#pendetindonesia

It's Ours!

I’m returning from my near-3-week hiatus with a hurt feeling. You’ve heard the news, Malaysia once again uses another Indonesian cultural heritage in their tourism advertisement. It’s definitely an outrage. They’ve claimed Reog Ponorogo. They’ve claimed batik. They’ve claimed Angklung. And now they try to claim Pendet.

Think of it for a while, do they really do Pendet? Of course they don’t. They’re Malaysians. The Malay’s culture is the country’s national identity (if they really have identity after claiming many of other country’s culture). The one that is to some degree similar to the culture of the natives of Riau. Other influential culture is Chinese (the discriminated Chinese descent form 30% of the country’s population), along with Indian and Arabian. And the influence of Islam is so strong in Malaysian culture, that’s why they don’t wear anything that shows too many skin. So, does Bali’s Pendet have a place in this kind of culture? Of course it doesn’t. Like anything Balinese, the influence of Javanese, India, and Hinduism are so strong. Smell anything Malaysian? Surely, you don’t. Some Malaysians might argue that Indonesia and Malaysia were born from the same culture. Wait wait wait! They don’t get it. As I said, only some parts of Indonesia have a lot of similarity with Malaysia, the people mainly live in Eastern coast of Sumatera. The Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, or Moluccas are totally of different culture. And if you have watched the video, they also use Wayang Kulit! I mean, come on! It’s one of UNESCO world heritage! It’s totally Javanese!

If you meet a Westerner who doesn’t believe that Pendet is from Bali, ask him to go to the Island of God and ask locals anything about Pendet. Ask them how to do the dance. Then try to do the same thing in Kuala Lumpur or any other Malaysian cities. The locals will have no clue. They’ll just ask you to google it. Or they might say, “Pendet sounds Balinese, doesn’t it?”.

Anyway, there some conclusions that can be drawn from this particular story. First, our neighboring country doesn’t have that many cultures they can show of to the world. A country that calls itself The Truly Asia, actually is not that colorful compared to its neighbor, relying heavily on the cultures of its immigrant. While Indonesia, a country of more than 17000 islands, is absolutely richer. From Nias’ Lompat Batu, Minangese well-known culinary, Madura’s Karapan Sapi, Toraja’s style funeral, to the Papua’s Koteka, this country certainly feels no need of importing and claiming the cultural heritage of other country. Second, maybe it’s just that Malaysia is not so proud of their own culture, a kind of inferiority that they feel having other country’s culture as their own is a way to better define and express themselves. Just like the fact that they listen more of Indonesian music than their own music. Third, Malaysia is no more than just blood-sucking opportunist that will do everything to get everything that smells like money. Trust me, it’s not the last, and it won’t be the last. They will do anything necessary to promote their tourism industry, even if it means that they have to claim the Asmat as the natives of the country or Saman as their national dance. Will they do it? Of course they will.

Malaysia will soon claim the Asmats

But as we all know, something like this wouldn’t have happened if there was nothing to cause it in the first place. We can’t simply blame our culturally-challenged neighbor. That’s not fair. Have we done wrong? Sure. If the government (in this case the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) had done what the had to do after Batik and Angklung cases, it shouldn’t have happened, again and again. Jero Wacik, the Ministry’s front-man says that they will register the trademark of Indonesian culture that it won’t be claimed again by other country. Pak, I’ve been waiting. We’ve been waiting since Angklung and Batik. With all respect, you’re hell too slow in handling this matter. At least for now, register the trademark of our popular and marketable cultural product, like I said, Saman dance, Lompat Batu, Reog Ponorogo, Pendet, Gamelan, and many others. Even folklore song and story if necessary, so that one day, Malaysia won’t claim Gatotkaca or Sangkuriang. And more important Pak, don’t act like a coward who doesn’t seem to have any balls, smiling to your enemy while they’re trying to stab you from behind. Tell them directly and frankly that you don’t like what they do. Send a letter to the Malaysian government asking that they have to withdraw the advertisement from their tourism promotion and apologize openly for claiming Indonesian cultures as theirs. That’s how you have to do it. It’s a serious matter, national pride is at stake here. Like a foreign country trying to claim your territory, it’s like Ambalat dispute almost. If you don’t do anything spectacular, SBY shouldn’t choose you again. And I think, he won’t.