COMMENT ‘Playing at war, as kids often do, I was always the one dying under the flag - defending my country to the last, the doomed protector keeping a nation safe by selfless action.'

I was, admittedly, a product of mass-produced patriotism, so common in the movie industries' endless parade of itinerant war movies. Growing up, I was touched by Hollywood. Or as some would sometimes say, touched in the head.

Like many children who became cannon fodder in wars past and present, my daily diet constituted movies and literary pieces like The Dirty Dozen, The Alamo, The Four Stars of Hell and other war-themed works.

I was at the time, and still am, what I term as a self-declared patriot.

And my patriotism runs truer the closer we get to Aug 31.

azlan Inching closer to that hallowed date, when we honour and celebrate the anniversary of our negotiated independence from the British Empire, our hearts and minds cannot help but be stirred by paid advertisements, if not internal considerations of what it means to be a patriot.

More so when, in the news of late, we have seen many grotesque protestations of patriotism, and claims of being a patriot, as well as finger pointing on who, or what, are the real traitors to the land, by those who themselves are perhaps the worst of betrayers.

In pursuit of that meaning, perhaps we should look into the pages of history from one of those whose quotes on patriotism continue to be used, or misused, long after his time.

'Last refuge of the scoundrel'

In 1775, British author Samuel Johnson made immortal the quote, "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel". This, after he wrote The Patriot , his critique of what he termed as 'false patriotism' the year before.

Unsurprisingly, this made him altogether unpopular with those who considered themselves patriots. But as his biographer James Boswell explained, he was not against patriotism in general.

"Patriotism having become one of our topics, Johnson suddenly uttered, in a strong determined tone, an apophthegm, at which many will start: 'Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel'.

NONE But let it be considered that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that he pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak of self-interest," related Boswell.

And therein lies the true target of his vehemence. Pretend-patriots who have made patriotism a cloak to promote their own self interests.

Scoundrels who claim to be lovers of the land, but love only themselves, or those so blinded by blinkers that they put self-aggrandising leaders up on a pedestal, to the detriment of all others.

'Not blind obedience'

I cannot stress enough that patriotism is not and cannot be blind obedience. It must be the considered loyalty given for the interest of the whole. As one netizen posited, "blindly following the man in charge is not patriotic, it is ignorant".

Patriotism is also not about unthinkingly bowing to the leaders in charge, but submitting to the land they have pledged to serve.

It is the land and its people that should hold true patriots in thrall, not leaders, neither the corrupt nor even the genial.

And if those self-same leaders, sworn to serve the rakyat, instead manipulate patriotism for their own gain, then it is they who are pretty much the scoundrels.

merdeka 2005 Indeed, the tale behind the word ‘hero' is of a patriot who serves the best interests of the land and its people by getting rid of the tyrant, or organisation or thing, that is harming the rakyat.

This truth is self-evident, even in the origin of the word 'patriot' itself, being from the Latin patriota , which translates into "fellow countryman", the original connotation of patriot when it came into the English language circa the late 1500s.

A patriot does not ask "what contract is the country going to give to me", nor ask "what ministerial post will I be rewarded with".

He or she should fight for one thing and one thing only; the good of the people and the land.

For true patriots, their duty is clear - to redress the wrongs of the ignorant and scoundrels, not for personal gain, but out of love of our country and loyalty to the rakyat.