I realised with a start that it is Merdeka season in Malaysia once again.

For some strange reasons, we are spared the orgy of outpouring of patriotism this year. The motor vehicles that fly the national flag are few and far between. So far, there has not been any report of silly people baking the world's biggest cake, sleeping with the greatest number of scorpions for the longest period of time, or sewing the biggest national flag in the world.

The lack of attempt to break the world's petty records does not make Malaysians less patriotic; it merely makes them less ludicrous, less insecure, and less immature politically.

A 42-year-old Malay citizen called in on a RTM1 Selamat Pagi programme, to complain that the younger generation of Malaysians show no interest in the history of our struggle for independence. Like most unimaginative Malaysians, he proposed that the schools be used to instil in the youths memories of the great achievement of our independence. What he did not realise is that schools are not the solution, but a post-independence problem in the first place.