A Balinese girl performing a pendet dance during a protest against Malaysia at the Indonesia Institute of Art in Denpasar on the resort island of Bali last Tuesday. -- PHOTO: AFP
JAKARTA - A BROUHAHA in Indonesia over Malaysia's usage of the Balinese pendet dance in a tourism commercial has now shifted to another controversy involving the Malaysian national anthem.
NUMEROUS SPATS
This tangle is just one of many controversies between the neighbours.
Indonesians see Malaysia as appropriating their cultural assets, while Malaysians say these have been part of their culture for as long as anyone can remember.
Indonesians were up in arms after seeing the commercial on Malaysia that featured the pendet dance.
Kuala Lumpur had apologised for the use of the Balinese dance but said the mistake was made by a third party who was paid by Malaysia's Tourism Ministry to produce the commercial.
The Malaysian embassy in Jakarta said in a statement earlier this week: 'Nobody in Malaysia claimed that the pendet dance originated in Malaysia.'
But that is not the end of the story.
A report in yesterday's Jakarta Globe newspaper quoted an executive from a state-owned recording company as asking why Malaysia's national anthem 'Negaraku' (My Country) sounded like the Indonesian song 'Terang Bulan' (Moon Shine).
Mr Ruktiningsih, the head of recording company Lokananta, urged the Indonesian government to act on the 'violation of intellectual property rights'.
'We have to unite against Malaysia, as they keep stealing Indonesia's assets,' he added.
An Internet search found that both songs do indeed share the same roots. Malaysia acknowledges as much on a government website detailing its monarchy system.
The song Terang Bulan comes from a popular French melody in the Seychelles, that spread to the Malay archipelago in the early 20th century.
It was adopted as Perak's state anthem in 1901. And in 1957, it became the national anthem for Malaysia with the lyrics changed.
