Letters written by a Sarawakian

Sometimes, I ask myself, what is the true meaning of patriotism actually? How to be patriotic? I’ve been asking myself this question for a very long time now and wondering, what is the right way to show my love to Sarawak, my most favourite place in the world? Is it by condemning the current government of how they are treating Sarawak right now? Or is it by remembering the Sarawak’s song, bringing her flag everywhere we go? Or by being conspicuous about my patriotism of Sarawak, so that everyone would say, “That kid really loves his Sarawak.”
Have you guys ever asked the same question? Well, after doing some thinking, I’ve concluded that we all have our own ways of loving Sarawak, some take it this way, some take it that way; either way, I’m sure all of us are doing it because we love Sarawak. Few years back, before I left Sarawak to further my education at Kuala Lumpur, I was never really aware of the Sarawak politics. Easy to say, I was taking her for granted. But I suppose, when you don’t actually be at Sarawak anymore, when you’re away from home, you tend to feel the home-sickness, no? That was when I began to feel much more aware of what was going on back home in Sarawak and everytime during the holiday, I love to join some of the celebrations that could only be found in Sarawak, like Gawai festival for instance.
I’ve decided that, to be patriotic about Sarawak is by being grateful of Sarawak herself. Although it is currently being used and manipulated for the gains of some greedy politicians and robbed of her wealth, however, by not being grateful of her own existence won’t get us anywhere. I’d prefer to think of the nationalists or the freedom fighter before during the colonial era, where these great men felt that their home were being invaded and that, it inspired them to sacrifice even their own lives to save Sarawak from being destroyed. For now, I prefer to do the reading works; like reading on cultures of the bidayuhs, the Ibans, the Kayans, and so on, and how our leaders before fought for freedom. I love to read on the issues that are affecting the lives of my fellow Sarawakians. I believe, by becoming more attached to the wealth of cultures, customs, races and resources that Sarawak has to offer, I would feel more motivated and inspired to de fend her; in the case where some would say, Sarawak is still 100 years behind and her people still practically lives in the jungle. There’s no reason for me to feel embarrass about it because I know, these people who are saying these things don’t really know Sarawak. Who are the more uncivilized? The people who think they are civilized or the people who are actually civilized but don’t really make much fuss about the whole thing? You know, I like the definition of civilization based on the Islamic definition, rather than the western definition; where it says that a civilized society is not only civilized by infrastructures and modern buildings and roads but also, by moral standards and able to live with each other in harmony, regardless of race and beliefs. Although I’m not a Muslim myself, but we can always accept the good things of other community has to offer, no? And the definition of civilization is actually really good.
So, back to the original questions? How to be patriotic and am I patriotic? Just like what George Washington once said, guard against the impostors of pretended patriotism, I really hope that mine is not pretended but real. However, for the time being, allow me to do some more readings on our Sarawak and let us together hope that it would one day be on par with other first world countries. A long way to go, true, judging by the vast land that we have to cover, but let’s emulate the Japanese shall we?
Thank you.