Egged On By A Song And Dance & Related Issues

Related Issue:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/4/nation/4652499&sec=nation
Blame Discovery Channel, Indonesians told
By DHARMENDER SINGH
Stop blaming Malaysia. It was Discovery Channel which wrongly included a Balinese dance in a clip to promote a documentary series on the country.
Protests in Indonesia had reportedly been triggered by allegations that a Balinese dance had been used to promote a television show about Malaysia.
The protests included an incident on Tuesday where some 30 students pelted the Malaysian Embassy in Indonesia with rotten eggs and attempted to raise an Indonesian flag at the gate.

Statement from Deputy Prime Minister:
Tourism Ministry and Tourism Malaysia were in no way involved in the production of the promotional video that was aired by the Discovery Channel and they were unaware that the traditional dance from Indonesia had been used.
“The explanation by the Discovery Channel should be accepted and I hope the matter (protests against Malaysia for the use of the dance in the video) will not drag on,” he told a press conference after chairing the Cabinet committee meeting on tourism here yesterday.

Source: Why Not?
Raslan Sharif in http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/4/focus/4647526&sec=focus

I LOVE eggs. I love them fried, scrambled, poached, boiled, half-boiled, every which way except raw. I eat eggs almost every day.
You must think I’m swimming in cholesterol, and to be honest I’m kind of concerned over that possibility, although there is evidence to show that the “egg cholesterol threat” is way overblown.
Recent research shows that one or two eggs a day provides overall nutritional benefit that outweighs the potential risks.
People with normal cholesterol levels and no family history of cardiovascular disease should not be too worried about moderate consumption of eggs.
Still, it all depends on how you “take” your eggs. Eaten, freshly cooked eggs are delicious. Thrown at you, eggs are a lot less enjoyable, especially if they are rotten; like a few days ago, when about 30 Indonesian students pelted the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta with such eggs.
They also tried to raise the Indonesian flag at the embassy gates.
Indonesians have been mighty sensitive in recent times over perceived insults that we have allegedly dished out on them.
The other day they were angry over the use of the Pendet dance in a tourism advertisement on Malaysia.
I wouldn’t know the difference between Pendet and Polka but look at it this way: If tourists came to Malaysia looking for Pendet and didn’t find any, it would be our bad, not Indonesia’s.
In any case, the inclusion of the dance in the clip was a mistake not of our doing.
This rumbling ill will has not been due to Pendet alone. Before this, we were accused of claiming batik and Rasa Sayang as our own.
Guilty as charged, because as far as many Malaysians are concerned, there is such a thing as Malaysian batik. I think the batik we have here has enough distinct and unique characteristics for us to differentiate it from the batik they have over there.
Like the two very similar variants of the Malay language — Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia — I believe there is enough scope for both countries to claim batik as indigenous.
Imagine us getting upset with Indonesia claiming Malay as its language. It would be ridiculous, wouldn’t it?
And as for Rasa Sayang, God knows how long we’ve been singing the song. It is a popular folk tune in Singapore, too.
Don’t you think it is ironic that there is much animosity over a song entitled Rasa Sayang? I mean, where is the love?
Now it seems our neighbours are upset with us over our national anthem, arguing that the Negara Ku was copied from the Indonesian song Terang Bulan.
This is an old story. Yes, we readily admit that the melody to the national anthem is not a Malaysian original. It is indeed based on Terang Bulan.
But no, we did not steal it from the Indonesians, as some claim.
Who is the composer of Terang Bulan?
There are several theories I came across while scouring the Internet.
One is that Terang Bulan itself is based on a song composed by Frenchman Pierre-Jean de Beranger, who lived from 1780 to 1857.
The song apparently became popular in the French territories across the Indian Ocean in the late 19th century, and its popularity reached the Malay archipelago in the early 20th century.
The melody that was later to be known as Terang Bulan over in these parts was a “hit” in the Seychelles.
It was a popular tune with the royal court of Perak, and the link between Perak and the Seychelles is that the former Sultan of Perak lived in exile on Mahe, one of the Seychelles islands.
The story goes that when Sultan Idris Murshidul’adzam Shah, the Sultan of Perak from 1887 to 1916, went to London to represent the Malay Rulers of the Federated Malay States at the installation of King Edward VII in 1901, his officers were enquired as to the state anthem.
The Sultan’s private secretary proffered the melody in question, as Perak then had no official anthem. From then on, Terang Bulan was adopted as the Perak state anthem.
Another version of the story has it that this happened during Sultan Idris’ visit to London in 1888 for the coronation of Queen Victoria, and the person involved was the Sultan’s aide-de-camp.
Whichever the true version, we know for certain that the Perak state anthem was later adopted as the national anthem.
There is also a story published online by the much-vaunted Indonesian publication Tempo, which has a composer there claiming that Terang Bulan was the original composition of his late father, who led the Orkes Studio Djakarta in the 1960s.
It seems that the late President Sukarno requested that his father offer the song to Malaysia, as “several years after independence, Malaysia had yet to have a national anthem”.
It sounds like a tall story, I know, as the Negara Ku was played on the day of our independence.
Did I hear someone say, egg on your face? (You can read the story at http://tinyurl.com/kslmvy)
Regardless of its veracity, the story is reflective of how prickly relations with our Indonesian neighbours can get.
But at the end of the day, it serves no purpose for us to dwell on these matters.
Why be at odds over a song and dance when we can both take pride in the achievements we share and have shared over the decades, even centuries, enriching our cultures in the process? Truly, it is neither worth the time nor the effort flinging rotten eggs or getting egg on your face over these things.

Raslan Sharif wanted to let things slide, but was called to action by the allegation that we still didn’t have a national anthem years after Merdeka