A few years ago, you could look around and see 60 out of 100 vehicles flying the Jalur Gemilang . Today, just a few days short of the Merdeka Day, you could possibly spot three vehicles in 100 doing it. Back then you had to buy your own flag. Today it is given free, or cost very little to buy one.

Our leaders exhort us to fly the flag. Some even scold us for not doing so. The mass media is going the extra mile just to get us to do it. So then, why are we still not flying the flag? To me, the reason is quite simple.

We are no longer proud to be Malaysian. There are Malaysians who travel abroad who do not like to be identified as Malaysians.

We see corruption everywhere, lack of a level-playing field whether in education, trade or employment, injustices, abuse of power, an ethos of 'who you know rather than what you know', a political system base on race and a long sick list. Can we find good enough reasons to be proud to fly the flag?