Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Of Flag and Patriotism...Is that time of the year again where everyone is told to fly a flag in order to show their spirit of patriotism to our country (and enriching cronies in their flag business)!
Flipping through the newspaper today, I can see our Information Minister (Abdul Kadir or something) is upset because not enough flags are seen on buildings and vehicles on the road this year (read here and here). According to him, it has been a Malaysian tradition to fly a flag beginning on 17th of August every year, and not 31st.
Since when did it became a tradition?
J got a flag from one of her colleague whose husband works in Nestle. There is a Maggi label printed on the flag. So I guess it must be some free gift that they are giving out for this month with any purchase. My friend who works in a government department gave me one (to be sticked on car) because his department got all these free flags handed out by the government.Both the flags are, of course, given to Little Skywalker as his new toys. He likes to wave it around frantically like his father showed him. The problem with him doing so is that he occasionally waves it too close to his face. The flag will almost (and sometimes do) graze his face and his eyes. To avoid injury to his eyes, he sometimes closes his eyes while showing his patriotism to our country.
I (like many other Malaysians) are sick of our so-called ministers (or sinisters), in their self-acclaimed style of showing patriotism to the country around this time of the year. I mean what if I don't fly a flag? What if I just don't like to fly a flag? Does it makes me less patriotic? If someone wears a shirt with a "Jalur Gemilang" on it while snatching other people's purse on August 31st, should we pardon him as he is such a patriot?
I cheered and supported our badminton team, our squash team, our bowling team, our once F1 driver whenever they are on TV. I am proud to be a citizen of a developing country, and help contribute to the economy in our own little way. We designated a portion of our monthly budget to eat at steakhouse, to shop a little extra stuff, to travel a bit within the country and to donate to some charitable organization. I am even driving a Proton Wira for crying out loud.So don't tell me I am not patriotic just because I don't have a fetish of putting up a flag on the eighth month of each year.
To me, these hypocrite ministers (most whom are not worthy to be) can go fly a kite for all I care!
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 8/23/2005 09:20:00 AM :: and invited 4 Blah(s):
4 Blah(s) by:
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Egghead,
Loc Kee,
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