But that is in the past now. Rasa Sayang Eh! has recently caused a spat between Malaysia and Indonesia. Citizens from both countries exchanged harsh words over Malaysia using the song as backdrop for tourism advertisement. There was even a call for war from a certain country angry citizens.

A scene of few Malays pretending to be drunk singing Rasa Sayang Eh! from a Malay film of the same title. This film was produced in 1959 in Singapore casting Wahid Satay and Kasma Booty.

One can easily google what it’s all about. As the relation between the two countries has not improved much since then, people of today would no longer able to sing the song the way it was meant as before. It is ironic that a song once sung to commemorate newly found friends is now serves only to remind ourself with sentiment and hate to others. The way it is now, people will remember Rasa Sayang Eh! as a ‘friendly’ song that almost caused a war between two neighboring country.

Rasa Sayang Eh!

rasa sayang eh
rasa sayang sayang eh
eh lihat nona jauh
rasa sayang sayang eh

buah cempedak di luar pagar
ambil galah tolong jolokkan
saya budak baru belajar
kalau salah tolong tunjukkan

pulau pandan jauh ke tengah
gunung daik bercabang tiga
hancur badan di kandung tanah
budi yang baik di kenang juga

dua tiga kucing berlari
mana sama si kucing belang
dua tiga boleh ku cari
mana sama abang seorang

pisang emas dibawa berlayar
masak sebiji di atas peti
hutang emas boleh di bayar
hutang budi di bawa mati

Meaning

“rasa” means “feel”

“sayang” has several meanings in this song. its literal definition is “love” – the friendly kind.

in this song, “rasa sayang” means “to feel love” and “to feel so much love that one gets heavy hearted to release/leave.”

“rasa sayang” is usually sung among new friends, and frequently as one parts.

“lihat nona jauh” means “to see a girl so far away / moving further and further away” and this is the reason one feels “love” and “heavy hearted.”

Technorati Tags: Brunei, Folk song, Indonesia, Malaysia, Malaysian, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand

Related posts:

1. The Feud Between Neighbors

If you want to know if someone is a good person or not, ask his neighbor. If you asked anyone closed to him/her like friends or with family ties, most probably they will tell only the good things. In modern days, neighbor are liked watchdog, they looked at you for your lackings, whatever might be your wrongdoings as their eyes hawked over for your dirty laundry. Neighbors supposedly talked about each others, good or bad, undiscriminately, usually behind your back.

So they say.

Bordering with Malaysia are Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, the Philippines and Indonesia . These are Malaysia’s most immediate neighbors.

In not so old days, Singapore used to be just a district in Johore, one of Malaysia’s 13 states. Recently Malaysia has lost the Pedra Blanca or Pulau Batu Putih to Singapore in the International Court of Justice. The general Malaysian public was furious for losing a piece of land to a runaway island.

3 southernmost states in Thailand; Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani used to be part of ancient Hindu Malay kingdom Langkasuka, together with Kelantan, Perlis and Kedah of Malaysia’s northernmost. These 3 states, mainly consist from Malay muslim population, are now in turmoil with capital Bangkok over Muslim separatist movement.

The region of present-day Sabah was part of the Sultanate of Brunei around the early 16th century. The present-day Brunei is tiny compared to its glory days. Recently Brunei has officially dropped its long-standing territorial claim over Limbang, a northern division in Sarawak, ending the long-standing Malaysia-Brunei boundary issues.

The Philippines has dormant claim over Sabah as part of the Sultan of Sulu’s sovereignty, once a prize for helping the Sultan of Brunei against his enemies.

Indonesia has the most dispute with Malaysia. Historically parts of Malaysia used to be Indonesia and vice versa, depending on which period of civilization you looked at. Most favored by the Indonesian is the Majapahit era whilst most favored by Malaysian would probably be during the Malay Sultanate of Malacca. However, major parts of both countries were once united under the ancient Buddhist Malay Kingdom of Srivijaya on the island of Sumatra. Dispute between Malaysia and Indonesia nowadays mainly involved territorial claims and border related issues. Recently Indonesia has lost Sipadan and Ligitan island to Malaysia in the International Court of Justice, causing Malaysia’s subsequent claim over Ambalat. This and with other matters has caused the Indonesian public rewaging a ‘Ganyang Malaysia’ (destroy Malaysia) sentiment, once waged by the late President Sukarno over the inclusion of Sabah and Sarawak and formation of Malaysia in 1963 . As of today, the Malaysia map is following what was once determined by the Bristish, as Indonesia’s by the Dutch.

So basically we are screwed and mainly surrounded with enemies as neighbors. In that case, should you wanting to know about Malaysia, check your sources, its better if you read it from us first hand.

Technorati Tags: Ambalat, Brunei, history, Indonesia, International Court of Justice, Malaysia, Malaysia Deals, Malaysia Insider, Malaysia News, Narathiwat, Pattani, Pedra Blanca, Pulau Batu Putih, Singapore, Thailand, Yala

Related posts:

1. Kelantan Vs Negeri Sembilan, The Update
2. Man of the Forest
3. Rasa Sayang Eh!