Sang Saka Malaya Controversy: Is Pakatan Behind the Red and White Flag?

As I mentioned in my earlier post, ‘Malaysia… A Republic Nation?‘, the demonstrators of Janji Demokrasi or Janji Bersih caused a controversy when they caused havoc amidst the Merdeka Day celebration on the night of 30th August.

The group in which most wore the yellow t-shirts were seen displaying and waving red and white flags which they called Sang Saka Malaya instead of the Malaysian flag, Jalur Gemilang. To add insult to injury, they even distributed pamphlets demanding for Malaysian flag to be changed from Jalur Gemilang to Sang Saka Malaya.

Opinions vary widely on the matter with a few saying that it is the youths’ rights to learn and to introduce to others the so-called historical flag while most insisting that the action is against the ethical values of Malaysians, showing no respect to the country, as well as endangering the harmony of the country.

Now, who is behind the Sang Saka Malaya?

With the obvious association between Bersih and Pakatan Rakyat, most speculated that the Pakatan Rakyat is behind the incident and that Sang Saka Malaya would be the new Malaysian flag chosen by the Pakatan Rakyat if they ever succeeded in their mission to ‘tawan Putrajaya’. A blogger, Serigala Selatan who owns the Singa Selatan blog claimed that he and a friend, ‘Zairi Shafai’ are the ones who were responsible for these flags and that he wasn’t representing any political party. Anwar Ibrahim also denied claims that Sang Saka has got anything to do with Pakatan Rakyat.

“Dia nak kaitkan Pakatan Rakyat, adakah kenyataan saya yang menyatakan kita tidak mahu bendera malaysia? Ada kenyataan Tuan Guru Hadi Awang? Ada kenyataan YB Kit Siang? Tidak ada. Bagi kita bendera Malaysia, bendera Malaysia” (In order to associate (the flag) with Pakatan Rakyat, have I ever made any statement saying that we do not want the Malaysian flag? Is there a statement from Hadi Awang? Is there a statement from YB Kit Siang? There’s none. To us, the Malaysian flag is the Malaysian flag.)

But does anyone still remember what DAP assemblyman, YB Manoharan Malayalam wrote in his facebook last year about our Jalur Gemilang? He wrote that, “Pakatan will come up with a new flag” for the reason that our Jalur Gemilang is ‘too BN than Malaysian’ and “the flag must go” in referring  to the current Malaysian flag.

Ironically, Anwar’s employee Najwan Halimi also wrote a surprising statement on his personal blog, Riwayat Hayat:

“saya persembahkan design terbaru bendera Malaysia bagi menggantikan Jalur Gemilang bernama Sang Saka Malaya” (I present the latest design of the Malaysian flag, Sang Saka Malaya which would replace the Jalur Gemilang)

(please note that the page had since been edited and the ‘announcement’ had been deleted from the post)

And if that is not enough to contradict Singa Selatan and Anwar Ibrahim’s statement, Hishamuddin Rais who is one of the main organisers of the Janji Bersih demonstration even made an announcement on his blog, tukartiub, telling people to bring and wave the Sang Saka Malaya at the demonstration. Hishamuddin Rais is also one of Anwar’s close associate.

“Kibarkan Sang Saka Malaya, Merdeka dari jajahan UMNO” (Wave the Sang Saka Malaya, free (the country) from UMNO)

Hishamuddin Rais, Najwan Halimi and Manoharan Malayam are all members of the Pakatan Rakyat and yet their words seem to be shouting to the world that yes, we are the ones behind all this and we are proud of it. In fact, while denying the fact that Pakatan Rakyat has anything to do with Sang Saka Malaya, Anwar Ibrahim went on to support the actions of waving the Sang Saka Malaya during the Merdeka celebration saying that it is the youths’ rights to bring back the old flag, claiming that it is a good idea to educate the public about our struggle for independence. He went on further to associate the Sang Saka Malaya with the independence fighters hence to justify and to prove that not only there is nothing wrong with the actions but their initiative should be praised by the public.

So are the rumours true that Sang Saka Malaya would in fact be made the new Malaysian flag if Pakatan Rakyat were to win the coming general election? In the first place, why must Malaysia need a new flag? But if it is true that they want a new flag, why must they choose Sang Saka Malaya which was used by the leftist group that was rejected by the majority of Malaysians even before our independence?

What else are they secretly planning to change if they gain the power? And what are their true agendas behind all their questionable actions? Would Malaysia still be a peaceful sovereign country or would our beautiful country be turned into a chaotic republic, breeding rebels with anti-establishment mentality?

Please read the history of Sang Saka Malaya to find out who had use the flag before our independence hence to try to see the light in why this flag was brought out again after more than 55 years. Click here to read a good article written by Professor Datuk Dr Ramlah Adam of University Malaya on the history of Sang Saka Malaya (unfortunately it’s in Malay).

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Malaysia… a Republic Nation?

Not only the demonstrators of ‘Bersih 4.0’ disappointed many people with their illegal assembly last night causing the government to cancel the annual Merdeka countdown for safety purposes (and they claim that the Malaysian government are violent!) but they also shocked people by distributing phamplets demanding for the change of the Malaysian flag.

The new flag has a red and a white stripe, identical to the flags of two Republican countries, Indonesia and Singapore instead of the 14 stripes of our ‘Jalur Gemilang’. Of course the first question that comes up to one’s mind would be, ‘What flag is this and why is it being displayed?’

Interestingly, only weeks after last year’s Hari Merdeka, a DAP assemblyman, Manoharan Malayam wrote on his Facebook profile that Pakatan Rakyat would be coming up with a new flag design since the current flag is ‘definitely out’.

With the obvious connection between Bersih and Pakatan Rakyat, (even the 55th Merdeka Celebration logo that Pakatan Rakyat proposed after rejecting the official logo was displayed on the ‘new flags phamplet’ ), does this mean that the flags displayed is what Pakatan Rakyat has come up with to replace Jalur Gemilang if they win the election?

And since Singapore and Indonesia, the two nearest republican countries from Malaysia are using identical flags, could it be true that as ‘Agenda Daily’ puts it, ‘Are they planning to turn Malaysia into a republic nation?’.

HIMPUN v.s. Bersih: Does PAS Really Support Islam?

I used to have very high regards for the opposition parties, particularly PAS and PKR until recently. My childhood memories even included shouting ‘Reformasi! Reformasi!’ at the top of my voice while riding my little tricycle. I saw Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of PKR as the ideal leader for Malaysia. During his days in ABIM, Anwar was credited for doing a great job in promoting hijabs among the Muslim women. One of my teachers once told me that during her younger days, she was made fun of because she wears hijab; during the older days we can hardly see Malaysian women in proper hijab. PAS (meaning the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party) was formed with a mission to fight for Islam and to uphold Islam in Malaysia. Therefore, I used to firmly believe that if PAS and PKR could work together to form a new government, it would be really great for Malaysia.

But recent events made me doubt my strong belief and trust in PAS and PKR. Was it fair for PAS to falsely claimed that Himpunan Sejuta Umat or HIMPUN (an event organised by Muslim NGOs calling the Muslims to strengthen their faith and to fight against apostasy) as an UMNO’s political agenda while giving full-support towards Bersih, a ‘demonstration turned riot’ led by an LGBT fighter asking for fair and clean election.

As an Islamic party claiming to fight for an Islamic government, PAS should not only took part but also supported HIMPUN as it was an important Islamic program. And as for PKR who claims that the current government is not Islamic for being led by corrupted leaders who cheated in the past general elections, why can’t their Muslim and ‘Islamic’ leaders especially Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim support HIMPUN, even if their non-muslim leaders would not?

Even Datuk Ibrahim Ali (not that I am a fan of his), whom the opposition leaders refer as  ‘frog’, attended the event to support his Muslim brothers and sisters. Of course, he wanted to be one of the speakers at the event, but even after he was ‘denied’ the honour, he still attended HIMPUN, proudly sitting with the mass crowd despite of his flamboyant self. And not just that, he even used his influence to promote the event and brought along the members of his NGO in full spirit. Ibrahim Ali may be a frog for some people but when it comes to his faith, he knows that as a Muslim, he needs to protect Islam.

If a flamboyant ‘frog’ can put aside his ego for the sake of Islam, why can’t the supposedly honourable Muslim leaders of PKR and especially PAS at least voiced out their support towards strengthening the faith of Muslims? PAS president, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said to the press just before the event that (because) he respected the organisers’ wishes to keep HIMPUN as a non-political event, he will not be attending HIMPUN and advised all PAS members to follow suit.” It was an odd indeed; but what makes it more confusing is the fact that he and other PAS senior leaders gave Bersih their full-support when Bersih is also a non-political event. PAS’s spiritual leader even made a call to all Muslims to attend Bersih 3.0 rally; not only saying that it is a must(wajib) for Muslims to do so but even admitted that he provided some of them with some pocket money. Or did they took those actions to humiliate the Bersih 3.0’s organisers since Bersih 3.0 was led by an LGBT fighter? But of course it would make sense if the rumours were true that Bersih 3.0 is actually the opposition parties’ political agenda to tarnish the reputation of the current government with the hope to paint the Malaysian government as cruel, injustice, corrupted and against the freedom of speech.

PAS should do all it takes to fight for Islam, after all their party’s mission slogan is (or was?) to implement the Islamic law (hudud) in Malaysia; claiming that Malaysia under the current government is a secular country. Later, they even accused UMNO was behind HIMPUN, which was a big white lie! Why must they choose to policalise everything? And what is wrong for Muslims to sit together as an ummah(a muslim) disregarding their different political stances at such events? Earlier, PAS youth chief made a statement giving full support for HIMPUN but he was silenced by Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s strong statement against HIMPUN. Wouldn’t PAS be gaining political mileage if they support HIMPUN, instead of fibbing and twisting stories? Perhaps HIMPUN is not Bersih(clean) enough …. for it was not a political event.

However, Datuk Dr. Hasan Ali who was one of their state government’s excos attended the event not as a political leader but in his personal capacity as a Muslim individual. Ironically, he was shortly sacked from the party for (as quoted by PAS president) “based on Datuk Hasan Ali’s action which have wronged and damaged the party’s interest as provided for in PAS constitution”. I (and I believe, many others) give high respect to Dr. Hasan Ali for he dared to go against the odds to support Islam despite of PAS’s orders that prevented their members from attending HIMPUN.

It seems very clear that PAS isn’t true to their words to uphold and fight for Islam. Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat(PAS spiritual leader) and Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang (PAS president) made lots of questionable statements; some were even contrary to the teaching of Islam. It is such a shame if the ‘rumours’ is true that PAS uses Islam for their own political gains to win the Muslim  (who are the majority of Malaysian) votes in achieving their dreams to lead the country or as they fondly say ‘menuju Putrajaya’. Instead of upholding Islam, their conducts shows the opposite. The worst is, the Malays are torn apart.