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JAKARTA: Simmering anger in Indonesia over Malaysia’s “theft”
of a traditional dance is spurring unlikely calls for war in the
latest spat between the two traditionally testy neighbors.
The dispute started in Indonesia in August after
word spread Malaysia had screened tourism advertisements featuring
the traditional “pendet” dance of Indonesia’s Hindu-majority
Bali island.
The ad quickly turned out to have been a botched
promotion for a Discovery Channel program on Malaysia, with no role
played whatsoever by Malaysia’s government. But that has done
little to dampen feelings here.
Protesters vowing to “crush Malaysia” have
burned Malaysian flags and thrown rotten eggs at the country’s
embassy, while local media have for weeks run a steady stream of
reports of Malaysian outrages, most of them recycled.
Many media have also studiously ignored an
admission of guilt and apology from Discovery.
Symbolic gestures
Nationalists—as they do in nearly every one of
the two countries’ frequent disputes—have already opened
registration for volunteers willing to go to war with Malaysia, but
admit this is largely a symbolic gesture.
“Malaysia has, in so many ways, robbed, stolen
from and insulted Indonesia . . . we’re offended as a people.
We’re angry, we’re disappointed, we’re upset,” Mustar
Bonaventura, the coordinator of a Jakarta recruitment drive by
nationalist youth group Bendera told Agence France-Presse.
“We have 486 volunteers who have signed up,
and they are ready for any consequences . . . All that’s left for
us with Malaysia is war,” he said.
Bonaventura conceded war was very unlikely, but
said the group had stockpiled food, medicine and weapons including
samurai swords and ninja throwing stars, just in case.
Indonesian politicians have also voiced their
displeasure to Malaysia over the controversy, and received apologies
in return, but the issue has refused to die down.
Last straw
For Bonaventura and others, the pendet dance
controversy is only the latest in a string of perceived insults by
Indonesia’s wealthier and more developed neighbor.
Stories of horrific mistreatment of Indonesian
migrant workers by their Malaysian bosses have for years raised
public anger, as have territorial disputes over islands and the two
nations’ shared maritime boundaries.
Indonesian nationalists have also claimed in
recent weeks that Malaysia’s national anthem plagiarized an
Indonesian song, but have been dealt a blow by musicologists who say
both borrow from a 19th-century French tune.
A 2007 dispute over the use of “Rasa Sayange,”
a folk song that originated in Indonesia’s Maluku islands, in a
Malaysian tourism ad also has more than a whiff of familiarity with
the current dispute.
Long history
According to political analyst Wimar Witoelar,
the current spat draws on a long history of resentment that has
built up between Indonesia and Malaysia despite largely similar
languages and cultures.
Witoelar said the roots lie mainly in the early
1960s, when charismatic former President Sukarno whipped Indonesia
into a fervor in a campaign of “konfrontasi,” or armed
confrontation aimed at destabilizing the newly created Federation of
Malaysia.
“The basic resentment that Sukarno encouraged
did not go away easily. It was just submerged, so it become
significant when it turned out Malaysia became more successful,
especially economically,” he said.
Spats over culture and tourism are part of this
built-up resentment, Witoelar said.
Despite 17,000 tropical islands, beaches, reefs
and a rich cultural heritage, just over six million foreign tourists
visited Indonesia last year, compared with around 22 million
visitors to Malaysia.
Provoked by a sensationalist media, this is just
another issue of hurt pride that can incite people “deprived of
common sense, deprived of intelligence, deprived of
understanding,” he said.
-- AFP
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