Post Merdeka: Copycatting and Cheating Ourselves: Part 2

Part 2: Sang Saka Malaya

Pic from Singa Selatan

The problem of many naive people, even political ones is that when they screamed about the alternative Malaysia flag their mouth moves faster than the brain. I also thought the press editors and reporters do have the knowledge but instead it was the other way round. Leading the way are those people from Perkasa and UMNO, then amplified by those from News Straits Times, Bernama, Utusan and etc.. 

Have you people try to understand what Raja Petra tries to tell in his flag posting ("Let the pictures do the talking?") - If you are...fine, but if you can't then something is wrong already with you.

In Form 3 / Form 5 history, PKMM was mentioned briefly, maybe a small chunk. But it never went deep while Malayan Union was mentioned prominently in Form 3.

The Sang Saka Malaya was used as left-wing groups to tell the English that the identity of the national flag intended to be adopted. However, the English saw those left-wing groups as commies, subsequently banning them and most leaders are thrown into jail. This became more relevant and significant when the Emergency broke out in mid-1948. 

PKMM left UMNO after Malayan Union was successfully aborted because of the flag issue. UMNO had hijacked it and had the keris symbol inserted in the center of the flag - that PKMM disagreed. Minus the blue color of our flag (representation of unity), the red and white, according to the intended Sang Saka scheme represents blood and heart of the people. Indonesia adopts that; Singapore adopts that and some other countries do use that same color scheme.

 

You only need to compare our flag with the American flag and noticed that it is identically similar (red and white stripes, blue and stars), except that American stars represent (the 50 states of the union) and our moon and crescent in yellow. It's a sad thing that many people have forgotten or have been blurred by part of the history (which was intended to be faded away) by the victor of the ideals race at that time: UMNO - whom the English deemed are more friendlier and easier in wheel dealing. In other words, some would perceive our flag as copycatting (America in particular). So thus the saying - history is written by the victor.

A case in point in related to the matter above occurred when the Malaysian team was in Afghanistan on relief and peacekeeping mission in between 2004 and 2005. They were told not to show the Malaysian flag in public view because the Taliban insurgents could mistaken the flag as the American flag and would attack. Remember, the American army presence in Afghanistan still remains at a considerable amount until today, even there have been announcement of plans of gradual withdrawal.

Along with the flag, the tune for our National Anthem is largely based on the Memula Moon - its tune was composed by French composer Pierre Jean De Berengar (1770-1857) - known as the first superstar of French popular music. There are plenty of audio clips on YouTube and it is no doubt that - apart from the lyrics, the tune remains familiar.

While the screaming of that deemed "blasphemous" charade continues on the streets, these people have fallen victim to the history cheat. The fragment of our very own history, had it been included would provide the balancing act that gives the proper third-person view of the Malaysian history. These people again, as I have said yesterday are also the end-product of the problem of average-two-books-a-year syndrome; an education system that is designed not to get people to think and act beyond the box, but instead trained to become a mere sponge to absorb everything - including what is actually false; and finally a project that aimed of making people think one step backwards - a.k.a Projek Pembodohan. Questioning is equivalent to dissenting and deemed a wrong thing - I can't even comprehend such logic and culture!

There may be some who are unwilling to accept that fragment of history that still exists in this country but all they are doing right now is cheating themselves and as what the theme underlined in Gangnam Style - attempting to be that status but impossible to do in reality. But this commentary doesn't underscore the notion of replacing a flag. It's merely to state the fact that we either are being cheated in history or we have already forgotten that fragment as part of the act of false perception by a political organization and its accomplices. 

It's really important that we start to question ourselves whether we are still under an impression or there's need to save this fact that forms part of our history and acknowledge it before it ends up in a bin permanently. 

The spillover from the debacle is that while the police have started investigations, it slowly has cracked up the lid of doubts over the existence of that flag not to mention other things that have been hidden in the closet (e.g Mat Indera and so forth.)

- A Little Taffer's Room