The Last Patriot

A while ago, Defence Minister Zahid says the non-Malays are not patriotic because not many of them joined the armed forces. In his defence (pun intended), he was probably misquoted. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt, how can he be wrong? He is after all a BN minister and you have to be super intelligent and perfect to be one (sarcasm intended).

What measures or determines patriotism? The noun patriotism is defined by the (Collins) dictionary as ‘devotion to one's own country and concern for its defence’. My definition of patriotism is ‘an educated loyalty (as opposed to blind loyalty) towards one’s country (I repeat COUNTRY NOT GOVERNMENT).

Therefore, patriotism, if equated with loyalty simply means doing the right thing for the good of the country.

There are so many things a good citizen can do for the betterment of his nation. Joining the armed forces is one, but not the only one and by no means the main one. How about respecting the laws of the land? That’s being patriotic too. Paying your income taxes in full and on time? Only a patriot does that. A patriot would not litter and will never smoke in hospital or school compounds. Patriots pay his/her study loans in full. Helping the poor, the ill and disadvantaged is an act of patriotism. Registering as voters and going to vote is a patriotic act. Being fair to your fellow countrymen should be on top of the patriotic list.

Unpatriotic acts would include; indiscriminate and profit driven jungle clearing resulting in ecological damage; election fraud resulting in disruption of the democratic process; bribing law enforcers or government servants to avoid prosecution or to obtain favours; using taxpayers’ hard earned money to bail out badly managed, corruption riddled projects is so very unpatriotic; abusing the judiciary and security forces for personal gains; wasting public money on billion dollar castles; wasting public funds on “lawatan sambil belajar” which emphasises more on lawatan instead of belajar; the list goes on, probably thicker than a telephone book.

Jeering your football team when they’re trashed 5-0 by Cambodia is however not unpatriotic.

In the book “Patriotism, Morality and Peace”, Stephen Nathanson has this to say about patriotism; “Part of the problem with extreme patriotism is that it makes the support of one's country and its policies unconditional. Moderate patriots, on the other hand, see that taking morality seriously requires that our commitment to our country be conditional in two ways. First, the actions or policies of a government must be worthy of support or, at least, must not be serious violations of morality. When nations behave immorally, patriots need not support them.”

A good quote on patriotism is by William Burnham (William who?) who said, “The essence of patriotism is the sacrifice of personal interest to public welfare”

Another good one (IMHO) is by David Ehrenfeld, “Patriotism is the admission that people who share a land, a place, and a history have a special obligation to that place and to each other.”