Cultural Heritage

Hi Everyone,


Some recent events for the past few years should have been a trivial matter. All these things have gone of our proportion. Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia all share the same cultural heritage in terms of food and traditional dances and songs.


The most recent controversy surrounding Malaysia and Indonesia is the Mandailing tor tor dance and Gordang Sembilan dance. The Mandailing community in Malaysia wanted to preserve their culture of the Tor-tor and the Gordang Sembilan dance. It was suggested to Malaysia's Information, Communications and Culture ministry to gazette it as Malaysia's national heritage. Decision have been made to gazette these two dances at Malaysia's national heritage.


This announcement prompted controversy by a group of Indonesians who maintained that Malaysia has stolen their cultural heritage. The group, Pancasila Youths have torced the Malaysian flag and hurled eggs at the Malaysian Embassy in Indonesia. They then went to Malaysia Hall and threw huge stones at the building. The article can be found here:


Bernama
The Star
Jakarta Post


What I don't understand is that the reason they did it. Our culture are similar and yet they are unhappy over small and trivial things like this. It does not mean that we are claiming it to be ours but it is just to recognise the two traditional dances and to protect it from being lost. We should maintain a healthy relationship between each other.


Similar disputes have been on-going for the past few years. The Rasa Sayang song, popular among Malaysians has gone through the same thing. Indonesia claimed that it originated from there when Malaysian used it for the Malaysia Truly Asia truly campaign. Wayang kulit and batik have gone through it as well.


It comes to food as well between Malaysia and Singapore. These include chilli crab, bak kut teh and Hainanese Chicken Rice.


All these food items and traditional dances / songs are common among Asean countries. It is more so among Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Whether or not the food or traditional dances / songs come from which country is not essential in this. Everyone enjoys the food here and there are people who wants to maintain the traditional dances / songs. We enjoy it and share it together. Malaysian and Indonesian batiks have its own styles respectively. There can be even adaptations of each other's style respectively. 


Nasi lemak may have variations in Malaysia and Singapore but everyone likes it. It is unique among South East Asian countries. People from all walks of like enjoys bak kut teh. The same for roti canai.


In a nutshell, these things should unite us. There is no need for us to claim what is supposed to be originated from us and things like that. Why make a big fuss of this?


Cheers,


Rogerkoo