I was indeed amused to read in the press recently the statement of Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin telling Malaysians that they should not be shy to fly the 'Jalur Gemilang' to show their patriotic spirit and love for the country.

It was also interesting that he made an observation that this year's celebration of flying the national flag had hit a snag and that people appeared to lack the spirit to do so. And instead of undertaking a rational and comprehensive investigation why this is so, he brands those who do not fly the flag as being unpatriotic and having no love for the country!

If this is how public reaction and action are narrowly and blindly interpreted, it only goes to show the apparent caliber and academic ability of those doing the analysis. Perhaps, the minister should himself do some deep soul-searching and ask the rather hard question of why this reaction came about in the first place?

One should remember that flying the 'Jalur Gemilang' is certainly not the only benchmark of whether one is patriotic to the nation. Perhaps, I can assist the minister with some reasons as to why I may not be flying the 'Jalur Gemilang' this year for the first time in 27 years.

As a Malaysian from a marginalized and struggling community, I am totally disillusioned at the manner in which my community and I have been treated in the country that I was born in 49 years ago in Penang and have served for more than 30 years as a consumer advocate and social activist.

To start with, I am disillusioned and hurt that a former prime minister of this country - for whom I had so much love, respect and admiration for - can go on record for taking a swipe at the employment of an Indian editor at the New Straits Times.

I am embarrassed when I meet foreign diplomats and ministers who ask me why my community is represented by so few in number in the Malaysian diplomatic circuit or at prized postings in the Malaysian civil and diplomatic service when compared to the past.

I am totally confounded that after more than 49 years of independence, my community is today struggling to survive or secure employment in the government service, a sector where we are totally insignificant.

Are we not concerned about how a civil service task force comprising of one dominant race can make policy decisions deciding on the fate, rights and interests of an entire nation? This is further compounded when opportunities do not exist for some sectors of society in education, micro- business loans, purchase of property, business licences and the building of temples. Even if these opportunities exist, they are often come with hurdles and sometimes racist policies.

At one time we could purchase a land for our prayer houses or alienate a parcel at a reduced purchase price. But today, even this is surrounded by controversy and when an application survives, the building is eventually built on a plot surrounded by factories.

My two teenaged children are already asking me whether they have a future in this country with its various policy switches and racist overtones that some quarters claim portrays a similarity to the former South African regime. I have but no answer.

To make matters worse, in Parliament, leaders that I have voted for in the 'Barisan spirit' are the very leaders who are now speaking with a forked tongue spiked with venom and racism. Only due to the intervention of both the Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his able deputy Najib Razak, has this has been contained and I thank God for their leadership!

To answer the information minister question 'Do I love my country?'

Yes, I do!

But the pertinent question is whether my country really loves me?