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Jokowi calls for calm over flag error

As anger toward Malaysia over a misprinted Indonesian flag continued to escalate, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called for cool heads to prevail, urging all parties to refrain from any actions that may cause the situation to deteriorate

Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, August 22, 2017

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Jokowi calls for calm over flag error

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s anger toward Malaysia over a misprinted Indonesian flag continued to escalate, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called for cool heads to prevail, urging all parties to refrain from any actions that may cause the situation to deteriorate.

In an apparent move to encourage Indonesian athletes to stay focused on achieving their targets during the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur, Jokowi said via his spokesperson Johan Budi that the Malaysian government had apologized to the Indonesian government over the incident and he had accepted the apology.

“As we know, the President had asked Malaysia to apologize and it did so. So, it [the matter] is now over. The President has instructed that the public should not overreact,” Johan told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The spokesperson said Jokowi forgave Malaysia, because it had not only fulfilled the President’s request to deliver an official apology to the Indonesian government but also had promised to immediately withdraw all SEA Games materials with the misprinted Indonesian flag.

Jokowi’s call came after pictures of the opening ceremony guidebook for the SEA Games showing the red-and-white upside downwent viral online on Saturday, triggering public anger on social media.

The anger was expressed in various ways, from hacking Malaysian websites to running a campaign to mock the Malaysian flag in Indonesia.

A group of Indonesian hackers took serious offense and took to the internet to get revenge over the incident. At least 27 websites related to private businesses have reportedly been hacked by Indonesian hackers.

In one attack, Indonesian hackers changed the name of website kualalumpurmalaysia.com, to beahappymillionaire.com. The website turned black when it was clicked and displayed a warning message written in red and white, which read “My national flag is not a toy!”

The website also automatically played an Indonesian nationalist anthem titled “Indonesia Tanah Air Beta” (Indonesia, my Motherland).

In Surakarta, Central Java, the hometown of President Jokowi, a car drove around with a Malaysian flag hanging upside down on Monday to express anger against Malaysia over the incident.

The protest was publicized on an Instagram account with the address @essa_hebat. The account posted two videos, both emblazoned with a caption reading “How are you Malaysia?” and “Part 2 Indonesia vs Malaysia”. The videos have attracted 8,000 viewers.

“This is probably a form of revenge, hehehe. Indonesia is very disappointed with Malaysia’s act of putting Indonesia’s flag upside down. The video shows a person in Solo [Surakarta] hanging the Malaysian flag upside down as well,” a narrator on the video said.

The videos shows the car carrying the Malaysian flag driving around the city of Surakarta. “So, what now, how do you feel [Malaysia after you see these videos]?” the narrator added.

Separately, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the incident would not affect the good relations between Indonesia and Malaysia.

“This was a technical mistake, which happened unintentionally. It is unlikely that the Malaysian government has done it intentionally. Maybe people assigned to control the printing process did not understand,” Kalla said.

He further said Malaysian authorities had promised to reprint SEA Games materials with the correct version of the Indonesian flag.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said she talked three times with her Malaysian counterpart on Sunday about the incident. The discussion ranged from the protest filed by Indonesia over the incident to Indonesia’s demand to fix the problem.

“Malaysia has issued a press statement. It is issued by Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato’ Sri Anifah, who has once again delivered an apology to the Indonesian government and all of the people of the nation,” said Retno.

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