Sunday, August 30, 2009

Pendet - dance from Bali, Indonesia

A simple dance can be the source of friction between 2 countries. Tourism Malaysia commissioned an advertisement to promote Malaysia and those given the task had included Pendet, a dance that originated from Bali, Indonesia. Indonesia threw up a huge hue and cry claiming Malaysia is stealing Indonesia's intellectual properties.

It should be noted that many of the current Malaysia's Malays can trace their ancestry to Indonesia, just as many Chinese can trace their ancestry to China and Indians to India. The lion dance which originated from China has been taken to be as part of Malaysia's cultural heritage and no one from China objected. Malaysia after all is a melting pot and that is why Tourism Malaysia is promoting Malaysia as "Malaysia, truly Asia" as in Malaysia, a visitors can experience the culture of the 3 major cultures - China, India and Indonesia. There should be nothing wrong in including Pendet in Tourism Malaysia's advertisement.

Anyway, below are some videos to show you what exactly is the Pendet dance:







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