Loyalty is a
virtue. Most of us, as global citizens are taught to be loyal to king and
country when we were young. Any acts of betrayal towards king and country will
be condemned and frown upon by generations to come. However, to what extent is
this loyalty applied to? Must we stand firm and be loyal no matter what?
Governments and
monarchs around the world today often preach to their people that they should
be loyal and to obey them. Any criticizing and mocking of these leaders are construed
as disloyal and the perpetrators are dealt with as enemy of the state. Is this
right? Across the centuries we have seen monarchs being overthrown, government leaders
being brought down from power. Are all these actions construed as being
disloyal? To answer the question we need to understand further the reasons
behind these actions. Most of these actions stemmed from the people being
prosecuted by the government unfairly e.g. apartheid in South Africa. If going
by the rules of the government leaders and monarchs, should a citizen remain
loyal even though he is mistreated and his welfares are not taken care of?
Should he just suck it in for the sake of being loyal?
What we are
taught is to be loyal to king and country. What we didn’t realize is king and
country are institutions. These institutions are only represented by the
leaders appointed. Being loyal to king and country does not mean we must be
loyal to the leaders appointed to hold those positions. If the leaders are not
capable and corrupt, we as the people can always criticize them. This will not
render the people as being disloyal. If we are forced to be loyal, then it is
only blind loyalty.
God bless
Malaysia.
