The Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta received a bomb threat set to explode at 11.a.m today, sending the staff panicking but only discovering it to be foul play in the end. Granted there are plenty of issues to resolve between Indonesia and Malaysia like the Haze in Kuala Lumpur traveling from burning forest in Sumatra, migrant workers, border issues, Manohra case but the latest is the the airing of Pendet Dance traditionally from Bali as part of Enigmatic Malaysia documentary over Discovery Channel. The Pendet dance said to welcome guests and bring down barriers between the host and guest became the cause of ugly controversy between the two countries.

There were strong student and public protests in Bali, demanding an apology from Malaysian government. Although the commercial has been taken off the air and the private media production house apologised but the controversy refuse to die down. Indonesia’s Minister for Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacilk is not letting go so easily and claims the Malaysian Government must take responsibility since the tern Enigmatic Malaysia uses the word Malaysia, despite an official apology from his Malaysian counterpart who assured him of a strict warning.

He claims earlier too Malaysia had laid claim to the folk song’ Maliku’ in Malaysian Tourism commercial in 2007. He further wants the Indonesian government to use Intellectual Property Rights to protect the Indonesian culture and heritage. Under the current scheme, individual rights are protected but communal are not so clear.

Under the communal scheme, in which a country can claim a culture for a particular period of time only and on its expiry another can lay claim. The Indonesian Government is holding talks with UNESCO for an indefinite period for such rights. In the mean time it is building a data base of indigenous Indonesian products and craft.