JULY 31 ― Amid the fiasco that was July 28, here’s something you may have missed. A Sarawak state minister raised the issue of using a colonial era-flag in celebrating July 22, the anniversary of Sarawak’s conditional independence from British rule in 1963 prior to forming Malaysia.
“I was a bit puzzled why certain groups distributed flags, placards, and T-shirts with symbols of Sarawak’s colonial flags,” said Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais, an assistant minister in the Chief Minister’s office. “Are we not celebrating independence from British colonialism?”
He was, of course, referring to the Kingdom of Sarawak flag, which features a red-and-black cross with a crown at the centre of a field of yellow.
On July 22, 1963, as Sarawak became an independent nation, this was the flag raised as the British crown colony flag was lowered.
So was the assistant minister right in calling it a colonial flag? Here’s the rub: He may technically be right but also wrong.
This particular flag was not a new flag adopted upon independence. Rather, it was originally used between 1870 and 1946 to represent the state. The flag was replaced with a British crown colony flag in July 1946 after Charles Vyner Brooke, third of the Brooke dynasty, ceded the state to the British crown.
So if you take the position that Sarawak was being colonised by Brooke (which is up for debate), yes, that can be called a colonial flag on the basis of historical use.
However, after Sarawak was granted independence, this flag was adopted to represent the state as a sovereign nation, conditional and brief as that independence may have been.
The flag remained in use for 10 years after Sarawak formed Malaysia alongside our brother states. In 1973, Sarawak adopted the Trisakti flag before we arrived at our current flag, first raised at a Merdeka Day parade on July 31, 1988.
So it is not a colonial flag ― not anymore.
Why do people fly the flag? To me, it is simple: Because it was our flag at the time, July 22 1963.
Illegal rally?
In any event, this particular point detracts from the real point of the July 22 gathering earlier this month.
And it is regrettable that the “722 Sarawak Freedom and Independence Walk” is now being investigated for sedition as well as whether it was illegal, going by what Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said last week.
Is it because thousands of people showed up against the Inspector General of Police (IGP)’s “advice” not to? But that is advice, not an explicit order, was it not?
Is it because of the slogan “Sarawak for Sarawakians”? But that was not a call to secede or anything, was it?
Is it because people flew the flag Datuk Mohd Naroden questioned? But that is one of our past flags as a state within Malaysia, is it not?
In particular no seditious calls were reported from the gathering, nor any violence or untoward behaviour. Essentially, by news reports, it was a gathering of proud Sarawakians celebrating an important piece of Sarawak’s history.
It is not even clear if there is any particular incident that caused the police to start investigating for possible sedition, other than the crowd that turned up and the ocassion.
Would that we encourage more pride and appreciation in our history someday, regardless of state, instead of looking for reasons to clamp down on them.
*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
Sarawak’s flags over the decades
