A great show of patriotism apart from flying the Jalur Gemilang would be for Malaysians to stay away from fanning racial and religious sensitivities, says Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Nga Kor Ming.
He said it was the way forward for all rakyat if we were to move forward, strong and united.
“If we really love our country, we should stop fanning racial and religious sentiments.
“Don’t play up issues that benefit no one, (because) it is counter-productive. No matter who you are, for me, we should be colour-blind.
“We should start thinking as Malaysians,” Nga said after opening the inaugural Tamil primary schools development convention at the state secretariat building in Ipoh Saturday (August 25).
He said there were, in fact, many other ways for one to show patriotism, such as not stealing the people’s money and not littering.
Nga, who is also the Perak DAP chairman, said the level of patriotism among Malaysians was high with the coming Merdeka celebration.
He said people were flying the national flag without being prompted.
“I have convenient shops telling me that the national flags have all been snapped up, that even their old stocks from three years ago have all been sold out.
“I can see many citizens who take the initiative to fly the Jalur Gemilang on a voluntary basis. In Taiping, all the 15,000 national flags we prepared for distribution were given out overnight.
“We are certainly not lacking in patriotism,” he added.
Nga’s view was shared by Batu Gajah MP V Sivakumar, who was present at the function.
Sivakumar said it was not true to say that Malaysians were generally unpatriotic.
“During a function in Batu Gajah this morning, we also ran out of Jalur Gemilang to be given out. People kept asking if we still had any.
“This is a clear sign that the Merdeka spirit this year is extraordinary on the ground,” he said. – The Star