Here at the Padang Pahlawan, echoes of Merdeka (Independence) linger on in these fields that once satisfied the cricket cravings of outstationed employees of the Empire. Yet British architectural benevolence did not go very far beyond the green grass of the Padang. Self-rule is the more serious issue of the day, as the "M" imprint on the free-standing obelisk attests. Here, the last British Resident Commissioner of Malacca, H G Hammet, passed over the instrument of independence. And here, a banner had fluttered gaily, proudly exclaiming, "Within the ruins of the Fort of Malacca we form a new nation."