“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country…” the quote was part of the inaugural address by former US President John F Kennedy on January 20, 1961.
The recent development in Malaysia has prompted me to think a lot lately. There are a lot of things that I wanted to share, but I kept on writing and deleting it for the past hour, because it’s hard to put my actual thoughts into words.
Bottomline is, too many Malaysians are complaining too much recently. We are always asking what the country can do for us… but how often have we heard from Malaysians on what we can do for the country instead?
Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
“Here In My Home”, a song by Malaysian Artistes for Unity; the lyrics speak for itself…
The patriotic spirit among Malaysian youths is not up to expectation, said Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri on Saturday. He gave the index on patriotism among youths at only 68.2 per cent as many of them “still questioned the social contract when the country achieved independence.” [Bernama]
So, questioning the social contract means that we are not patriotic? Interesting perception Mr Sabri.
50 years ago we didn’t have internet, mobile phones, Viagra, AIDS, Proton, AirAsia etc. Lots of things have changed over the span of 50 years… and lots of things have become irrelevant. Why are we not supposed to question any contracts or rules that were made 50 years ago?
I was not even born yet back then, and I am not sure if we actually do have a 50-year-old social contract. Why shouldn’t I question the legitimacy as well as the relevance of the contract?
If asking for a fair-for-all-Malaysians policy is considered as unpatriotic, just be it… I don’t want to be a second class patriot.
I went to watch the Asian Cup game between Malaysia and China in (we lost 1-5) at Bukit Jalil. Here are some of my thoughts after the match…
Publicity
I have read an article from a foreign journalist about his (I assumed) experience in KL… he mentioned that he saw lots of billboards everywhere in the city, but saw nothing about the Asian Cup; he had a feeling that he was at the wrong city for the games… I guess some Malaysians shared the same sentiment too, I know I do.
I can’t recall the organizer taking aggressive methods in pulling the crowd and selling the tickets, or to promote the event. I felt that the Malaysian organizers are taking the event too lightly… for goodness sake, it is one of the largest sporting event in Asia, the world (or at least lots of Asians) are watching the competition; it is a good chance to show how good we are in hosting a major sporting event, or how bad instead.
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