Sunday, September 27, 2009
The closest meaning of the word serumpun would be of the same stock. The word used to reflect the closeness of the two mainstay of the Malay Nusantara (archipelago) - Indonesia and Persekutuan Tanah Melayu or modern day Malaya.
However being serumpun failed to stop hostilities between the two nations in 1962. Indonesia under the president Sukarno started the Konfrantasi (confrontation) to Ganyang Malaysia (crush Malaysia), oppose the formation of the Federation of Malaysia which brought North Borneo (today Sabah), Sarawak, and Singapore together with Malaya into the fold.
The Konfrantasi ended ini 1966 with victory very much favoring Malaysia. There was also a lot of political upheavals in Indonesia which led to the change in the leadership of the republic which contributed to the end of hostilities.
There is more to the Konfrantasi but that is another story.
Suffice to stay, since the hostilities ended, Malaysia-Indonesia relations improved by and by despite hiccups every now and then but none even reach even a fraction of the hostilities during the Konfrantasi.
However, in many instances during these hiccups, some of the Indonesian seemed prone to use the Ganyang Malaysia battle-cry, much to the chagrin of many Malaysian who felt that there was no necessity to invoke those terms which were part of the legacy of the Konfratasi.
Now, it is in fact something to be expected to be shouted by some quarters in Indonesia when upset with Malaysia over issues involving Indonesians, apart from the burning and desecration of the Malaysia flag.
The latest spat which was sparked by accusation that Malaysia had "claimed" the Balinese Pendet dance had let to the invoking of the Ganyang Malaysia and the predictable burning and desecration of the Malaysia flag.
And all these grasdtanding by Indonesian were done despite a detailed explaination by the Malaysian authorities to explain the misunderstanding had been caused by the Singapore-based Discovery Channel which aired several episodes or series of Enigmatic Malaysia, a tourism promotion documentary.
Discovery Channel producers had apologized for making the Pendet dance as Malaysia's, withdrew the episode and replace it with another.
To further prove that Malaysia was very careful about its legacy, it was pointed out that in one of the episode (produced by a local Malaysian company) which highlighted the Malaysian Batek, the producers ensured that it was clearly explained that the Malaysian Batik originated from Indonesia.
Basically, the mistake on the Pendet dance was made by foreign production and had been admitted to, apology extended and the particular documentary withdrawn.
On the part of Malaysia, it was pointed out that its people would go to whatever length to ensure that any shared legacy with Indonesia would be explained in details to avoid incurring wrath with Indonesia.
But these are still not good enough.
A group calling themselves Relawan Ganyang Malaysia is registering volunteers in Indonesia to support the cause to crush Malaysia and reportedly university students are signing up by the droves.
Then, there is also another group which is roaming the streets of Jakarta carrying bamboo spikes and stopping cars to check if there were Malaysian whom they would demand to leave Indonesia.
Then there were calls for the severing of diplomatic ties between the two countries. The only silver lining thus far to the crisis is that the Indonesian authorities and leadership have brushed aside all the saber rattling, declaring as perpetrated by those on the peripherals and did not reflect the sentiments of the majority of the Indonesians.
Be as it may, the saber rattling and the measures taken to prove how serious they were about taking on Malaysia is very disturbing even if pursued by a minority. Their numbers may be small but their "voices" and action are loud for the whole world to hear and see.
It may seem to be quite harsh albeit ridiculous on the part of the Indonesians to react so strongly over an issue of misleading representation of a cultural heritage.
Actually, the latest protest against Malaysia is the strongest after a series of hostiles expression which involved issues of abused Indonesian maid by Malaysian Chinese employer, dispute over oil-rich territory in Ambalat and also two other accusation of theft of Indonesia's legacy - the popular folk song Rasa Sayang (which was used by Malaysia in another tourism promotion) and Malaysia's national anthem Negaraku (which Indonesians claimed to have been adapted from their song Terang Bulan).
Two of the issues - the abuse of maids had seen Malaysian Chinese employers jailed and fined stiffly while the Ambalat dispute is being attended through discussion and negotiation between authorities from both nations.
However, Malaysians are disputing the Indonesian interpretation on the history of the legacy of the two songs and propose that intellectual discourse on the issue would have been much prudent rather than resorting to threats and grandstanding.
One thing which the Indonesians should probably take into consideration before embarking on any public denouncement of Malaysia being "thieves" of their legacy is the very fact of the concept of Nusantara and serumpun.
Firstly, Nusantara meant that Malaysia and Indonesia were both part of the Malay world hence the culture and heritage would have been intertwined.
Secondly, serumpun means that the indigenous people of these two nations are the same and the cross boundaries migration since the day of yore would have seen not only wealth and skills being brought by the migrants but everything of their lifestyles be it cultures, customs, language, food, belief, values and even idiosyncrasies.
In the days of yore too, boundaries never divided the people of Nusantara. The two people are a modern sovereign state concept.
As such, despite the Nusantara being broken up with clear boundaries, the legacy of the people cannot be severed and demarcated as the boundaries.
In Malaysia, there are still group knitted together based on their Indonesian origins from Javanese, Banjaris, Achenese to the Minangs and so forth.
They still practice much of what they brought three or four generation ago though some had adopted what can be described as distinctly Malaysian.
Otherwise, much of what is in Malaysia is very much of what is in Indonesia, a legacy inherited from the Nusantara.
The uptight and angry Indonesians will have to understand this firs.t Then maybe they'd appreciate serumpun.
However being serumpun failed to stop hostilities between the two nations in 1962. Indonesia under the president Sukarno started the Konfrantasi (confrontation) to Ganyang Malaysia (crush Malaysia), oppose the formation of the Federation of Malaysia which brought North Borneo (today Sabah), Sarawak, and Singapore together with Malaya into the fold.
The Konfrantasi ended ini 1966 with victory very much favoring Malaysia. There was also a lot of political upheavals in Indonesia which led to the change in the leadership of the republic which contributed to the end of hostilities.
There is more to the Konfrantasi but that is another story.
Suffice to stay, since the hostilities ended, Malaysia-Indonesia relations improved by and by despite hiccups every now and then but none even reach even a fraction of the hostilities during the Konfrantasi.
However, in many instances during these hiccups, some of the Indonesian seemed prone to use the Ganyang Malaysia battle-cry, much to the chagrin of many Malaysian who felt that there was no necessity to invoke those terms which were part of the legacy of the Konfratasi.
Now, it is in fact something to be expected to be shouted by some quarters in Indonesia when upset with Malaysia over issues involving Indonesians, apart from the burning and desecration of the Malaysia flag.
The latest spat which was sparked by accusation that Malaysia had "claimed" the Balinese Pendet dance had let to the invoking of the Ganyang Malaysia and the predictable burning and desecration of the Malaysia flag.
And all these grasdtanding by Indonesian were done despite a detailed explaination by the Malaysian authorities to explain the misunderstanding had been caused by the Singapore-based Discovery Channel which aired several episodes or series of Enigmatic Malaysia, a tourism promotion documentary.
Discovery Channel producers had apologized for making the Pendet dance as Malaysia's, withdrew the episode and replace it with another.
To further prove that Malaysia was very careful about its legacy, it was pointed out that in one of the episode (produced by a local Malaysian company) which highlighted the Malaysian Batek, the producers ensured that it was clearly explained that the Malaysian Batik originated from Indonesia.
Basically, the mistake on the Pendet dance was made by foreign production and had been admitted to, apology extended and the particular documentary withdrawn.
On the part of Malaysia, it was pointed out that its people would go to whatever length to ensure that any shared legacy with Indonesia would be explained in details to avoid incurring wrath with Indonesia.
But these are still not good enough.
A group calling themselves Relawan Ganyang Malaysia is registering volunteers in Indonesia to support the cause to crush Malaysia and reportedly university students are signing up by the droves.
Then, there is also another group which is roaming the streets of Jakarta carrying bamboo spikes and stopping cars to check if there were Malaysian whom they would demand to leave Indonesia.
Then there were calls for the severing of diplomatic ties between the two countries. The only silver lining thus far to the crisis is that the Indonesian authorities and leadership have brushed aside all the saber rattling, declaring as perpetrated by those on the peripherals and did not reflect the sentiments of the majority of the Indonesians.
Be as it may, the saber rattling and the measures taken to prove how serious they were about taking on Malaysia is very disturbing even if pursued by a minority. Their numbers may be small but their "voices" and action are loud for the whole world to hear and see.
It may seem to be quite harsh albeit ridiculous on the part of the Indonesians to react so strongly over an issue of misleading representation of a cultural heritage.
Actually, the latest protest against Malaysia is the strongest after a series of hostiles expression which involved issues of abused Indonesian maid by Malaysian Chinese employer, dispute over oil-rich territory in Ambalat and also two other accusation of theft of Indonesia's legacy - the popular folk song Rasa Sayang (which was used by Malaysia in another tourism promotion) and Malaysia's national anthem Negaraku (which Indonesians claimed to have been adapted from their song Terang Bulan).
Two of the issues - the abuse of maids had seen Malaysian Chinese employers jailed and fined stiffly while the Ambalat dispute is being attended through discussion and negotiation between authorities from both nations.
However, Malaysians are disputing the Indonesian interpretation on the history of the legacy of the two songs and propose that intellectual discourse on the issue would have been much prudent rather than resorting to threats and grandstanding.
One thing which the Indonesians should probably take into consideration before embarking on any public denouncement of Malaysia being "thieves" of their legacy is the very fact of the concept of Nusantara and serumpun.
Firstly, Nusantara meant that Malaysia and Indonesia were both part of the Malay world hence the culture and heritage would have been intertwined.
Secondly, serumpun means that the indigenous people of these two nations are the same and the cross boundaries migration since the day of yore would have seen not only wealth and skills being brought by the migrants but everything of their lifestyles be it cultures, customs, language, food, belief, values and even idiosyncrasies.
In the days of yore too, boundaries never divided the people of Nusantara. The two people are a modern sovereign state concept.
As such, despite the Nusantara being broken up with clear boundaries, the legacy of the people cannot be severed and demarcated as the boundaries.
In Malaysia, there are still group knitted together based on their Indonesian origins from Javanese, Banjaris, Achenese to the Minangs and so forth.
They still practice much of what they brought three or four generation ago though some had adopted what can be described as distinctly Malaysian.
Otherwise, much of what is in Malaysia is very much of what is in Indonesia, a legacy inherited from the Nusantara.
The uptight and angry Indonesians will have to understand this firs.t Then maybe they'd appreciate serumpun.
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