A Secular National Flag, A National Pledge and The National Anthem

By definition, a Muslim is a believer in Islam. Is it correct then, to say that while the majority of Arabs were Muslims, that all Muslims in the present day, are not Arab? Non-Arabs need not wear traditional Arab dresses. The Arabs were great travellers over land and over sea. Undoubtedly, they gathered astronomical, mathematical and technological knowledge from other parts of the known world including the near east, improved and recorded them. In return, they gave those nations their religion. At present, in our Fair Isle, we have people of diverse origins, such as Moor (Arab), Malay (Java), from Pakistan, India, Indonesia and Maldives. If they are citizens of Sri Lanka, could be classified as Sri Lankan Muslims. Whether we are Sri Lankan Buddhists, Sri Lankan Hindus, Sri Lankan Christians (Roman Catholics, Protestant Catholics and all other Christian groups), we are all citizens of one country. That is, we are
Sri Lankans first.   

When the father of the nation unfurled the National flag on February 4 1948, it had only the lion on a red background. The four corners represented Meththa, Karuna Muditha and Upeka propounded by Lord Buddha (a great Indian Philosopher). 

The origins of the design were supposedly from the pennant of that prince from the Malabar Coast, King Rajasinghe, the last king of Ceylon. Many of the Kings Ministers came from India, with him and their descendants are now considered devout Sinhala Buddhists.   

When the father of the nation unfurled the National flag on February 4th 1948, it had only the lion on a red background

The National Flag design certainly would have gone through a process of approval by all people that mattered. Subsequently, the Ceylon Tamils led by G. G. Ponnambalam of ‘Fifty, fifty’ fame protested that they were not represented and a ‘Flag Committee’ under the chairmanship of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was appointed. That committee decided to have an additional strip of Green colour to represent the Tamils (the second largest community) and a strip of Amber colour to represent the other minority races.(Malays, Arabs, Burghers etc.) Senator Nadason of the Flag Committee declared that the new National Flag was already divided and didn’t agree with the new design.   

As time went on, someone spread a lie that the Green colour was for the Muslims and the Amber Strip was for the Tamils! This is an absolute misrepresentation of the National Flag. (This is how it is presented even on the Internet). The other minority races were ‘kicked out’. Muslims are not one single race. 

Let us rally around one secular flag as one nation devoid of race and religion which should belong to our ‘private space’. While we are on the subject, why not introduce a National Pledge, to be recited by schoolchildren before the start of the school day and by all present, before a public event

They are believers in Islam and may include a few Sinhalese and Tamils, who wanted to marry a second time and were unable to obtain a divorce from the legal wife. (This was a common practice some years ago and this practice may have stopped now, but they are out there!). Of course, some Sinhalese and Tamils may have converted to Islam by conviction.   

Then there is another anomaly in the National Flag. Someone went through the back door (without parliamentary approval) and inserted the four ‘Bo’ leaves. This effectively left out the Sinhala Christian. How can it then be a National Flag? How did religion creep into a National Flag? One’s religion is a private, personal belief. It was Lee Kwan Yew who said that there is private space and public space. Please don’t make your private beliefs, public! He also banned the ‘call to prayer’ for the Muslims.   

A New National Flag Committee
Is it time for another Flag Committee? I believe that, if we want true unity, we should change the National Flag. Take those green and amber stripes off and have only the lion symbol remain which anyway was inspired from an Indian king’s pennant, do not involve race and religion in the flag. On this principle, the four ‘Bo’ leaves cannot be there. Go back to the four ‘Noble Truths’. The Red back ground could represent the unnecessary blood we Sri Lankans have shed on behalf of race and religion!   

By the way Singapore still asks any official ‘form filler’ to mention his/ her race! It is obviously a hand down from the colonial ‘divide and rule’ days. Interestingly, when we were senior boys in that ‘school by the sea’, there was a similar form at the beginning of every year and that asked for our name, date of birth, religion and race. It was the usual practice for the boys in my class, to write ‘human’ against race! We were born after independence and lived through 1958.

Let us rally around one secular flag as one nation devoid of race and religion which should belong to our ‘private space’. While we are on the subject, why not introduce a National Pledge, to be recited by schoolchildren before the start of the school day and by all present, before a public event? Mr S. Rajaratnam of Ceylonese origins was the driving force to establish such a pledge in Singapore. (Given below) and recited in English, Malay and Tamil. However the National Anthem and Military Commands are in Malay. The Singapore anthem was written by an Indonesian.   

The English version of National Pledge, Singapore “We, the citizens
of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion,  to build a democratic society based on justice
and equality   so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.”   

Our Government could have a similar pledge in all three languages. Then will it matter in what language we sing our
National Anthem?