There is a lesson that the Malaysian political leaders have to learn and that is not to take culture and tradition for granted, and to do things according to their desire.

Here is a lesson to be learned. When somebody runs away from his country of origin to escape being punished for his past misdeeds and thinks after a hundred years or so, that all is well and sundry and that all his misdeeds have been covered up and forgotten and starts to live in a illusion that "Malaysia is truly Asia" the past catches up with him.

You cannot call a spade by any other name as a spade is still a spade.

So this recent problem that has arisen between Indonesia and Malaysia, clearly shows that culture is indeed a contentious thing. You may ape a culture, but you cannot say you have a rightful claim on it.

As an example, as the courts always pronounce, if you infringe upon copyright laws, you have to pay a price. This is the intent of parliament and the courts enforce it.

The same goes with the culture of a nation of people. They have a right to that culture. No one can copy it. And this is what Indonesia claims Malaysia has done.

Malaysia refuses to take responsibility for it, accusing a company of doing the ‘stealing'. Is that really the case? Or is the government just passing the buck?