To help you all understand the incident better, I decided to
type out what I know.
This is the best translation of the lyrics to English that I can
find with explanatory notes.
http://monkeywong.com/2007/07/18/i-love-my-country-negarakuku/
Strictly speaking, the song IS NOT a mockery of the national
anthem. There are many ways to compose a new song, one of them is
called sampling, this is for a song to have different kind of
effects. In this case, the song selected as a source for sampling
is the national anthem. But the point is, the national anthem ought
to be respected, so during the composition, the melody and lyrics
of national anthem were UNCHANGED, these two properties were
preserved completely. On the other hand, the author made a change
to the musical form or style, from the traditional form to blue
R&B and rearranged the tune. THIS IS ALLOWED, and had been done
by many musicians on several occasions especially on National Days.
The original meaning of national anthem sample inside the song
Negarakuku is completely preserved. In other portions of the song,
although foul language has been used, it tells nothing but truth.
Therefore there should be nothing wrong or illegal.
The song IS NOT a mockery of Islam. If you look at the lyrics, you
will find the only parts that have anything to do with Islam is
where he says some Muslims pray / sing Al-Quran out of tune or like
cock crows in the morning and he states the fact that Malay women
usually wear headscarves. In some sense, he insulted some Muslims
which he already said sorry. But I don't see why this is an insult
to the religion itself.
So be informed, be open-minded, don't be deceived by Malaysian
government and newspapers (all government-controlled).
