Indonesia dan Malaysia

Serumpun, bukan Sepadan

Is it just me or is everyone a bad neighbor?

 

I consider myself a bad neighbor. And I consider my neighbors, bad neighbors.

 

The worst part is, my neighbor is my own cousin. The only contact we would make is during the celebratory period of the year, Chinese New Year, and that is obviously an empty gesture of respect.

 

Let’s go on a bigger scale.

 

Take the United States and Canada. They hate each other. (Okay, to be on the fair side, almost everyone hates Americans). But none the less, they are still bad neighbors.

 

Now let’s spin the globe and magnify our region. There are Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

 

Singapore and Malaysia make ‘Okay’ neighbors. Sure, there were some political heat-waves rocking the two and the frequent ‘Kiasu’ stereotyping of the Merlion citizens, but the two remain steady.

 

But what is really interesting is the relationship between Indonesia and Malaysia.

 

These two neighbors are known to be as ‘Serumpun’, meaning, ‘of the same roots’.

 

Though that may seem like an upside for many eyes and it could possibly guarantee stronger relationships and harmony due to the similarity of the two, I think it is quite on the contrary.

 

Conflicts that explode amongst brethren are usually the ugliest.

 

A great example would be the Sunni and the Shi’ite war. Separated by a degree of belief in Islam, the two have created a war that is persistent to this very day and not to mention, one of the bloodiest.

 

Though that is very unlikely happen to Indonesia and Malaysia (I hope not), in a small scale the conflict is comparable.

 

The Conflicts

 

As many are aware, Indonesia and Malaysia have been on rows of conflicts recently.

 

It started when the Indonesian national workers were being actively abused in Malaysia which then sparked the first national outrage.

 

Then it led to another incident of a brutal beating of an Indonesian karate coach and the mistreatment of an Indonesian diplomat’s wife by the Malaysian Rela group. (Malaysian Rela is a group of volunteers recruited by the government to help crack down the entering illegal immigrants)

 

By that time, the media in Indonesia went wild. Headlines and national dialogues were focused on the diplomatic ties between RI (Republic Indonesia) and Malaysia.

 

I still remember a news session that took the views of Jakarta citizens towards Malaysia and almost all of them responded negatively.

 

But what really escalated the conflict was the use of the ‘Rasa Sayang’ song by the Malaysian government as their official tourism campaign.

 

In Maluku, Indonesia, the citizens claimed that the song originated there and that it goes by the name ‘Rasa Sajange’.

 

The defense of the Malaysian government was that it is a folk song of the Malays and none could prove its origination.

 

Then came the most recent Reog Ponogore incident.

 

In one of Malaysia’s tourism events, the Reog Ponorogo dance that is famous in Ponogoro region of Indonesia, is being performed by Malaysians and again, claimed by the Malaysian government to be part of their traditional heritage.

 

That incident led to a recent demonstration outside the Malaysia’s embassy in Jakarta that involved the Reog dancers demanding Malaysia to stop claiming Indonesia’s cultural diversity.

 

 

An interesting twist happened because the Ambassador of Malaysia in Indonesia admitted that Reog Ponogoro is indeed one of Indonesia true heritages, but later defended that what Malaysia performed was a Barongan dance that belongs to them. (Which I recently read that Barongan is a ‘mutation’ of the Reog)

 

The War On-Line

 

Inflammatory remarks made between the people of the two countries have been transparent in the cyber world.

 

Indonesians twisted the name of Malaysia to Malingsia, which the word Maling meaning ‘thief’, and even cleverly ‘renovated’ Malaysia Tourism Promo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Malaysians retaliated with the long standing term ‘Indon’ used to describe Indonesians, that supposedly means ‘Damn Indonesians’

 

 

The virtual war has made a such a controversy it even made it to a prominent Indonesian news channel, Liputan6 (www.liputan6.com), to be its ‘This Week’s Topic’.

 

SCTV – Liputan6 ‘Topik Minggu Ini’

 

 

To a ridiculous extent, there are even blogs/websites dedicated to spreading the hatred.

 

 

 

Who’s the Better Malay?

Many people think this conflict is a case of hit and run between the two countries, but there is a hidden degree of true complexity to how this have all started (at least from the way I observed it).

 

I emphasized before how a brethren war is always the ugliest. Well, this is the beginning of something ugly.

 

Ultimately there are two catalysts in the escalation of the ongoing conflicts. First would be the Malaysian Government, and second would be the Indonesian Media.

 

Malaysian government is ambitious and goes to whatever extent there is to proclaim what’s best for its image (not necessarily the country). We also know that the political parties in Malaysia are often race based, if not, by religions.

 

It seems to me that because Indonesia and Malaysia are serumpun, each of the country is trying to outdo each other to be seen as the better part, or “Who’s the better Malay?”

 

This I think is what has been leading to the undermining perception of Indonesian citizens by the Malaysians (especially the Bumiputeras). And of course, with the help of the booming economy Malaysia is seeing, the prejudice is increasing.

 

This inconvenient truth had been lying dormant in the hearts of many people and only recently, it exploded.

 

The Malaysian government is also fuelling this sense of false superiority amongst its many people by hiding the ugly facts and only presenting the glorious achievements.

 

As I am aware, many of my Malaysian friends remain unaware to the ‘world perception’ of their country because the government is controlling what their media is presenting. Rarely will you see an article that portrays the ‘bad side of Malaysia’, especially about its government. (Fortunately there is the internet)

 

 

The Fuel

 

On the other hand, the angry Indonesians are fuelled directly by the ‘honest’ media in Indonesia. (personally, as much as I love the media, I don’t really believe in it. No matter how honest they can be.)

 

Freedom of the press is so guaranteed in Indonesia, it has become the trusted source by many of the people.

 

There were not only news reporting the incidents of the two countries but there were also many parodies poking fun of the political strains.

 

This, what I think, is what really geared up the anger of many Indonesians towards Malaysia.

 

The twisted fact in this is that Indonesians are angry to the actions made by the Malaysian government but they also generalize these actions towards the Malaysian citizens.

 

As far as I can tell, the Malaysian government is not exactly the best representative to the real Malaysian people.

 

Indonesians need to know that Malaysians are shielded from proper information.

 

The only medium they could learn about it is through the Internet, and the Internet is already filled with many derogatory and inflammatory terms being thrown at each other.

 

How can one expect to learn decent information, when what is out there is socially provocative and challenging?

 

We may be Serumpun, but if this continues, we may never be sepadan.