"IF we wish to develop the spirit of patriotism in sports among Malaysians, then it should be done while they are still in school."

Those were the words of renowned local historian Professor Emeritus Dr Khoo Kay Kim.

He said the success chalked by national bowling queen Shalin Zulkifli when leading Malaysia to win the team gold medal in the recent World Women's Bowling Championships in Monterrey, Mexico is a fine example.

Shalin said the Malaysia Boleh spirit as well as the sense of belonging have spurred the Malaysian team to overcome the hurdle and win the gold medal.

Meanwhile at the Hua Mak Velodrome in Bangkok, the national anthem Negara Ku was played everytime Malaysian cyclists won a gold medal at the recently-held 27th Asian Cycling Championships.

Their total haul of gold medals was three.

The overwhelming sense of patriotism is also a factor that helped the young Malaysian squad to beat Burma in the final of the 2007 Merdeka soccer tournament.

Boost patriotism

"Patriotism is the overwhelming love for the country, that pushes a person to the extreme in fighting for the name and glory of his nation.

"To nurture patriotism, I think the school is the best place if we want to produce the generation who have a strong sense of this feeling.

"Sports in schools today has changed when compared to that during the yesteryears. Why the generation those days fared better when compared to those of today?" asked Khoo.

He said, the children then were willing to stand at the fringes of the playing field, waiting for the chance to be called up by their teacher. Each of them showed a strong fighting spirit.

Compare to school students now, they lack fighting spirit and quick to throw tantrums, he said.

Khoo said students nowadays lack interest in sports and instead they prefer to do well in the examination-oriented academic field.

Monetary rewards

To Prof Khoo, even without monetary rewards then, those picked to play went all out to perform their best.

"Last time, there is no monetary incentives. To them, whenever they play they must win. They were happy enough if granted a half-day off.

"Now, when money is given as the incentive, the face of sports has changed. To the extent that there are those who are willing to be paid to lose," he said.

According to Khoo, sports, apart from nurturing the spirit of competition, also develops the sense of awareness in individuals and create meaningful social interaction.

Hence, it enhances inter-racial cooperation and morale-building in the society.

"Via sports, people can forget their ethnic origin and work together as a team," he said.

He said patriotism can be seen when national athletes strive to perform their best at the highest level.

The strong criticisms hurled against the national football team in the recent Asian Cup Tournament is not due to the lack of patriotism among the Malaysian soccer fans, but due to the poor show by the Malaysian squad in the competition.

On the office bearers of sports associations, Khoo said they should be people who are knowledgeable in sports.

"If administrators interfere in professional matters, then it is like people who do not know about sports prohibiting others to perform their duties," he said.

Need to be patriotic

Prof Khoo said the level of patriotism in sports is not only gauged at the SEA Games but also at the higher platforms like the Asian, Commonwealth and Olympic Games.

"In sports, it does not matter who leads the association or who are the athletes. All that matters is that they should be successful. If the athletes have lost their interest, then it is no point to keep pressuring or retaining them," he said.

For athletes who have achieved professional status, it is rather difficult to stop them from performing for other nations. Maybe some are successful as the monetary rewards are lucrative, he said.

"It is alright as long as they keep on to be successful. At least everytime they win, the name Malaysia is mentioned," said Khoo.

Unpatriotic fans

"I still remember when the (Federation) Malay States won the Thomas Cup. The people's response was unbelievable. Then, we can see everywhere people were playing badminton.

"The same thing happened in 1992 after Malaysia won the Thomas Cup after a lapse of 25 years," he said.

To the professor, Malaysian sports fans are not unpatriotic. Only that they are not really supportive when the national team perform badly.

He gave one example. That was when Malaysia beat Holland 2-1 to qualify for the 1975 World Cup Hockey Tournament semifinal.

At the semifinal match, Merdeka Stadium was deluged by more than 40,000 people. Unfortunately Malaysia lost the semifinal match to India 3-2, after taking a 2-1 lead.

PKhoo said the people have the right to give their support and they cannot be blamed for being 'unpatriotic' if they criticize bad performance.

As for slogans, he said by having too many slogans is not so good as these slogans can be ridiculed.

The most important thing is to be patriotic, he added.

- Reproduced with permission from Bernama