Flag gaffe: Umno Youth postpones rally after shop owner's arrest

Summary

• Umno Youth secretary Hafiz Ariffin explains that the postponement decision was made to respect the legal process.

• He dismisses Umno Youth secretariat’s earlier message that said it was cancelled and included an apology, adding the wing remains committed to previous statements made on the flag blunder.

Umno Youth has postponed its plan to hold the “Maruah Tanah Airku” (For the nation’s pride) rally against the owner of a hardware store in Penang who had displayed the Jalur Gemilang upside down.

In a statement today, Umno Youth secretary Hafiz Ariffin said the decision was made as a sign of respect for the legal process, after the police arrested the shop owner involved in the case.

“We also deny the earlier message containing an apology, as it was not an official statement.

“Umno Youth remains firm on the statements made previously on the issue without being apologetic,” he clarified.

In an earlier message signed by the Umno Youth secretariat, the wing said it had cancelled the rally initially scheduled for today due to “unforeseen circumstances” and included an apology for the inconvenience.

Yesterday, Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh postponed his plans to “educate” Feng Jin Zhen on how to display the Jalur Gemilang after the businessperson’s arrest.

"As the police have made an arrest, and the man who flew the Malaysian flag upside down will be charged, we will give a wide berth to the prosecution to carry out the legal process, thus, the 'class' to teach the man how to put up a flag will be postponed,” he said on Facebook.

The Merlimau assemblyperson also called for Feng to be severely punished as a lesson to all for such an offence.

While Penang acting police chief Alwi Zainal Abidin confirmed the arrest, it is unclear when Feng would be charged, as the police would be referring the investigation paper to the deputy public prosecutor today, along with proposed charges.

The case was investigated under Section 5 of the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act 1963, Section 14 of the Minor Offences Act 1955 and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1988.

On Aug 9, Kwong Wah reported that Feng had explained that he was measuring the length of an iron pole while hanging the national flag and did not notice the error.

Upon realising it was being flown upside down, Feng said he immediately corrected it.

He also said he was unaware the entire process had been filmed and uploaded to Facebook, and regretted that the video did not capture the part when the flag position was corrected.

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