|
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA insists that it will continue to use folk song Rasa Sayang in its 'Truly Asia' tourism campaign after an Indonesian lawmaker claimed the song was rightfully theirs.
Rasa Sayang is a folk song from the Malay archipelago, said Malaysian Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor yesterday.
Indonesia cannot claim ownership of the song, he said.
'I don't understand. I have already explained (to the Jakarta Post) that Rasa Sayang is a folk song for Kepulauan Nusantara (Malay archipelago). So Indonesia cannot claim that the song is theirs,' he said when contacted yesterday.
The minister was responding to a report in Bernama that quoted Indonesian House of Representatives member Hakam Naja as saying that Indonesia should sue the Malaysian government, if the Indonesian government could prove that the song belonged to the nation.
'The government needs to check on its origin, whether it is from Indonesia or not,' the report quoted him as saying.
Mr Hakam belongs to the National Mandate Party and is the deputy chairman of House Commission X overseeing education and tourism.
He said Malaysia has in the past claimed ownership of traditional Indonesian handicrafts such as batik and wayang puppets.
Some believe Rasa Sayang originated in Maluku where it has been sung for generations by people to express their love for the environment.
'Such claims occurred because of the lack of action by the Indonesian government to copyright or patent the nation's heritage. In order to avoid one-sided claims, the government should patent the song immediately,' he said.
He also called for a thorough study of the art forms belonging to the country's culture, to help protect Indonesia's heritage through patents or copyrights.
'So if someone wants to use cultural elements of Indonesia, there should be compensation for the government, otherwise, other countries will keep trying to undermine us,' he said.
However, the chairman of Indonesia's Copyright Council, Mr Enteng Tanamal, said suing Malaysia was unlikely to succeed because the song's author was unknown.
'How can we sue Malaysia if nobody knows who wrote the song?' he said. 'Therefore, it's fine if Malaysia uses the song as their tourism theme song.'
However, he said the government could ask the Directorate General for Patents or the Tourism and Culture Ministry to try and find the song's creator.
He said Malaysia was not the only party to claim the song. Ambon in Maluku and Manado in North Sulawesi have been arguing over ownership of the song for generations.
JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
|
