Countries That Fly Poland’s Flag Upside Down (Map)

Indonesia and Monaco both fly red over white, which is Poland’s white over red the wrong way up.

World map with Poland’s flag in Poland, and Indonesia and Monaco flying the same flag upside down, red over white

How terrible is this map?

1 = honestly fine10 = truly terrible

When it goes wrong

In August 2017 the souvenir guidebook handed to VIPs at the opening ceremony of the Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur printed Indonesia’s flag upside down, turning it into Poland’s, and it was the only flag in the book that was wrong. #shameonyoumalaysia trended in Indonesia and Indonesia’s sports minister called it “very painful”, so Malaysia’s sports minister apologised to him in person and the guidebooks were reprinted.

Not quite the same flag

Poland’s flag has been white over red since 1919, while Indonesia and Monaco put the red on top. The three aren’t the same shape either, as Indonesia’s is 2:3, Monaco’s is 4:5 and Poland’s is 5:8, and Monaco also uses a slightly different red.

These are the only plain red and white two-stripe flags I could find, since Singapore’s is red over white too but has a crescent and stars on it.

Indonesia and Monaco

Monaco had it first, as its red and white come from the Grimaldi family, who have used them since at least the 1300s, and its flag was made official in 1881. Indonesia first raised its flag in 1945, with colours said to come from a 13th-century Majapahit banner.

After Indonesia’s independence was recognised, Monaco complained that the two flags were the same, but Indonesia kept its flag. Going by when the flags were adopted, Monaco in 1881 and Poland in 1919, it’s Poland that flies Monaco’s flag upside down.

For more of the same, see countries whose flag has a different back or countries that use Fahrenheit.

Sources: Wikipedia on the flags of Poland, Indonesia and Monaco, and Al Jazeera on the 2017 guidebook.