The music of Negara-Ku. J
James Harding and John Gullick published this article in 1997 in the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Vol. 70, No. 2), examining the long-standing tradition that the melody of Malaysia’s national anthem, Negara-Ku, was composed by the French chansonnier Pierre Jean de Béranger. Drawing on oral testimony from the Perak royal family, Seychelles local recollections, and a systematic search of Béranger’s published output, the authors confirm the tune’s origin in the Seychelles during Sultan Abdullah’s exile but find no evidence to support the Béranger attribution.
Summary
The article traces the journey of a single melody from a French-influenced island community in the Indian Ocean to its ultimate status as the national anthem of an independent Malaya. The narrative begins with Sultan Abdullah of Perak, exiled to the Seychelles in 1877 after the Pangkor Treaty, where he spent seventeen years in a small Francophone creole society. His daughters, Raja Aminah and Raja Halijah, recalled that a French band played public concerts every Tuesday on the Mahe seafront, and that one particular tune was “so popular that it was hummed and whistled by sailors and others on the island” (p. 72). Upon his return to Malaya in 1894, the Sultan brought the tune with him; it entered the Malay popular repertoire as Terang Bulan and, through a chain of royal family transmission, became the Perak state anthem.
The authors then turn to the Béranger question. They provide a substantial biographical sketch of the French poet-songwriter, noting his prolific output of some 650 published songs, his habit of adapting existing melodies from operettas and folk sources, and his general inability to read musical notation (p. 70). A search of his collected works yields no song titled Rosalie—the title under which the tune was known in the Seychelles—and no trace of the Negara-Ku melody in any of his published settings. The opening words recalled by Seychelles informants, “Mon fiancé soyez toujours constant,” are noted as unidiomatic French for a lover’s address, further weakening the Béranger connection (p. 74).
The article also corrects a persistent error in the oral tradition regarding the adoption of the tune as state anthem. The story as told by Raja Kamaralzaman places this event during a 1888 London visit by Sultan Idris and Raja Mansur, but the authors demonstrate that the relevant visit was in fact the 1902 coronation trip of Edward VII, when Raja Chulan—who had himself visited the Seychelles and heard the tune—accompanied the Sultan (p. 72). The final chapter of the melody’s history is brief: in 1957, Tunku Abdul Rahman, after hearing compositions submitted by international composers for a national anthem competition, selected the Perak state anthem for its “dignity and charm,” and it was formally adopted as Negara-Ku (p. 73).
Key Findings
- Sultan Abdullah of Perak was exiled to the Seychelles from 1877 to 1894; his daughters recalled a French band playing a public concert every Tuesday on the Mahe seafront, and that the tune in question was widely hummed and whistled on the island (p. 72).
- The tune was known in the Seychelles as Rosalie, with opening lyrics “Mon fiancé soyez toujours constant”; neither the title nor the melody appears in any of Béranger’s approximately 650 published songs (pp. 70, 74).
- The Perak state anthem was most likely adopted during Sultan Idris’s 1902 London visit for the coronation of Edward VII, not in 1888 as the oral tradition held; Raja Chulan, who had visited the Seychelles, was the probable agent (p. 72).
- The tune circulated in Malay popular music as Terang Bulan and was used by the leading bangsawan company “Wayang Kassim” in the turn-of-century theatrical scene in Singapore (p. 73).
- In 1966, Dr. Mubin Sheppard sent a gramophone record of the Perak anthem to the Seychelles, where it “was recognised without hesitation by an old resident as a tune which was popular over seventy years ago on the island” (p. 73).
- Tunku Abdul Rahman selected the Perak state anthem as the Malayan national anthem in 1957 after rejecting submissions from invited international composers (p. 73).
Conclusion
Harding and Gullick reach a measured verdict: the Seychelles origin of the melody is strongly corroborated by multiple independent witnesses and by the 1966 radio broadcast test, but the attribution to Béranger remains unverified and is, on the evidence of his published catalogue, unlikely. The authors close by inviting further information from readers, acknowledging that the precise identity of the composer—whether a Seychelles bandmaster, a French creole musician, or an obscure operetta composer—remains unresolved.
Context
- The article draws primarily on oral testimony preserved by Dr. Mubin Sheppard (1966, 1983, 1993), the published memoirs of Raja Aminah, and the Seychelles historical work of Athol Thomas (Forgotten Eden, 1968); it also consults Béranger’s collected works and the Musique de Chansons de Béranger (Garnier Frères, 1868).
- The study contributes to the historiography of Malaysian nation-building by documenting how a colonial-era cultural accident—a melody heard in exile—was transformed through royal patronage, popular music, and political decision into a symbol of national identity.