President Advises Indonesians Against Going Overboard In Flag Issue

JAKARTA, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- President Joko Widodo has again called on the Indonesian people against going aggressively overboard in the matter of the upside-down Indonesian flag in the souvenir booklet of the ongoing SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur. Online media on Tuesday quoted presidential spokesman Johan Budi as saying that Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, had explained that the Malaysian government had formally apologised and the Indonesian government had accepted the apology over what it regarded as an unintentional error. “The President has asked the people not to overreact in the matter. The President had wanted the Malaysian government to extend an official apology and yesterday the Malaysian government apologised to the Indonesian government,” he said. He said the Malaysian government cited negligence as the cause of the mistake and said it was not intentional. In the latest development, hundreds of people on Tuesday staged a demonstration in front of the Malaysian consular offices in Pekan Baru, Riau and Medan, carrying placards criticising Malaysia and torching tyres and the Malaysian flag. Johan said Malaysia had acted immediately to withdraw all the souvenir booklets with the error and replaced them with a freshly printed correct version. He said that once the Indonesian government’s request was fulfilled, it meant that the matter was no longer an issue and that it had been resolved. “Indonesian Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi had conveyed the Indonesian government’s request to have the souvenir booklet replaced. If that has been done (by Malaysia), it is no longer necessary to raise the matter again, to prolong it,” he said. Jokowi and Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said Monday that Indonesia had forgiven Malaysia for the mistake after the official apology extended by the Malaysian government. -- BERNAMA