Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Indonesian's Anger with Malaysia



As a Bumiputera who has always respected our Indonesian brothers and enjoyed the most cordial relationship with them, the news that some of them are on the war path against Malaysians is most disheartening. And now the leadership in both countries are talking about ensuring the safety of Malaysians in Indonesia and Indonesians in Malaysia, that the anger, the hunt for Malaysians, the burning of the Jalur Gemilang etc, are the actions of only a few who do not represent the nation.

What urks me most is that the Malaysian leadership does not seem to worry about THE CAUSE OF THE ANGER and take prompt action to right the wrong. There's nothing in the news that would assuage those who are angry with us to hold their patience until whatever goes wrong can be righted. If the Malaysian claim over the Balinese Pendet Dance is indeed the cause ( whoever it was that made the claim!) why can't we just admit that we had borrowed the idea, the concept, the movements, the music or whatever, and apologized over the misinformation, mixed-up or the insensitivity involved. Is it too much to apologize and admit that we have borrowed a lot from Indonesia, considering that many of our ancestors came from that great nation!

Do not ignore the anger and wrath of a few for a spark can start off a wild fire. Address the issue and not the concern and worries of the leadership who sometimes do not consider the few as important until they gather support and become a national movement. If a wrong had been made, be gracious and sincere enough to admit it and do what is necessary to palliate or atone for the mistake. The failure to do this is perhaps what is bugging the Barisan Government as a whole. It's not a weakness to swallow your pride once in a while rather than allow a pride to swallow us up, and ultimately, the entire nation.

5 comments:

rambomadonna said...

Norzah, check out this article written by an Indonesian Journalist on Jakarta Post ... want to know your opinion about it.

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/29112

Hebat lah ... dalam 3 hari, 3 entries! Semuanya bernas-bernas belaka.

rambomadonna said...

oh yes ... I tak baca sin chew, tapi link is from sin chew site hehehe

rambomadonna said...

Aiya ... lupa plak... bila baca this entry, I teringat one night when me and my 3 "sea dayak" friends who happens to be pembaca setia my blog talked about a racial jokes, which is quite sensitive to people yang tak open minded ... so i made a funny comment on the joke when they said suddenly in unison

" Jaga-jaga kau Mie , ada tiga sea dayak dalam kereta tok" hehehe

norzah said...

i've read the article, J. Penulis tu memang broadminded dan membina. Don' be bothered by small things, he said, just copy whatever tourism ploy used by Malaysia that works.

To Indonesia the cultural things from Indo that we claim as our own, are not 'small matter'. I saw a video by an Indo mediahouse, adumberating all the dances and cultural items that Malaysia is supposed to have 'stolen; from Indo and capitalized on. We even borrowed their Minangkabau style house for our pavalion in the Beijing Cultural Fest.

I'm angry with Malaysia for not willing to admit that we do borrow a lot for we came from the same root. Tapi kita telah campur lebih banyak rempah ratus untuk buat jamu budaya Malaysia yang kita pasarkan. Rojak budaya kita lebih sedap dari tempe atau soto. Apa salahnya kita mengaku yg rojak kita adalah rojak 'gadungan'. Namanya 'kan rojak.

Cakap hal rojak apa u dah cuba makan rojak-mee, J. Di Malawati ada satu restoren Deen yg rojak-meenya memang hebat. Kuahnya yg paling best. Nak try datanglah.

rambomadonna said...

I guess, that's what made Indonesia different that us. They love, protect and proud of their identity and culture.

Teringat satu segment Melodi on kebanjiran band Indonesia di Malaysia like Padi, Peterpan, Ungu ... and why our local bands are not successful like the glory days of the Search and Wings. One of the comments was, "Band Malaysia ini tiada identiti nya sendiri, banyaknya kiblat ke barat". Meanning, our music banyak copy cat the West but not homegrown,to cater the local taste.

Wah ... I love Rojak ... Rojak Buah, Rojak Mee. Sure, adalah satu hari tu nanti u see me enjoying the rojak at the restaurant.