Flag of the Netherlands the 15th century, when the majority of the Netherlands provinces were united under the Duke of Burgundy, the Cross of Burgundy Flag of the Duke of Burgundy was used for joint expeditions, which consisted of a red saltire resembling two crossed, roughly-pruned (knotted) branches, on a white field. Under the later House of Habsburg this flag remained in use. In 1572 provinces of the Low Countries rose in revolt against King Philip II of Spain, and William Prince of Orange (1533–1584) placed himself at the head of the rebels. The colour "orange" is a reference to the name of the
Flag of Sarawak (later the Czech flag). In 1988, the flag was replaced again with the current version along with yet another new state anthem and motto, "Ibu Pertiwiku" ("My Motherland") and "Bersatu, Berusaha, Berbakti" ("United, Striving, Serving"). The new design was adopted on the 25th anniversary of independence of Sarawak within the Federation of Malaysia. It retains the same colour scheme as the flag of the former kingdom, with two significant changes: the cross was replaced with two diagonal bars and the crown was substituted with a nine-pointed star symbolising the original nine divisions of Sarawak, in order to eliminate any overt