The recent Indonesian furore over the local Barongan dance as uniquely Indonesian appears to flow from the growing disgust of Indonesians over the treatment of their people working in Malaysia as migrant labourers.

I grew up in a Javanese family, which is classified as ethnic Malay outside of the Republic of Indonesia. I am familiar with the Barongan dance having grown up in a Malay village comprising of Malay-speaking Javanese, Bugis, Boyanese, Minang, Mandaling and others.

As far as I can remember, most weddings had Barongan dancers. I even had a school mate whose family were Barongan performances. The same may be said for the Rasa Sayang song. It is a Malay song sung by the Malay-speaking people of the Malay archipelago, which has been carved up in modern history as enclaves of the colonists.

Perhaps if Malay Malaysians can own up to their ancestral roots, as people of the archipelago including what is now Indonesia, instead of treating Indonesians especially migrant labour as a non-human species, there would be respect all around.