Mar 09 2009
Malaysia’s National Anthem
I was intrigued to read about the Czech Republic’s national anthem which is actually half of its original; a “divorced anthem”, as Golden Prague puts it. Malaysia’s national anthem has no such divorce in its history, but does have some interesting information surrounding it, nonetheless.
First, let’s take a look at the anthem itself:
| Malay | English translation |
| Negaraku, tanah tumpahnya darahku, Rakyat hidup bersatu dan maju, Rahmat bahagia Tuhan kurniakan, Raja kita selamat bertakhta. Rahmat bahagia Tuhan kurniakan, Raja kita selamat bertakhta. |
My country, the land where my blood is spilled The people live united and progressive, God grants blessings of happiness Our King reigns in peace. God grants blessings of happiness Our King reigns in peace. |
Here’s how it sounds (with another English translation provided as subtitles):
Perhaps some of you (older?) folk might recognise the tune? It seems it also exists (with totally different lyrics, of course) as Mamulan Moon, Malayan Moon, La Rosalie and Terang Bulan (Bright Moon). Terang Bulan was in fact a popular tune in jukeboxes and cabarets back in the 50’s, but upon the tune being made into Malaysia’s national anthem, the song was no longer allowed to be played in such places, if at all, in order to respect the national anthem.
Can you imagine this anthem made into a more up-tempo tune? That happened back in 1992, when it was given a marching beat. Ugh. I never liked it. Neither did most of the country, it seems, although it took slightly over a decade before it was put right.
Then in 2007, a Malaysian Chinese studying in Taiwan became infamous for posting on YouTube a video of himself making the national anthem into a Chinese rap song that criticises the Malaysian government and Malays. It caused quite an uproar, and you can read more about it here.
An interesting point to note: the use of Tuhan as opposed to Allah. To me, Tuhan is a general all-encompassing non-denominational term for God, while the latter, even though meaning “the God” in Arabic, seems more appropriate to refer to the God of the Muslims. As such, I like that the lyrics acknowledge a higher authority without pinning it down to the Muslim one only; or at least, that’s how I read it. (On a related aside: Recently, there’s been some rumblings and grumblings about a Christian church newsletter that is published in the Malay language and refers to God as Allah. Last month, they were allowed to continue with the practice, only to be disallowed within the same week. It’s a mess. You can read more about it here)
How often do/did you sing your national anthem? I used to sing the national anthem of Malaysia every day at the start of secondary school, followed by the patriotic song du jour. Every. Single. Morning. In addition, on Mondays, we’d also recite the Rukunegara. While for the life of me I can’t remember the patriotic song we had to sing, I can recite the Rukunegara easily: ah, the wonders of brainwashing! 
While in elementary school we would sing My Country Tis’ Of Thee and recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day. After elementary though, I don’t remember ever singing it or saying it at school.
People don’t sing the American national anthem in school if they can help it; it’s too difficult. (I mean, the thing covers more than an octave in range, particularly getting into places where a soprano’s going to make everyone flinch and everyone else’s voice will crack first.) It’s to be expected given the original tune was a drinking song. “To Anachreon in Heaven…”–and we’re reminded of that every time someone starts adding new notes when singing it at the beginning of a sports event. What Francis Scott Key was thinking I hesitate to guess. Of course, then there’s the fact that nobody ever sings the original second verse; too belligerent.
Then again, I still get a laugh out of the fact that My Country ‘Tis of Thee, one of the two most favored substitutes for it, borrowed its tune from “God Save the Queen” (nobody ever sings the second verse of that one, either, for the same reason). And even America the Beautiful is a co-opted tune (the original began “Oh Mother Dear, Jerusalem…”).
That’s really interesting–I agree with you on the connotations of Allah, too, so it makes sense that they’d go with a different word. The funny thing with our patriotic songs (I’m trying to remember if our national anthem actually uses the word “God”, and…can’t without singing it through. I am lame) is that although the actual word “God” doesn’t necessarily refer to the Christian God, since it’s awfully non-specific in and of itself and could be a translation of more specific words from various religions, it’s still considered to refer to the Christian God in all of our songs–and the vast majority of other times the word is used, for that matter.
I don’t really know if I had a point to this comment other than to say it’s interesting. :p
Although like a couple others said, it’s true that we don’t sing “The Star Spangled Banner” that often–I don’t have any huge problems with it, but the range is way more difficult than most people can do, so it’s not an easy song to sing. “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and the Pledge of Allegiance are more common in school, but probably not past elementary. After that…not much, really.
Haven’t sung our National Anthem in ages. Been hearing them more often due to Son’s schooling. Can’t remember when was the last time I stand up and be motionless during the whole duration of the anthem anymore.
Laneerg: ah yes, the Pledge of Allegiance - that’s like our Rukunegara, methinks. It’s kinda funny to not sing the national anthem at school - but The Star-Spangled Banner *is* a tough one to pull of!
Ravyn: was it Key who actually set the lyrics to the drinking tune? Even so, though - wow! - officially The Star Spangled Banner is four stanzas long!
Mike: it’s a good thing the naitonal anthem was created in 1957… because in this day and age, methinks Allah *would* be insisted upon to be used… I worry that Malaysia is taking many steps backwards when it comes to real unity…
100indecisions: Unfortunately (in my opinion) it seems as if many people are assuming the “God” referred to in the Pledge of Allegiance and other official documents of the USA is *only* the Christian one.
Marly: Actually I was rolling my eyes while I typed that we sang the national anthem “every. single. day.”, LoL!
lina: hehe yeah, that’s the difference between US and Malaysia - kat sini just about every sporting event, for example, starts off with The Star Spangled Banner being played. I think in Malaysia it’s only at government functions that they’ve started playing the national anthem, probably for the reason you state: most people would not have any exposure to the national anthem being played otherwise!