Rais seeks views on Merdeka theme song

Days after announcing the scrapping of the much-criticised National Day logo, Information, Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim is now seeking views on the similarly controversial theme song.

“What do you think about the song Janji Ditepati? It has reached more than 140,000 (views) on YouTube,” he said in a Twitter post late last night. 

The minister, however acknowledged that the song has also received “some thumbs down” - the icon to indicate thatYouTubeviewers do not like the song. 

The song, the lyrics of which were written by Rais himself, has been criticisedby lyricists and netizens for not being able to differentiate between the concept of nationhood and government policy.

Most zeroed in on the line “Janji sudah ditepati, kini masa balas budi” (Promises have been fulfilled, now it’s time to return the good deeds) which was seen as a political campaign. 

The song also features a rap interlude detailing the Najib Abdul Razak administration’s recent policies like the Kedai 1Malaysia and Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia.

Several users have uploaded the song with its lyrics onto YouTube, with one uploaded on July 27 garnering a whopping more than 170,000 views.  

However, 20,546 viewers clicked “dislike” while only 297 clicked “like”.

The melody of the song was written by Aye, Jasnie and Arman E six.