Honouring the Hibiscus

As schoolchildren, we were taught the red hibiscus flower as our national flower. That was in 1965. We had a hibiscus bush at the government quarters in Jalan Day, Alor Star. We mashed the red flowers and got a mushy black paste. The leaves were unattractive but the serated edges were noted.

48 years on, I still see some hibiscus plants here and there, mostly in the villages and sometimes on campus. We had more hibiscus plants many years back compared to now. Do people actually know that the hibiscus is our national flower? How important is the hibiscus flower? Why did we pick the hibiscus flower and not some other flower? Do we have other flowers?

The hibiscus flowers all year round. This April brings a lot of hibiscus blooms. I have never seen such beautiful hibiscus blooms until I captured some on campus. The bushes don't look that attractive but the red flowers are really beautiful.