Negaraku

Do you remember 'Negaraku'?

It has been almost 6 years since secondary school that I actually even bothered about the existance of the Malaysian national anthem. We sing it every day during school assembly, and as a prefect, I actually HAVE to sing it while all the other students murmur the song or just move their lips pretending that they are singing so as not to get caught. However, having sung that song everyday did not bring any special meaning or significance to it anymore. It became a boring chore~! Yes, I have to admit that I hated that song, but not neccesarily hated the country (in general of course...); especially when they modified the song to a fast beat marching band version which totally made it sound like a circus/carnival song. Thank God that they reverted it back to the original version in 2002 I believe.

Do you know the origins of Negaraku? This question was piqued when I was reading Su Sien's blog about the same subject. You can read the full history of Negaraku at the Malaysian Monarchy website, but let me give you some of the tunes to the evolvement from a Hawaiian song to a national anthem!

Mamula Moon
- Not referenced by the monarchy website, the Sultan of Perak used to live in exile in Seychelles and a French band used to play this song. The sultan liked this song and when his majesty returned to Perak, it became the state's anthem.

Terang Bulan
- A popular contemporary song that time, Terang Bulan was actually sung by the Sultan of Perak on his visit to England as required by the British for all visiting dignitaries to sing their state anthems. His majesty did not have any notes, so he sang it and the lyrics could be tracked to the the song, Terang Bulan.

To my readers who are not Malaysian, the following is Malaysia's national anthem. Believe it or not, orchestra concerts actually play this song in their performances (with different renditions) and always receive high accolades~ I didn't believe it myself after further research...
But here it is... Negaraku (arise and stand up straight people~!)


I mentioned that singing this song became a boring chore while in secondary school just because we are forced to sing it everyday. But now listening to it piqued certain emotions, memories and you can even say pride to be a Malaysian. I hope my Malaysian readers living abroad who have not bothered to think of home very often feel the same... because I have~


Malaysia Boleh... copy-cat~! hehe