Taiping may be a historical and heritage town but its younger residents seem to have forgotten the historical importance of getting independence from the British, with many failing to hoist the Malaysian flag during the month-old Merdeka celebration.

This sorrowful state of lack of patriotism among the younger generation was highlighted today by a 55- year-old community leader who has been fighting an uphill battle for the past 16 years in trying to encourage more Malaysians to show patriotism by flying the Jalur Gemilang.

Shanmugam Taiping senior citizen C Shanmugam claims credit to be the first person to have initiated the move to create more patriotism among Malaysians to fly the national flag during the month-long Merdeka celebrations in the Larut Matang district.

Shanmugam has been Kampung Dew Barat Rukun Tetangga sector chairperson for the past 20 years as well as the Larut Matang district's Rukun Tetangga head for the past four years.

His duties as the neighbourhood watch head comes under the wing of national unity and integration department under the Prime Minister's Department.

According to him, the department gives him about RM8,400 annually for the Merdeka celebrations but quickly added that this sum was not enough as it costs between RM50,000 to RM70,000 to organise a Merdeka vehicle convey every year.

So he has to turn to well wishers and sponsors to bridge the deficit budget every year.

His style of encouraging the spirit of patriotism among Malaysians started in 1993 by giving away free Merdeka T-shirts, free Malaysian flags and travel allowances of RM10 for each participant with a vehicle who took part in the Merdeka convey of motor vehicles road show.

As a bonus, a certificate of appreciation was also given to each participant of the Merdeka road show.

The annual Merdeka road show has taken Larut Matang residents to places as far as Ipoh, Selama, Parit Buntar and this year to Teluk Batik in Lumut, the area under Pangkor assemblyperson and Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir.

No respect for the flag

He added that Malaysians had shown a great degree of patriotism by flying the national flag during the Merdeka month between 1993 and 1996 even when the flags were being sold for as high as RM16 per piece.

However he said that the people today have lost that spirit and have given more importance to monetary values and fast-track living styles.

NONE "The young ones now demand free flags and flag poles to fly the Malaysian spirit," he noted.

"Now the Malaysian flags cost only between RM3 to RM5 (depending on the size of the flag) but there are no takers," he added.

"They are prepared to spend between RM8 and RM15 on cigarette packets per day but do not have the Malaysian spirit to spend just RM5 per year on the flag for the Malaysian independence celebrations," he lamented.

Last year, during a survey down the streets of Taiping , he found that out of 10 shop-houses only one flew the Malaysian flag and this year the scenario was no better.

He was further angered when some shops and houses had old tattered and torn flags this year.

"This is a disgusting and a shameful act to the Malaysian spirit, where is the Malaysian society heading to?" he asked.