Fewer flags are flying in front of homes this year although this is August – Merdeka month. And we have to thank some of our politicians and social media activists for it.
People are saying that it is better to not fly the flag than for someone to find fault and lodge a police report against them.
I was at a function recently and a couple of elderly gentlemen shook their heads in response to the posturing and arguments over a recent case of a shopkeeper mistakenly flying the national flag upside down.
“What’s wrong with these guys? We should be celebrating the flag. We should be encouraging people to fly the flag, not put fear into them so that they prefer not to fly the flag,” one of them said.
Another said: “It’s a voluntary act to show our loyalty to the nation and to celebrate Malaya’s independence from Britain but if this is going to cause me a problem, I’d rather not fly the flag. I will show my loyalty in other ways.”
I can understand why many Malaysians are upset when a flag is flown upside down. They see it as disrespecting the nation. They rightly argue that after 68 years every Malaysian should know how to fly the flag.
If it is intentional, the law must take its course; but we must remember that people do make mistakes. And we have to make allowances for that.
In the 1960s and 1970s, if such a mistake had been made, people would just point it out and then move on.
I have personally seen, sometime in the early-seventies, a man telling a shopkeeper that the national flag outside his shop was upside down. The shopkeeper looked surprised and quickly went to set it right, thanking the man in the process. The passer-by smiled and cycled off.
There was no acrimony, no accusation of disloyalty, no police report.
Then again, we were not as divided as we are today and politicians were generally more responsible. And we had no social media.
Today, if someone has a flag that is flying upside down, he is accused of being disloyal, even a traitor to the nation, and a police report is lodged against him.
And the police, who should spend their time fighting crime and keeping the streets safe, have to expend manpower and resources just to investigate this report.
Today, even simple, innocuous remarks can be misunderstood and given a racial or religious tint; even statements of fact can be seen as an affront to this or that group. We tend to see almost everything with racially or religiously tinted lenses. We tend to view almost every act or remark with suspicion.
As someone who has experienced life in the 1960s and 1970s, I feel that people today are overly sensitive, especially in matters related to race and religion.
In those days, Malaysians were interested in resolving issues.
If a flag was upside down, they would inform the person who had put up the flag to rectify the mistake. If someone had inadvertently made a remark or done something that hurt the feeling of some community or other, he would be forgiven if he sincerely apologised.
But then again, people were not as hurt by remarks in those days.
Today, it appears, many are more interested in looking like champions than in seeking solutions.
In the process, Malaysians are growing further apart.
I feel especially sad because this is Merdeka month – a period when we should focus on building bridges and coming closer together as a nation.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
