Bendera Terbalik

Today, our PM says this “Itu kurang ajar (bendera terbalik), tiada hormat langsung dengan bendera kita, apa yang marah sangat dengan bendera Malaysia,”

read here : PM: Cadangan bloger terbalik bendera ‘kurang ajar’

I started displaying Malaysian Flag upside down since I read a mind triggering piece of blog post from Kickdefella here, here, and here .

I was not so sure then, is it a disrespectful or its a sign of distress. I googled out and found this, from wikipedia. Then I choose to do it.

Techniques in flag display

• Hoist – the act or function of raising a flag, as on a rope.
• Lower – the act or function of taking down a flag, as on a rope.
• Half Staff or Half Mast – a style of flag display in which
  the flag is flown at half of the potential height of the available flag
  pole. Usually this is done by first hoisting the flag to the top, then
  lowering it to halfway. (Equally valid ‘half-masting’ is flying the
  flag at two-thirds of its normal height. This is especially applicable
  where the full height of the pole is not visible to most observers; for
  instance, where the pole is mounted on the roof of a building and the
  lower portion of the pole is not visible from street level.) This
  usually denotes distress or a show of grief, such as mourning a death.
  The use of ‘mast’ suggests naval use but typically the two terms are
  interchangeable.
• Distress – flying the flag upside-down, or tying it into a wheft. [1]

Since we could only trust 90% on Wikipedia, I went on to check others info, and I found out that there are many other major country adopt that ettique such as America, Australia, British and I believe there are more. So, even though there is no other evidence saying it is accepted by the whole world, but that is the evidence that it is generally accepted worldwide.

I know, each country ettiquette are difference. But, when googled about Malaysia Flag Ettiquette, the is none. There is no even single formal rule & regulation being published on the net. There are only two that I found, one from our Pandu Putri guide here, and another is goverment Perkeliling here. But both document did not mention about it nor it is saying it is desrespectful sign.

So, from these evidence and current situation. I rest my case. You be the judge. To say we are ‘kurang ajar’, I’m agree. But not in the sense of ‘rude’, but in the sense of ‘not being taught’ or ‘not enough information’. Till you can come with Standard Rules for Flying Malaysia Flag, I reserve my right to hold it upside down as a sign of distress. Yeah, I’m distress with the politicking, crimes, missing children, unemployment and the list goes on…