The DPR's Urge Regarding The Request For A Memorandum Of Protest To Malaysia Regarding The Bandung Halo-halo Is Appropriate

Photo by Valentino Funghi on Unsplash

JAKARTA - The DPR's proposal to encourage the Government to send a protest note to Malaysia regarding the plagiarization of the song Halo-Halo Bandung is considered appropriate. This is considered as Indonesia's firmness for the violations committed by the Malaysian side.

"What the DPR has voiced is that the Government send a note of objection regarding plagiarism is the right and appropriate step to support," said Tourism, Art and Culture Observer, Taufan Rahmadi, Friday, September 15.

Taufan said that the plagiarization of the song Halo-Halo Bandung by YouTube creators from Malaysia was something that the Indonesian government should respond quickly. Because it does not rule out the possibility that there will be more Indonesian regional songs whose lyrics and arrangements have been changed by the Malaysian side for their benefit.

"The DPR needs to urge the Indonesian government to protest and ask the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, to reprimand and impose strict sanctions on his citizens who made the plagiarism," said Taufan.

He added that the Government's firmness is considered important considering that Malaysia has often recognized the original arts and culture of Indonesia as its own. At least, there are 14 Indonesian indigenous cultures that are claimed to come from Malaysia, ranging from culinary, traditional dances, regional songs, to products inherited from the archipelago culture.

"This plagiarism is not the first time this has happened but has happened many times, therefore there must be concrete steps taken as preventive measures so that incidents do not happen again," hoped Taufan.

The founder of Indonesian Tourism Strategic said that preventive measures were needed from the Government so that Indonesia's cultural arts heritage was not recognized by other countries. According to Taufan, monitoring can be maximized through the role of the Indonesian Embassy (KBRI) in each friendly country.

"We encourage the Indonesian Embassy-KBRI around the world, not only the Indonesian Embassy in Malaysia, to actively monitor and socialize to prevent similar things from being done by other countries," explained the author of the Destination Protocol book.

Taufan assessed that claims by Indonesian cultural arts by other countries could have an impact on Indonesian tourism. This is because many foreign tourists want to visit tourist destinations because of cultural arts owned by a nation.

"We must prevent our artistic claims and cultural heritage by other countries from reducing foreign tourists' interest in coming to Indonesia," said Taufan.

Through the supervisory function of the council, Taufan also hopes that the DPR can always provide input to the Government, especially because of the problem of plagiarizing the song Halo-halo Bandung by Malaysia has angered the Indonesian people.

"The government must listen to what the DPR said because the DPR speaks as a representation of the people. What the members of the council said was the aspirations of the Indonesian people," he said.

In the case of plagiarizing the song Halo-Halo Bandung, Taufan also asked the government to create a task force (Satgas) aimed at protecting Indonesia's cultural wealth. With the presence of the Task Force, it is hoped that the Government can respond quickly to any alleged copyright infringement or claims of Indonesian cultural arts heritage.

"The President of Indonesia needs to form a kind of Task Force tasked with safeguarding and making rescue efforts in preserving the wealth of Indonesian cultural arts," said Taufan.

According to him, the Task Force can come from representatives across ministries/agencies that have the authority to preserve Indonesian culture. That way, said Taufan, the Government can move quickly to handle cases such as plagiarizing the song Halo-halo Bandung.