THE reason why Malaysia has succeeded as a tourist destination is because it is truly Asia. Our culture comprises all the Asian elements be it Indian, Chinese, Arab, Indo Chinese or indigenous Malaysians. You will find pieces of Asia in this beautiful land and they meld into each other with ease.

Therefore, I feel that the Tourism Minister should not remove a piece of our Malaysia Truly Asia element by stopping barongan and endang dances in its promotions simply because Indonesians claim these “belong” to Indonesia. I also hope the Chinese lion dance and the vibrant Indian dances don’t suffer a similar fate for “fear” that they have originated from other countries.

Of late, Indonesia has been quite vocal in its claims that we have been using its culture, especially music and dance, for tourism promotion activities. Reog Ponorogo (barongan in Malaysia) activists even demonstrated outside the Malaysian Embassy in Indonesia against the performance of Barongan.

The Tourism Minister has been pressured to strike out these performances, which I think is not a really wise thing to do.

Culture is one thing which is never original and never will be. Go Japan and you will hear Chinese elements in its music, songs and dances. Go to Indo-China and you will experience Indian or Chinese elements in their culture. Go Latin America or even The Philippines and you will see Spanish elements in their culture.

All over the world, people influence one another and there is no one culture that is truly original. Should we all give up our cultures then?

The English language that we use, sometimes to promote our culture, is not ours too. Should we stop using it then?

If we start striking out performances or music with foreign-perceived roots, then we will have to strike out lion dances, the zapin, bharata natyam and so forth. How then are we going to justify our promotion tagline of Malaysia Truly Asia?

Even if certain performances had their roots in Indonesian culture, I am sure these would have evolved to acquire a Malaysian identity, especially in the costumes as well as the way they are presented.

Moreover, haven’t historians on both sides of the Straits tell us both Indonesia and Malaysia grew out of the same mother — the Johore Empire?

Culture is something reflective of a country’s people. As we are a multi-racial country, our culture will always reflect elements of Asia.