The gaffe made the red-and-white Indonesian flag resemble Poland’s at the Southeast Asian Games.

Indonesia has accused the Malaysian organisers of the Southeast Asian Games of negligence after the Indonesian flag was printed upside down in a souvenir guidebook.

The mistake, which makes the red-and-white Indonesian flag resemble Poland’s, has caused anger in Indonesia where “shameonyoumalaysia” has become the most popular hashtag on Twitter.

Indonesia’s Olympic Committee chairman Erick Thohir said the mistake “shows negligence” and demanded the guidebook be withdrawn and a new version printed.

‘Not justified’

“Friendship is the greatest legacy in sports, but a mistake in presenting a national identity is not justified,” he said.

Indonesia appears to have taken particular offence because the guidebook was distributed to VIPs at Saturday’s opening ceremony in Kuala Lumpur for the 29th Southeast Asian Games and only its flag was shown incorrectly.

Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi said the error was “very painful.”

The Malaysian Organising Committee said its chairman and Malaysia’s Sports Minister would meet with Mr./ Nahrawi to apologise.

“We very much regret the mistake,” it said in a statement.

Intimately hostile

Malaysia and Indonesia are both Muslim majority nations and share a similar language but often trade accusations of stealing the other’s food and culture.

On Twitter, Indonesians said their flag represents the sacrifices of independence heroes and accused Malaysia of either being stupid or deliberately misprinting it.

“You know, this is may be the reason why our founding father Soekarno wanted to Kick Your *** [3-letter invective],” said one user.