Malaysia's Song Allegedly Jiplak Halo, Halo Bandung, Kadri Mohamad: We Must Demand And Give Pressure

Kadri Mohamad (Instagram @thekadrimohamad)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian public is enlivened with the discussion of the song Halo, Halo Bandung which is plagiarized and uploaded on Malaysia's YouTube channel under the name Kanak TV song.

Hello, Halo Bandung, known as the song created by Ismail Marzuki in memory of the Bandung Lautan Api incident, changed the lyrics and given the title Hello Kuala Lumpur.

Kadri Mohamad, a music activist who is often called Singing Lawyer, stated that the problem must be seen more carefully.

He said that the first thing that must be proven is Halo, Halo Bandung is a song created by Ismail Marzuki.

"We have to make sure first that Halo, Halo Bandung is indeed from Ismail Marzuki, and has been announced according to the law in Indonesia," said Kadri Mohamad when met in Cirendeu, South Tangerang on Tuesday, September 12.

Through this proof, it was only questioned whether the Copyright Law in Malaysia was the same as Indonesia regarding the declaration of song creation.

"In Indonesia, as long as it has been declared legal. But we don't know, is there registration in Malaysia other than the declaration?" said Kadri.

Furthermore, Kadri Mohamad sees that Indonesia must be able to ensure that Halo, Halo Bandung are the creations of the nation's children, and demand that songwriters or content creators of Hello Kuala Lumpur. Although the last thing he admitted was quite difficult to do.

"We have to demand and give pressure that the song is an Indonesian song, and there must be a certain campaign," said Kadri.

"So that later we can appoint lawyers there (Malaysia) to sue, but not necessarily want because this is a state problem," he added.

Regarding the possibility of differences in the Copyright Law in Indonesia and Malaysia, Kadri said there should be further analysis.

However, broadly speaking, he said the Laws of the two countries should not conflict, given the country's agreement with the Bern Convention on the protection of works of art and literature.

"The concept of countries regarding HAKI should be the same, we submit to the Bern Convention," concluded Kadri Mohamad.