Malaysia will claim Reog as its cultural heritage to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This effort made Indonesian netizens angry on social media.
For information, the discourse of the neighboring country will submit Reog to UNESCO was conveyed by the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (PMK) Muhadjir Efendi. Malaysia will register the Reog Ponorogo art as Barongan.
"For Reog, the State of Malaysia is planning to propose as well, therefore we have to go first. Because this has become our culture and heritage," said Muhadjir recently.
Hearing this news, netizens immediately reacted strongly. Because this is not the first time Malaysia has tried to claim Indonesian culture.
"Reog is the cultural art of the Ponorogo people, the establishment of the historical city of Ponorogo will not be separated by reog and warok. The emergence of Malaysian claims against Reog is something that must be justified, that Reog belongs to Indonesia, precisely in the city of Ponorogo," said the account @ayub_musthofa.
"Malaysia is not a cognate, because according to them, Malays like Java, Minang, Batak, all of them say Malay. So don't be surprised they often misunderstand about ownership of cultural heritage, such as rendang, batik, Reog Ponorogo etc. Don't worry," wrote the @Bigwinnersyo account.
"Wow, how are you doing? In Malaysia since when has there been such a thing as Reog Ponorogo culture? The name of the city of Ponorogo doesn't exist in Malaysia, except in Malaysia there is a new Ponorogo city, you can comment like that," said the account @Neversbe1.
"Imagine how hurt the Indonesian people will be if Reog Ponorogo, which is clearly the ORIGINAL culture of the country, is successfully claimed by Malaysia. Tumannnn.." said the account @bairus99.
"It's very clear that "Reog Ponorogo" is a typical art from the province of #East Java. #Malaysia always claims that our country's culture belongs to its country. #Malaysia always triggers confrontation," said the account @YovieDjody18
Netizens also urged the government to immediately propose Reog Ponorogo as Indonesian cultural heritage. The hashtag #savereogponorogo also echoes on social media.
Not only that, the Save Reog Ponorogo petition was also made. Currently, 18 thousand signatures have been collected from 25 thousand targets made by Great Ponorogo.