“The spirit of patriotism should be focused on needs, for example in the past during the colonialists’ rule, our focus was against the colonialists and now the focus should be to fight Covid-19.

“However, in Malaysia, our politics are too adversarial so that even in the face of Covid-19 we are still embroiled in politics when we should be focusing on mobilising energy to address the problem of Covid-19,“ he said in the ‘Soal Rakyat’ programme on TV3 yesterday.

Asked about the National Day and Malaysia Day 2021 (HKHM 2021) celebrations, Saifuddin urged ministries, departments and government agencies to fly the Jalur Gemilang on their respective buildings and premises to express love and patriotism to the country.

He said under the new norm, the ministry also encouraged online activities to enliven the celebration, including organising poetry and storytelling competitions.

“This is the second year that Malaysians celebrate National Day and Malaysia Day during the Covid-19 era and large-scale events that gather many people cannot be held.

“However, we encourage online activities, for example, Malaysians around the world will list patriotic songs which will be put together by the RTM Orchestra and played on National Day later,“ he said.

This year’s National Day celebration will be held at Dataran Pahlawan Negara, Putrajaya on Aug 31, while Malaysia Day will be celebrated at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC), Kota Kinabalu, on Sept 16.

-Bernama