"The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government."

- Thomas Paine

COMMENT With each passing year, it gets more and more difficult to celebrate Merdeka. With each passing year, the Umno establishment attempts to coerce some form of "patriotism" that gives form to the charade that we are one big happy multiracial family.

The latest brew from the cauldrons of Putrajaya as espoused by Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek ( left ), is the playing of the national anthem and two patriotic clips before movie screenings for a couple of days before and after Merdeka.

"The movie-goers shall stand up when national anthem is played to show respect. And cinema operators will in charge of monitoring this," he said .

So let me get this straight. Some young cinema ushers are going to "monitor" a group of Malaysians in their patriotic duty of standing up for the national anthem...