As the Jalur Gemilang gaffe now reaches its first full month, its follow-up developments couldn’t have been more obvious!

From the education ministry to PAS, polarized reactions kept streaming in following the incident, sending chills down the spines of many!

The vileness of racism was beyond question, but the way the involved parties handled this thing was widely perceived as lopsided.

We pride ourselves as a multiethnic, multireligious and multicultural society, and we repeatedly stress intercommunity harmony and unity while celebrating our diverse festivities together.

Nevertheless, our society badly lacks the spirit of forgiveness, empathy and tolerance. More often than not, we love to intensify intercommunity confrontation by deliberately playing up sensitive issues in a bid to spawn panic and animosity.

In the name of patriotism, some would infinitely amplify an unintentional oversight, mercilessly lashing out at the dissidents while keeping mum about or condoning the mistakes of their own making!

Today, such extremist remarks dominate major social media platforms. More concerned about the ballots than anything else, many political leaders choose not to stand alongside truth, but kowtow to manipulative internet pressure, even dance to their tune!

Such a submissive posture has turned our society increasingly violent, unforgiving and fearful. Our leaders simply lack the qualities of a respectable statesman!

Complications from the Jalur Gemilang incident have evidently shown up: many have tried to avoid designing visuals or promoting their services involving the national flag for fear of consequences from an unintentional oversight.

How are we going to promote the spirit of patriotism when those who really love this country are afraid to express themselves from the bottom of their hearts for fear of negligence in their designs, and resort to the outward manifestation of ostentatiously wearing national flag badges instead?

Sin Chew Daily has continued to adopt national flag designs on our front covers since April 23. But as the saying goes, once bitten twice shy, our colleagues feel it best to avoid, if possible.

I told them: Stand up where you fall!

Meanwhile, media bosses feel the shackles weighing down on them, having no idea when they will be emancipated from such bondage.

April 17, 2025 was the most saddening and unforgettable day in my four-decade journalistic career. At 4.00 p.m. that afternoon, I was chairing an emergency editorial meeting warning our colleagues not to repeat the same mistake and strictly adhere to the SOPs, as Sin Chew Daily could not afford a second blow.

Towards the end of the meeting, I received a short message from Editor-in-Chief Chan Aun Kuang, who was then at the Bukit Aman police headquarters, informing that he and Deputy Chief Sub-Editor Tsai Shwu San might have to spend the night at the police lock-up. My heart instantly sank to the bottom of the pit.

Soon afterward, the duo were taken back to Sin Chew Daily headquarters in two police cars. I saw with my own eyes how Shwu San was gently escorted from the rear of the vehicle to her office seat, my heart overwhelmed with inexplicable pain seeing this.

With both her hands losing their freedom, Shwu San turned on the desktop computer at the editorial department, and demonstrated how the erroneous Jalur Gemilang graphic was created using AI. Many of us could not hold back our tears!

I subsequently went downstairs and walked towards the other vehicle, and saw Chan—not yet allowed to walk out of the vehicle—sitting alone inside, quietly reading messages on his mobile. I tried very hard to hold back my tears!

Until now memories left behind by these two colleagues still stubbornly preoccupy my whole mind. They are not criminals, but media practitioners who love their jobs. Seeing the expressions on their faces at that very moment, I knew very well this could have left an indelible mark in their lives henceforth.

What have they done to deserve this?

Indeed, they were treated with utter respect and kindness throughout the whole episode. Somehow I maintain that we should see this whole thing with empathy and compassion outside the question of legality.

Thanks to the effort of concerned parties, both Chan and Tsai were released at around 9.20 that night, much to the relief of the colleagues who had waited anxiously outside the police station.

Early the next morning, I received a call from ACCCIM president Ng Yih Pyng. As we talked over the phone, I found myself choked up, as my tears started to roll down my cheeks, unable to go on any further…

My whole mind was instantly transported back to that fateful April 14 evening, when Chan chaired the editorial meeting for the first time as Sin Chew Daily’s Editor-in-Chief.

Having unloaded my duties as Editor-in-Chief from January 1 this year, I was invited to sit in at the meeting in my capacity as Group Editor-in-Chief.

Seated next to him, I could see Chan busily coordinating with various parties on his mobile over job assignments ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Malaysia, as well as the passing of the late prime minister Tun Abdullah Badawi, while briefing the colleagues at the meeting table.

We at Sin Chew Daily deeply regret the serious blunder on the illustration of Jalur Gemilang on our front cover. We know very well it is the single most important symbol of our country’s identity. It represents the country, as well as the dignity of religion and race. We will never treat it with such recklessness, and are prepared to humbly accept His Majesty’s advice.

We will not evade our responsibility in this whole thing. In addition to admitting our negligence in design and content auditing, we promptly issued our sincerest apology to the Malaysian public in three major languages. We knew very well no explanation could ever make amends for such a disheartening misstep.

How are we going to promote the spirit of patriotism when those who really love this country are afraid to express themselves from the bottom of their hearts for fear of negligence in their designs, and resort to the outward manifestation of ostentatiously wearing national flag badges instead?

After the incident, Chan stared at me, saying, “You’ve got to take action against me!”

Deep inside me I knew this was not an option I could freely avert, but rather one that I had to come to terms with. In the end, the management came up with the decision to suspend both Chan and Tsai.

For the past one month, both Chan and I have deeply felt the good and ugly sides of humanity. On the one hand many have shown their support by sending us encouraging short messages which will always be etched inside our hearts; on the other hand some have wildly hit out at Sin Chew Daily on major social media platforms, even calling for the newspaper’s immediate suspension.

Others, meanwhile, have been banking on the situation to spread all kinds of conspiracy theories with the motive of galvanizing the public into intercommunity confrontation, painting Chinese Malaysians as unpatriotic, in a bid to instigate mutual suspicion and frustration.

A very senior politician who was once the country’s prime minister for over 20 years even argued that the flag blunder was intentioned, trying to remove the crescent representing the Islamic religion, leaving only the star which is present in the flags of most communist states.

Others conspired that the flag design was provided by the Chinese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur!

Such noxious speculations have something in common with the exploitation of the “Chinese flag” and “infiltration of communism” issues in recent months. Their objective is none other than triggering fear and distrust among the Malays against China and the local Chinese community.

They not only attempt to instigate intercommunity sentiment, but also aggravate the suspicion and distrust between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the DAP, a constituent of the Unity Government.

Without the slightest doubt, exploitation of sensitive racial issues will keep popping up from now until the next general election.

Notably, this incident saw for the first time anti-China and pro-Taiwan forces within the local Chinese community joining hands in an attempt to undermine the four major pillars of the Malaysian Chinese community, while creating skepticism and fissure between the Malay and Chinese societies.

Ninety-six years into publication, Sin Chew Daily remains emotionally attached to this beloved country of ours as well as the local Chinese community, because this is our country, our home!

Since taking over as Sin Chew Daily’s Editor-in-Chief in 2016, I have insisted to make the spirit of patriotism, racial harmony and national unity as the guiding principle of Sin Chew Daily’s editorial direction, including positioning ourselves as a vehicle that bridges Malaysians from different ethnic backgrounds.

In 2018, Sin Chew Daily started a new column called “Kita” (We), carrying every Sunday for the subsequent seven hears heat-warming stories that underline the close interactions among Malaysians of different races, religions and cultures, in hope of creating a more harmonious, mutually-accommodating Malaysian society irrespective of race.

As such, it has never been our intention to show the slightest disrespect for our national flag.

Sin Chew Daily values the effort by His Majesty and the Malaysian government to host Chinese President Xi Jinping’s official visit to the country, and set aside 24 pages for this momentous incident so that our readers could gain a better understanding of the close diplomatic ties between our two nations spanning the past 50 years.

Additionally, we also published an article personally signed by President Xi and exclusively made available to us, on page three of our April 15 edition of Sin Chew Daily.

Unfortunately, even as we did our utmost to cover the Chinese president’s official visit, we were deeply hurt by this unintended oversight, for which we unreservedly apologize to all Malaysians, humbly accept public criticisms, and conduct sincere internal review.

We will take this as an important lesson we will constantly bear in mind, and I have reminded the whole editorial team to be more prudent when handling news content and be answerable to our readers and society.

In the face of such an unexpected twist of event, we chose to bear our full responsibility. What comes next is beyond what we can control.