Malaysian flag hoisted upside down heats up debate ahead of National Day celebrations
KUALA LUMPUR – Socks with the word 'Allah' printed on them, 'ham' sandwiches, and now Malaysian flags displayed upside down – Umno youth chief Akmal Saleh does not seem to run out of ways to stoke controversy.
This time, he has threatened to 'educate' an elderly Chinese hardware shop keeper in Penang on how to properly hoist the national flag, after the latter flew it upside down outside his hardware shop on Aug 9.
'If there are no charges on this individual by Wednesday, then God willing on Thursday I will go, and we will give a class to educate this Ah Pek on how to properly hoist the flag,' he said in a video on Facebook on Aug 11.
This was the second discovered incident of the national flag being improperly displayed, following an earlier debacle at a Chinese primary school in Negeri Sembilan on Aug 1.
The Penang shopkeeper, Mr Pang Chin Tian, 59 , was arrested on Aug 9 after more than 15 police reports were made against him. He had earlier apologised to the public saying he did not realise the flag was upside down until it was hoisted.
'Every year, I will hoist the flag on the long pole on my shop since its opening 11 years ago. This is to show my patriotism,' Mr Pang was quoted as saying in Malaysia's Chinese media China Press after his release on Aug 12.
Despite this, some in the Chinese community have expressed in social media they would not fly the Malaysia flag this year for fear of being bullied as the issue has become political .
The controversy, just ahead of Malaysia's National Day on Aug 31, has created a divide yet again between Malaysia's two biggest ethnic groups.
The affair was featured prominently in the front page of the country's largest Chinese newspaper – Sinchew Daily – on Aug 11, while the largest Malay daily Sinar Harian has been focusing on the death of a 13-year-old student in Sabah, who is a suspected victim of bullying in school.
Datuk Akmal is no stranger to controversy.
In March 2024, he led calls to boycott the popular KK Super Mart chain after a pair of socks was found to have the word 'Allah' in Arabic printed on it. The issue sparked widespread debate with responses from political and religious figures.
And the Umno youth chief again stoked tensions in January, inviting angry responses and calls for boycotts, after the discovery of a 'ham' and cheese sandwich with a fake halal label sold at a KK Super Mart outlet in Universiti Malaya.
The 'ham' turned out to be chicken meat, but the authorities confirmed that the halal label was used without proper permit.
The flag blunders created the feeling among some in the Malay community that the national flag, widely called Jalur Gemilang – Stripes of Glor y – was being disrespected.
For Mr Shahriful Saiful, 26, who flies the flag every year during National Day, what happened was unacceptable and warranted stern action.
'We've learned the basics of hoisting the flag since our school days. The top edge of the flag is sewn, so it's clear how to fly it correctly. If the flag is flown upside down, it has to be intentional,' the private sector employee told The Straits Times.
Professor Kartini Aboo Talib believes the incidents should be taken seriously by the authorities to prevent their recurrence.
'I think the issue runs deeper and reveals the level of knowledge, experience, and appreciation of Bahasa Melayu, patriotism and nation-building, which are still lacking in daily activities by most non-Malay communities,' the deputy director of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Institute of Ethnic Studies told ST.
The view from the Chinese community is that the errors made do not merit threats from Mr Akmal, who is also a state lawmaker from Melaka. He has said that Umno will protest in front of the Penang shop should the shopkeeper not be charged in court soon.
In response, Mr Anthony Loke, secretary-general of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) - the biggest party in Malaysia's governing coalition - said on Aug 12 that the party 'strongly condemns certain quarters for openly pressuring the Attorney-General's Office to charge a shopkeeper in Penang for his mistake while hosting the Jalur Gemilang outside his shop'.
Rejecting the 'openly bullying tactics', he said DAP sponsors a giant national flag to be hung outside the Penang shop, and the distribution of 831 free flags , the number chosen to signify Malaysia's National Day on Aug 31.
To alleviate the anxiety among Chinese Malaysians, DAP's deputy minister Lim Hui Ying on Aug 10 encouraged the public to fly the flag without fear of making mistakes.
But her efforts in distributing the Malaysian flag in her constituency were less successful. Some of the public refused to accept the flag. A similar flag distribution by the DAP was met with a cold reception in a market in Negeri Sembilan .
A former assemblyman for the Malaysian Chinese Association, Mr Lee Hwa Beng, said he would not hoist the Jalur Gemilang as he had been doing for the past two decades.
'I fear to be called up for whatever reason, like (the flag is) too old or dirty due to exposure, the wind may blow the flag upside down… So I won't put up this year not because (I am) unpatriotic, but (because I) fear being charged,' Datuk Lee said in a Twitter post on Aug 10.
His post had garnered more than 165,000 views as at Aug 12.
Political analyst Dr Phoon Wing Keong said that Umno's aggressive approach could undermine Malaysians' emotional connection to the nation.
'Patriotism should be rooted in a citizen's genuine affinity for the country. If the upside-down flag incident is excessively politicised, especially when it's unintentional, it may erode national unity and dampen public enthusiasm,' the head of the Huayan Policy Institute, a Chinese Malaysian community think-tank, told ST.
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