The Ministry of Education’s directive requiring all students in educational institutions under the ministry to wear a national flag badge on their school uniforms has sparked serious debate.
The move purports to foster love and pride for the country and aims to promote unity, discipline and responsibility among students.
Aliran questions the effectiveness of this approach. Can a simple badge really inspire pride, unity and discipline without the inclusion of meaningful plans and policies?
A critical question emerges: why has the education system failed to inculcate these values over six decades since independence?
Cabinet ministers and MoE leaders need to recognise that ‘patriotism’ is not a switch that can be turned on and off with a badge on a garment.
Will the wearing of a badge with a flag instantly and magically resolve all our problems? Is this the elusive magic bullet that will solve all our current problems and issues – from unity to disciplinary matters, to questions about patriotism?
If students today are failing to exemplify these values, then we need to ask the hard question: why?
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The Malaysian flag should not be used as a superficial quick-fix plaster to hold together a people and a society that is widely seen as gradually fraying.
Are the MoE and the cabinet addressing the root causes or merely fixing the symptoms?
Patriotism needs to go beyond the superficial. Love for the nation should encompass compassion for the vulnerable, socially just and inclusive policies, concern for delicate ecosystems, clean and exemplary leadership, and participatory democracy.
Patriotism can be inculcated through the quality of our instruction – both effective and affective – so that it transcends all our differences such as ethnicity, religion and even capacity.
Schools and colleges should be seen to be upholding the rights of all students, regardless of their differences.
Having to witness and experience discrimination and unfairness is one of the fundamental causes for the cracks in our facade of unity and patriotism. A badge will never fix it!
We hope the MoE will explain how it plans to measure the impact of wearing a badge on the level of patriotism, discipline, unity and responsibility.
Aliran also questions the haste with which this directive is being implemented. Will a specific MoE-approved vendor be tasked with supplying supply millions of badges in less than a month? If so, will the selection of the vendor be transparent and through open tender? Or will schools be free to pick their own suppliers?
We hope the badge directive will be shelved or delayed until all these questions and issues are addressed. It is not too much to ask for transparency in the way the entire process is managed to allay many of the doubts and questions raised.
Aliran executive committee
28 March 2025
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
Why the sudden need to amend school uniforms with the national flag? Aliran is right in questionning the flimsy excuse of promoting patriotism. The [authorities have] wrecked innocent school children’s perception of unity with discrimination against non-Malay/Muslim pupils. The real reason is [allegedly] politically-linked pirates seeking a massive Contract. Find and expose them please.