Measure of Patriotism
November 17, 2010
A Message to Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi on Patriotism
By Citizen Nades* @www.sun2surf.com
On June 3, 1971, Captain Mohana Chandran was leading a unit of 10 soldiers of the 4th Battalion Royal Rangers on a reconnaissance mission in Ulu Kinta. After being in the jungle for 10 days, they came across about 40 communist terrorists. Despite being outnumbered, he advanced on them. The encounter with the well-entrenched enemy led to his death at the age of 27.
On January 11, 1974, after three days of trekking in the jungles of Central Pahang, Captain Arampoo Shanmuganathan, 24, came across a large enemy camp which had been recently abandoned. He led a few soldiers but was hit by enemy fire. He gave his last orders with his dying breath: “Please take care of my boys (his soldiers), I have not the strength in me anymore …” Out of his sense of loyalty, another soldier, Ranger Mat Isa, seeing and hearing this call, without due regard for his safety and well-being dashed towards Captain Shanmuganathan to save him. As he approached his commander, the enemy’s bullets slammed into his body causing him to fall across the body of his commander as if to protect him. Two gallant soldiers died in the line of duty.
On February 19, 1980, Kanang anak Langkau led a team in an operation against the communists and 
found themselves within the enemy’s perimeter. Kanang, (left) who was just 20ft from the enemy sentry position, launched an attack and killed five terrorists. One soldier was seriously wounded and Kanang took three bullet shots but survived and eventually returned to active duty.
THE valour and bravery of our soldiers know no boundaries and archives and records have documented these. As for Captain Shanmuganthan, I know better because his mother is my cousin. For a long time, the photograph of her fallen son hung alongside Mat Isa’s in their family home in Section 8, Petaling Jaya. I also knew two others who died in the line of duty. Joginder Singh, who was two years my senior in Klang High School, died in a helicopter crash in East Malaysia, while my neighbour in Klang, Morgan Christmas, died when the Tebuan jet he was piloting crashed at the Kuantan airbase. Elsewhere, Uncle Maniam from Sungai Petani is still awaiting news on the whereabouts of his son, whose plane crashed during training. His remains have yet to be recovered.
The irony is that the Communist terrorist who killed Captain Shanmuganthan and Ranger Mat Isa – a woman – surrendered under an amnesty programme, was “rehabilitated”, allowed back into society and given citizenship. She even went on to write a book where she described how they ambushed and killed them both in that encounter.
The First Chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy
Talk to retired officers like former Royal Malaysian Navy chief, Tan Sri K. Thanabalasingam or Col “Mike” Nasir Taib, a former commanding officer of the Rangers, and they will regale you with stories of the bravery, commitment, dedication and loyalty of officers and men during the communist insurgency which occurred before and after Konfrontasi with Indonesia. At that time, every member of the armed forces and police, including ministers were colour blind. They had only one goal – being united to fight a common enemy.
There are perhaps hundreds if not thousands of Malaysians including those who laid their lives on the line for the nation. They are not just soldiers but policemen, civil servants, estate workers and even ordinary villagers who played a role in preventing the Communist Party of Malaya from seizing power through violent means.
The list of those awarded medals and honours for gallantry is self-explanatory and it would be foolish to classify them by ethnicity as this would serve no purpose. Therefore, when politicians shoot their mouths off and claim that the “patriotism spirit is not high enough” in some sectors of the community, there are enough reasons for right-thinking Malaysians to shudder in disbelief.
We thought racial-stereotyping is a thing of the past and if after 53 years as an independent nation, we cannot dispel such notions, we must consider ourselves a failed nation. Has anyone ever done a survey or asked why the majority of officers opt to leave at the rank of “Major”? Had the armed forces practised meritocracy, so many good people would have opted to stay on and continue serving the country.
Out of curiosity, let these questions be answered: How is patriotism measured? Is waving the Jalur Gemilang while the mind is set on doing Ali-Baba business more patriotic than working hard to contribute to a better society without expecting monetary rewards? Does it make one who exposes wrongdoings of people in power less patriotic than those who steal people’s money? Is one who manipulates the tender process more patriotic than a scribe who demands accountability and transparency? Who is more patriotic – one who has permanent residency status in a foreign country while enjoying the good life in Malaysia or one who turns down offers of wealth so that he can continue serving the land of his birth? Is patriotism linked to blind loyalty?
Patriotism cannot be achieved by the frenzied and hysterical outbursts of emotion by politicians. It will only come about with dedication and where equality, meritocracy, justice and fair play are the cornerstones of public policies. British diplomat and historian James Bryce said: “Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong.”
* The article which appeared in the Sun Daily on November 14, 2010 was titled “Measure of Patriotism”.
” Does it make one who exposes the wrongdoings of people in power less patriotic that those who steal people’s money ? ”
Will zahid hamidi or the father of racism please answer .
salmiah hassan - November 17, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Salmiah,
They won’t answer you, but I will. My answer is very simple and that is, those who abuse power and betray public trust in order to pursue their own interest are not patriots; they are crooks and they must be treated as such. Not even fancy titles and state honours can give them respectability. They are so smelly that even all the perfumes of Arabia ( to borrow from Bill Shakespeare in Macbeth) cannot make them smell good.
Those who gave their lives and work diligently in the service of our country to keep us safe and our economy strong are the true patriots. Many of them are other Malaysians, often referred to by UMNO politicians as “pendatangs”.My parents are actually pendatangs.–Din Merican
dinobeano - November 17, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Alas, after the Umno BTN “historians” are through with their revision of Malaysian history, only the Malay soldiers will be featured as heros the rest are swept into oblivion .
gua - November 17, 2010 at 7:51 pm
Aiyo that mean mamak is no 1 unpatriotic lah Salmiah, my prediction is more than half siting inside the parliament too are unpatriotic lah.
On top of these unpatriotic crooks, inside the Uncivilized Malaysian National Organization too are full of unpatriotic crooks and hooligans.
Who used their party positions to enrich themselves and family members.
I agreed 100% Salmiah all these looters are the most dangerous unpatriotic lots that did most of damages to the land, including the one who raise the issue of unpatriotic Chinese.
ICIT - November 17, 2010 at 8:06 pm
My take, make those idiots who call themselves POLITIKUS don the uniform and send them to Afghanistan…see if they can feel and smell what real ‘war’ is all about!
More so the once former bitch in RED whose says “askar menghabiskan beras” !
Tell them if the peoples like the old soldiers & ole horses did nothing, would they have peace TODAY!
Tell them in the event of floods and any disasters…the old soldiers were there day & night…and yet gets blamed and accused them of being thieves!
SO tell them IDIOTS to shut their gaps !
The more he talks, the more he secretes…u know what !
One Malaysia was born well before this country was taken over by the current batch of goons, idiots and corrupted BITCHES!
Tell them not to anger the OLD SOLDIERS !
Not Anymore!
It is not nice to wake up “sleeping old tigers”!
Remind them Old Soldiers do not DIE !
komando - November 17, 2010 at 8:12 pm
“Not even fancy titles and state honours can give them respectability. “- Din
Very well said.
To make it worse, datukships now available at a dime a dozen.
Frank - November 17, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Thank you Din . You have put it very succinctly here. I was not expecting any answers but just wanted to SHAME these filthy scums who question our patriotism towards our country and our people . They are all bankrupt of human values – both universal and religious values.
That said , they don’t seem to realise that if the Malacca Chitties , the Chinese Babas , the Portuguese communities and other ancient communities that landed and stayed behind in Peninsula Malaysia over the centuries are still counted as pendatangs then , with the exception of the natives of Sarawak and Sabah and our Orang Asli , we are all decended from pendatangs. There is no two ways about it .
Next , as for patriotism , these scums and the clowns associated with them , should spend some time with some very dedicated and now retired senior police officers from the Special Branch . Their race does not matter – for like Citizen Nades says , at that time they were all ” colour blind “.
These highly dedicated officers will tell you stories of how very young mainly Chinese police officers were planted within the Communist movement and how they went about splintering the Malayan Communist Party into Marxist , Leninist and Maoist groups and how these groups started fighting amongst themselves and hence contributing to bringing about the demise of the MCP.
These young police officers commitment , dedication and patriotism was similarly to that of those mentioned by Citizen Nades in his article above and was second to none.
Now tell me , who are these clowns who question our patriotism compared to these dedicated and patriotic Malaysians who died for the country and FOR ALL ITS PEOPLE ?
salmiah hassan - November 17, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Dime a dozen?? That’s a dime too expensive.
Mr Bean - November 17, 2010 at 9:35 pm
We know very well how these politicians measure patriotism – how loud they can shout about others being unpatriotic. Yes, Din’s reply to Salmiah says it all.
And I can bet that should ever (God forbid) a war descend upon our nation, the first to ship out their families to safe countries would be all these fatcat ‘patriotic’ millionaire ministers, followed very soon by themselves. So talk is cheap.
TomCat - November 17, 2010 at 9:38 pm
what do you expect from a low class UMNO MInister. Thats UMNO trademark which is to divide and rule via racist policies.
pkr - November 17, 2010 at 9:45 pm
komando,
their children are all in private or international schools. Ask their children to don the uniforms? you must be daydreaming. the UMNO fatcats will be the first one to run in times of need. afterall, they have to spend their corrupt money.
are the submarines sub-merged finally after paying a whopping Euro114 million as commission. Baginda, you enjoying the spoils now?
pkr - November 17, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Chandran, Shamuganathan and Joginder were my peers. They did not die in vain, Zahidi. Col Mike Nasir, an old friend and my senior, have plenty to tell about the brave Rangers as he commanded the First Royal Ranger Regiment during its heydays. Ode to the Rangers…
Tok Cik - November 17, 2010 at 10:34 pm
This racist orang kampung Bagan Datok knows nuts about history and patriotism. This umnoputra idiot minister purely demonstrated his pea sized brain.
Kancil - November 17, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Bravery is courage in the line of fire. What about those who ran away from the line of fire so they could fight another day? You can never be more patriotic than staying alive. The war is lost if nobody is around to fight it.
Mr Bean - November 18, 2010 at 12:01 am
Running away is not running away when it is re-deployment. Ask Gen. Tok Cik. He knows. He is always re-deploying his resources when Sharizat makes the blood cuddling battle cry, ‘Agi Idup Agi Ngelaban’ and comes after him when his rear is exposed.
Mr Bean - November 18, 2010 at 12:06 am
During my time one smart ass coined the term “tactical redeployment” as a replacement for ‘withdrawal” so as not to sound defeatist. We, the not too smart asses, asked him how would the withdrawal principles apply then? And how many types of tactical redeployment are there? Is “rout” part of it? He could not answer.
The term was soon dropped from our training manuals.
We too have our very own “khir toyos” with brains the size of a peanut.
Bean,
If Sahrizat cries “Agi Idup” I’ll be ready for her. Mike Nasir and your former landlord, Mahendran, will be there for her too. So will Amin..
Tok Cik - November 18, 2010 at 8:18 am
The third force will be the Retired and still alive ole soldiers…they are trying their best to ‘apeace’ the hundreds of thousands ole dogs of war, still not dead and still very alive!
Just watch all the programs lined up for veterans here, there & every where !
The politikus have mouths and no BRAINS !
Ole soldiers have Guts, Brains & still some brawn left, we shall fight them!
For peace, equality, justice and universal humane values !
agi idup, agi ngelaban !
oh sio, oh komanang !
komando - November 18, 2010 at 9:18 am
Withdrawal – nothing to be ashamed off!
It is part of warfare!
Only BLOODY fools would stay put and die!
komando - November 18, 2010 at 9:20 am
When Tok Cik has Sharizat in his grasp, he is not interested in premature withdrawal. Coitus interruptus is a no-no.
Mr Bean - November 18, 2010 at 9:43 am
Sharizat is one great patriot. Ode to her….
Tok Cik - November 18, 2010 at 1:01 pm
When I was a young boy I used to take money from my father’s pocket. I got caught. He gave me trashing and told me ” Son you are not being patriotic to our family”.
thumblogic - November 18, 2010 at 5:04 pm
“Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy”
George Bernard Shaw
Mr Bean - November 19, 2010 at 6:07 am