tricolour A tricolour () or tricolor () is a type of flag or banner design with a triband design which originated in the 16th century as a symbol of republicanism, liberty, or revolution. The flags of France, Italy, Romania, Mexico, and Ireland were ...

featuring

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...

and

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

, is a combination of colours that commonly found in varying designs of symbols adopted by some major organisations to symbolise the

Malay people Malays ( ms, Orang Melayu, Jawi: أورڠ ملايو) are an Austronesian ethnic group native to eastern Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and coastal Borneo, as well as the smaller islands that lie between these locations — areas that are ...

Symbolism

The tricolour is derived from the three important values of

Malayness Malayness ( ms, Kemelayuan, Jawi: ) is the state of being Malay or of embodying Malay characteristics. This may include that which binds and distinguishes the Malay people and forms the basis of their unity and identity. People who call themse ...

;

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

Malay rulers The Conference of Rulers (also Council of Rulers or Durbar, ms, Majlis Raja-Raja; Jawi: ) in Malaysia is a council comprising the nine rulers of the Malay states, and the governors or ''Yang di-Pertua Negeri'' of the other four states. It was ...

and

Malay culture Malays ( ms, Orang Melayu, Jawi: أورڠ ملايو) are an Austronesian ethnic group native to eastern Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and coastal Borneo, as well as the smaller islands that lie between these locations — areas that are col ...

. The green is the traditional colour of Islam, a faith that has been the integral part of Malay culture. The yellow is the royal colour commonly associated with Malay sultans, and used to allude the allegiance of Malay people to their

Rulers A ruler, sometimes called a rule, line gauge, or scale, is a device used in geometry and technical drawing, as well as the engineering and construction industries, to measure distances or draw straight lines. Variants Rulers have long ...

. The third colour, red, is the traditional colour in Malay culture, used to denote the courage, bravery, heroism and loyalty. The shade of red nicknamed ''kesumba'' red that is identical to scarlet and commonly associated with blood, is the existential colour of the Malays and is the most frequently cited colour in the literature. The oldest Malay state,

Kedah Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area ...

, also adopted the red as its traditional colour.

Usage

Despite having deep roots in Malay traditions, the green, yellow and red as a collective symbolism only surfaced in 1933, when the

Royal Malay Regiment The Royal Malay Regiment ( ms, Rejimen Askar Melayu DiRaja; Jawi: ) is the premier unit of the Malaysian Army's two infantry regiments. At its largest, the Malay Regiment comprised 27 battalions. At present, three battalions are parachute train ...

was founded. Both the regimental crest and flag bear the tricolour, as soldiers of the regiment swore their allegiance to the Sultans of

Malay states The monarchies of Malaysia refer to the constitutional monarchy system as practised in Malaysia. The political system of Malaysia is based on the Westminster parliamentary system in combination with features of a federation. Nine of the state ...

, then the

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over m ...

s of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. In 1946, when Malay nationalist movement at its peak, the

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...

United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation (Malay: ; Jawi: ; abbreviated UMNO () or less commonly PEKEMBAR), is a nationalist right-wing political party in Malaysia. As the oldest continuous national political party within Malaysia (since its in ...

(Umno) adopted the tricolour in its flag. The party, which would lead Malaya to its independence and govern the nation until 2018, included the additional white band to its flag to symbolise purity. After Umno, the tricolour also appears in the symbols of other right wing organisations like Pekida and

Perkasa Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa ( Malay for "Mighty Native Organisation" or better known by its acronym: Perkasa), is a Malay dominance non-governmental organisation (NGO) that was formed by Ibrahim Ali in the aftermath of the 2008 general electi ...

, and some major

Silat is the collective term for a class of indigenous martial arts from the Nusantara and surrounding geocultural areas of Southeast Asia. It is traditionally practised in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Southern Thailand, Southern Phil ...

associations in Malaysia, including

Seni Gayong Seni Gayong is a style of silat from Malaysia. It was the first martial arts association to be registered in the country, and is now the biggest and most internationally known Malaysian silat discipline. Gayong is overseen by the ''Pertubuhan Sila ...

and Seni Gayung Fatani. The tricolour also gained popularity among those in the gang population. One of the notorious criminal

gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

s outlawed by the Malaysian government, the ''Tiga Line'' ('the three lines'), established its identity based on the tricolour. Across the Straits of Malacca in

Riau Riau is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of Sumatra along the Strait of Malacca. The province shares land borders with North Sumatra to the northwest, West Sumatra to the west, and Jambi to the south. Accord ...

and

Riau Islands The Riau Islands ( id, Kepulauan Riau) is a province of Indonesia. It comprises a total of 1,796 islands scattered between Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, and Borneo including the Riau Archipelago. Situated on one of the world's busiest shipping lan ...

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

where the

Indonesian Malays Malay Indonesians ( Malay/ Indonesian: Orang Melayu Indonesia; Jawi: اورڠ ملايو ايندونيسيا) are ethnic Malays living throughout Indonesia. They are one of the indigenous peoples of the country. Indonesian, the national langua ...

having a strong historical and cultural ties with the Malay Peninsula, the colours hold a philosophical symbol similar to its their kin in the Mainland Southeast Asia. The tricolours, locally named and shaded as ''Kuning Keemasan'' (

Golden yellow Gold, also called golden, is a color tone resembling the gold chemical element. The web color ''gold'' is sometimes referred to as ''golden'' to distinguish it from the color ''metallic gold''. The use of ''gold'' as a color term in traditi ...

), ''Hijau Lumut'' (

Forest green At right is displayed the color forest green. ''Forest green'' refers to a green color said to resemble the color of the trees and other plants in a forest. This web color, when written as computer code in HTML for website color display, is w ...

) and ''Merah Darah Burung'' (Torch red) is in extensive use for ceremonial and cultural purposes and can be seen donning throughout the cities and towns of the region, its also considered as a favourite colour for the traditional Malay weddings in the two provinces.

Gallery

File:RAMD.svg, Flag of the

. File:UMNO (Malaysia).svg, Flag of the

. File:Flag of Kedah.svg, Modern flag of

. File:3 Warna Melayu.jpg, A Malay tricolour flag as displayed in Pekanbaru,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. File:Pelamin Melayu Riau.jpg, Replica of a traditional wedding

dais A dais or daïs ( or , American English also but sometimes considered nonstandard)dais
in the Random House Dictionary< ...

that incorporated the 3 celebrated colours of the Malay community.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{citation , author = Umno Online , title = Bendera UMNO : 'Sang Saka Bangsa' (Flag of Umno: 'Sang Saka Bangsa') , year = 2014 , url = http://www.umno-online.my/?page_id=37168 Ethnic flags Malay culture

Symbolism

Usage

Gallery

See also

References

Bibliography