Art and Politics! by @Jeseemei & @thereformiststud
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The flag of Malaysia, also known as the Malay: Jalur Gemilang ("Stripes of Glory"), is composed of a field of 14 alternating red and white stripes along the fly and a blue canton bearing a crescent and a 14-point star known as the Bintang Persekutuan (Federal Star).
The 14 stripes, of equal width, represent the equal status in the federation of the 13 member states and the federal territories, while the 14 points of the star represent the unity between these entities.
The crescent represents Islam, the country's state religion; the blue canton symbolises the unity of the Malaysian people; the yellow of the star and crescent is the royal colour of the Malay rulers.
In blazon, the Malaysian flag is described as: "A banner Gules, seven bars Argent; the canton Azure charged with decrescent and mullet of fourteen points Or". This means "a red flag with seven horizontal white stripes; the upper-left (hoist) quarter is blue with a yellow waning crescent (i.e. horns pointing to sinister) and a yellow 14-pointed star".
Source: Wikipedia
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is the current Prime Minister and also became the 4th Prime Minister for consecutive 22 years, the first Malaysian who served as Prime Minister of non-consecutive terms (1981-2003, 2018-) and leading different parties (UMNO-Barisan Nasional and PPBM-Pakatan Harapan).
Mahathir was a graduate of medicine and became politically active when he was a doctor. He became a member of the United Malays National Organization and became chairman of the Party in Kedah. Despite his chairmanship, he didn't became a candidate until 1964 wherein he won as the Member of the Parliament for Kota Setar Selatan.
He served as Prime Minister on July 16, 1981 at the age of 56 until October 31 2003. Within 22 years of leadership, Malaysia became an economic tiger now Malaysians regard him as the 'Father of Malaysian Modernization'.
In 2016, he resigned from the party for the second time (first was in 2008) for being against to the former PM Najib Razak and in 2017, he registered his new party, the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia or the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (PPBM/Bersatu) and became part of the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope).
May 9, 2018, General Elections concluded the victory of the Pakatan Harapan and quick succession of Mahathir Mohamad, again, as the Prime Minister on May 10, 2018. On his first days, he quickly made reforms like purging corrupt politician and the release and pardon of his ally-turned-enemy-turned-ally-again Anwar Ibrahim.
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[Datuk Seri] Anwar Ibrahim is a Malaysian politician leading the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) and also the founder and leader of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat or simply KeADIlan (People's Justice Party).
He became involved in politics at an early age, after becoming a leader of an Islamist group Persatuan Kebangsaam Pelajar Islam Malaysia (National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students) and also leading some groups and councils.
He also became a member of UMNO or United Malays National Organization and became Member of the Parliament and Deputy Prime Minister representing this party before being sacked as DPM and lead the Reformasi movement.
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Their relationship was like a turning tire. At first, they were friends later became enemies and now friends again.
Mahathir was an UMNO member since his political activity while Anwar was an Islamist leader before being admitted to UMNO. During Anwar's first years in UMNO, he supported the then-Prime Minister Mahathir and quickly rose from the ranks until Anwar became the Finance Minister in 1991 and Deputy Prime Minister in 1993.
His economic achievements were great and was quickly seen by his PM, Party, Malaysia and even the whole world when he handled the Asian Financial Crisis in Malaysia. But their relationship turned sour before the end of 90's for attacking cronyism and nepotism within the majority party and eventually he was sacked on September 2, 2008 and arrested due to allegations of Sodomy which he denounced as 'politically instigated'.
But the tide turned quickly, when both met at a court trial about stopping the operation of National Security Council Act and they were in common about the act. In that case, you would predict that they were now friends but no, when Mahathir said, "I talked to him, that's it,"
In 2017, his new party joined Pakatan Harapan and the Pakatan agreed that Mahathir would be their candidate as PM, even Anwar agreed and as expected, Mahathir won the General Elections of 2018.
In the same year, when Anwar has been released, he had forgiven Mahathir making them friends again officially.
