Indonesian netizens are in a fury after a parody of the country's national anthem was posted to YouTube, allegedly by a Malaysian user.
According to Indonesian media Kompas, the video, titled "Indonesia Raya Instrumental (Parody + Lyrics)", was posted two weeks ago by an account named "MY Asean" with the Malaysian flag as its profile picture.
It featured, among other things:
- The replacement of Indonesia's national emblem, the mythical Garuda bird, with a chicken,
- Images of a boy urinating on the flag, and
- Vulgar lyrics which had been altered from the original anthem.
The original video can no longer be found on YouTube although copies of the video had been shared on other channels.
Malaysian Embassy in Indonesia condemns video
The Malaysian embassy in Jakarta has since condemned the video, Bernama further reported.
It said that Malaysian authorities were investigating the video and that "stern action" would be taken should the uploader be a Malaysian citizen.
The video is also being investigated by the police and the Indonesian Ministry of Communications and Information.
The Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur has appealed for calm as well.
An embassy official, Yoshi Iskandar, was quoted by Kompas as saying:
"The Indonesian people should not be provoked by the parody. [The Indonesian Embassy] has reported the controversy to the Royal Malaysia Police or Polisi Diraja Malaysia, so we should give the Malaysian authorities a chance to investigate the matter."
Some Malaysian netizens have also condemned the video and apologised in the comments section of channels that re-uploaded it on YouTube.
Malaysia's army hit by cyberattack amid furore
Amidst the furore, Malaysia's Armed Forces confirmed that it been subjected to a cyberattack on Dec. 28, both The Edge Markets and Free Malaysia Today reported.
The attack had attempted to steal information and reportedly uploaded "indecent pictures" to the armed forces' online portal.
It has since been attributed to "irresponsible parties".
In clarifying that disruption had been minimal, the commander of the armed forces, Affendi Buang, added:
"The cyberattack failed to affect the actual operations of the portal and only successfully hacked certain segments that have been placed outside of the network from the start."
Totally unrelated but follow and listen to our podcast here
Top image screenshot via