LETTER | Collins English Dictionary defines “white flag” as “a white flag or a piece of white cloth hoisted to signify surrender or request a truce.” 

Merriam-Webster Dictionary similarly defines the term as “a flag of plain white used as a flag of truce or as a token of surrender.”

So, clearly, a white flag is not just a flag of surrender. It can be a flag of truce.

The white flag as a flag of truce is documented by the UK Military Manual (1958) as follow:

“From time immemorial a white flag has been used as a signal by an armed force which wishes to open communications with the enemy. This is the only meaning which the flag possesses in international law. The hoisting of a white flag, therefore, means in itself nothing else than one party is asked whether it will receive a communication from the other.”

The manual continues:

“It may indicate merely that the party which hoists it wishes to make an arrangement for the suspension of arms for some purpose; but it may also mean that the party wishes to negotiate for surrender. Everything depends on the circumstances and conditions of the particular case.”

According to the United Kingdom’s Law of Armed Conflict (1981), the white flag, or flag of truce, indicates no more than an intention to enter into negotiations with the enemy. It does not necessarily mean a wish to surrender.

In a more recent manual (2004), it states that the display of a white flag means only that one party is asked whether it will receive a communication from the other for a purpose.

In the current context, therefore, a person who raises a white flag is simply asking whether he or she will receive assistance in return.

So, what’s the fuss about the white flag? It’s much ado about nothing.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.