Refleksi Minda

My girlfriend gave me some grave news today; she had to attend a five day course in January. It was held in London and it starts on the 1st and ends on the 5th. The course that she had to attend was the infamous Biro Tatanegara, or BTN.

Apart from the fact that we can’t spend New Year’s Day together, and the fact that given the short length of my holidays I would like to spend some quality time with her, I’ve always had a bone to pick with the BTN. I’ve never had to attend any of their courses, owing to the fact that I am never good enough to be a sponsored student (or ‘scholar’) but I’ve heard a lot from people who had first hand experience of it. From what I understand, the courses are meant to instill ‘patriotism’ amongst its compelled participants. Yet ‘patriotism’ here is a version that the higher ups in our country adhere to; that of unquestioning loyalty to the kerajaan.

I’ve always said that I’m never an anti-government person. I believe that I am a neutral, a person who agrees with what the government does only to the extant to matters which I perceive as ‘good’. A buang yang keruh, ambil yang jernih type of person, so to speak. And I truly believe that I am patriotic in this way, in every meaningful sense of the word. My patriotism is an undying love for my country, despite all the weaknesses and ‘areas-which-could-be-improved’ that exist in Malaysia. I do not think that disagreeing with the kerajaan makes me any less patriotic.

Thus, something like the BTN goes totally against my principles. I’ve heard that its courses, ‘patriotism’ is hammered into the participants, and without even a hint of subtlety. One particularly amusing portion of the courses is this ‘test’ the participants have to take. The question is these tests basically point to one thing; do you agree with what the government has done and is doing? Its a multiple choice test, thus anyone with half a brain would know that the ‘correct’ answer would be the one most sympathetic to the kerajaan. Thus I do not know the objective of these tests. Is it a way for the government to weed out the potential rebels that they’re going to sponsor? If so, then seeing that even the most ignorant of persons would know the ‘correct’ answer to these tests, thus an antikerajaan person would of course answer ‘correctly’ despite what he feels and what his opinions are towards the government. And if this is a way to build patriotism, I can honestly say I do not know how such tests are able to achieve this.

I’ve heard also of other things, like compulsory religious ceremahs for the Muslims/Malays. While I do agree with building one’s religious spirituality, I do think that it would be rather redundant. A person with corrupt morals, or rosak akhlak, would likely still be such, even after attending this compulsory talks. I’ve also heard that female Muslims are required to wear tudungs all the time. Of course, I again question the point of this, a person who does not usually wear tudungs will not likely to start wearing one after the course is over.

For the non-Malays, I’ve heard of another aspect that is pounded on to them; gratitude for being Malaysians. It would seem that they are told repeatedly that they should be thankful that we Malays have graciously given them citizenship rights and in return for that, we retain our special bumiputera privilege. The oft quoted social contract between Malays and non-Malays, right of citizenship in return for special privileges. My views in this matter will likely tread into murky waters and to avoid offending some people who do not know me that well, the less said the better. All I’ll say to this point is I do not for the life of me understand how telling non-Malays that they are in fact ‘given citizenship’ not as a right but as a favour by the only tanahair that they have ever known can ever instill patriotism.

I’m not saying that all of the components in the BTN courses are bad, I’m pretty sure all the outdoor activities that they organise are beneficial to the participants, as well as some of the religious ones. Nor am I saying that a course that technically at least, hopes to instill patriotism is bad. The courses can perhaps show how beautiful Malaysia truly is, from the cloud piercing peak of Kinabalu to the sandy beaches of Langkawi, to the sprawling metropolitan that is Kuala Lumpur. Or perhaps the participants can re-learn the rich history of our country, without of course the bias to the kerajaan. There are other ways, more subtle, that can be used, not to pound patriotism but to encourage it.

I have always said that patriotism cannot be hammered into a person. It comes naturally. No amount of BTN courses will ever make someone a patriotic person. We can try to encourage it, subtly, slowly, but never in the way the BTN courses are set up. I’ve never been to a BTN course and yet I am very, very passionate about our country. I do wish that our government will wake up to this fact and realise that things like this do more harm than good sometimes.

And I still will not be able to spend New Year’s Day with my girlfriend. Bullocks!

This entry was posted on Monday, December 12th, 2005 at 1:40 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.