While perusing a local daily, I was struck by an advertisement which lucidly captured the sacrifices of the founding fathers of this nation.

Lest you have missed it, I share these lines: "Here was Malaysia's first Prime Minister. Father of Independence. Prince of man. Kings of hearts. Asking nothing for himself. And everything for the people.

"If he had enriched anybody, it was us the people of Malaysia. To us he gave the most precious thing of all. Freedom.

"What a patriot. What a man. What a sacrifice. A sacrifice made together with those he unreservedly called his 'brothers' and 'sisters' for the country. For us."

The advertisement similarly referred to the "likes of Tun Razak, Tun Dr Ismail, Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Sambanthanhe and his fellow visionaries then laid the foundation for parliamentary democracy that has lasted till today".

Going by the current national leadership's ineptness, these overflowing accolades and reverence for national leaders may soon be entirely redundant. Not that we lack literary power to string such captivating phrases together. There simply may not be any leader worthy of such honest praise borne out of sheer admiration and awe for them.

On the eve of celebrating our 50th year of Independence, you can't help noting the 'malaise' of the citizenry. Certain ministers are immensely aggrieved and dejected by the situation - the lack of patriotism, that is.

Time and again the citizenry is reprimanded by the powers-that-be to exhibit and exude patriotism. Regrettably though, the symbolism of patriotism has been ostensibly judged by, and associated with, sticking the Jalur Gemilang on vehicles, singing the national anthem and of course, attending the annual parade.

I'm not about to dismiss any of these symbolic acts, but the government must understand why an outpouring of patriotism has become more difficult for most of us. What stands out is the unfortunate perception - reinforced by none other than the government itself- that engaging in any patriotic act is consequent to supporting the government of the day. That automatically disenfranchises a significant lot.

The latest round of criticism by former police chief Hanif Omar ( left ), who served for two decades (1974-1994) and a vitriolic attack by Dr Mahathir Mohamad ( right ), the former premier who also served for two decades (1981-2003), speaks volumes for the need to dissociate patriotism from complying with governmental policies and decisions.

Sensible take

Using the Google search engine one day, I stumbled onto a website - Thinkexist.com - which revisits the concept of patriotism.

For starters, here's this: 'Dissent is the highest form of patriotism' - a quote by Howard Zinn, an American historian, author and political activist, who is currently Professor Emeritus in the Political Science Department of Boston University (born 1922).

I thought this was exciting for a start. While patriotism is traditionally understood as one's undivided and blind faith in and love for one's nation, this enlightened mind prescribes dissent as the pinnacle of it.

As dissent is the essence and cardinal principle of democracy - i.e the right to differ - it surely provides the dynamism and the check-and-balance that prevents the systemic rot that eventually demolishes any nation. But is it celebrated and revered in our democracy?

Just remember that the next time you dissent, for whatever reason, it should be deemed as expressing your democratic right for you are actualising the highest form of patriotism!

Moving on, Mark Twain (1835-1910), an American humorist, writer and lecturer, offers this quotable quote: "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."

That is in fact very sensible, subdued and restrained. This is rather obvious and about the fairest thing to say. The government deserves our support albeit conditionally. It will be given credit when due - even profusely, if it deserves this.

But if they remain oblivious, unrepentant and worse still, so bent on crooked and devious ways - like amassing wealth for themselves and their cronies and allowing crime rate to sky-rocket and malignant corruption to rule the day - they do not deserve our support. Hence, our inability to profess support and allegiance.

Let us judge a quotation by Edward Abbey, another American, an uncompromising environmentalist philosopher (1927-1989), who put it cogently: "A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."

Wow! That's really cool and says it all.

Now could we put to perspective the very many 'towering personalities' that have audaciously appeared on stage of late, who stood tall and willing to be counted.

If I had the honour of listing the many 'towering personalities' who have appeared in public of late, the list would include Hanif Omar, Param Cumaraswamy, Perak Regent Raja Nazrin ( photo ), the Sultan of Selangor, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, Nathaniel Tan

The long list would cover astute judges and lawyers, some opposition leaders, one or two from Barisan Nasional, NGO leaders, salient NGIs, and academics like Prof Aziz Bari and Prof Jomo Sundram.

I wish the list to be long - whatever it takes to deny the government a two-thirds majority in Parliament come the 12th general election, so as to humble them into realising that power is in the hand of the people, the electorate, the citizenry.

Patriotism, in the final analysis, is about defending the nation against aggression, especially from the misdeeds of the government of the day!

Now, can you stand up and be counted as a patriot?

DR DZULKIFLI AHMAD is director of the PAS Research Centre.