MANILA: Swift action by Malaysian chef-de-mission Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin during the wushu prize presentation ceremony today at the Philippines Sea Games helped prevent another national flag gaffe.
With national wushu exponent Loh Choon How all set to stand at the top of the podium after winning the men’s taijiquan gold, Zulkarnain noticed that the organisers were about to use an inaccurate version of the Malaysian flag.
He saw that the flag’s ninth stripe was white, when it’s supposed to be red and took swift action.
As a result, the ceremony at the World Trade Centre in Manila was delayed for 20 minutes.
“I’m upset because it (displaying the wrong flag) is something very sensitive and cannot be taken lightly,” said Zulkarnain.
“Luckily, we noticed it and we immediately stopped the prize presentation.
“Our national flag is the nation’s pride and we do not want such an incident to happen again.
“Yes, the prize presentation was delayed but it doesn’t matter as our main concern was that the correct national flag be raised.
“We have warned the organisers about this. We want them to guarantee that something like this will not recur.
“With the mix-up here, I reckon the ninth stripe of all our national flags printed here is white, assuming that our national flags came from the same supplier.
“I want them to address this issue immediately and make sure the correct Malaysian flag is used during prize presentations.”
Last month, Malaysia was rocked by two controversial incidents of the “wrong” national flags being used in two local tournaments – basketball and taekwondo.
The Malaysian Basketball Association (Maba) came under fire when a national flag with a five-pointed star was displayed on a giant screen during the opening ceremony of the National Under-15 Championships at the Maba Stadium in KL.
The flag also had 10 red and white stripes instead of 14.
As for taekwondo, a Facebook posting of the CK Classic International Open Championships, which depicted a five-pointed star of the Jalur Gemilang, also drew criticism.
Meanwhile, Zulkarnain was gushing with pride over Choon How’s feat today, saying it was a bonus gold as the Malaysian Wushu Federation did not set any targets for the Sea Games.
“We hope to win more gold medals in the hope of achieving or surpassing our initial target of 70.
“I’m proud of wushu as they have always delivered medals. I hope more will come soon,” said Zulkarnain.