BY JUNE H.L.WONG

 Why mishandling of a nation’s flag is such a sensitive issue. 

THE apologies came swiftly. An embarrassing mistake was made: the Indonesian flag printed upside down in the official souvenir booklet of Saturday’s opening ceremony of the 29th SEA Games.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin apologised to his Indo­nesian counterpart, Imam Nahrawi, first via social media and then at a closed-door meeting.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman also issued a statement of apology on behalf of the Malaysian Government.

At the official level, the issue is settled with the Indonesian Government graciously accepting the apology, even though Imam had described the error, presumably after spotting it at the opening ceremony, as “deeply hurtful fatal negligence”.

A “technical error” is said to have caused the misprint and Khairy has ordered the souvenir booklets to be corrected and reprinted. He and Anifah have certainly said and done all the right things to make amends.

But Indonesians, who have long-standing issues with Malaysia, are probably still furious at the gaffe because they see it as yet another sign of disrespect to their country.

As Khairy acknowledged, “there’s no denying that it’s a big error which has affected the image and reputation of the Indonesian Republic because the flag is a symbol of a country’s national pride”.

However, very few nations actually have regulations prohibiting the flying of their national flag in reverse or upside down.

Instead, there seems to be a wide acceptance of the United States flag code which states: “The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.”

And that was what some Americans did and urged their fellow citizens to do as a protest against their increasingly unpopular President Donald Trump.

Chauncey DeVega, staff writer for Salon.com, for example, urged Americans to be “people of conscience and true patriots” and fly the flag upside down as a “collective signal of our national distress” because the “United States is a country that is truly in distress”.

“This would signal that the United States is a country where the president is not above the law. This would signal that Donald Trump does not represent the majority of American people,” he added.

Such is DeVega’s broader interpretation of “dire distress” and nothing is more powerful and accessible than the much loved and most visible national symbol, The Stars and Stripes, as a tool to unite Americans and rally them to action.

It certainly beats asking them to fly the American Bald Eagle or plant oak, their national tree.

Surprisingly, national flags are a relatively new phenomenon – something I learned from an insightful article in the Independent.co.uk by Michael McCarthy.

While there have long been emblems of individuals, societies and cities – termed heraldry – national flags only started with the establishment of nation-states in the mid-19th century.

Post-World War II saw the fall of colonial regimes which led to many new sovereign states, and more new countries were formed after the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.

There are now 193 members in the United Nations, every one of them with a flag, some more outstanding than others and quite a few that look similar.

That’s because there are only certain colours – red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, black and white – in combinations of two or three that work best on flags, according to the UK Flag Institute quoted by McCarthy. Brown, grey and pink are no-nos.

Our Jalur Gemilang is famously similar-looking to the US flag, along with several other nations.

The red-and-white Indonesian flag also has its look-alikes, including Singapore. Poland shares the same colours but with the white above the red. And by printing the Indonesian flag upside down, it became Polish.

Ours is not the first flag snafu between nations and it will certainly not be the last, simply because there are so many flags and similar-looking ones, too.

One of the most memorable incidents took place 25 years ago, the “flag flap” between Canada and the United States.

On Oct 18, 1992, the World Series, the major league baseball tournament, was played in Georgia between the Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays.

Before the second game, the Atlanta Marine Corps Colour Guard marched out with the US and the Canadian Maple Leaf flags. To the amazement of all, the Canadian flag was hanging upside down on the staff.

It was seen on the live broadcast and made newspaper headlines the next day.

Canadian baseball fans fumed at the “darn Yanks” and vowed revenge when the tournament shifted to the Blue Jays’ turf in Toronto’s SkyDome on Oct 20.

President George Bush Sr quickly acknowledged that if “the American flag had been displayed upside down in Toronto, the American people would have been very, very upset” and apologised to the people of Canada.

But what happened in Toronto two days later was simply beautiful and thoughtful.

Before the start of the game, an announcement was made to the 51,813 fans inside SkyDome:

“The Commandant of the United States Marine Corps regrets the incident that occurred in Atlanta and offers his apology. To correct this unfortunate error and show their true respect for the Canadian people, the Marine Guard has requested the privilege of again carrying the flag of Canada and has requested that the Stars and Stripes be carried by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”

As both nations’ anthems were played, the flags were carried out, fluttering the right way and baseball fans, American and Canadian, stood up and sang together.

And that was how two neighbours made up with nary a flare, a chair or a bottle thrown.

source : The Stars Online