The Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs needs to be commended for at long last issuing a Code of regulations regarding the proper use of the National Flag. However it is not stated as to what extent these regulations can be legally enforced. Admittedly, respect for the National Flag must come naturally in the same manner that the National Anthem is respected. These should be habits drilled into the people from their early school days. The biggest insult to the national flag, is to dump it into a public waste bin or to be left roadside garbage heaps to be swept & removed by Municipal trucks.This is what we see after days of National importance; eg. on Independence Day, when many households. and motor vehicles display the National Flag. The foremost reason for this is because on such occasions either at the governments request, or because it is fashionable, rich or poor all want to fall in line.
When people want to display the National Flag because it has to be done, it is understandable that they look for a cheap product. Business establishments ever ready to cash in have provided the solution. Once or twice a year they provide millions of cheap, disposable National Flags printed on polythene film. Even school children are compelled to bring these to wave and greet politicos attending the thousands of National Day celebrations spread islandwide.
The National Flag is not an ordinary piece of cloth. It is something special. It is an object of veneration and respect. In most countries it is not even made of any inferior fabric. The material! universally used is the special cotton, loosely woven fabric known as bunting.
In the context of the above the highest respect the government can give the National Flag is to with immediate effect ban the printing of the National Flag on Polythene film. The use and display of National Flags made of poloythene should be made a punishable offence.
The Island
