To keep or to change Jalur Gemilang?

ARCHIVES 2013

By admin-s On Sep 9, 2013

The sole function of any flag is to deliver a message. The on-going controversy on the Sang Saka Malaya flag is not so much about the flag design, as a matter of fact; it is about the other version of the history about the fight for the country’s independence.

Khoo Ying Hooi, TMI

A Merdeka eve incident involving the raising of the Sang Saka Malaya flag led to Datuk A. Samad Said’s controversial midnight arrest. Earlier, Hishamuddin Rais and Adam Adli Abdul Halim were also detained for the same incident and both are being investigated under the Sedition Act 1948.

In fact, this is not the first time that the authorities have taken action under the Sedition Act 1948, on those caught raising the Sang Saka Malaya flag. Last September, the police arrested two youths for allegedly flying the Sang Saka Malaya flag during the countdown to the eve of the 55th Independence Day.

Red and white are historically the colors of the archipelago Malays. The Sang Saka Malaya flag was used by the first Malay party, Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM), that was established in 1945 and had fought against the colonial British for the country’s independence. It is a red-and-white flag with 12 yellow stars set in four columns and was proposed as Malaya’s national flag back in the 1940s.

Flag debates are, however, not new. In Australia, for example, there is a constant dispute over whether the Australian flag should be changed. The main issue concerned the removal of the Union Jack symbol in its design. The main intention is to move on from the British heritage.

Interestingly, the former prime minister of Australia, Paul Keating in 1992, had also publicly supported a change in the flag. Australia is one of the few countries in the world where a change of the design of the national flag is advocated. Those who advocate the flag change in Australia are convinced that an alternative flag design would be more suitable in representing Australia than the flag that they are currently using. However, until today, such proposals for change have not received full acceptance from its citizens.

Reflecting on this, the call for flag change in Malaysia and Australia share one common similarity, that is, the historical explanation. Similarly, the flag debates also happen in New Zealand. It is not unusual that the national flags change over time, normally in such occasions; it contemplates major change in the country’s constitutional arrangements or it could be due to a change of government.