AUGUST 20 — What’s most dangerous?

A. Handle uranium in a reactor without gloves

B. Evening strolls on the Korean DMZ after hours without permission

C. Navigate an oil-tanker with an American flag through the Strait of Hormuz

D. Affix a Malaysian flag on a pole, balcony, wall, rooftop, fence, pillar, floor, ceiling or staircase

D probably gets a bunch of votes in a Malaysian Internet poll.

In our independence month, nothing is straightforward and our flag turns into Kryptonite very quickly.

A Nepalese guard and an office lady bear testament to this in Johor’s Kulai this week as they continue their four-day remand in a police station over their complicity in the astonishing act of erroneous display of a set of flags — Jalur Gemilang and Johor state flag — at their factory grounds. Astonishing binds itself to this situation since a common act turns into jail time.

Not a first — flag faux pas and in Johor followed by police detention — in January a Chinese national was apprehended.

For this latest Kulai folly, the local municipality took it upon themselves to shut down the plant. What other monstrosities may be in motion inside the factory, the council must have felt, if they were impudent with the national and state symbols?

The police and Kulai Municipal Council were probably reluctant players drawn into a national political drama. When the pressure spiked, they were forced to act.

Flags of our fathers

National symbols in a newish country are always rife for controversy. Not that older countries are not subject to these controversies, but they are less inclined to go nuclear about the matter.

Let’s examine some album covers from the United States.

The 1971 Sly & the Family Stone’s There’s A Riot Goin’ On album switched the canton into a black background with white stars, and Outkast’s Stankonia in 2000 paraded a black and white flag with the artists posing in front in colour.

These were not isolated nor unintended. They were on covers sold in stores and then exhibited in homes.

They were controversial and invited scrutiny and debate, upsetting a whole bunch of people.

The counter argument is that a confident, well-informed, diverse and self-assured country doesn’t overreact. Strife and discord won’t follow every instance the flag is altered.

Also, getting mortified and trying to put out a small kitchen fire by blowing up the restaurant with a Tomahawk missile is an overkill.

Where Malaysia falls in the secure with our own symbols index must be answered by us.

Saya Anak Malaysia

Sudirman Haji Arshad, the late music legend, used to don the flag as a costume for his performances.

Also, over the years, this time of the year, Malaysians from all walks of life have experimented with the flag on their attire, accessories and vehicles.

These parades of our flags bring people together.

While disgust over flag misuse has grounds, it might be necessary to remind the offended that all Malaysians get to determine if they took umbrage. Not just them because they stand menacingly.

The amazing thing about a national symbol, like a flag, is it belongs equally to all citizens. Young and old, male and female, north, south, east, west of the territories and certainly rich and poor.

To create a separation between people and their flag is unconscionable.

Realise that flags empower the masses.

This is not a generally expressive country. The vast majority struggle to speak about their feelings to close friends.

To speak about their country, and their feelings about it, is even harder.

The easiest way to shut up a group of Malaysians is to ask them to speak publicly in turn. The podium may just as well be the guillotine.

But with a flag, in moments of unadulterated ecstasy, they just have to hold on to it — or drape it, lift it, pass it from person to person.

People do not need words in these moments.

Very few objects are as cathartic as national flags.

The flag game

It occurred without warning. Over the years it’s become cyclical. Certainly persistent.

Initially, it was just political posturing. A political tactic to prove “some of us have dishonest feelings about Malaysia”.

Wrong flags — whether upside down, the AI generated digital version or poorly copied — are lightning rods.

Those who want to appear more dedicated to the country jump on it. They virtue signal to the moon and back. And therefore, the defenders of the federation have the moral authority to act.

The thing about choosing to appear to protect the country from the “vicious” is that others cannot condemn these “patriots” for their “commitment”.

Political opponents, in and out of government, get caught up in it.

To make distinctions or explain the mistakes render them inconsistent and with less patriotism. Or worse, weak.

It balloons, and now all on the political stage are upset.

Which then means all the government agencies must follow the will of the political establishment.

They start to lock people up.

Twenty-nine stories both ways

Ten days to Merdeka eve and I cannot see a flag on the balcony of any unit opposite my building, and on my own block.

So, it appears in many parts of Cheras.

They can be infrequently spotted along a long row of shophouses. I can understand the hesitance.

When there have been that many episodes of everyday citizens punished severely for flag “errors”, as far as human nature goes, it is better just to forego the process. Why risk being in a jail cell over the holidays?

While government ministries, agencies and bodies can budget private contractors to deck their facilities, they are perfunctory exercises in the eyes of the public.

The private citizens’ public displays of Jalur Gemilang hold more weight, always.

For it’s from the heart.

Somehow, to score cheap political points and sow mistrust among voters, these political actors have robbed the masses of their joy, their relationship with their own symbol. Doubt has crept in. Caution dominates.

That’s the real tragedy of the current conundrum.

These agents seek patriotism like rituals of obedience rather than acts of love.

If they succeed, our own grip over our own national flag loosens. And moves us closer to state approval and formal oversight in regard to the use of Jalur Gemilang. Estranging people from their own personal piece of Malaysia.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.