YOURSAY 'Those who are loyal to the country will enrich the country and not milk and steal money from it.'

'Putrajaya not leading by example with flags'

Multi Racial: To Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek and BN, loyalty is all about the flag.

Meanwhile they work with racist group to insult you, asking you to go home, dividing citizens into two groups - bumiputera and non-bumiputera - where one gets more privileges than the other, and creating certain institutions only limited to one group.

Now they have the gall to talk about loyalty to the country. Those who are loyal to the country will not do such things to their citizens. Those who are loyal to the country will try to unite the people, not divide them.

Those who are loyal to the country will enrich the country and not milk and steal money from it. Shame on you.

Anonymous #007: Showing hundreds or thousand of flags does not mean one is a patriot. Patriotism comes from the heart.

MockingYou: Don't blame the civil servants as I am also waiting for BN to give me a flag to fly.

By the way, are those flags out there in the market locally made? From fabric and dye all the way to the finished product?

NX: Minister, it's about time you understood that Malaysians have decided to look after themselves and their loved ones first. They are sick of the corrupt leaders.

FellowMalaysian: The fact that we have to be urged and coaxed by the minister to fly the national flag showed that we take little pride in our country. But flying the national flag will do little to improve the nationalistic fervour.

It is not difficult to understand why Malaysians do not feel proud of our country as the government of the day, as has been for the past 56 years, has done little for its people to be proud of.

When the country's debt-to-GNI ratio is the highest in Southeast Asia, our ringgit has fallen, prices of consumer goods continue to rise and there's a dire need to be more vigilant regarding our safety, there's little for Malaysians to be proud of.

Think: Patriotism is a sign of an uncivilised nature. It is not something to be proud of or to be pursued. Instead unity, peace and harmony are values to be sought after.

Anonymous #95676433: When will our leaders realise that people are not stupid. Do the right thing and people will respond naturally, no need for compulsion.

Black Mamba: Putrajaya was waiting to celebrate Malaysia Day on Sept 16 with gusto. Don't you remember Najib Abdul Razak's slogan of 1Malaysia? He wants to encompass everyone as Malaysians not the Merdeka achieved through Umno, MCA and MIC.

It's the coming together of three entities, that's what made Malaysia. Merdeka is for Malaya. Know your history first.

Apa Ini: Shabery is obsessed with the outward display of patriotism. Someone should flag him down and give him a lesson on deeper values like keeping our country safe from rare earth pollution and crime on the streets that's frightening tourists away.

Not Confused: Really, is it any wonder that patriotism is on the wane in Malaysia? Shabery Cheek must be living in his own little, deluded world to be surprised at this.

In a country where government ministers exhort disaffected rakyat to leave the country, non-Malays are regarded as ‘pendatangs' (immigrants), teachers even resort to racist comments and rants against their charges, many government policies appear to be designed to pit one race against another, one religion against another, deliberately and maliciously sowing seeds of suspicion and resentment of one race/religion by another, and intolerance and arrogance rule the day.

Unity? Harmony? Umno-BN has very effectively killed any feelings of patriotism or love for the country by their own deliberate and calculated actions. I think Malaysia is doomed unless something serious is done to stop this slide into a very deep black hole.

Hold Awam Accountable: Patriotism is not something you whip up by urging people to fly the national flag. Shabery should deal with the discomfort and accept the truth for what it is: the electorate's disillusionment with the performance of the BN government.

Apapunboleh: BN made the rakyat dependent on handouts. You reap what you sow. The kampung folk should be flying the flags... that's where BN supporters are.

Hang Babeuf: Umno nationalism: "leading" with flags, "peeing" on flagpoles... Really "top-drawer" stuff, eh!

Five years ago, as he was dying, the late Rustam Sani asked the question, in a posthumously published book, ‘Are we, is Malaysia, a failed nation? Is it becoming one?'

Shabery Cheek now provides a clear answer. "Yes." And an abject, total failure, if this is the kind of recourse that these Umno leaders have, if that is the best that they can imagine and suggest.

KB Menon: Despondency has set in. The deep sense of shame that we all feel with the way the Altantunya Shaariibuu murder trial was conducted from beginning to end does not endear us to fly flags for now.

The nation will never be able to live this down, the gross injustice perpetrated is utterly incomprehensible. Will we ever be able to hold our heads high after this?

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