SUCH is the question posed by Prof Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi who called for calm given “to err is human, to forgive is divine” amid soaring temperature of racial tension been whipped up from the Sin Chew Daily’s moon crescent blunder episode.
In sharing his personal love-hate relationship with the Jalur Gemilang, the academician and political commentator sees the Malaysian flag as transcending its stripes, Federal star and the moon crescent but “symbolising the need to care for each other and honesty”.
“If we allow corruption to rear its ugly head in the country, then we’re dishonouring the flag,” he opined in his latest YouTube video on the Malaysian flag controversy.
“(As such), the 1MDB scandal is like putting filth on the flag … Likewise, we’re also dishonouring the flag if we fail to help old people from sleeping on five-foot walkways.”
Earlier, Tajuddin blamed both Malays and non-Malays hot heads for their over-reaction that eventually turned the moon crescent gaffe into a highly-charged racial and religious sentiment.
“This is made worst particularly by young social media influencers who knows next to nothing about wisdom, the nation’s historic context or how to respect each other but only know how to generate 70K views a day,” lamented the professor of Islamic Architecture at the UCSI University.
‘Highly explosive issue’
“This is going to burn our country down … forget the Putra Heights gas pipeline inferno for our fire of hatred for each other is much, much worse and won’t go away unless we can change to accept that we need each other.”
Tajuddin went on to admit that he is baffled as to why “it is so difficult for us to empathise by accepting the apology and move on instead of demanding payment by flesh and blood?”
“How difficult can it be to accept that the Malays need the non-Malays and vice-versa? Obviously, we’ve narrative from certain political parties which want to win the election by pandering to one particular sentiment but we should be more matured in handling matters related to people from a different race and religion.”
“Some politicians are making hay from this blunder by calling for resignations and closing down the publication which is not healthy … Yes, the flag is important and so is the name of Allah (in the KK Super Mart’s sock-gate saga) but should it be to the extent of people losing their oncome by calling for boycott?
Personal experience
Elaborating on his personal love-the experience with Jalur Gemilang, Tajuddin admitted:
That was the time when the Reformasi wave hit the whole country (1997-1998) … Anwar (now Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) was incarcerated … something which I deemed as gross injustice via kangaroo judgment.
This was when I hated the Malaysian flag because I couldn’t stand what the country has become.
“This was so much so that once when BN (Barisan Nasional) people were giving away free Malaysian flags when I was driving home for Raya, I held out my hand to say “tak mahu”.
I just couldn’t stand the sight of the flag as it reminded me of the travesty of justice … but fast forward to 2018 when PH (Pakatan Harapan) won the election – something I never thought would happen – I bought the first flag that I had ever owned in my life which I later hoisted in front of my house.
I was proud of Malaysians uniting to oust BN and had wanted to be part of that … If the people as well as the administrators and politicians are good and fine, then the national flag becomes meaningful.
This goes to show that the flag cannot represent the dignity of all people … Now people are only stirring up hatred when the flag is placed upside down or even when one point of the Federal start is missing. – April 19, 2025
