The Merdeka Award is back to honour and celebrate Malaysia's most innovative and extraordinary minds for the advancement of the country and society, with the focus this year being the Merdeka Award Grant for International Attachment. First introduced in 2012 as a complementary extension to the Merdeka Award, this grant aims to encourage deserving young Malaysians to become leaders of the next generation in their respective fields, the Merdeka Award Trust (MAT) said in a statement.