Display national flag at your own risk.
A hardware owner in Penang did not expect his demonstration of patriotism – flying the national flag – would turn into a nightmare when he was being targeted by both politicians and police forces after accidentally installing and hoisting the flag “upside down”. The 59-year-old man must be kicking himself now for trying too hard to prove he’s a loyal citizen as National Day approaches.
Even though he had offered an explanation and apologised, it was too late. In other countries, he might receive praises for rushing to fly the national flag before the August 31 celebration out of pride. At most, he would receive a warning about the mistake. But in Malaysia, flying the so-called Jalur Gemilang the wrong way is worse than plundering national coffers or committing incest.
The man’s biggest mistake was not because he displayed the flag upside-down. His biggest mistake is his skin colour. He is an ethnic Chinese. Had he been a Malay, the majority race in the country, he would be given the usual slap on the wrist. It was not a coincidence that after Nazirul Hafiz posted a 20-second video of the flag blunder on his Facebook account, all hell broke loose.
Hunting with sharp eyes like the American bald eagles, UMNO Youth Chief Akmal Saleh, notorious for preying on minority Chinese ethnic, happily grabs his tasty meal thanks to Nazirul. The Chinese uncle, whom Akmal insulted as “Ah Pek”, is just another unlucky “second-class” Malaysian Chinese citizen that racist Akmal adds to his political trophy as he builds his “Malay hero” credentials.
Making a mountain out of a molehill, the UMNO Youth plans to hold a mega rally to protest against the elderly Chinese man, even calling him a “traitor” and ordering the Anwar government to take action. Under political pressure, errand boy Royal Malaysian Police quickly arrested the Chinese man on the same day of the incident (Aug 9).
The explanation of Feng Jin Zhen, the store owner, fell on deaf ears because his mistake was an incredibly juicy political ammunition for racist Malay politicians like Akmal. Feng’s explanation – he was measuring the length of an iron pole while hanging the national flag and did not notice that the flag was upside down – was like talking to a brick wall as far as the police force is concerned.
Penang state acting police chief Mohd Alwi Zainal Abidin said – “The case is being investigated under Section 5 of the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, Section 14 of the Minor Offences Act, and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.” Warning the public to respect the Jalur Gemilang as a symbol of national sovereignty, Alwi said the police view such acts seriously and will take firm action.
Obviously, racism, hypocrisy and double standards are getting worse even under the Anwar administration. When the Education Ministry and Terengganu PAS government similarly insulted the national flag previously, Akmal was “Missing in Action (MIA)” and pretended nothing had happened. Likewise, the Royal Malaysian Police was silent when the offenders were of their own kind.
Yes, Akmal knew he could attack the non-Malays, especially the Chinese, whenever he liked because even Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim dares not lift a finger to apprehend him, let alone get the useless Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution to order the police to arrest the UMNO Youth Chief. In fact, PM Anwar silently approved Akmal’s anti-Chinese provocation to strengthen UMNO.
Akmal also knew that the Democratic Action Party (DAP), supposedly the defender of ethnic Chinese, has become an eunuch under the weak leadership of toothless Anthony Loke. Like the impotent MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association), which had lost 95% support of the Chinese community it claimed to represent, DAP leaders are now drunk with power, perks and position, so much so they are terrified of rocking the boat.
Worse, even Anwar’s own party – PKR or People’s Justice Party – is competing with UMNO in milking the flag fiasco to capture some Malay votes. Joining Akmal’s bandwagon, Penang PKR Youth bullied the Chinese man – “The Jalur Gemilang is a symbol of sovereignty, unity, and the pride of the Malaysian people. Flying it upside down is an unacceptable insult, especially as we celebrate the month of independence.”
Perhaps the Penang PKR Youth Chief Muhammad Zakwan Mustafa Kamal should explain whether his boss Anwar’s act of freeing the world’s biggest crook – Najib Razak – from prison is a symbol of sovereignty, unity, and the pride of the Malaysian people. Perhaps stealing billions from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund and making the country poorer by RM44 billion is an acceptable insult compared to flying the flag upside-down.
Perhaps Penang PKR Youth Chief Muhammad Zakwan Mustafa Kamal should explain whether his boss Anwar’s act of freeing ex-PM Najib Razak – the crook currently imprisoned for stealing billions from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund and making the country poorer by RM44 billion in debt – is a symbol of sovereignty, unity, and the pride of the Malaysian people. It appears that plundering national coffers is an acceptable insult compared to flying the flag upside-down.
The political game is simple. PM Anwar, who is also PKR president, allows Akmal to attack the Chinese community so that the racist and corrupt UMNO could win back Malay voters it had lost since the 2018 General Election. PKR desperately needed the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) to deliver the critical Malay votes because PKR itself has failed to do so.
Because the next 16th General Election will most likely be fought directly between the Anwar-led crowded multi-coalition government (primarily PKR-led Pakatan Harapan and UMNO-led Barisan Nasional) with opposition Perikatan Nasional, any increase of Malay voters for UMNO is also a win for PKR, which in turn will strengthen PKR’s demand for a second term premiership for Anwar.
Crucially, Malays’ support for PKR has peaked, even stagnated at 27%, well below the critical 35% threshold needed to secure vital parliamentary seats. More importantly, a bloc that could swing the election – about 28% of undecided Malay voters – will decide who will form the next government. Essentially, only UMNO Malay nationalist party, could – hopefully – deliver the Malay votes.
PKR and UMNO’s top priority is Malay votes. Other ethnicities can be sacrificed. At the same time, UMNO quietly hopes to return to its past glory – a dominant party so that it can rule on its own again without sharing power. If UMNO could recapture its Malay supporters who had abandoned it, the party could leave its current ally Pakatan Harapan and form a new government on its own.
UMNO has nothing to lose by constantly punching the Chinese. It had already lost 95% of the Chinese votes anyway after MCA was decapitated. On the contrary, Akmal, clearly outsourced by UMNO President Zahid Hamidi to do the dirty work, could help drive racist UMNO-Malays to return to the party by intimidating, bullying and attacking the minority Chinese.
But what about the risk of losing Chinese supporters? Both Anwar and Zahid believe they have the formula to lock in the vote bank. What they needed to do was to warn the Chinese that the alternative – racist bigot Bersatu and religious extremist PAS – is worse, and voila, the Chinese community will blindly vote like lemmings for PKR and UMNO come rain or shine.
That explains why both PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and UMNO president Zahid Hamidi have never bothered to defend the Chinese community whenever scumbag Akmal assaults the minorities. They were betting that the Chinese have no options but to support Pakatan Harapan or Barisan Nasional because they are the lesser of two evils compared to the Opposition Perikatan Nasional.
The strategy of joining forces in the next election to prevent three-cornered fights, which will benefit the opposition due to votes being split, especially in Malay-majority constituencies, PKR and UMNO believe they would win easily. And if the Chinese choose to stay at home rather than to vote, Anwar could easily blame DAP, the same way MCA took the blame after decades of UMNO bullying.
It does not make sense that a Chinese business owner had nothing better to do and deliberately raised the national flag upside-down just to get himself into trouble. The solution is simple – all non-Malays should stop flying flags. It’s safer and wiser not to display the Malaysian flag and be accused of unpatriotic than to display the flag and risk being arrested but still being branded unpatriotic and all types of nonsense.
Make no mistake – you don’t break any law by not displaying the national flag. But you certainly break the law by showing the flag the wrong way, either deliberately or accidentally. Like it or not, this is not a good time to show patriotism (which they don’t appreciate anyway) because racist mad dogs like UMNO-Akmal are running the show. At the end of the day, display the national flag at your own risk. – Finance Twitter