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Friday, November 30, 2007

Thousands protest against Malaysia copying Indonesian dance

The Jakarta Post

JAKARTA (Antara): Around 2,000 people dressed in colorful traditional costumes staged a rally Thursday outside the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta, protesting Malaysia's alleged use of an Indonesian traditional dance in its tourism promotions.

Protesters performed the dance and brought banners which said "Plagiarism" and "Malaysia copied reog ponorogo", causing a traffic jam along JL. Rasuna Said where the embassy is located.

"We want the Malaysian government to stop copying our cultural heritage," a member of Jakarta's reog association, Tritomo, said.

The dispute began when a traditional masked dance called barongan, similar to reog ponorogo, appeared in Malaysia's massive tourism campaign.

Last month many Indonesians were upset with Malaysia when a folk song, claimed to be of Indonesian origin, was used in Malaysia's tourism campaign.

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