By now, you would’ve seen one, or two, maybe more, posts of netizens venting their anger over the 2017 Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Kuala Lumpur blunders. The most prominent ones are from the Indonesian social media community, with each individual expressing their disappointment and utter dismay over the upside-down Indonesian flag fiasco in the SEA Games booklet.
Malaysian Minister of Youth & Sports YB Khairy Jamaluddin has since issued a public apology on Twitter before meeting Indonesia’s Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi in person to apologise, and work is currently underway to reprint the SEA Games booklet.
Baru sahaja berjumpa @imam_nahrawi untuk memohon maaf secara rasmi kpd rakyat Indonesia atas kesilapan percetakan bendera RI. Tkasih Bpk. pic.twitter.com/YOO8ICRVja
— Khairy Jamaluddin 🇲🇾🌺 (@Khairykj) August 20, 2017
Indonesian President Joko Widodo (better known as Jokowi) later said that he has forgiven Malaysia over the upside-down Indonesian flag misprint, and also hoped that the Indonesian people would not react excessively to the mistake.
Alas, the #ShameOnYouMalaysia, #ShameOnMalay, and #ShameOnMalaysia hashtags on Twitter continued to trend, and across the Straits of Malacca, there were reportedly public protests and burnings of replica Malaysian flags as Indonesians continued to denounce the Malaysian government.
Despite the widespread negativity, the incident hasn’t completely torn down the bilateral relations between all of Indonesia and Malaysia.
Yesterday, an Indonesian national based in Malaysia who goes by the name of Ismail Jr. took the liberty to update his Facebook with a #throwback picture of Malaysian and Indonesian soldiers at the combined army post in East Malaysia. In his caption, he wrote, “We are all brothers. Love and peace, Indonesia and Malaysia.”
This was echoed by another Indonesian Facebook user who goes by the name of Ierpann Tarmizi. Ierpann posted up a similar image of Malaysian and Indonesian soldier on patrol together, and wrote, “As a representative of the people of Indonesia, I’d like to apologise for the magnitude of our nation’s behaviour in insulting Malaysia excessively. I hope this problem will be resolved quickly.”
In both pictures, the soldiers can be seen holding up the Indonesian and Malaysian flags side-by-side.
Thank you for your kindness, our brothers from Indonesia.
All love ❤️
Sources: Ismail Jr., Ierpann Tarmizi / Featured image: Ismail Jr.
