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 wer ...

featuring green, yellow 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 secondary ...

, 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 col ...

Symbolism

The tricolour is derived from the three important values of Malayness; Islam,

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. 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 Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

, 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, 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 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 states ...

, then the protectorates 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 political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authori ...

United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation ( Malay: ; Jawi: ; abbreviated UMNO () or less commonly PEKEMBAR), is a nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), st ...

(Umno) adopted the tricolour in its flag. The party, which would lead

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

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, and some major Silat 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 Si ...

and

Seni Gayung Fatani Seni Gayung Fatani is a martial art, specifically a style of ''silat'' from Malaysia based on the art of war, the combination punch and kick striking, joint-locking and grappling techniques, and various type of melee weapon. In Malay, the word ' ...

. The tricolour also gained popularity among those in the

gang population Reports on the number of people involved in criminal gangs, by locale. United States There were at least 30,000 gangs and 800,000 gang members active across the US in 2007, and an estimated 1.4 million in 33,000 gangs in 2011. About 900,000 ...

. One of the notorious criminal gangs 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. Accordi ...

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 ...

in Sumatra 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 traditio ...

), ''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 ...

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

. File:Flag of Kedah.svg, Modern flag of Kedah. File:3 Warna Melayu.jpg, A Malay tricolour flag as displayed in Pekanbaru,

, Indonesia. 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