INDONESIA: What's next on that list ? 2009/09/22
IT is very disappointing indeed that the relationship between Malaysia and Indonesia is undergoing severe strain because of cultural issues, such as the Rasa Sayang song and the pendet dance. The latest issue is batik, which the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation will recognise as an Indonesian cultural treasure on Oct 2. Though Malaysia will no longer be able to claim that batik also comes from Malaysia, we should adopt other measures to establish this. One way would be to change the term "Batik Malaysia" to something else, perhaps "Corak Malaysia" or "Koleksi Malaysia". Malaysia can still produce the same design but call it by these alternative names. Simple, right? After all, Singapore did the same thing when it bought fresh rambutans from Malaysia, took the skin off, put the seedless fruit in a can with syrup flavour and called it "Singapore longans". I have a feeling that soon the Minangkabau dance can no longer be used by the Negri Sembilan State Tourism to promote the state because Indonesia will claim that that the dance also belongs to Indonesia. If nothing is done by our government, I foresee that Indonesia will start claiming other things as well. My opinion is that Indonesia can never be a good neighbour to Malaysia because of the arrogant attitude of some Indonesians. They believe that their country can survive without the help of Malaysians and that Malaysia cannot last without the help of Indonesians. Malaysia is better off with neighbours like Thailand and Singapore. KUDIN Subang Jaya http://www.nst. com.my/articles/ 18baty/A ... index_html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
