Racial slurs and flag gaffes that brought out the best and worst

FMT:
Racial slurs and flag gaffes that brought out the best and worst


At Anfield, a heartwarming response - but back home, Umno Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh's actions in racialising a flag incident to the hilt brought out only the worst in Malaysians

The start of the EPL season on Saturday was an explosive one. Liverpool’s 4-2 victory over Bournemouth aside, what took centre stage was a racist slur against Bournemouth’s two-goal hero, Antoine Semenyo from Ghana.

His complaint to the referee was taken seriously and play was halted for consultations, after which a prompt warning was given and an anti-discrimination message read out to the crowd at Anfield.


There was condemnation of the slur all around, led mainly by the white players, while others pacified Semenyo who appeared deeply troubled by the despicable action of a fan in the front row. Police apprehended the culprit almost immediately.

The outcome of the incident was heartwarming indeed.

Also heartwarming was a viral video on the action of two policemen in China who noticed their national flag being placed wrongly at a business outlet. Instead of losing their head and baying for blood, they calmly took down the pole, corrected the placing and hoisted the flag again.

Such civility coming from the security forces in a country with zero tolerance for wrongdoing was a welcome relief to Malaysians, who have been left hot and bothered recently over the hostility towards a hardware shop owner shown by irresponsible politicians.

Akmal’s racial cauldron

Besides the unnecessarily energetic Umno Youth leader Dr Akmal Saleh, who turns all issues into a raging racial cauldron, came his followers and others to defend his combative language on an issue that did not need a rally to resolve.


A prominent writer known for his balanced and calm tone also shocked me when he said that placing a flag wrongly was an act of defiance of the authorities.



Does he seriously think that the “ah pek”, as Akmal called the shop owner, could have deliberately done that to prove a point? Why on earth would he resort to this action when the shop is located in Kepala Batas in Penang, where the clientele is mainly made up of Malays?

It was obviously a genuine error and the person who filmed it should have gone over and advised the owner to correct it. A visit by some police officers to sternly advise those making the mistake to correct them would have also sufficed.

Is that too much to ask of the people whose task is to protect the citizens?


‘Guardian’ of patriotism

Obviously revelling in the unintentional error of the “ah pek”, Akmal issued an ultimatum as if he was the gatekeeper for patriotism: he was actually acting as if the shop owner had been guilty of treason and had declared war against his government!

DAP retaliated in defence of the owner and the whole episode turned into yet another confrontation between Malays and Chinese.

Is the “ah pek” making such huge profits in his business to even venture to think of flying the Jalur Gemilang upside down at the risk of destroying his livelihood? I assume he would also be paying huge taxes which help pay the salaries of Akmal and his merry men.

Unlike the EPL incident, no senior Malay political leader, including the prime minister, stood up to get Akmal to calm down, or say that the incident was an isolated and unintentional one that should not affect our unity, and that Malaysians should move on.

Flag gaffes of the past

There have been similar incidents in the past, but those involved were left off the hook with a warning after it was found they had not acted intentionally.

According to the records, the Jalur Gemilang was raised upside down at Dataran Merdeka in 2022 by the Navy. Nobody condemned them for what undoubtedly was an honest mistake. An upside-down flag was spotted at a Pahang school in 2019, and another at a school in Klang the following year. Police decided to let them go after finding they were honest mistakes.

What was even worse was the case of the flag flown upside down at the Seremban police headquarters in 2016. The Seremban police chief then said it was a “technical error”.

Recently, Terengganu Umno Youth posted on social media an image depicting the Jalur Gemilang with only 12 stripes instead of the official 14. Its chief Tengku Haphiz Tengku Putera admitted the oversight and accepted full responsibility.

Nothing more has been heard of it since then. There was no brouhaha by Akmal or his huge number of followers.

Akmal should focus on truly treacherous acts, such as those siphoning off government funds to the tune of billions, cases of senior military officers allegedly involved in drug smuggling and money laundering among many others.



Referee Anthony Taylor during a stop in play after Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo, second right, informs the referee of a possible racial comment from the crowd during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Bournemouth at Anfield, Liverpool, England, Friday Aug. 15, 2025. (AP pic)