NU regrets Indonesian national flag incident in Malaysia

Jakarta, NU Online
Chairman of the Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Juri Ardiantoro, said that for Indonesia, the red and white flag is a symbol of the country that must be kept its honor for it is also a symbol of national sovereignty.

"The flag is also not just a symbol of the country, but also a symbol of the nation's struggle to free itself from colonialism," he told NU Online here on Sunday (20/8).

Chairman of the Central Election Commission in 2016 added, in the context of interstate relations, the flag is also a diplomatic symbol that contains the meaning of mutual respect, respects each sovereignty by maintaining the symbols of their respective states.

"The case of publishing the (wrong flag for Indonesian) in the SEA Games guidebook in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, is a fatal mistake that can not be interpreted as a mere technical problem," he explained, adding that the Indonesian people must strongly protest against Malaysia.

As reported by rappler.com, Malaysia's Southeast Asian Games organizers have apologized to Indonesia after its flag was printed upside-down in a souvenir magazine, prompting a scathing response from the team and anger on social media.

Malaysia's Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin was also due to apologize in person to his Indonesian counterpart after the magazine was handed out to dignitaries at Saturday's opening ceremony.

Indonesia's flag has a red stripe above a white stripe, but it was printed with the white stripe on top - which made it look like the flag of Poland.

"We would like to sincerely apologize to the people of Indonesia for the inadvertent error of publishing the wrong flag for Indonesia," SEA Games organizers said in a statement.

"We very much regret the mistake and trust the strong bond between the two countries will further strengthen in the spirit of the SEA Games," they added.

Indonesia had been quick to point out the mistake, with their Olympic committee chief, Inter Milan president Erick Thohir, slamming Malaysia's "negligence".

"Of course, I am expressing my deep regret on this fault, which shows negligence and absent-mindedness," he said in a statement.

"Friendship is the greatest legacy in sports, but a mistake in presenting a national identity of a nation is not justified.

"We in the world of sport however do not let things such as this interfere with the relationship between countries."

Indonesian fans were enraged by the lapse, with #ShameOnYouMalaysia the country's top trending topic on Twitter early on Sunday.

It wasn't the only mistake involving Indonesia: a SEA Games booklet also mixed up Indonesia and Thailand's flags in reprint of the medals table from 2011.

The 11-nation SEA Games, which gets into full swing on Sunday, is not alone in making mistakes with participants' flags - and receiving strong complaints afterwards.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, China complained bitterly that the flag used at medal ceremonies had its small gold stars pointing at the wrong angle.

At the 2012 Olympics, North Korea's women's footballers refused to play, delaying the start of their game with Colombia, when their images were shown next to the South Korea flag on a stadium screen. (Abdullah Alawi/Masdar)