Dean Yates, Dili – Caitono Soares erupted in anger when he saw East Timor's national flag being peddled from the back of a car in the capital Dili.
"People died for this flag. We can't sell it for $2, we paid for it in blood," he gestured angrily at the nervous ethnic Chinese man selling the small flags in East Timor's capital Dili ahead of the territory's declaration of independence on May 20.
Within seconds, a crowd of youths and men gathered, outraged that one of East Timor's most potent symbols of freedom was being hawked from a car. Adding insult to injury, the car from which the flags were being sold was made in Indonesia, the country that brutally ruled this territory for 24 years until it voted to break loose in 1999.
The trader quickly packed up and drove off amid a hail of insults, but not before one youth, claiming the salesman was Indonesian, kicked his gleaming stationwagon.
While Timorese generally want to put behind them the memory of Indonesian rule – when 200,000 people died from fighting, famine or disease – a few things are too sacred for some.
One senior Timorese official said few issues had been as sensitive as possible commercialisation of the national flag, which was also the flag of the resistance movement.
"Commercialisation of a national symbol like this is very touchy. In other countries it's normal, not here," he said. "When the flag was decided as part of the constitution there was concern among some senior leaders when they thought about what would happen in the event of commercialisation, especially if the flags were made in Indonesia."
A lot of merchandise coming into East Timor is from its giant neighbour, a major textile producer. It was not clear if the flags being sold by the vendor on Wednesday were made in Indonesia.
Fighting for the flag
"It's terrible to sell this flag. Our guerrillas fought for that flag," said Amaro Guterres, 17, who said he was unemployed.
Soares, 24, added that three of his brothers disappeared around the time of the independence vote. He said he assumed they were kidnapped and killed by opponents of East Timor's freedom.
Appalled at seeing flags attached to a stick going for $2, and bigger ones for $15, Soares shook his head before getting back to selling phone cards on the streets of Dili on Wednesday.
The United Nations has run East Timor since the 1999 referendum, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will hand over power to the world's newest nation at a ceremony at midnight on Sunday in front of 1,000 VIPs and at least 100,000 Timorese.
Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri will be on hand in a gesture of reconciliation, though just as some East Timorese are resentful of Jakarta's rough rule many Indonesians are bitter the tiny territory was allowed to break free.
East Timor's striking flag combines yellow, black, red and white colours that in part symbolise the independence fight.
Indonesia's military was never able to snuff out East Timor's ragtag resistance guerrillas, once led by President-elect Xanana Gusmao, despite pouring men and weapons into the territory.
One youth urged this Reuters correspondent not to buy a flag, although there was no problem purchasing one of the more common T-shirts or baseball caps emblazoned with the flag. "If an East Timorese gives a flag to you, that's fine. But don't buy one," he said.