Malaysian flag mistaken for Islamic State in American lakeside celebration

A Muslim Malaysian has filed a discrimination lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) after his Merdeka Day celebrations were reported to the FBI as an Islamic State meeting in Kansas City, Missouri.

Munir Zainal is an engineer with Spirit Aerosystems and had rented out a recreational lake that is made available to the Spirit Boeing Employees’ Association to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Malaysia’s independence.

He had invited about 45 guests, some of whom were Muslim, and some who also wore hijabs to the celebration, which occurred in September of last year.

Upon seeing the gathering, a park ranger/groundskeeper believed that the Malaysian flag the celebrants had was in fact an American flag desecrated with Islamic State symbols.

It was not. It was just a Malaysian flag.

Stars and stripes, meet star, crescent moon and stripes.

Reminder of what the Islamic State flag looks like:

Singapore firm stops selling Islamic State-like flags, denies supporting terrorism

And … the Malaysian flag:

flag of Malaysia

Great.

After the park official reported their shoddy knowledge of world flags disguised as thinly veiled xenophobia to Spirit, the company then contacted the FBI, according to the lawsuit.

Facebook then contacted Zainal, telling him that the FBI was seeking information about his social media account.

Shortly thereafter, he received a call from an FBI agent, who was able to quickly assess what a Malaysian flag looked like, and told Zainal that the investigation would be closed.

However, in January of this year, Zainal tried to rent the facility again for another event, only to be told that he was barred due to the Merdeka Day party.

In his lawsuit, he says that the ordeal has left him feeling stressed and anxious. He is concerned that the events could affect his permanent resident status, and he feels singled out based on his ethnicity, race, and religion.

Quick question: Does no one in America have access to an atlas growing up, or does no one really care enough to look at them? Asking for a friend.

 



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