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By Mihar Dias August 2026
There is something almost perfectly Malaysian about the Jalur Gemilang controversy involving Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DRWeNKPd2/
First, the flag on his shirt did not have the required 14-point star.
Then came the apology.
Then came the explanation: a technical tracing error, compounded by inadequate quality control, following an additional last-minute order.
Fair enough.
NE Creative Ventures, the company based in Ayer Keroh, Melaka, has accepted responsibility and offered replacement garments. At least someone has had the decency to say, “We made a mistake.” https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2026/08/29/printing-company-apologises-for-error-on-sanusi039s-jalur-gemilang-themed-attire
But perhaps we should stop looking at the missing star points for a moment and look at the bigger picture.
Why was a Kedah government-related order for clothing for an official programme in Kedah outsourced to a company in Melaka in the first place?
That is a perfectly legitimate question.
It is not an attack on the Melaka company. It is not an argument that businesses should be imprisoned within state borders. And it certainly does not mean a Kedah organisation must buy everything from Kedah.
Business does not work that way.
But if governments constantly tell us that they want to strengthen local entrepreneurs, empower Bumiputera businesses, create local economic opportunities and ensure government spending benefits the communities it serves, then surely we are entitled to ask:
Where does the money actually go?
Kedah is hardly a business desert.
There are Malay entrepreneurs in printing, garment manufacturing, embroidery, graphic design, screen printing, sublimation printing, corporate apparel and promotional merchandise. Some have invested their own money in machinery, hired workers and struggled through years of rising costs.
They survive partly because they hope government agencies, local authorities, government-linked organisations, schools and political programmes will give them opportunities.
And then, apparently, a shirt order in Kedah travels hundreds of kilometres south to Melaka.
Why?
Was there no company in Kedah capable of doing it?
If there was, why wasn't it considered?
If there wasn't, why not?
That last question is actually more important than the first.
Because if Kedah genuinely lacks the capacity to produce something as relatively straightforward as customised programme apparel, perhaps the state has a capacity-building problem that needs attention.
If local companies are capable but were simply overlooked, then perhaps we have a procurement problem.
And if local companies were considered but could not meet the price, quantity, quality or deadline requirements, then perhaps the explanation should be made public.
Otherwise, the public is left to speculate.
And Malaysians are very good at speculating.
Was it capacity — or connections?
There is another uncomfortable question that nobody should be afraid to ask.
Was the Melaka company selected because it offered something Kedah businesses could not?
Perhaps it had better machinery.
Perhaps it had greater production capacity.
Perhaps it had an established relationship with the organiser.
Perhaps it was simply cheaper.
Perhaps the order was placed at the last minute and the Kedah suppliers could not deliver.
All of these are perfectly reasonable explanations.
But without transparency, every explanation begins to sound like an excuse.
And that is where the politics of government procurement becomes interesting.
We have spent decades talking about “memperkasa usahawan tempatan.”
We have schemes, grants, agencies, entrepreneurship programmes, Bumiputera development initiatives, SME programmes and speeches about keeping economic benefits within the local community.
Politicians love cutting ribbons at these programmes.
But the real test of empowerment is not the speech.
It is the purchase order.
When RM10,000, RM50,000 or RM100,000 worth of work becomes available, who gets the order?
That is where economic empowerment becomes real.
Government money is economic policy
A procurement decision is never merely an administrative decision.
Every ringgit spent by a government agency goes somewhere.
It becomes somebody's revenue.
It pays somebody's workers.
It buys somebody's raw materials.
It generates somebody's profit.
It pays somebody's taxes.
It keeps somebody's factory operating.
Therefore, government procurement is also economic policy.
If a Kedah programme spends money with a Kedah company, the economic multiplier largely stays within Kedah.
The printer employs Kedah workers.
The embroiderer buys supplies.
The delivery company gets paid.
The workers spend their salaries in Kedah shops.
The money circulates.
But if the same contract routinely goes outside the state, that economic multiplier leaves with it.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that.
But if it happens repeatedly while politicians simultaneously complain that local entrepreneurs are struggling, somebody should perhaps connect the dots.
Otherwise, “support local business” becomes little more than a slogan printed on a banner.
Hopefully with all 14 points.
And then there is the capacity question
There is also an irony here.
If local companies genuinely cannot handle government orders, perhaps governments should stop merely talking about entrepreneurship and start developing the capacity to compete.
Why not create procurement programmes that allow smaller local firms to grow?
Why not divide large contracts into manageable lots?
Why not encourage consortia of local printers and garment manufacturers?
Why not provide training in digital printing, quality control, graphic standards, production management and bulk-order fulfilment?
Why not make government procurement a tool for developing competitive local businesses rather than simply a mechanism for buying the cheapest item available?
The objective should not be to protect inefficient companies forever.
That would be equally foolish.
Local entrepreneurs must be competitive.
But government can help create the conditions under which they become competitive.
There is a huge difference between patronage and empowerment.
Patronage gives somebody a contract.
Empowerment gives somebody the capability to compete for the next 100 contracts.
The 14-point embarrassment
And then we come back to the missing points on the star.
The Jalur Gemilang is not an ordinary corporate logo.
It is a national symbol.
Getting the design wrong is therefore more than a minor graphic-design embarrassment, particularly when the garment is worn by the head of a state government at an official event.
But perhaps there is a larger symbolism here.
We have managed to outsource the shirt to another state and, in the process, outsource 14 points of the national star.
That is quite an achievement.
Maybe next year we should put the procurement specification on the shirt itself:
“Made in Kedah — if capacity exists.”
Or perhaps:
“Supporting local entrepreneurs — subject to availability.”
And underneath, in very small letters:
“Procurement decision pending.”
The joke writes itself.
What the public deserves to know
Nobody is suggesting that every government order must remain within state boundaries.
That would be absurd.
If the best supplier is in Melaka, then so be it.
If the Kedah suppliers cannot meet the deadline, say so.
If the Melaka company was substantially cheaper, disclose it.
If there were technical requirements that only the selected company could meet, explain them.
If the order was genuinely a last-minute emergency, explain that too.
But if there was no particular reason other than convenience, connections or an established procurement habit, then the Kedah government should have the courage to say so and perhaps reconsider its practices.
Because this is ultimately not about one shirt.
It is about who benefits from public expenditure.
It is about whether “local economic empowerment” means anything after the cameras have gone away.
It is about whether the small Malay entrepreneur in Sungai Petani, Alor Setar, Kulim or Jitra gets a genuine opportunity — or merely another invitation to attend an entrepreneurship seminar where somebody tells him how important he is to the economy.
And then sends the actual order to Melaka.
The company has apologised for getting the Jalur Gemilang wrong.
Perhaps now the authorities should answer a different question:
Did we get the economic flag wrong too?
Because a government can forgive a printer for missing a few points on a star.
But it should be much harder to forgive itself for repeatedly missing the point about empowering its own people.
Mihar Dias (mihardias@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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