Rasa Sayange
October 24th, 2007, in News, by PatungMalaysian theft of the “Rasa Sayange” song.
“Rasa Sayange” is a traditional or folk song believed to have come from the eastern Indonesian islands of Maluku, or the Moluccas, whose modern version was first recorded in the 1950’s. Following is a recording of it:
However in the latest instalment of the “Truly Asia” advertising campaign the song has been appropriated by the Malaysian Tourism Office in its efforts to portray the country as a multi-cultural, multi-religious paradise, and thereby woo gullible western tourists who don’t know any better. Here is the ad:
The new minister for Law and Human Rights, Andi Matalata, says his department is currently examining what legal measures it can take against Malaysia for stealing the song.
Meanwhile the Department of Tourism is said to be “traumatised” by the theft. The minister, Jero Wacik, says the song was first recorded by Lokananta in 1958, however he is sceptical that any legal measures will succeed against Malaysia and simply hopes for some sort of “moral” victory. [1]
There is also a Chinese version:
Tags: Folk Song, Foreign Relations, Malaysia, Maluku & Ambon, Moluccas, Music, Songs
56 Comments on “Rasa Sayange”
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WP Says:
October 24th, 2007 at 5:07 pmWe must have built up a quite reputation as an annoying neighbor.
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iamisaid Says:
October 24th, 2007 at 9:02 pmSo what if Jero Wacik is correct?
Aside from the Malaysian tribal aborigines (Jakun, Sakai, Negrito ) the Malaysian Malay ethnicity originate from Indonesia.
The Bugis, the Acehnese, the Javanese, the Minangs, the Bataks, the Riau Malays and so on migrated to what was then known as Malaya. They eventually became Malaysians by nationality. Till this very day there are large communities of these naturalised Malaysians who still practise their culture that is reminiscent of how it is in Indonesia.
The names of Malaysian Malay cuisine is in fact Indonesian. Nasi Lemak, Lontong, Gado-gado, Rendang, Nasi Lemang, Mee Soto and many, many more dishes are Indonesian.
Perhaps the only thing food-wise that may be called Malaysian is Goreng Pisang (Banana fritters) and even that could be argued.It is said that the Prince of Palembang, Parameswara who later became a Muslim convert was the founder of the state of Malacca before the colonialist arrived.
The geo-politics was much simpler in those early times. It was even possible for Sultan Mahmud to flee from the Portuguese invasion of Malacca to find refuge and set up his palace on an island nearby Bintan, Riau.
For crying out loud, at this present times, several of the Malaysian Sultans are of Indonesian origin.
So what does Jero our hero suggest? That these people came rowing across the seas without a song and a dance for merriment?
So what if Rasa Sayange is Indonesian?
Move on Jero Hero !
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Janma Says:
October 24th, 2007 at 9:28 pmI’m sorry, I had to laugh, but doesn’t anyone find it slightly incongruous that these politicians can get so worked up about stealing a song, yet they can steal and island or two and nobody does anything about it?
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October 24th, 2007 at 10:18 pmJanma, you’re again spot on!
That’s the definitive word : incongruous
And there they go, these politicians, also stealing from the rakyat for a song!
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Peter Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 3:32 amNo offence, but Indonesia needs to get out of its ‘victim’ mindset and stop being such a crybaby.
It is not Malaysia’s fault, or Australia’s fault, or China’s fault, or America’s fault, or really even Holland’s fault that Indonesia is not where it would like to be in the world today. It is mostly the fault of its own corrupt and inept leaders, who have siphoned off public funds, squandered foreign investment on their cronies, and wasted their time on trifles such as this while the real problems of Indonesia go unaddressed.
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Parvita Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 8:17 amThis is funny. Yet really annoying. And I suppose all Indonesia are bothered by this. It’s not like, “It’s only a song, there are bigger things to talk about”. As an Indonesian, I disagree. It’s is not only a song. They claimed what is not theirs. As simple as that. It is WRONG!
However in the latest instalment of the “Truly Asia” advertising campaign the song has been appropriated by the Malaysian Tourism Office in its efforts to portray the country as a multi-cultural, multi-religious paradise, and thereby woo gullible western tourists who don’t know any better.
Malay have nothing diverse when it comes to cultur than Indonesia. We have thousands of different cultures and sub cultures from Aceh to Papua. Malaysia, only Indian, Chinese, and Malay. Malaysia has been really obnixious. Songs, only Malay rooted songs. And of course, Chinese and Indian songs.
They claim our island, not mentioning giving a hard time to the borderlines in Borneo and across Ambalat, sent Dr. Azhari over here, now a song. A song, which is far from Malayan root: it’s from Maluku, who has NO HISTORY at all being a part of Malay. Not culturally, not geologically, not geographically. And the Prime Ministers comment on Indonesian female blogger on Nila Tanzil’s criticism on Malaysian Tourism, phuh leeese…Malaysia is purely obnixious. Then during Idul Fitri, the ambassador and PMs saying “Maaf Lahir dan Bathin” on TV?
Jerro Wacik is not doing much for Indonesian Tourism. This is his chance to prove that he is doing something. It is more than just a song. Gosh, Malaysians are obnoxious, and it’s even more stupid if Indonesia cannot do anything about this.
I’d be mad if somebody claims my creation, i.e. my song, my paintings, etc. Ask Indonesians randomly, taxi drivers, people on the street, your colleagues in the office, they don’t like Malaysia. Sukarno didn’t either and he’s got a point.
Malaysia, Truly Obnoxious.
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Achmad Sudarsono Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 12:51 pmFriend,
Parvita, as a Muslim woman and Good Indonesian, I think you should be working towards unity of the Malays. The New Mojopahit will have to be united before it can conquer the rest of Asia. And I don’t think it would be good for your assignment as Minister of Mines and Energy to have this kind of bickering with our Malaysian brothers on your resume…
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Anita McKay Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 3:07 pmThe “Truly Asia” has crossed over the Pacific Ocean and reached Scotland. In my blog
I complaint that even my husband’s workplace came up with brilliant idea of serving Malaysian Rendang and Malaysian Oxtail Soup in its canteen. Ok, rendang is arguably both Malaysian and Indonesian, but Oxtail Soup?? -
Sputjam Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 5:35 pmOxtail soup is “sup bontot” in indonesia or “sup ekor” in malaysia.
There are numerous kampung jawa/kamoung medan/kampung aceh in malaysia. P ramlee is of aceh origin.
The sultan of selangor and maybe the sultan of pahang is of bugis (maluku) origin. sultan of negeri sembilan is of palembang and still maintain their cultural identity. sultan of perak and johore were remnants of melaka sultanate, which originate from Parameswara, from java.
2nd PM of malaysia - Tun razak is of bugis decent. 1st PM of malay/Thai, 3rd turk/malay, fourth indian/malay and present PM’s family originate from Hainan muslim community. All claim and embrace the malay culture.
Malaysia’s tourist promotion is succesful in attracting the arabs by the millions. All rooms during the summer months are fully booked from mid june until mid september. All major hotel counters have arab speaking guest officers and major shopping malls have arabic signs. KLIA have announcements made in four major languages - malay/english/mandarin/arabic.
despite all these, more non-chinese parents are sending their kids to chinese schools, where they are taught to speak in three languages plus read jawi. Malaysians are getting global in their outlook. It was stated that in 2015, most Malaysian will be trilingual, even better than singapore who are mostly bi-lingual.
Best for indonesia to follow Malaysia’s footsteps in this direction and embrace globalisation.
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Teng Says:
October 26th, 2007 at 12:19 amMaybe Indonesia is angry that Malaysia stole this song…. but trust me… there are thousands and thousands of orang Maluku in Holland who will be twice as angry… first that Malaysia “stole” it.. but even more so because Indonesia “stole” it from them.
This song is still widely popular among the many Moluccans living in the Netherlands and they won’t be too happy knowing Indonesians (in their eyes Javanese) claim this to be their song.
In my personal opinion I agree with iamisaid and Janma, there are manya many many more pressing issues and Indonesia should really stop playing the victim… its getting really boring really fast
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Andrew Says:
October 26th, 2007 at 1:18 amParvita said:
Malay have nothing diverse when it comes to cultur than Indonesia. We have thousands of different cultures and sub cultures from Aceh to Papua. Malaysia, only Indian, Chinese, and Malay. Malaysia has been really obnixious. Songs, only Malay rooted songs. And of course, Chinese and Indian songs.
They may have used a song that doesn’t belong to them, but why do they have to be as diverse as Indonesia to claim that they are a multicultural nation?
And what do you mean by “only Indian, Chinese and Malay” - don’t forget that Sabah & Sarawak also belong to Malaysia, and there are the Dayaks there. And doesn’t the word “Chinese” also means Hokkien, Hakka, Cantonese, etc. that each speaks different dialect? and I’m sure there’s more than one “Indian”.Whether or not you want to admit, like Peter said Indonesia often put itself in the victim position. So childish, so insecure, feeling so inferior that a single, minor poke on our arm triggers an overreaction. We’re 60+ year old nation. Why can’t we have a big heart, be mature, be cool and be confident? Even a tiny Singapore doesn’t respect us - and guarantee we’re not going to earn any if we continue to walk down this path.
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October 26th, 2007 at 4:35 amAndrew,
I think most of us actually are upset because our government doesn’t do anything to fix the situation. If only they react correctly and could gain respects from the Malaysian government, we would be sipping kopi luwak and eating pisang goreng without feeling cheated.PS: I don’t think it’s only ‘a single, minor poke on our arms’. there have been a lot of pokes, and as a normal human being poking by the person next to us, we start feeling itchy, and want to say “hey, stop poking me!”. Probably with an addition “… or else….”
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Dragonwall Says:
October 26th, 2007 at 5:27 amHey guys Look Out, there is going to be another united Genghis Khan of Mojopahit that is about to conquer Asia by an ass. So what is there to talk about. Just Dream.
Malaysia stole that song? Be more creative Jaco Waco and Andi Matabuta, find something else. Doesn’t it smell fishy? How about having a seat in the Malaysian Parliament or be a Sultan for a day?
There were so much talk about Malays coming from the north and Dayaks from Borneo as most Pribumis are not orang asli at all. So where they come from. Now everyone is scuttling over the issue that Malaysians were actually Indonesians. Then about food coming from Indonesian. Just because someone speaks almost the same language they are all from Indonesia? The next thing will be that all Dutch were English and all Rusians were actually Czehs. How about Pribumis were not even homo sapiens?
Everyone seemed to have all forgotten about the migration of Islam from China into Indonesia.
Look up the map and start tracing the route to come up with an answer yourself and where the roots actually originate from. Indonesians are good at staking claims that aren’t theirs.The Malaysians have for decades use the Rasa Sayang tune and just because they were successful in attracting tourists with that song, the Indonesians are having an eye sore. Create a song call Pancasila and make it work!
One more thing Sputjam.. just FYI. You had earlier said that Singapore had split up with Malaysia was because they refuse to share their state coffer which you claimed to have 400 million? So that you really understand the socio politics of Singapore rather than hearsay.
This was Muhui Eunice Huang a political student who wrote the thesis’ Singapore.. a reluctant nation’.
“We, the citizens of Singapore,
Pledge ourselves as one united people,
Regardless of race, language or religion
To build a democratic society,
Based on justice and equality,
So as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.”This was the national pledge of allegiance I had to recite every morning without fail, with my right fist over my heart, ……………..
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October 26th, 2007 at 5:32 amI disagree, clearly these are minor compared to a lot of other issues that we choose to turn a blind eye on. It surely is EASY to make a big fuss out of simple issue like this one.
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October 26th, 2007 at 5:33 amOops, that was for Anita McK
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October 26th, 2007 at 6:52 amLike you said P. Ramlee was of Aceh origin and all the likes. They have since renounce their citizenship but I am sure they still remember their roots. The same thing Liem Sioe Liong and all the likes were from China and they have renounce their citizehship they still remember their roots. But the former being able to be taken as Malaysian why can’ the the latter be taken as Indonesians?
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Ihaknt Says:
October 26th, 2007 at 6:56 amI think most of us actually are upset because our government doesn’t do anything to fix the situation
They hardly ever do Anita, just about anything.
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Arema Says:
October 26th, 2007 at 9:16 amdragonwall >> thanks for the excellent article about Singapore =) Inter-everything Harmony is something that has proved to be elusive for Indonesia, and imho is the very basis for national growth. If we and our brothers do not see a common goal and work as individuals, backstabbing each other in the process, how can we expect growth? Not collapsing is an achievement in such a condition.
There were so much talk about Malays coming from the north and Dayaks from Borneo as most Pribumis are not orang asli at all. So where they come from. Now everyone is scuttling over the issue that Malaysians were actually Indonesians. Then about food coming from Indonesian. Just because someone speaks almost the same language they are all from Indonesia? The next thing will be that all Dutch were English and all Rusians were actually Czehs. How about Pribumis were not even homo sapiens?
Everyone seemed to have all forgotten about the migration of Islam from China into Indonesia.
Look up the map and start tracing the route to come up with an answer yourself and where the roots actually originate from. Indonesians are good at staking claims that aren’t theirs.Spot on. Indonesians, Malays, and most inhabitants of south-east Asia were originally Chinese, if the history I learned in school is correct.
About the Rasa Sayange song “theft”, I still agree that Malaysia stole the song somehow… but we shouldn’t be such a sore loser crybaby. Even if we do claim the song back, in whatever manner, what good does it bring to Indonesia?
Better think of something more useful like preserving and nurturing national and traditional culture that is seriously threatened by Arabs, Mr Jero Wacik.
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October 26th, 2007 at 4:42 pmAnd what do you mean by “only Indian, Chinese and Malay” - don’t forget that Sabah & Sarawak also belong to Malaysia, and there are the Dayaks there. And doesn’t the word “Chinese” also means Hokkien, Hakka, Cantonese, etc. that each speaks different dialect? and I’m sure there’s more than one “Indian”.
Indonesia has all that. Read geography before you write.
Whether or not you want to admit, like Peter said Indonesia often put itself in the victim position.
Has your thick brain heard the word ‘intellectual right’, or ‘arts right’ or ‘copyright’?
Next you will hear Kuch Kuch Kotahai, or Ol’ McDonald had a Farm, sung in Malayan rhythm and dialect. And claim that it’s theirs and “Well….Ol’ McDonald has been sung in our country since the British Colony…therefore it is ours, too….”. What victim position.
If you want to know what Malaysa contributed to Indonesia, check my blog at http://parvita.wordpress.com/2007/10/25/malaysia-truly-pathetic-from-rasa-sayange-and-others/
Hi Achmad, good to hear your comments again.
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October 26th, 2007 at 5:34 pmAndrew:
100% agree. We’ve got illegal loggings and TKI issues to name a few. What I don’t like is our government never has such pride like all of us here and keep bending over to Malaysian government. The Rasa Sayange song is a minor example, yet it hurts us as a nation, because we love our country and we’re sick to see Malaysian arrogance, yet our government is still doing nothing.But, what can I say? I’ve worked with ministry of tourism & culture once and know that the department is run by idiots. It’s hard to comprehend that some of us are more than ready to run and yet there are people who think that “belanda masih jauh”, the laid-back mentality, come to office at 10.30 to read newspaper then off for lunch for 3 hours. No wonder lah we’re beaten all the time by our neighbour, we never use our brain to the maximum capacity. *big sigh*
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October 26th, 2007 at 5:38 pmParvita,
It wasn’t me, the true Achmad. I feel a growing chemistry between us, you, Parvita, and me, Achmad Sudarsono. I feel it is generated by a meeting of minds, albeit you the junior and me, the senior.
Merdeka.
Achmad.
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Honza Says:
October 26th, 2007 at 6:45 pmThis dispute over the ‘ownership’ of the song sounds a bit ridiculous to me. Some of you will strongly disagree with me, I’m sure of it (perhaps claiming it’s not the same and that I’m comparing incomparable), but this is a folk song and as such it got popular even in Malaysia where it found its second home, and no Indonesian can do anything about it whether (s)he likes it or not.
I understand it makes people upset but wait, should I - as a Czech - be upset about Polka songs which originated in my country and got popular all over Europe, the lyrics got translated to other languages… Polka is part of Czechs’ cultural heritage but as far as I can remember nobody fussed about others using the name ‘polka’ or even claiming some of the songs as a part of their heritage.The Malays maybe should have thought twice before choosing this song as a representative of their culture but as I wrote above, they feel it’s become part of their culture already. And since it’s a folk song there is no question about intellectual right property (mentioned in one of the comments above) - simply no such thing can be applied in this case (and, no offence to any Indonesian, I’d be very careful about copyright…)
Why do Indonesians get so upset about such a trifle? I reckon they should be much more concerned about seeing to their government and local officials do something to improve the overall situation in Indonesia. Since the fall of Soeharto, really nothing much was done, I’m afraid.
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October 26th, 2007 at 10:46 pmOh Ahmad….as long as you don’t eat me….why am I having visions that you look like Sumanto…:)
:)Just passing an info: invitation, 27th October 2007, 20:30 pm at Tugu Proklamasi, Menteng. Remembering the “Hari Sumpah Pemuda”. Can anybody translate what Sumpah Pemuda is…limited vocabulary here…
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marv2000 Says:
October 27th, 2007 at 1:23 amAn in another news, India accuses China of stealing the Buddhist religion. A spokesman for the Indian council said the Chinese have no shame and should go find their own spiritual leader. The situation became more tense when the Nepalese said that the revered Gautama Buddha was born in what is now modern Nepal and should only belong to them. - Not the CNN
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October 27th, 2007 at 2:23 pmArema said -
Spot on. Indonesians, Malays, and most inhabitants of south-east Asia were originally Chinese, if the history I learned in school is correct.
You meant originally from mainland asia. As the malays migrate south, the only inhabitants were the first wave of human migration such as the orang asli. So the malays settled from south vietnam (champa) to the islands of indonesia.
Malay migration stopped at Papua and Flores (or maybe mixed marriages in flores) and did not go onwards to australia.
As for patent rights, there are time limits. Once the limit is over, you are not obliged to pay patent fees for the products use anymore.
As to points raised by dragonwall, singapore is to south east asia as hong kong is to china. Even in singapore, the song rasa sayang eh is considered a local folk song.
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dewaratugedeanom Says:
October 27th, 2007 at 3:02 pmIsn’t there a Malaysian song we can steal for our ‘Visit Indonesia Year 2008′ campaign?
Don’t get mad, Jero. Get even. Catch them, tiger. Let Majapahit be proud of you. Majapahit will rule again. Merdeka!
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October 27th, 2007 at 4:38 pmCan anybody translate what Sumpah Pemuda is”¦limited vocabulary here”¦
Youth’s Oath
The original was actually: “De Eed der Jongeren: een land, een volk, een taal”
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October 27th, 2007 at 5:52 pm“This dispute over the ‘ownership’ of the song sounds a bit ridiculous to me. Some of you will strongly disagree with me, I’m sure of it (perhaps claiming it’s not the same and that I’m comparing incomparable), but this is a folk song and as such it got popular even in Malaysia where it found its second home, and no Indonesian can do anything about it whether (s)he likes it or not.
I understand it makes people upset but wait, should I - as a Czech - be upset about Polka songs which originated in my country and got popular all over Europe, the lyrics got translated to other languages”¦ Polka is part of Czechs’ cultural heritage but as far as I can remember nobody fussed about others using the name ‘polka’ or even claiming some of the songs as a part of their heritage.”It’s was never an issue until some politician opened up his big mouth and damn near start a war. It was a melody that was loved for generations before there existed countries named Malaysia or Indonesia and peopled moved freely between both side of the Melaka Straits. Even Singaporean think of it as theirs (not in the sense of it’s mine, all mine, you can’t have it, bwa-ha-ha). We Malaysian freely admit a lot of forefathers came from all over The Malay Archipelago (a fact that a lot of Indonesian seems to be ignorant of).
If Malaysian admit that we are originally of Jawa, Madura, Bawean, Ambon, Bugis, Aceh, Riau or any other ethnicities that I cannot recall (am a mix of Jawa +Bugis myself) then the Indonesian are accusing us of stealing from ourself. Does blow your mind.
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October 29th, 2007 at 4:13 amMarv200 said:
If Malaysian admit that we are originally of Jawa, Madura, Bawean, Ambon, Bugis, Aceh, Riau or any other ethnicities that I cannot recall (am a mix of Jawa +Bugis myself) then the Indonesian are accusing us of stealing from ourself. Does blow your mind.
Good point. Indonesia, just step your game up and stop complaining about such stupid things. For example, many old American patriotic songs are based on tunes from French songs. Yet we claim those songs to be part of our American culture. Do you think France would make such a fuss about us “stealing” their songs? Yeah right, they have actual work to do.
The only reason why Indonesia has the time to complain about this crap is that it is neglecting the real important issues in its own country. I mean no disrespect here.
I bet that if Malaysia’s tourism industry wasn’t so much better than Indo’s, people would not be crying about this. Sounds like simple envy to me. Why don’t you guys complain about things that actually matter, such as government corruption, FPI running amok, etc. In fact it seems Indonesian politicians are the “arrogant” ones here, thinking they deserve what Malaysia has, without working for it.
Just my thoughts.
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October 29th, 2007 at 10:01 amThe way things are, soon the Indonesian are going to going to try to patent the expression a cup of Java and everytime you go to Starbuck you end up paying them royalties.
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Raden Says:
October 29th, 2007 at 11:02 pmThe Malaysian stealing of the Indonesian songs is not the only one. If you do shopping in KLIA then you realized that Malaysian are lazy, they simply resell our traditional hand-crafted gift for tourist in those gift shops. Pls check all kind of Indonesian hand-crafted gifts in Sarinah Jakarta are put up for sale in those gift shops along the KLIA shopping corridors … you will see those are identicals products, the blangkon, the batik, the Javanese masks, the Wayangs, the wooden craft, etc etc . Only Malaysian air stewardess batik dress that is Malaysian original design.
So, the Malaysian are get used of it & too lazy to innovate … they used to anyway … -
Aganz Says:
October 31st, 2007 at 9:48 pmWell.. Since Malaysian Malays originated from Indonesia and since Malaysia seems so fond of Indonesian culture, cuisine, and islands… They should simply reintegrate themselves with Indonesia to form an “Indonesia Raya” or Greater Indonesia…
I’m sure this Republic can accomodate the Kingdom/Diraja Malaysia as a new “Daerah Istimewa”, just like the Sultanate of Jogjakarta is.. After that, those “former Malaysians” can claim as much Indonesian culture, cuisine, or islands as they want… Just like the Javanese can claim that “Masakan Padang” is Indonesian, the Bugis claiming that Borobudur is Indonesian, or the Papuans claiming that the Island of Java is Indonesian… and no one is going to dispute that claim…
Malaysia always claimed that Malaysia and Indonesia are “Bangsa Serumpun” or “Saudara Serumpun”.. (anyone can help me translate that to English..?). Then why the heck are they so annoying..?? Brothers should respect and cooperate with each other.. especially since Indonesia is the older brother (our civilization is indeed older than Malaysian’s).
On the lighter side… I’m really fond of Malaysia’s Siti Nurhaliza… Wonder if it’s ok to claim her as Indonesian (she does spend a lot of time in Indonesia entertaining us with her concerts… well.. she used to anyway)
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October 31st, 2007 at 11:03 pmWhat bothering us is the Malaysian like to attribute us as the ‘Indon’, well malaysian get used to know our maid workers there then portray us like a maid society, look-down on us & generalize all of us and become arrogant ‘young brothers’. Malaysian so arrogant till they never acknowledge if the Indonesian have the best archeolog, geologist, metalurgist, land / ocean surveyor specialist, the authentic Javanese scriptures owners, Malay rich historian & expertises, traditional herbal medicines, etc etc … we have lots of long list that proved we hv higher civilization than the Malaysian full stop.
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November 1st, 2007 at 12:07 amRaden, what you have said is too diplomatically mild.
Going by what is being reported in Malaysia (http://www.malaysia-today.net/index.shtml), and if time is given to read through pages and pages of comments at that blogsite, let me assure you that in many aspects, Indonesia surpasses Malaysia.
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Pakmantri Says:
November 1st, 2007 at 10:12 amSo, what’s new, just listen to their national anthem and then listen to a very old Indonesian song called “Terang Bulan” ………….
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Phil Hicker Says:
November 1st, 2007 at 10:50 amHmmphhh it is Indonesia’s own fault that all of our cultures are claimed by other countries. This is because Indonesia is stupid! It does not appreciate its own culture until it realizes that its culture is ’stolen’ by other countries. Indonesia is always proud of being ‘arabised’ or ‘americanised’ and has never been proud of its own culture. Therefore it’s a logical consequence that it’s culture is claimed by other nations. One more thing, there is something called patent right, and if Indonesia is not stupid enough, from now on they might want to implement patent right may be?
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Tinkerbell Says:
November 1st, 2007 at 8:29 pmThe easiest way to kick-ass the Malaysian snobs is by giving our best efforts to Indonesia. DO THE BEST FOR YOUR COUNTRY !!!!!
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November 2nd, 2007 at 7:37 amPhil Hicker said
Indonesia is always proud of being ‘arabised’ or ‘americanised’ and has never been proud of its own culture.
Does this translates to Indonesians are not proud of their own culture? You haven’t lived here or hung out with the wrong crowd, perhaps. Maybe leave Jakarta and go to smaller towns and see how people are? There are few people that translates “Islam” with “Arab”. And for Americanization, who aren’t, with MTV and McDonalds on the streets. That is small numbers compared to the other side of the coin. Just heavily exposed by the media because it sells.
There are many, plenty I should say, that are still proud of their heritage and still speak their dialect, attend and have cultural ceremonies in their families (7 bulanan, new born, all the wedding gaga). Or go to Bali, aside from spending time at Double Six every night, go and do some cultural tour to see how proud the local people are when they do the art with the silver, statues, dancing etc. Go to Menado, Ambon, Sumatra, the Banda Islands, in the evenings they proudly sing their local songs after dinner until dawn. Even in the vocal groups in restaurants (some restaurants have like 4 people coming to your table to sing, I recall those restaurants), some of the requests are the traditional songs, mainly from Maluku, North Sumatra, Manado, aside from Latin songs! (not much request on Malaysian songs, surprisingly).
Although I lived mostly outside Medan (I grew up with North Sumatran culture), as most of my generations are, we still get together and attend ceremonial gatherings and know what to call ‘the younger brother of your father”, or “the aunt of your mother from her father’s side”, which is not simply just “uncle” and “auntie”. And if you don’t know how to call them properly, you will be called “tidak tahu adat” or “uncultured”, which is embarrassing. Or which side of the family does all the work when that side of family is having an occasion (Mora, Anak Boru, Kahanggi, etc). You, as a westerner can say, “It’s not important, why make a fuss”, but yes, it is important to know all this. And, learn them. And we are proud if we know this. And my other friends from other area are impressed that I know this.
Maybe being and Indonesian who has the opportunity to travel around due to my hobby gives me the chance to visit places and interract with the people. Well, just in my office, the menadonese here still speak their dialect with the other menadonese and pretty articulate when I ask them about their cultures and how they do things in events such as weddings or funerals. Same with the Javanese, Acehnese and South Sumatrans. And they know, and they practise it, too.
And we are proud we have our cultures and inter cultural-marriages these days makes it even good because we get exposed to other culture and understand them, and even have the blend of it.
My advise to you, and all of you here, try to hang out and talk to the average Indonesians, go travelling, and talk to the people. I don’t know about the background of Indonesians who blog in IM, I know some are married to foreigners and don’t live here, but I would bet that they are still proud of batik, kebaya and ukir-ukiran Indonesia.
I would bet Achmad Sudarsono holds on tight to the Javanese culture, just ask him
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Tuan Says:
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:37 amJealousy can be a bitch sometimes….lol. If my brahs in Malaysia can do a better job than Indonesians, then more power to them. From my experience interacting with Malaysians and Indonesians students who come to America for studies, Malaysians seem to be more secure about their identity (ethnic and religious) than Indonesians, but its easy to be that way when your country is a raising economic power and your former prime minister (M. Mohammad) had the balls to stand up for his country and his people.
~Tuan - Malaysian .. i mean Indonesian-American Muslim
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Violet Says:
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:45 pmAgree with Parvita
Malaysia is sucks and proud of them shelves as a thief!!?? What Ashamed!!Rasa sayange” is a title of Indonesian folk song sung by the people of Mollucas in the Eastern of part Indonesia. Although no official facts recorded, this song was believed created by Ambonese man, the late Paulus Pea.
# “Rasa Sayange” song was recorded by PT Lokananta, Solo, Indonesia on August 15, 1962 on gramophone disc. The master copy of this first record is still kept by PT Lokananta. This is known as the first recording of this song
# The gramophone disc was distributed as souvenirs to the participants of the 1962 Asian Games IV in Jakarta, and the “Rasa Sayange” song was one of the Indonesian folklores on the disc, together with other Indonesian ethnic groups’ folk song such as Sorak-sorak Bergembira, O Ina ni Keke and Sengko Sengko Dainang
# Since 1960’s “Rasa Sayange” song has been introduced to kindergarten children, making it one of the most popular folk song in Indonesia
# The use of ‘e’ at the end of ‘Sayange’ is the dialect tone of Ambonese Malay, which distinguish them with the other ethnic groups in Malay ArchipelagoSo No matter what Malaysian or other people says,
But it is a fact that one cannot claim copyright just because one knows or was taught about it. -
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:48 pmAganz: Bangsa serumpun = Same Root.
Part of Indonesians, the western part of the Wallace line, are Malay. That includes Java, Sumatra, Borneo, to Bali.
Geographically speaking, west of the Wallace line are what we call the “Sunda Platform”, therefore the flora and the fauna is pretty similar. While east of the Wallace line, you see more flora and fauna closer to Australia. For instance, you won’t find wobeggong shark if you dive in the Bali, and you won’t see Sumatran Tiger in Irian Jaya.
The Wallace line is somewhere in Sulawesi (Celebes), down to probably between Sumba-Flores. This makes Sulawesi has the most diverse flora and fauna.
If you look at the people, the eastern Indonesian people looks more aboriginal (I always recognize them from their typical nose!). They are not Malays, of course. Very different from the western Indonesian people. Up at Sulawesi and part of Borneo, they mix with the Chinese. Therefore you see Menadonese, who has yellowish skin colour. Different from the Javanese and Sumatrans, who are brownish. Pretty amazing, not only the people, but also the animals and the plants are diverse in Indonesia. That’s why I don’t feel the urge to go diving to Thailand or Malaysia despite of their tourism propaganda (and I do believe that they do have great diving spots, too). I’ve got handful in my own country already and I don’t have to pay that ridiculous fiscal! If there is any place I would dive outside Indonesia, it will be in the Phillipines, and that is because of the WW II shipwrecks.
If we go back to the Majapahit time, Malaysia was part of Nusantara, together with Phillipines, Thailand. And do you know which part of Nusantara was not under Majapahit? West Java. They have their own strong kingdom there, called Padjadjaran.
So the claim about “Saudara Serumpun” is cliche, especially Molucca is not the same root with Malaysia. But Molucca is Indonesia.
Why don’t you guys complain about things that actually matter, such as government corruption, FPI running amok, etc.
We already have, Darling.
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50-50 Says:
November 3rd, 2007 at 2:08 pmThere’s surprising ignorance, in Indonesia, on the ethnicity of the Malays in Malaysia. Legally in Malaysia, as defined in the Malaysian Constitution (the highest law of the country), a Malay is not necessarily of any ethnic group but one who professes Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language and adopts the Malay customs (whatever that may mean). Many Malays in Malaysia today have forefathers who migrated from all parts of Indonesia including from Maluku (Moluccas). Even recent Indonesians who become Malaysian citizens will inevitably be classified as Malays by the time their sons/daughters go to school. Mawi, a popular young singer in Malaysia is a Malay but his late father was a first generation Javanese. The Menteri Besar (the equivalent of Governor in Indonesia) of a rich State in Malaysia is also of Javanese origin. So even if a folk song such as Rasa Sayange originates from Indonesia, particularly Maluku, it is not “stolen” by Malaysia but “brought” by the Indonesian people who migrated here and over time become Malays.
Why did Indonesians migrated in throngs to Malaysia since early 20th century? Because there were always better opportunities in Malaysia. Many participants of the highly successful government poverty eradication programme FELDA in the 1960s were people of Indonesian origin. Even today (while Malaysian citizenship was more sparingly granted these days) there are about 2 million Indonesian “legal” workers in Malaysia and another estimated 1 million “illegal” workers. 3 million workers or about 14% of Malaysia’s population of 22 million! Not counting workers from Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and China! At estimated average of RM200 per month sent home, the 3 million Indonesian workers are “exporting” to Indonesia RM600 million (USD171 million) a month or RM7.2 billion (USD 2.1 billion) a year. That’s a lot of injecton into the Indonesian economy. Additionally, Malaysian companies have been the largest investors in Indonesia since 2006.
The millions of Indonesian (and other) immigrant workers are also taxing the Malaysian public facilities. These workers and their childeren enjoy the relatively better public facilities (compared to most other developing nations) such as hospital and school which are either free or of nominal cost in Malaysia, but without generally contributing into the system through income taxes, assessments and such like.
Lastly, if we are so parochial about origin, what about Indonesian names like Wijaya, Budikesuma, Dharmajaya, Dewa, Dewi, Ratu, etc, etc - these are all from Sanskrit, the ancient language of the Hindus. Shouldn’t the Indians be concerned about their names being stolen?
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Concerned Teacher Says:
November 3rd, 2007 at 10:50 pm50-50:
Not to be nit-picky but your numbers are….well…WAY OFF!!
There are roughly 240,000 foreign workers in Malaysia of which 90% are maids.
ACCORDING TO MALAYSIA”S OWN WEBSITE SEE BELOW:
________________________________________________________________________Maids in Malaysia :
The minimum salaries of the maids are usually fixed by agreements between Malaysian Immigration and the countries of origin of the maids. For example, the minimum required for Indonesian maids is RM360 and for Filipinos is RM760.
________________________________________________________________________
Now, you can accurately readjust your numbers to accurately reflect the economic situation for those employees: RM200 a month being sent back to Indonesia? Well…ok…let’s say it is so. That would be roughly RM36,000,000 being sent back to Indo if 1/2 the maids were Indonesian.Why the Indonesian government negotiated their minimum salaries to less then 50% of Filipino maids is beyond me and perhaps another blog idea.
Now, if we throw in human trafficking the numbers would rise slightly. We also have not accounted for the employers docking their maid levy fee from the salary of the maids. Thus, foreign maids do not get paid during the first few months of employment to cover the levy.
Ok…now…continue the blog.
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November 4th, 2007 at 8:42 pm@Concerned Teacher:
Please give the official government’s website you mentioned - if that exists it’s totally outdated. The numbers of workers I quoted were the latest from recent Malaysian newspapers (I can search which edition if you insist), but for the moment I can quote http://www.smc.org.ph/amnews/amn060731/southeast/malaysia060731.htm which gives the figures as of March last year (2006): 1,850,063 legal foreign workers in Malaysia, of which 1,215,036 were from Indonesia.
RM360 per month minimum salary for Indonesian maid you mentioned is also grossly out of date. It’s now minimum RM400/month (Rp 1 million), which is of course nearly 4 times the salary they get in say Jakarta as maids. How do I know? My wife’s family in Jakarta has two maids and we ourselves in Kuala Lumpur has two Indonesian maids - so we know. Filipino maid gets higher, RM700/mth minimum supposedly because they speak English.
Malaysian family who needs an Indonesian maid typically pays RM4,000 (Rp 10 million) to a maid’s agency, the bulk of this actually goes to the Indonesian agent which handles the maid. This amount, contrary to what you said, is the agency fee and is not, never deducted from the maid’s salary. Incidentally, Malaysian government only approves employment of maid to a family with household income of more than RM10,000 (Rp 25 million) per month and with either children or old age parents living in.
Again your figure that 90% of Indonesian workers in Malaysia are maids is inaccurate. Majority of immigrant workers in Malaysia are in construction, plantation, electronic and services sectors, typically earning between RM700 to RM1500 per month.
The estimated RM200 per month sent home per worker? This is the amount both my maids sent back home (Sumatera) and they often asked me to use my banking facilities to send on their behalf. We paid our maids RM500/mth each, they live, eat and go for holidays with us, so their salaries are almost wholly savings. I would imagine the male construction workers to send more home.
Thank you.
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Idam H. Says:
November 5th, 2007 at 2:39 pmA better way to solve this nonsense polemic is to find who is/are the author(s) of the song. If it is found, then Malay government should put a credit in their publications if they use the song. A song does not belong to a country. It is the copyright of the author(s).
If we cannot find the name of the authors, then it is useless to say this song belongs to Malaysia or Indonesia. It is world public property.
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TheWrathOfGrapes Says:
November 5th, 2007 at 4:34 pmRasa Sayang is also very popular in Singapore, although Singaporeans do not claim that it originated there. In fact, it is one of the few Malay (okay, okay, make that Indonesian) songs that Singaporeans of all races can sing. It is almost a national song, in the sense that most can relate to it, not that it was made in “Singapore”.
If Malaysia can plagiarized its own National Anthem, “Negaraku”, what else is forbidden? Negaraku was copied from “Terang Bulan”, which in turn was copied from “Mamula Moon”.
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ellemon Says:
November 9th, 2007 at 8:47 pmmalaysia is not trully asia…
they’re stealers, they steal our song, our 2 islands (sipadan and ligitan which indonesians shamefully lost in the icj), our batik fabric (which the malaysian naively said that it originated form their country), and even waynang. Our culture and land is literally being stolen day by day, until what..one day we will wake up to find that indonesia has no more culture cause it is stolen by the malays??? -
Tuan Says:
November 10th, 2007 at 4:40 ammalaysia is not trully asia”¦
they’re stealers, they steal our song, our 2 islands (sipadan and ligitan which indonesians shamefully lost in the icj), our batik fabric (which the malaysian naively said that it originated form their country), and even waynang. Our culture and land is literally being stolen day by day, until what..one day we will wake up to find that indonesia has no more culture cause it is stolen by the malays???To be honest, Indonesia has no culture when compared to Malaysia. Indonesians are too busy worrying about appearing “Western” while Malaysia is a bit more bold in being more “Asian”. If Indonesia has a culture its merely borrowed from anyone that has landed on the islands (Indian, Arab, Chinese, Dutch, English, Bule, etc.)
And why is everyone complaining about a silly song. Not to sound insensitive but who cares..its just a song.
Btw, Indonesians and Malaysians are from the same ethnic stock. Y’all should be brothers and sisters. I find it really odd that some Indonesians turn this “conflict” with Malaysia like it were the Israeli-Palestinian conflict of SE Asia. Please! LOL! Get over it!
~Tuan Indonesian-American Muslims
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November 10th, 2007 at 5:17 amellemon said:
malaysia is not trully asia”¦
they’re stealers, they steal our song, our 2 islands (sipadan and ligitan which indonesians shamefully lost in the icj), our batik fabric (which the malaysian naively said that it originated form their country), and even waynang. Our culture and land is literally being stolen day by day, until what..one day we will wake up to find that indonesia has no more culture cause it is stolen by the malays???DUDE, let’s talk about the general disturbing trend here: don’t you realize that Indonesia is slowly making EVERYONE around it its enemy? You always feel like everyone is cheating & taking advantage of you. It used to be (actually, still is) Australia, then Singapore, now Malaysia. Why do you feel so insecure? Indonesia may be (physically) big but it acts like a toddler.
Sipadan & Ligitan - whose fault is that? why didn’t you take care of your islands? too many to take care of? well let them go to the hands that can take care of ‘em better.
Are you too young to remember East Timor? didn’t we “steal” it as well, WITH FORCE?
What about Irian Barat…didn’t we steal it either? don’t tell me that Irian Barat was part of Indonesia, the people living there don’t even look similar to the rest of Indonesia.
And now you say they are “stealer” :)) ??? Look who’s talking.
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Mira Says:
November 10th, 2007 at 11:11 amHi Tuan..Im not sure if you are familiar with scholarly writing or not, I’m assuming you are far away from that..
Be careful of saying that Indonesia doesn’t owned a culture..I guess you never seriously learn about it….Indonesia has a lot more culture than just assimilation with those you named…learn before you speak..learn history ( I mean seriously, learn it )……
anyway, if you think that it’s solely about a song you are totally wrong…..it’s a matter of people claimed what they don’t owned….even ISLAM (if u considered u are Muslim) teach us not to do so….don’t say something you don’t know and act like you know it…..
for Malaysian friends….I understand you are now better in everything than us….isn’t that enough for you? We don’t start a war (if this is what people say) with u….and u don’t want to start a war with us…..we fight for our freedom..U were given freely….that makes us different..we will fight again..that’s no question about that….
peace upon u all….Salam….
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November 12th, 2007 at 2:49 amPsychologically he wants people to show him respect with his nick.
BTW did American had their own culture? Name me one except the Indians who had travelled from south to the north.
So how could you comment by saying that Indonesian doesn’t have a culture?
So what is culture? You developed it right? then what? Eat it, shaft it? Of course you live with it! When your gp came to America they brought along their culture and live with that till this day. Over the years when you have been naturaolized you claimed yourself to be Americans. Differentiate the root and culture.
don’t say something you don’t know and act like you know it”¦..
Indonesian has may cultures originated from various roots of origin like Bataks and aborigines.
So since you have said that and your knowledge into Islam is that immense can you tell us how di the Quran originated and written by who? Has that got anything to do with the Bibles? (I mean I am not a christian) Why is the Khabath being surrounnded with black clothes? What is inside that?
Sometimes knowledge may not necessary be the truth.
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Enigmatic Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 6:20 pmWhy are they suing Malaysia only NOW??
The song Rasa Sayange was used by the Ministry of Education in Singapore for the Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) Central Judging of Concert Bands in 2005. In fact it was used as the set piece i.e every secondary school and junior college band competing that year MUST play the song. (I was one of the performers)
Yet I don’t see anyone in the Indonesian Government protesting about it. No lawsuits, no protests, nothing.
Why?
Was it because of money? Because our Tourism Board knows Malaysia can earn more with a song in their advertisement? Or was it because our tourism ministry needs attention?
Perhaps our tourism board is just too incompetent and hence needs to resort to such measures to show themselves as trying to be competent. Otherwise, why would this be happening? I think it’s more due to the Indonesian Government’s incompetence and spineless leadership to protect intellectual property rights and the people’s cultural rights. This has allowed Malaysia to do such things time and time again.
If you do shopping in KLIA then you realized that Malaysian are lazy, they simply resell our traditional hand-crafted gift for tourist in those gift shops. Pls check all kind of Indonesian hand-crafted gifts in Sarinah Jakarta are put up for sale in those gift shops along the KLIA shopping corridors “¦ you will see those are identicals products, the blangkon, the batik, the Javanese masks, the Wayangs, the wooden craft, etc etc .
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November 13th, 2007 at 3:13 amOf all that was written here I can find one word to summarize the whole issue.
RETALIATION…….
Because the Malaysian had on many ocassion mistreat, illtreat TKI without any compensations to them…
Such a silly way to retaliate. It just show the Indonesian are out of wits as pitted against the Malaysians.
Be more creative!…….
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November 13th, 2007 at 3:17 amThe Malaysians did it for a song and Indonesian retalitate it by using a song.
Saves the arms and ammunitions.
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pj_bali Says:
November 20th, 2007 at 5:14 pmFor those of you concerned with the blatent theft of cultural icons please check out indcoups’ posting of November 9. How can Indonesians complain when they do the same damm thing.
http://indcoup.blogspot.com/
cheers
ps
the caption is especially ironic. i still can’t stop laughing… -
Tika Says:
December 19th, 2007 at 5:32 amIndonesian people are pathetic– unfortunately I am an Indonesian. This whole debate is stupid, but actually makes sense looking at how far Indonesians have come from independence (not much) — the stupidity of the debate fits the typical profile of people who haven’t gone far from their primitive lot.
We like to play to victim really, just our way to avoid responsibility and run away easy. We need to jump over our non-existant moral high horse, or maybe we like get run over by it. Just get over it! We are not better than Malaysians, right now we are not much better than any country. Our pathetic snobery is not getting us anywhere. Anyway, you can’t copyright a song whose individual authorship is unknown, it’s fair game. Indonesians are born plagiarists period, it’s the way we live our lives. We like to cheat and are proud of it (there are just too many songs that I can list Indonesians have plagiarized from the whole world), but we like to gripe about it when our used to be lesser neighbour– who right now is making it big and getting more prosperous — is doing those things we probably taught them to do as part of their daily lives (we know a lot of malaysians went to school in Indonesia when they weren’t anything yet and we were their great big brother, this time was probably how a lot of malaysians learned to live as plagiarists you see–maybe :D).
Pot and Kettle, it’s the same black.
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