"Rasa Sayang" or "Rasa Sayange" is a folk song in Malay language, popular in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The basis of "Rasa Sayang" is similar to Dondang Sayang and other Malay folk songs, which take their form from the pantun, a traditional ethnic Malay poetic form. Some people in Indonesia have claimed that the song originated in the Maluku Islands, but such claims are disputed. The origin of the song was the subject of debate among certain circles in Indonesia and Malaysia. The Malaysian Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage, Rais Yatim, recognize that Rasa Sayange is a shared property, between Indonesia and Malaysia.
Lyrics
Because this song is in pantun form, for each quatrain, there is no relevance of the first two lines to the message conveyed by the last two except to provide the rhyming scheme. There are a number of versions of the lyrics of "Rasa Sayang", but it usually starts with this refrain: The refrain is then followed by a wide variety of popular Malay pantun
Controversy
Controversy over the song's provenance came to a head in 2007 when the Malaysian Tourism Board released the Rasa Sayang Commercial, an advertisement used as part of Malaysia's "Truly Asia" tourism campaign. Some Indonesians have accused Malaysia of heritage theft. Malaysia in return claimed that the song belongs to people of Maritime Southeast Asia, Malaysians and Indonesians alike. Malaysian Tourism Minister Adnan Mansor stated, "It is a folk song from the Nusantara and we are part of the Nusantara." Indonesian media reported to have in possession the oldest recording of the song. "Rasa Sayange" is known to be recorded first at the 1962 Lokananta Solo record company on November 11, 2007. The LPs were distributed as souvenirs to participants of the 4th Asian Games in 1962 in Jakarta, and the song "Rasa Sayange" was one of the Indonesian folk songs on the dish, along with other Indonesian ethnic songs such as Cheers for Joy, O Ina ni Keke, and Sengko Dainang. Earlier in 1959, a comedy film in Malay language titled Rasa Sayang Eh was produced by Cathay Keris in Singapore. The song also appeared in the Japanese filmMarai no Tora in 1943, depicting the exploits of a Japanese secret agentTani Yutaka in Malaya during the World War II. Long before that, the Dutch East Indies now had made promotional recordings using this song before World War II. This film, titled Insulinde zooals het leeft en werkt, was published between 1937 and 1940, and is described as a silent film. A copy of this digital film was distributed via YouTube by multimedia expert Roy Suryo, who claimed to have found this digital film, but admitted that he had not yet found the original film. The rhythm of the song Rasa Sayang that was heard in the film Insulinde, a film that portrays the Dutch East Indies from 1937-1940, can be watched in Rasa Sayang Sayange in the Dutch film. The original footage of this film is stored in the Gedung Arsip Nasional, Jakarta.
