Jalur Gemilang can be confusing for some “Malaysians”

Two more days to Merdeka Day. The national flag ‘Jalur Gemilang’ can be seen everywhere when driving down the road, from office buildings to residential areas. The Jalur Gemilang can also be seen waving gracefully on top of vehicles.

However, earlier this month, Jalur Gemilang became a trending topic on Twitter, but not for a positive reason. Apparently, some “Malaysians” were having problems in figuring out which part of the flag is supposed to be on top.

There are also some who unleashed their childhood creativity by recolouring the flag.

The network of ‘Jalur Gemilang’ on Twitter can be divided into several clusters, yet they all shared the same sentiment on the Jalur Gemilang issue – respect the flag.

Meanwhile, the white cluster on the right had the Malaysia Information Department as its influencer. The department account was using #KibarJalurGemilang in conjunction with the Merdeka month.

The biggest cluster in the network is the blue group, with @_hairulfaizi as its influencer.

He posted some images of upside-down national flags. One of the photos is of a group of Malaysian students in Taiwan who posted for a photo with several upside-down Jalur Gemilang. It was reported that the incident happened after GE-13, and the photograph was made as a sign of protest against the election results.

@_hairulfaizi called them traitors to the country. Numerous Twitter users related strongly to the statement made by the account. Maybe, it is not only limited to Twitter users, but to Malaysians in general.

On the other hand, the green cluster had @khairi_ksn as its influencer. The account tweeted images of upside-down national flags along with some colourful ones.

He said those acts on the Jalur Gemilang is a desecration to our nation’s pride. “If you’re ashamed to stand by your colours, you better seek for another flag,” he tweeted.

Lastly, the orange cluster had @XavierNaxa as its influencer. The account shared an infographic displaying the facts of Jalur Gemilang along with its proper position, which could be useful for “Malaysians” who have trouble figuring out which is the correct way to raise the flag. Plus, it also has the correct colours.

Below is a bigger and clearer version of the infographic. Let’s hope that such mishaps with regards to Jalur Gemilang will not happen again in the future.