Has Our Flag Lost Its Gemilang

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The flag has been weaponised with barely disguised racial bias, turning it into a symbol of discord and division.
Yet the blue rectangle square in our flag is supposed to represent national unity. What has happened?
Why did police remand two editors of Sin Chew Daily over a flag blunder while no arrests were made for similar errors by the Education Ministry and during a PAS event in Trengganu?
This is what DAP’s Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng asked in Parliament on Aug 7, questioning the alleged double standards.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail from PKR replied that the police are independent and free from “any political interference.”
Double standards?
We Malaysians are all supposed to be equal under the law. Yet some seem to be More Equal than others.
For example, in 2022, navy personnel raised our national flag upside down at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur.
Yet nobody remembers it because it was glossed over, compared to the Moral Inquisition of “loyalty and purity” launched against Sin Chew.
Sin Chew Daily’s flag snafu on its front pageZaid Ibrahim, the former Umno law minister, put it bluntly, “The mistake by Sin Chew editors would not have attracted such a drastic reaction... if they were Malays.”
Now old pictures of flag blunders have resurfaced on social media – one involving the Seremban police headquarters (in 2016) and the other at Simpang Lima police station, Selangor (in 2020).
Were those who made the mistakes arrested and charged, asked the Kepong lawmaker.
I can answer Lim’s question. No action was taken for the Seremban police flag snafu. At that time, Seremban police chief Said Ibrahim said it was merely a “technical error” which had been “quickly resolved”.
Yes, flag blunders are wrong. But we are humans, we make mistakes, whether we are Malay or non-Malay.
Heck, even uniformed personnel have failed when they should be held to higher standards.
What splits the nation is when errors by some are blown totally out of proportion, while others are downplayed.
Political crusade
The Jalur Gemilang hung upside down by accident at a hardware store in PenangThe latest flag fury involves a Penang hardware store owner, Feng Jin Zhen, who accidentally hung the Jalur Gemilang upside down on Aug 9, while measuring the length of an iron pole to hang it up. He quickly corrected it.
But a mischievous fellow captured the process on video and made it viral. This led to Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh turning this into his latest political crusade to crucify such honest mistakes.
He has even hoisted himself up to the post of de facto public prosecutor, demanding that Feng must be charged with a “serious offence” within two days or else… he will gather a group to “teach the apek” a lesson on how to hoist the flag.
While “apek” literally means “uncle” in Hokkien, it's used by some Malays as racially derogatory, similar to the K-word for Indians.
Lawyers for Liberty director Zaid Malek slammed Akmal for “bullying, vigilantism and a public call for mob action.”
In response, DAP will be mobilising its members in Penang to defend Feng’s hardware store from troublemakers, while handing out 831 flags for free as a sign of unity.
Ah, the Chinese love numbers and in this case, 831 represents Aug 31 or Merdeka Day. Well done to DAP for rediscovering its courage.
Karma’s swift revenge
However, I myself now fear flying the flag at my house gate during this Merdeka month. What if a nasty neighbour tampers with the flag and then makes it viral?
Many of my friends are also afraid. SK said, “I have decided to put the flag away. I can be in trouble if some birds happen to poo on the flag.”
YK commented, “If I wash my flag and it looks upside down when hanging on the clothesline to dry, is it an offence?”
Many Malaysiakini readers had similar laments about how raising the flag had become highly risky, what with video vigilantes ready to pounce on the slightest errors.
The old nasty habits of “jaga tepi kain orang” (interfering with others’ affairs) and “mengumpat” (vicious gossip) have been turbocharged from kampung to the national level, thanks to social media.
But karma has worked sweet justice quickly, as Akmal has been “hoisted by his own petard" or caught in his own trap.
On Aug 12, Terengganu Umno Youth published a graphic with an incorrect Jalur Gemilang with only 12 stripes.
Akmal has been compelled to call the police to probe the state youth chapter. But even then, he keeps stoking racial tensions by claiming that MCA and DAP are “uniting” on Chinese “matters”.
Legal bungle?
Meanwhile, Bernama reported that the police want to throw the book at Feng. For one, he may be charged under the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act 1963.
Yet a lawyer friend tells me this law is about improper commercial use of emblems (such as flags), not about wrongly hanging the flag.
Another law that may be used against Feng is Section 14 of the Minor Offences Act 1955.
But read it carefully, and we find this deals with any person who uses “indecent, threatening, abusive or insulting words, or behaves in a threatening or insulting manner … with intent to provoke a breach of the peace.”
Feng clearly used no such words. He apologised and quickly corrected his flag error.
But guess who is threatening a mob “lesson” against him? Isn’t that a “breach of the peace”?
Finally, the police may charge Feng under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal SalehThis criminalises the improper use of the internet to “annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass” another person.
But it was some malicious busybody, not Feng, who uploaded the upside-down flag video on the internet!
Even worse, someone more powerful is clearly using his Facebook to “annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass another person” over this. Can you figure out who?
It is this confusing use of our laws that makes us question if there is “dua darjat” (two statuses), where some are more privileged than others.
Shallow politics
Akmal has been rumoured to be an “agent” of Perikatan Nasional, hence his repeated use of wedge racial issues to break apart the coalition government.
He was forced to deny this during the Umno general assembly last year.
Whatever it is, short-term political calculations to get more votes from certain races threaten to divide our country.
Two government ministers, Anthony Loke and Chang Lih Kang, have said that while displaying the flag upside down is wrong, there was no need for bullying and “menangguk di air keruh” (fishing in troubled waters) - scoring cheap political points.
Make peace at home
Mr Madani himself must take the lead to make peace at home, not just between Thailand and Cambodia.
He once famously declared that Malays, Chinese, Indians, Dayaks and Kadazans “semua anak saya” (are all my children).
Yet when punishments for flag blunders seem racially selective, some of us feel like stepchildren.
This is what makes Madani look like “MAD About No Improvements”.
If we are a true Malaysian family, any mistakes should be corrected with firm but kind advice - or even fines, but please, stop the threats and mob tactics.
An excellent recent video shows how a Malay youth helps an old Chinese lady put up the flag the right way
More importantly, patriotism is not just about the flag, but also:
Don't simply litter
Be fair to all
Buy Malaysian products
Fight corruption
Only then can the Jalur Gemilang truly be “gemilang” or “glorious”, a true symbol of mutual respect and unity. - Mkini
ANDREW SIA is a veteran journalist who likes teh tarik khau kurang manis. You are welcome to give him ideas to brew at [email protected].
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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