Malaysia Has Repeatedly Insulted The Identity Of The Indonesian Nation

Photo illustration (Source: Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) and the Malaysian authorities have coordinated to follow up on an insult to the song Indonesia Raya which was allegedly committed by a Malaysian citizen. There is no bright spot yet. However, history has recorded that Malaysia has repeatedly insulted the identity of the Indonesian nation.

In 2017, Malaysia provoked the anger of the Indonesian people. At that time, the Malaysian State Authority displayed the Indonesian flag upside down in the 2017 SEA Games guidebook. At that time, Malaysia was the host.

The Indonesian flag at that time was emblazoned on page 80 of the guidebook. Minister of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Indonesia, Imam Nahrawi, who was then in office, protested.

Furthermore, ahead of the 2018 U-16 AFF Cup, Malaysia again insulted Indonesia. This time, Malaysia U-16 national team footballer Amirul Ashrafiq Hanifah put the Indonesian flag upside down. This disrespectful attitude he uploaded via his personal Instagram Story account.

In the same year, other Malaysian athletes also launched insults at Indonesia. This time, a martial athlete, Luqman Hakim, who uploaded the Indonesian flag upside down on his personal Instagram account.

Luqman's photo upload shows the Malaysian flag over the heads of the neighboring country contingents. In the photo, he also put the Indonesian flag upside down over the photo of Indonesian athletes.

Luqman apologized after getting a lot of protests from netizens. "I apologize for my mistake. I swear I don't intend to overturn the flag," Luqman said via his Instagram account.

Insults against Indonesia also came from Malaysian tycoons. Last year, the owner of Big Blue taxi company, Datuk Shamsubahrin Ismail, called the Indonesian people poor.

At first Shamsubahrin rejected the presence of online Gojek motorcycle taxis in a neighboring country. He reasoned that the rejection was because Malaysia's young population was a rich country, unlike Indonesia which was poorer.

This statement is considered to denigrate the profession of driver-partners and Indonesian society as a whole. "This is a poor country. We are a rich country. If Indonesians are good young people, they don't leave the country to look for work. Gojeks are only for poor people like Jakarta," said Shamsubahrin in a viral video.

After being criticized, Shamsubahrin apologized for his remarks. "I apologize for my statement, calling Indonesians poor," he said. "Indonesia is in my heart, the Indonesian people are in my heart."