A prominent Indonesian daily today said it was this reality that played a part in the recent gaffe over the Indonesian flag, when the Malaysian organisers of the region’s largest biennial sporting event mistakenly printed the republic’s flag upside down, triggering angry reactions from the giant neighbour.
“It could signal a more serious problem that Malaysian people are strangers to Indonesia, despite their similar origin — and perhaps vice versa,” said The Jakarta Post in an editorial today, adding that it was not simply poor supervision behind the mistake.
The Kuala Lumpur hosts had to recall tens of thousands of copies of the games’ official booklet, which showed the simple Indonesian flag with its white stripe above the red, instead of the other way round.
Jakarta has acknowledged a swift apology from Putrajaya, with President Joko Widodo urging the issue not to be blown out of proportion.
Malaysian police followed up with an investigation to find out if there was an element of sabotage in the printing of the booklet.
But the apology and the damage control failed to stop protests from groups that have in the past held rowdy anti-Malaysia protests.
Yesterday, dozens gathered outside the Malaysian embassy demanding firm action against those who were “disrespectful” to the Indonesian flag.
Jakarta Post said such attacks, which it termed “retaliatory sarcasm” to a “genuine mistake” should be stopped in the spirit of Asean.
Instead, it called on Indonesia to focus on its contingent’s performance, adding that “failure to move on will only cost its bid to reclaim its supremacy in the SEA Games”.
“The flag blunder shows that first and foremost we have failed to show our maturity,” the paper said.
“Perhaps our nationalist fervor has ignited hostility toward Malaysia, reflected in, among other things, calls for the whole team to withdraw from the competition in the name of national pride.”
The paper said the strained ties extended beyond sports, including the claims over cultural heritage and Malaysia’s crackdown on tens of thousands of illegal Indonesian workers.
“As the clamor over the flag incident has suggested, relations between the two nations of the same Malay race have remained as fragile as ever. Continuous efforts to build common understanding particularly among the peoples are therefore imperative,” said Jakarta Post.