Patriotism

The Malaysian government have always urged Malaysians to fly the national flag during Independance. Some politicians have even said outright that if we don't hang the flags, it means we do not have patriotism in our hearts.

This has never really bothered me much and I don't hang a flag in August. And I must say MOST Malaysians don't either. But that doesn't mean we are not patriotic. How do I prove it?

Today in the LRT, a lady, no, I will call her woman, stepped into the carriage at a particular busy stop. She immediately flipped on her phone and started speaking very loudly, "These Malaysians aah... they are so terrible! Simply rush into the train without waiting for others to come out first! Do you experience this too? It's a Malaysian culture, isnt' it? Yeah, ALL of them are like that..."

With her shrill voice coupled with her audacious generalisation on Malaysians and our culture in a train in Malaysia, she drew furious glares from all passengers around.

Then, as though she needed to establish what nationality she is, she continued to say, "Oh, so what did my beloved Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew say this time? You know, I really love him. He said that? But you know, it's true... These Malaysians and their culture, I tell you... My colleagues actually check their share prices on the internet during work hours, can you imagine? Yeah! The screen was on for over an hour, no wonder they don't get any work done!"

As she was speaking, a seat near her was vacated but when she noticed there was an Indian man sitting beside it, she threw him a caustic glare and pulled a face which clearly said, "No freaking way am I going to sit beside THAT!" and proceeded to afflict herself by sitting between two Malaysian Chinese.

The Indian guy standing beside me was nearly beside himself. I had to stop reading because her detestable voice drowned out every thought. I said to the guy beside me, "Some people can be SO rude!" and he immediately bit the bait and spoke loudly to berate her. She ignored us and continued her verbal abuse.

Finally the Indian guy raised his voice to tell her to stop it. Of course she got even bitchier, "What is this to you? I'm talking to my friend!" and continued to talk bad about him to her friend.

Half the carriage ended up spewing our guts over bloody kiasu Singaporeans, some wishing a gangster would beat her up, some sharing how some Singaporeans can be so barbaric when they cross the border.

I've never felt so patriotic in recent years. Believe me, if I had just one chance to be Jean Grey, it would have been exactly then.