When Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil urged Malaysians to show their patriotism by flying the Jalur Gemilang all-year round because this was a “symbol of national identity and unity,” many Malaysians were aghast.

They said that it was too shallow and wrong of the minister to equate patriotism with the length of time one flies the flag.

Patriotism they said is about one’s love for the nation and supporting it during both good and bad times.

Patriotism is about one’s love for their fellow citizens and respecting the constitution and the many cultures and traditions of its people.

Patriotism is treating its diverse population with dignity and respect, including and especially the minorities.

Patriotism is having the courage to speak Malaysia Day, out when bad things were being perpetrated in the country.

Patriotism is about protecting the nation’s assets as if they were one’s own possessions, and this would include being of service to the nation’s greatest asset, its people.

Disappointed with the minister’s proposal to fly the flag for all year, to show patriotism, they said that it would explain why senior politicians who stole taxpayers’ money but who flew the flag outside their homes, believed they were patriotic.

Citing several other analogies they said, would women who did not wear the tudung become more religious if they were forced to cover their heads? Would it also mean that a woman who does not cover her hair becomes less devout? Would the Christian who wears a crucifix around her neck be more pious than one who does not? Would the working mother be considered less loving and capable than one who stays at home to look after her children and family?

A few years ago, Umno-Baru leaders would fine businesses if they failed to fly the flag outside their business premises.

Nowadays, under the Madani administration, its ministers were repeating the same idiocy by claiming that if the flag was flown for several days, then this showed that person to be more patriotic than someone who only flew the flag on National Day or on Malaysia Day, or not at all.

This year, a racist firebrand, the Umno-Baru Youth leader, was allowed to go on a witch hunt looking for faults with people who flew the flag. He scared many ordinary Malaysians who then became afraid to fly the flag.

It is our leaders’ fault, and the failure of the local councils, for not punishing this politician for dividing the nation.

Their reluctance to act with speed, resulted in many citizens being fearful of being attacked when flying the flag.

Here are some other misguided leaders in action.

In 2013, former communications and multimedia minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek threatened cinema-goers with arrest if they failed to stand to attention for Negaraku before the start of the film?

We go to a cinema to watch a film, to relax to enjoy the movie with friends and family, but in that year, going to a cinema was like being tested for one’s patriotism.

Here are some spectacular U-turns to do with flying the flag.

In August 2010, the then Ipoh City mayor Roshidi Hashim warned that businessmen who failed to fly the flag outside their premises on National Day and on the Sultan’s birthday would be fined and blacklisted.

The rakyat got very angry. Within days, Roshidi made a U-turn.

On 12 August 2017, president of the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan said businesses would be required to fly the flag for one month from 16 August, or risk a RM1,000 fine.

Again, the public got angry and one week later, the MPSJ made a U-turn.

Do these councilors ever listen to the rakyat?

Three decades ago, the national papers showed a photo of a teacher balancing dangerously on the railings of a second-floor balcony of the school.

He was trying to fix a row of bunting for Merdeka Day. The school was already adorned with bunting and thousands of flags.

Was the intention of the photo to show extreme patriotism? Well, it failed, because in that photo, we saw a stupid man with a complete lack of safety awareness, risking his life perching precariously atop a balcony.

One hand hugged the pillar, while the other hand attempted to secure the bunting to a wall. It was a disaster waiting to happen. The teacher failed to set a good example.

Our students are smart and would not equate greater patriotism with the number of flags hoisted.

In 2010, when he was the then defense minister, Zahid Hamidi told Parliament that the 2008/2009 armed forces recruitment was made up of 1.2 percent non-Malays and 98.2 percent Malays.

He claimed that the low non-Malay recruitment was because non-Malays rejected the lower pay and feared tight discipline.

However, his remark which sparked outrage was Zahid’s allegation that non-Malays showed a “low spirit of patriotism.”

In one insensitive remark, Zahid insulted the memory of the thousands of non-Malays who died defending Malaya, especially in the Second World War and the Emergency.

This is the judgment of the man who once told Malaysians, that the Malay gangster triad, Tiga Line, is his friend.

Hence, Fahmi is wrong. Flying the flag all year round does not show this to be a sign of patriotism.

(Mariam Mokhtar is a Freelance Writer.)