The Government Doesn’t Understand Patriotism

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Aug 27, 2013

Who would want to die for a country that is shabbily governed, headed for financial distress, and one in which the Government plays politics to divide the people?

Kee Thuan Chye

I would like to talk about patriotism. Not just because Merdeka Day is coming up this Saturday, but also because the Government has lately shown its lack of understanding of what patriotism means.

It doesn’t mean flying the flag during the Merdeka month or at any time. That’s put-on patriotism and counts for nothing. It doesn’t mean playing the national anthem at cinemas and getting people to stand up for it.

Patriotism is what you carry in your heart – your love for your country, if you want to put it that way. It is something that makes you decide you will fight to protect it, perhaps even die for it. It is not something for you to shout out and tell the whole world about. Not even in Malaysia, which has a habit of wanting to show off and grandstand – for example, by sending to the prime minister last Merdeka Day the highest number of twits … sorry, tweets.

Patriotism is also about showing concern for your country. At no time was that kind of patriotism more evident than during the run-up to the last general election, on polling day and even after the results had been announced. At no time before had so many Malaysians shown their concern for the country in expressing their reasons to save it from its current corrupt mess. They cared enough for the country to want to see it improve and stop it from going the wrong way.

This was not something forced on them, unlike what the Government is doing now by getting cinemas to screen videos from Aug 28 to Sept 3 to remind people about the significance of independence, and to get cinemagoers to SHOW that they are patriotic by standing up at the end of the videos when ‘Negaraku’ is played.

Worse, the cinema operators have been asked to switch on the cinema hall lights when the national anthem is played and to ensure that their patrons stand up.

Nawawi Mohamad, writing in the online news portal Malaysia Chronicle, is right in observing that this is “Umno’s brand of false patriotism”, and that it pathetically contrasts with the real spirit of patriotism: “If you were to attend any of the Opposition’s ceramahs or political rallies, and these are usually multi-racial unlike Umno’s only-Malays, you will find the ‘Negaraku’ is sung spontaneously and each time before the crowd disperses. It is always with joy and participation.”