Patriotism in Malaysia
The Malaysian Bar
Patriotism cannot be forced onto a Malaysian
Contributed by Charles Hector
The compulsory national service training 'programme is intended to foster the spirit of patriotism, encourage racial integration, and develop "positive and noble traits" among the younger generation' (Malaysiakini 13/6/2003). The targeted group is our youth of about 18 years. The object of this programme was expressed by Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak, who chairs the special cabinet committee. 'The programme will focus on basic military training, patriotic training and personal development including community service.' (Malaysiakini 17/6/2003) In the military, one is trained to follow orders of superiors without question. Would this be one of the characteristics graduates of this training would be instilled with? Hopefully not, because for a person to be a patriot, he must be a person concerned with the well being of the nation and this means that he must be a person who will be brave enough to stand up to criticize bad leaders, bad policies, bad laws, corrupt practices, lack of transparency in the leadership and/or the government of the day, injustices around him, abuses of powers and everything that is not good for Malaysia and Malaysians as a whole. He must be a participative citizen of Malaysia, and not a by-stander silenced by fear and/or other self-interest. A patriot must be a person who will also get involved in the day-to-day politics of the nation, at every level; this would mean he will not only support good candidates for leadership, but will also offer himself as a candidate. There was, at one time, many Malaysians who were like 'Hang Tuah', a person with total and blind loyalty to the rulers of the day, irrespective of whether justice or injustice was done or ordered to be done - but today we find that more and more Malaysians are becoming like 'Hang Jebats', a person who would voice out and protest injustices done even by the rulers of the day. Hang Jebat
Patriotism cannot be forced onto a Malaysian
Contributed by Charles Hector
The compulsory national service training 'programme is intended to foster the spirit of patriotism, encourage racial integration, and develop "positive and noble traits" among the younger generation' (Malaysiakini 13/6/2003). The targeted group is our youth of about 18 years. The object of this programme was expressed by Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak, who chairs the special cabinet committee. 'The programme will focus on basic military training, patriotic training and personal development including community service.' (Malaysiakini 17/6/2003) In the military, one is trained to follow orders of superiors without question. Would this be one of the characteristics graduates of this training would be instilled with? Hopefully not, because for a person to be a patriot, he must be a person concerned with the well being of the nation and this means that he must be a person who will be brave enough to stand up to criticize bad leaders, bad policies, bad laws, corrupt practices, lack of transparency in the leadership and/or the government of the day, injustices around him, abuses of powers and everything that is not good for Malaysia and Malaysians as a whole. He must be a participative citizen of Malaysia, and not a by-stander silenced by fear and/or other self-interest. A patriot must be a person who will also get involved in the day-to-day politics of the nation, at every level; this would mean he will not only support good candidates for leadership, but will also offer himself as a candidate. There was, at one time, many Malaysians who were like 'Hang Tuah', a person with total and blind loyalty to the rulers of the day, irrespective of whether justice or injustice was done or ordered to be done - but today we find that more and more Malaysians are becoming like 'Hang Jebats', a person who would voice out and protest injustices done even by the rulers of the day. Hang Jebat