WARRIORS Day is always observed in the country as a day to honour our fallen heroes who have sacrificed their lives in the cause of patriotism. This is indeed a high order of sacrifice akin to that of the jihad in Islam, martyrdom in Shiism and the kamikaze during the Second World War in Japan.
Here we are referring to other ways to show that we are patriotic citizens of the country. We especially want the youth to come up in full force to support the country. Hopefully, they will join other Malaysians to fly the national flag this Aug 31 and perform special prayers on this very auspicious day. But we need not stop after taking part in parades, carrying the nation’s flag, reading aloud the Rukun Negara and singing the national anthem.
Beyond this outward show of love and respect for our king and leaders, what matters most is the feeling of satisfaction that we have given to the country through our blood, sweat and tears and through our sincere deeds. These are best remembered as our true commitment to build a peaceful and prosperous country.
Sadly it is not an easy thing to do today in these times of the preeminence of the social media. Consider the following as our response to this challenge.
FIRST, as individuals we may have to decide on giving up our “blame someone else-culture”, “I” and “Me” -first syndrome, “let somebody else do it”, procrastination, being indifferent to the needs of others, and being intolerant and unsympathetic towards others who have differing views.
SECOND, in supporting the mixed roots of our society we need not look down upon others because of their differences based on their skin colour, race or religion. We have to desist from disparaging others in public, observe the general and expected decorum and etiquette of inter-racial harmony and unity and above all, maintain the respect and dignity towards humanity and all living things. Society also enjoins its members to obey the laws, rules and regulations pertaining to a crime-free living, work together to keep the environment clean and rise to care for the elderly and disadvantaged.
THIRD, there is also the need to be courteous to the “international community” whose members are living and working in the country. This will include the tourists, investors and volunteers. This is significant as we have to play our role in projecting a more than “good image” of the country. The service that we offer to all visitors needs to be extended with all sincerity and honesty. Attempts at fleecing foreigners, for example, will only smear and tarnish Malaysia’s reputation as a friendly and hospitable country.
FOURTH, in these days where our youth have come to the fore, ubiquity, individuality, instantaneity and specificity seemed to have taken hold among them when patriotism is called for. As expected youth and social media have a lot in common therefore in sending out messages and images that represent patriotism very different from the one we had experienced before this.
Ubiquity conveys a shared future on the network and in the various chat groups and is transmitted through visual and musical genres. The mood is captured by words cast in the form of poetry, riddles and funny games. The use of different applications helped to speed up the exchanges of information and material among the youth involved.
Despite the objective of sharing everything through the worldwide web the youth can still admit that the individuality and uniqueness of the players on the Net have remained intact and indistinguishable. What the youth are striving for is to reveal themselves to the other party in gradual and measured steps over time.
In combination with the above the next level to be considered in the process is that of instantaneity. The sharing is all executed in time-bits that will not take more than a minute to be completed. They all go direct to the point without wasting time. On the Net time is of the essence.
FINALLY, on to the point of specificity, here we are concerned with the content of the communications. While mostly short and brief in content word-wise the essence of the message is clear, the lesser the number of words the deeper is the meaning transmitted.
Repetitiousness is the boon of the netizen-youth so to speak. “Umpteen” messages can be generated within seconds. Generally when compared to the elders the youth are more expressive and emotional in their show of patriotism.
The writer is a former diplomat with lecturing experience at Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Mara