Flag Proud
Not everyone is sure which way the Indonesian flag goes, and one man paid with his life for raising it the wrong way.
A 23-year-old security guard in Banda Aceh died after a policeman beat him because he had raised the national flag the wrong way up, says Antara. Mukhtar Razali was beaten and made to perform push-ups by an unnamed policemen, apparently outraged at seeing the national colours so poorly treated, at the town’s social affairs agency office last week. Mukhtar Razali died shortly after in hospital due to heart failure.
The Indonesian flag, the right way up.
Banda Aceh district police chief Zulkarnain said:
He was hit on the chest but we had no knowledge whether he had other illnesses that could also be the cause to his death.
Provincial police spokesman Jodi Heriyadi said the case was being investigated by internal affairs. Antara says that national feelings run high among soldiers and police in Aceh, after they had battled a separatist rebellion for decades, and they are sensitive to any possible insults to such symbols as the flag.
