'Bendera Rakyat' flies at Dataran Merdeka

The ‘Sang Saka Merah Putih’ or also known as ‘Bendera Rakyat’ which had been flown for the first time by leftists on Dec 10, 1947, was flown again during the New Year’s celebrations at Dataran Merdeka last night by a group calling themselves ‘aktivis Sang Saka’.

It was once proposed to be the national flag by 1940s and 50s leftist group Putera-AMCJA (All-Malaya Council of Joint Action).

The flag was released at the stroke of midnight using white-and-red-coloured gas balloons which were released between Jalan Raja and Jalan Tun Perak in the capital. The flag was later ‘attached’ to the lower portion of the STAR Light Rail Transit (LRT) tracks at the Masjid Jamek station.

When it was released, the people in the vicinity were watching a fireworks display and only noticed the flag after the end of the New Year celebrations.

At about 12.30am, two police officers were seen using sticks to bring down the flag.

Before that, an activist, Muhammad Nasir Abu Bakar (centre in photo), when met byMalaysiakini, said that they flew the flag to demand that history involving the independence struggle of the leftists be written “with truth and facts”.

Nasir said that other than Dataran Merdeka, the flag was also flown in Kelantan, Pahang and Penang.

“What we want is for the struggle ande sacrifice of the leftist groups for independence to be recognised.

“What is now written in history mostly only mentions Umno, even though they (leftists) were also movers of the fight for independence. So we flew this flag as a reminder of the history of the leftists,” he said, while claiming that he and his comrades were not from any political party. 

Previously, another flag known as Sang Saka Malaya had been flown during the Janji Demokrasi gathering in August last year.