Malaysia apologises to Indonesia for upside-down flag
PUTRAJAYA: The Foreign Ministry on behalf of the government of Malaysia has extended an apology to the government and people of the Republic of Indonesia over the publication of the upside-down image of the Indonesian flag in a special souvenir book for the ongoing SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur (KL2017).
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman in a statement yesterday said: “On behalf of the Government of Malaysia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to express regret for the inadvertent error made by the Malaysian Organising Committee (MASOC) for the wrong publication of the Indonesian flag in the official souvenir booklet of the opening ceremony of the 29th SEA Games held yesterday.”
“In this regard, we wish to assure the Government of the Republic of Indonesia that all measures have been taken to address this unfortunate situation.” .
Anifah added that Malaysia places importance to its close and deeply rooted fraternal relations with Indonesia.
“Indeed, the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations this year is an occasion that we have invested in to rededicate ourselves to our shared values, culture and destiny.
“It is in this spirit that we hope and believe that our two countries will continue to interact closely together and in doing so, strengthen the ties between us and within the region as a whole,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the upside-down image of the Indonesia flag in the souvenir book for the ongoing SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur was an error that was unintentional.
“We need to be open-minded about this matter. I believe it was not deliberately done,” he told reporters after opening the Teluk Intan Umno division delegates’ conference yesterday.
Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had already issued an apology over the error to his counterpart from Indonesia, Imam Nahrawi and the people of the republic, stressing that it was unintentional.
“There was no malice intended. I deeply regret this error. I apologise,” he had tweeted on Saturday night, in reply to Imam who had earlier tweeted about the mistake.
The opening ceremony of the 29th biennial SEA Games was held with pomp and pageantry at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Indonesian President Joko Widodo yesterday called on all parties not to blow the issue of the Indonesian flag printed upside down in the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games booklet out of proportion.
The online media yesterday quoted the Indonesian president as saying that although the matter was regrettable, people in the country should not over-play the issue.
“Don’t exaggerate it,” he said, as quoted by Detik.com
He said the Malaysian government, however, should formally apologise to Indonesia.
“We wait for an official apology from the Malaysian government, as it concerns the pride and nationalistic spirit of our Indonesian people,” said the president, better known as Jokowi.
The 2017 Malaysia SEA Games Organising Committee in a statement earlier yesterday, apologised to all Indonesian people over the unintended mistake.