Grandpa Wan smiled, revealing yellowed teeth. “Come with me to the store room.”

His grandfather, Wan, overheard from his rocking chair. “Did you say 1963, boy?”

“Sejarah bukan hanya tentang tarikh di buku teks. Ia tentang hati datuk saya yang berdebar pada Julai 1963, menunggu janji sebuah negara baru.”

“So boring,” Ali mumbled, scrolling through his phone. “All this old stuff about 1963... what’s the point?”

Ali stared at the blank page in his Kerja Kursus Sejarah file. The title was: "Analyse the sequence of events leading to the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963 and the role of Tunku Abdul Rahman."

Ali took out his notebook. For the first time, he wasn’t copying from Wikipedia. He was writing a primary source.