Adil Johan is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Ethnic Studies (KITA), The National University Malaysia (UKM). His research analyses aspects of popular music in the mass media that intersect with issues of interculturalism, cosmopolitanism, intimacy, affect and gender, focusing on the Malay world and Southeast Asia. He has written a book on Independence-era Malay film music (NUS Press, 2018); was an invited Special Section Editor for the Journal of Intercultural Studies (2019) and published a study on Malaysian popular music and social cohesion in Kajian Malaysia (2019). He is also co-editor for the volume, Made in Nusantara: Studies in Popular Music (Routledge, 2021). He recently collaborated with the Cultural Economy Development Agency (CENDANA) to produce Malaysia’s first Klang Valley Independent Music Ecosystem Map . He performs and records as a saxophonist for Azmyl Yunor Orkes Padu and Nadir.
On the 9th of August 2019, Singaporeans celebrated their 54th National Day. The veteran rock star, Ramli Sarip, known throughout the Malay Peninsula as “Papa Rock” led the singing of Singapore’s national anthem Majulah Singapura (Onwards Singapore). The former frontman of Malay band Sweet Charity infused the anthem with his raspy and seasoned folk-rock vocals. His rendition become a viral internet hit and was later re-recorded, produced and released as a polished music video. Majulah Singapura is significant because it is sung in Malay – one of the state’s many official languages – by a majority population that do not speak the language. Thus, this anthem has always afforded a stake by minority Malay-Singaporeans to the nation’s (ethno)cultural identity. This paper examines the intermediated responses to popular music in the public sphere that inadvertently reveals the ethnopolitical tensions and reconciliations of Singapore with its surrounding (ethnic and linguistic) Malay region. Ramli’s ethnic identity and distinctly Malay (rock) voice in singing the anthem ignited public debates about how Singapore interprets its multicultural national identity. Negative responses to his performance were quickly reported in news media in neighbouring Malay-majority Malaysia, where Ramli is a household name, further highlighting cross-border tensions concerning race. This paper considers the negative and ambivalent public reactions to Ramli’s version of the anthem and the ensuing media narrative that unfolded. In doing so, it draws attention to the racial politics of Singapore that emerge from the subtext of netizen comments and news headlines that responded to Ramli’s live performance and consequent music video. These discourses are analysed in light of the island-state’s geopolitical history as surrounded precariously by a largely Malay-speaking region. The paper reveals that intermediated expressions of popular culture provide a means to ‘rock’ the foundations of the Singaporean state’s often obscured subtextual narratives of ethnonationalism.