Was Negaraku Inspired by a Chinese Song? This Is the Origins of Negaraku

A message has been making its rounds on Whatsapp recently that says ‘Believe it or not.... Malaysia national anthem Negaraku is copied exactly from a Chinese song. This old singer sang this song in 1932 in Kwangchou, China.’ Huh?

There have been other rumours in past years regarding the origins of ‘Negaraku’ including it being based on a popular Indonesian folk song. Here they go again *eyeroll*.

In 1876, Sultan Abdullah was exiled to the island of Seychelles, a French colony at the time. Sultan Abdullah was the Sultan of Perak which was a sovereign Malay state in the Federation of Malay States back then. When he was there, he heard a popular song ‘La Rosalie’, a popular French melody which was composed by French lyricist, Pierre-Jean de Béranger, a notable poet and chansonnier or songwriter who also lived in Seychelles in the 19th Century.

It then evolved into a popular song ‘Terang Bulan’, and the Chinese song mentioned above was a Cantonese version of the song.

When Sultan Abdullah returned to Perak, he introduced the melody to his people and it became very popular throughout Perak and the Malay States. It eventually evolved into the state anthem. What a banger it must have been for the Sultan to do that.

Skip forward a couple of years to the time when the proclamation of the country’s independence was set for 31 August 1957 and the idea to create a national anthem arose. In the month of February of 1957, an official anthem creation contest was held to come up with a proper tune.

However, the Special Committee of the National Anthem Selection (JKPLK), led by Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj turned down all 514 entries including four songs that were shortlisted. I guess the songs didn’t hit the right notes. Geddit? Geddit?

Tunku Abdul Rahman then recommended that the melody of state anthem of Perak to be used as the basis for creating a national anthem of Malaysia. This proposal was readily agreed by the other members of the committee.

The Score for the song ‘Negaraku’ was then created by Alfonso Soliano (leader of the Radio Orchestra of Malaya), D.S.P Croff (Music Director, the Royal Police Band), Captain Lenthall (Music Director, the Malay Military Band, Port Dickson) and A. T Reed (General Director of Radio Malaya).

The lyrics to the song that all Malaysians have now memorised by heart were also prepared by a Special Committee led by Tunku Abdul Rahman with the agreement of the Malay Sultans. At the stroke of midnight on 31 August 1957, at the field of the Selangor Club, our national anthem was played for the very first time, marking a moment that will be forever remembered in the history of the nation!