You sure you’re patriotic?

1 SGD = 3 RM

This hurts, a lot. I predicted this exchange rate in December. The fall came 3 months ahead of schedule, forcing me to speed up my contingencies and further aggravating my own problems.

Some people may argue that this is good for Malaysia’s exports, since our goods will be cheaper to the outside world, which means they want to buy more of it.

The problem is that we AREN’T exporting anything of note. Palm Oil? The price of Oil in general has fallen and there is no indication of improving anytime soon. This fall in prices has more than offset any benefit from our weaker exchange rate.

We don’t export anything else much. The quality and quantity of our production is an international joke since the 90’s anyway. Noone takes the Malaysia brand seriously. The only thing that they remotely consider viable are the thousands of young, smart, and hungry talent moving overseas to work.

The only Malaysians benefiting from this debacle are the ones who have overseas interests and investments. Those who have the potential to earn back any losses they experience today.

But looking at my country, my supposed home, and seeing it at this state, I cannot help but question the patriotism that the people proud to call themselves Malaysians claim to have. Is it really patriotism if you look at your ailing house and just shake your head, shrug, and say: “Oh well, this is home?” Being patriotic does not mean you come home and try to eke out a living on dying home soil. Being patriotic means upholding and preserving the values of your homeland, of striving to show everyone, including yourself, what your country and countrymen CAN be, not accepting what we ARE.

This is not a situation similar to the U.S. or U.K. or even Singapore. Their problems may be serious, but they are issues of attitudes and priorities. The fact that they argue about priorities at all suggest that they as a society are balancing a healthy variety of priorities across a large variety of groups and demographics.

Our situation is more comparable to Egypt or Greece. Systematic problems that discourage and oppress a huge number of priorities except those that fit within the ill-intentioned Narrative of a select few. Stop and consider what priorities do we, as Malaysians, truly have? We can barely balance ethnic and religious harmony, because we are prioritizing ALL the interest of one specific demographic, instead of balancing and spreading priorities across demographics. We cannot tackle the issue of corruption, because the priority of us as a society is coming out on top at the real expense of other groups.

All this is compounded by the sheer stupidity and pettiness of the supposed adults that sit in government. Blaming Jews as the cause of our problems? Please, it’s very obvious which religions are the problem. It’s those that the authorities belong to. It’s the Muslims, the Buddhist-Taoists, the Hindus, and the Christians. It’s US, the people who make up the country!

And don’t think I am letting off the supposed “Elite”, we of the middle to upper-class who sit in our ivory castles while the land around us corrode into a brown, washed-out, rock of mediocrity. We are in the best position to enact strong, meaningful changes, what do we find in government and the common folk? Weak-willed “survivalists” who care only about earning enough to feed themselves.

If that is Malaysia is all about: just being mediocre and working just enough to survive in the land of the Ringgit, the Mamak, and the Manglish, then my rant is wrong. But I believe -no, I KNOW- otherwise.

It’s funny. I have been claiming, for several years now, that Malaysia has never been my home. But always I find myself continue to be subscribed to news about Malaysia, to want to keep in contact with people who proudly hold their identity as Malaysian. I find hope in many of these people, who hold many of the values that I believe make us truly Malaysian. I find commonality, and it is through that taut, fragile thread I find myself still connected to the Land.

Our patriotism lies in more than those meaningless icons of our culture. It lies in Excellence, towards others and towards yourself, not the best tasting Teh Tarik. It lies in the celebration of differences, not the Twin Towers. It lies in our long history of welcoming the unknown and the other, even if we do so apprehensively, not in our “laid-back” culture.

Ultimately, Patriotism consists of us, as a people, striving stubbornly, sometimes even aggressively, to achieve those ideals. And if those old men at government can’t do it anymore, then maybe it’s time for them to be removed for those who can do the job can step up and continue the marathon.

So I urge you, reader, to consider yourself and your position in our country. Do you truly believe yourself to be patriotic?