Ministry of Home Affairs has modified the procedure on how to use the Maldivian flag in public, with a clause stating that the Ministry’s permission is required to raise the flag in certain areas.

The change has been publicized in the government gazette.

The ministry said that the Maldivian flag is a symbol of the country’s "freedom and sovereignty," adding that the reason for announcing the new procedures is to protect the flag’s “honour and dignity.”

“The reason for this is to assert on how and where to use the flag, in a way to protect the Maldivian flag’s honour and dignity,” said the Home Ministry.

The amendment states that the Home Ministry’s permission is required to raise the flag in areas that are not mentioned in its notice, adding that it does not block the use of the flag to mark national occasions.

Home Ministry, in a post published on it website on Wednesday, noted that, according to Article 12 of the Constitution, “the national flag of the Maldives consists of a white crescent in the centre of a green rectangle 3 surrounded by a red border.”