What feeling does our Gaumi salaam evoke?

Romanized Transliteration of gaumi salaam

"Gaumee mi ekuverikan matee tibegen kureeme salaam,
Gaumee bahun gina hyo du'aa kuramun kureeme salaam.
Gaumee nishaanang hurmataa eku bo lambai tibegen
Audaa nakan libigen e vaa dida-ak kureeme salaam.
Nasraa nasiibaa kaamyaabu-ge ramzakang himenee
Fessaa rataai hudaa ekii fenumun kuriime salaam."

Translation

"We salute you in this national unity.
We salute you, with many good wishes in the national tongue,
Bowing the head in respect to the national symbol.
We salute the flag that has such might ;
It falls into the sphere of victory, fortune and success
With its green and red and white together, and therefore we salute it."


In public events and in schools the national anthem is sung to show patriotism. Many people believe that patriotism is a virtue. This is what the political world and popular media in many countries portray patriotism to be. For some people patriotism means to fight in defence of one's country, to kill or to die for it. For others just cheering their national football team will do it.

The Soviet Union was short on freedom and democracy, but the one thing it had plenty of was patriotism. President Vladimir Putin wants to boost Russia's patriotism and has made it as one of the priorities. The Russian government has approved a $17m programme that will urge youths to mark military victories, and will fund the re-introduction of military-style games in schools.

After Japan's defeat in the 2ND World War, the country has adopted a pacifist constitution to demonstrate that no-one has anything to fear from a more patriotic Japan. But now, Japan's lower house of parliament has passed a bill encouraging teachers to instill patriotism and respect for tradition in their students. The bill, which will now go to the upper house, would change the country's education law for the first time since it was enacted in 1947. The bill which was strongly backed by former prime minister Abe calls on teachers to instill thinking among students "respecting tradition and culture and loving the nation and homeland."

If one were to define patriotism, it does not merely indicate morals or ethics. Patriotism relates to a sense of belonging for the country that we are born in. It is about a feeling of national pride and love for the nation. Extreme patriotism is one reason for the Japanese military aggression and territorial expansion prior to the 2ND World War. Hence not all patriotism has produced good results.

In times of war, citizens show their patriotism by supporting their troops. Although 70 per cent of the American population is opposed to the war in Iraq now, yet all of them support their troops who are in harm's way.

Recently I asked someone who replied emphatically, "Yes, I love my country." When I pressed further to explain, a more cautious reply came, "Well, I love the islands, they are beautiful but I don't like the system in Maldives." My guess is that many of us would ruefully agree to this statement given that we are on a self-destructive path and our loyalty and love have become concepts applicable only to our personal self.


In the first line of our anthem, we salute our unity. Where does this unity exist in Maldives for us to be able to do that? We do everything that is counter productive to the concept of unity. We have lost our unity of purpose for common good completely. If we believe scientific predictions, even the natural forces are stacked against us. The rising sea level may sink our islands into the sea before we are able to extricate ourselves from the dark hole that we still continue digging deeper.