means to be Malaysian, and how much culture and religion count.

The ruling party has tried to paint a picture of a nation united by patriotism, but has struggled to paper over the simmering religious and racial tensions that have been building up over the year.

“On the 50th birthday of our country, I hope all Malaysians recognise what has been agreed in the federal constitution,” Ambiga Sreenevasan, president of the Malaysian Bar Council, told a conference on Thursday.

“We are a secular nation, and all Malaysians must accept this, and do not attempt to make the constitution into a racial issue.” Islam is the official religion here, but about 40 per cent of Malaysians belong to other faiths including Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity.

Although religious freedom is enshrined in the constitution, a series of court challenges and political statements have raised fears that minority groups are being pushed aside by creeping Islamic conservatism.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi earlier this week accused critics of wrongly painting a bleak picture of a disunited Malaysia.

His deputy Najib Razak has followed suit. Newspapers carried his comments that it would be a “disservice to the spirit of our nation and founding fathers” if Malaysians continued to focus on their differences.—AFP