Recently, a Malaysian Minister created a lot of controversy and infuriated many outside his country when he claimed among several things that Hainanese Chicken rice, laksa, nasi lemak etc...all originated from Malaysia. He has obviously forgotten the earlier hornets' nest that was stirred up when they claimed that the folk song Rasa Sayang originated from again where?.........M'sia! The real answer and fact? This is an indigeneous song from the Ambon islands of Indonesia.
A few years ago, Malaysia was accused by the Indonesians of stealing their song " Terang Bulan" which the former then converted and adopted as their National anthem " Negara Ku". It is still the anthem today. What got many of the Indonesians worked up was the claim that the song and tune originated from one of the Malayan states ( Perak ).
But unk Dicko says both Malaysia and Indonesia are way off the mark. The song Terang Bulan...yes, the lyrics are Indonesian but not the tune or melody. That tune has a much longer origin and history. You can check out the history of the song from Wikipaedia....here. A Hawaiian group led by Felix Mendelssohn and his Seranaders made the song "Mamula Moon" very popular in the 40's. They cut a record of it in 1947.Some historians are of the view that a 19th century French poet and composer Pierre Jean de Barranger was the original person who wrote the music.
So what do we make of all this? I can't help being tickled when I checked up many of the forums and blogs from Indonesia and Malaysia. Many of the comments are wild and incendiary as can be expected in such a tiff. Many Malaysians expressed great disappointment and felt "let down" about the truth of the matter ( that their national anthem was a hijacking and that this exposed the lack of talent among themselves to come up with their very own).Some Indonesians have started calling Malaysia ..." Malingsia ". In bahasa Indonesia the word " maling" means thief!
I think everyone should cool down and just enjoy each other's music, food and culture a bit more, and avoid making embarassing claims that fall flat in the face of historical facts.
Watch this hilarious video clip on the same subject matter!
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