Hun Sen, the prime minister of Cambodia, has expressed regret for the recent incident with the upside-down Indonesian flag at the pre-show of the 2023 Southeast Asian Games, which are now taking place in Phnom Penh. On Wednesday, the 10th of May 2023, at their meeting in Labuan Bajo outside of the 42nd ASEAN Summit, Hun Sen apologised to President Joko Widodo.
Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said that Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed regret for the incident with the upside-down Indonesian flag at the start of the SEA Games opening ceremony.
The flag mishap occurred last Friday, the 5th of May, during a musical performance by local musicians before the opening ceremony. The Indonesian flags were held upside-down by the dancers.
A national flag flown upside down is almost unanimously regarded as a sign of peril and distress or an attempt to insult the country it symbolises, which in this case is Indonesian flag. Another unlikely argument is that the upside-down Indonesian flag was Poland’s flag, a mirror image of Indonesia’s red and white flag. However, since Poland is not part of Southeast Asia, this mishap could be considered as an insult to Indonesia’s national flag.
A day after the incident, Cambodian Minister of Education, Youth, and Sports Hang Chuon Naron met the Minister of Youth and Sports, Dito Ariotedjo, to discuss and apologise for the Indonesian flag incident.
“He [Minister Hang] expresses his apology to all Indonesians for the mistake,” Dito was reported as saying in a recent media release.
The SEA Games 2023 will continue until the 17th of May. Vietnam is currently in the lead with 135 medals including 42 gold medals as of the 10th of May at 2.20 p.m., Western Indonesian Time. Indonesia placed fourth in the medal standings, with 109 medals, and 29 of those are gold medals.
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