Bali Goes to War

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Posted: 11 Sep 2009 | 6:46 am

Asia's other marquee resort destination Bali has declared a 'war of words' over the alleged stealing of what they consider to be their trademark traditional dance. Initiating the controversy was a TV advertisement on the Discovery Channel, which turned out to erroneous depiction of the 'pendet' dance in a Malaysia promo. Apparently the programming error was a mistake by the TV channel but emotions have boiled over in high profile protests, burning of flags and demonstrations at the Malaysia embassy.

Despite sharing the common 'bahasa' language, there have been a series of well-publicized nationalistic outcries ranging from reports of domestic worker abuse, previous disagreements over the origin of indigenous songs and even claims and counter claims between the respective national anthems.

Media being media has capitalized on the dramatics and worldwide attention has been drawn to what in reality was only a glitch by someone in television.

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