Abstract:

In sports, the people of a country rejoice in unison when their team triumphed in a major competition. Similarly, the people of a country can get united regardless of colour and creed when the country celebrates in organising a major event. However, that 'feel good' factor can slowly diminish over time. It must take the improbability of winning one major event after another and the consecutive staging of major events to ensure continuous sustainability of such united emotions.

At Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) we rely on a symbol that all students and teachers hold dear to ensure the 'feel good' factor continues to be alive and remain significant. That symbol takes the shape of a very huge peace flag completed with the fundings raised by the students, mechanically sewn by representatives of all of the students across the board, and paraded around the town by everyone associated with the school on World Peace Day. The very huge flag is the symbol, and it ties in very well with part of the school's vision towards achieving a harmonious environment where all students, young and old, can accept one another as equal and respecting each other's rights in this fully-residential school environment. The symbolic flag also ties in with the school's mission along the tagline "Damai Itu Indah" ("Peace Is Beautiful").

While World Peace Day is celebrated on just one designated day, the excitement and impetus in preparing the flag ensured that the desired emotions can be heightened months prior to the celebration day. Subsequently, regular references to the symbolic flag and the pledges made maintained the desired effects in the following months post-celebration. New activities are created, even with schools from neighbouring countries, with the flag as a symbol towards achieving peace and harmony in schools. Ever since all citizens of MCKK have embraced the tagline "Damai Itu Indah" and have displayed a sense of belonging towards the symbolic peace flag, incidences of discord and bullying have been reduced drastically. This is also reflected in the reduction of applications to move to other schools among the newcomers in Form 1 (Grade 7) and Form 4 (Grade 10).

The vision for harmonious living has been enshrined for a long time but may have been taken for granted. Hence the tagline is coined to stir the emotions and the flag that all students hold dear is created as a symbol towards achieving peace and harmony schoolwide.

Experiences of value in school can have positive impacts in societal life after school.