Cultural performances originating from Indonesia, such as the "Barongan" and "Endang" dances, are to be shelved from Malaysian tourism promotion activities due to the controversy raised by cultural activists from the republic.
Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said today the decision was taken to ease the controversy while the matter was sorted out by the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry with the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
"The (barongan) dance thrives in Johor. If we look at history, our forefathers who migrated here had brought the culture and way of life from Indonesia to be part of our culture.
"In the old days, there were no boundaries between Malaysia and Indonesia, no passports, and not even an immigration system," he told reporters after opening a mass circumcision programme at the Putrajaya Hospital, here.
His announcement came in the wake of a demonstration by Reog Ponorogo (Barongan in Malaysia) activists outside the Malaysian Embassy in Indonesia recently, disparaging Malaysia for what it claimed was promoting the dance as part of the Malaysian culture.
Of late, the Indonesian media has also been critical of Malaysian songs and dances performed at official functions and over television which it claimed belonged to the republic.
Related:
Monday, December 3, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
uhmm... "originating rom indonesia"? bwaahhaaa haaa... Come on! Since when Indonesia is the creator of cultures/dances etc? Your "original" dances and cultures dont originate from your land, my dear indonesians. They actually originate from India and China.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised if this comment dont get published. Indonesians, its time to learn where your "original" heritage ORIGINALLY came from!
ok! let get this straight mr/mrs no name
ReplyDeleteIndian or chinese come to Indonesia hundreds year ago. if you read history, Indonesia already have their own ancient culture it self, so it was mixed culture not really original Indian/Chinese
show me one of dance that have almost one hundred percent similarity with our barongan/endang.
if you can give me examples... ok I believe you're right...