JAC'S SONG FROM CHRISTIAN ALBUM?

By : STEVEN PATRICK

THE CONTROVERSIAL song, Harapan Bangsa, that got Jaclyn Victor into hot soup with Perkasa was actually recorded in 2007 for a Christian compilation album, Jubilee.

The song that she sang in Malay, caused a stir recently when it was uploaded on YouTube by a user, with Christian imagery accompanying it.

Malay rights group, Perkasa, is calling for a blanket boycott of 2004 Malaysian Idol winner Jaclyn as it claims the song is an insult to Islam.

The uploader calls herself Kathryn Barry onYouTube. On the site, Kathryn said that she had created the video to "share this beautiful and meaningful song about Malaysia and Jesus."

There were no images of Jaclyn performing or recording the song in the video at press time. The video has received close to 43,000 views at press time.

The lyrics to Harapan Bangsa was written by Pastor Matthew G Singh, while the music was composed by churchgoer Teh Ju Ping.

The song was taken from the compilation album titled Jubilee which was distributed in churches in Sabah & Sarawak for non-commercial purposes, according to her.The album also features contributions from Akademi Fantasia 1 winner Vince and Juwita Suwito.

Jaclyn, 33, told MStar she sang the song in Bahasa Malaysia not to spread Christianity but as a dedication to the existing Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, as the majority of them are more fluent in Bahasa Malaysia. She would not comment any further on the issue.