Of Negaraku, Balinese pendet dance and Norman KRU...

I have said my piece, let me hear yours...and see how patriotic you are in defending our pride, Malaysian pride...

1. Remember "withering patriotism"? It was posted on 27th August 2009.
2. At about the same time, our neighbour Indonesia protested that the Balinese pendet dance featured in tourism promotion meant to showcase Malaysia is not Malaysian heritage but Indonesian heritage.
   
3. It was shown over Discovery channel under "enigmatic Malaysia". It was later discovered that a Singapore-based production house produced the showcase advertisement and commissioned by KRU group.
4. On this matter, KRU group should be responsible for the mis-information. Although it is produced by Singapore-based production house, it is KRU group's responsibility as they were the one commissioned to do the job. Is KRU group saying that they do not vet through the content of the promotion? Did the Ministry of Tourism officials vet through the promotion? Did discovery channel vet through?
5. It looks like nobody bothers to vet through and just pass it on for screening. Who gives the green light to go ahead? Government officials? or KRU group? Are all of them mere "postmen" who just pass the tape around? Is that the standard operating procedure of KRU group and Ministry of Tourism when it comes to promoting Malaysian? Is this the level of patriotism in KRU group? Or are they only interested in getting the payment?
6. What irks this writer more is when Norman who is the President and CEO of KRU group claimed that his parents are descendants from North Sumatra. What has that got to do with promoting Malaysia? Just because Norman is a descendant of Sumatra does not give him the license to use Balinese Pendet dance in the promotion and in the process drew protests from Indonesia.
7. And it gets worse...on 29th August 2009, an executive from a recording company claimed that Malaysia's national anthem "Negaraku" is similar to a keroncong song "Terang bulan" written by Bandung essemble in 1956.
8. What the executive is implying is that Malaysia took the song from Indonesia. However RPK refuted the claim and pointed out that "Negaraku" is actually taken from a Hawaian song "Mamula moon". It also means that the Bandung essemble also took "Mamula moon" and change it to "Terang bulan".
9. For the record, "Mamula moon" is recorded in the 40's which is 10 years before the Bandung essemble.
10. It is also said that the original tune of "Negaraku" originated from the Seychelles, way back in the 1800's and was first hummed in Malaysia in 1901 by Sultan Idris of Perak as Perak's state anthem.
11. That said, it is clear that the record executive from Indonesia should do more homework before accusing Malaysia of taking an Indonesian song as the national anthem. Why? Because it is not good for the relationship between Indonesia and Malaysia. Whilst we are on the same subject, maybe the record executive should tender an apology to Malaysians for his oversight...
    
12. As this is not enough, about 30 Indonesian students took matters into their hands on 1st September 2009 when they pelted Malaysian embassy in Jakarta. Not only that, they attempted to raise the Indonesian flag on the embassy's gate.
13. All this because of a song? and a genuine mistake from Singapore-based production house? And what did our Malaysian students doing? What is the action of UMNO youth? What is the action of PKR's youth? In short, what is our reaction?
14. Are Malaysians still bog down in trying to outwit each other? Hey, wake up..GE 12 is more than a year ago. For now, we should be rising as one team - team Malaysia to defend our national anthem. Yes, our national anthem is taken from some other song BUT it is not from "Terang bulan". It is either "mamula moon" of Hawaii or some song from the Seychelles. You pick your choice. Either way, both songs were produced way before "Terang Bulan" and in fact "Terang Bulan" adapted "mamula moon".
15. As for the tourism promotion, someone up there should better explain. One thing for sure is that Norman does not represent Malaysia and he should be accountable for the glaring mistake done through Discovery channel.
16. I have said my piece, let me hear yours...and see how patriotic you are in defending our pride, Malaysian pride...
    

Till then...G'nite M'sia...wherever u are...