Check other bikes for similar controls. Some of the more "race replica" bikes have a lap timer button there instead.
They removed the hazard flasher from the 500 a few years into Gen2. The early control was a direct swap, but was
labelled with words rather than pictograms. I found that some of the bigger bikes used a version with the pics instead.
Admittedly, it pissed me off a little more finding out that Kawasaki didn't just remove the hazard flasher from the 500, they removed it while still using that part on other bikes. Talk about penny pinching...
https://www.ninjette.org/forums/show...301#post989301 is a post from Ghostt with some of my info on it. FYI, the link seems to be going to the wrong page for me - #6398 is the post where you want to start.
http://www.ex-500.com/index.php/topic,69130.0.html is my original thread, but you have to be logged in over there to see it.