The importance of patenting our cultures

Assalamu’alaikum Wr. Wb.

Good morning/afternoon honorable juries,

Good morning/afternoon ladies and gentleman

In this great occasion, I would like to deliver a speech about the importance of patenting our cultures.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Before I deliver my speech, let me remind you this song.

Rasa sayange… rasa sayang sayange…
Eeee lihat dari jauh rasa sayang sayange

Mana kancil akan dikejar, kedalam pasar cobalah cari…
Masih kecil rajin belajar, sudah besar senanglah diri

Rasa sayange… rasa sayang sayange…
Eeee lihat dari jauh rasa sayang sayange

Well, you still remember this song, right? And my question, where is this song from?

Indonesia or Malaysia? Nice, Indonesia of course. Where is it about?  Right. The song comes from one of the regions in Indonesia, Maluku.

Not only Maluku, there are also many other songs that can be found in most of Indonesian regions. Beside regional songs, various kinds of musical instrument, dance, Batik, and many other cultures can be found in this awesome country as well.

For the musical intruments, Indonesia has gamelan, angklung, calung, kecapi and so on. For Dance, Indonesia has Pendet dance, Reog Ponorogo dance, Gambyong dance and so on.

For Batik, Indonesia has Batik Lasem, Batik Tegalan, Batik Saji and the others.

Those all are parts of Indonesian’s style or characterictics that differ Indonesia among all nations in the world. Unfortunately, with the progress of technology, the cultures are slowly forgotten by most of Indonesians. In reverse, cultures are admired and finally claimed to be the other countries’ property . Wow.....that’s terrifying thing.

Will we let the countries take them away from our hand?

If we really love our country, I believe we will say no, right.  So, what can we do ladies and gentlemen?

Will we be angry with the country and then do anarchistic action, or make demonstration in a massive group against the country?

Will they solve the problem? I believe those can’t give the best solution.

How about patenting the culture?

Well, I think this way is one of the alternative ways that can be used. A patent is a form of intellectual property consisting of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention. By patenting the cultures, every country in this world will know and admit that those cultures are ours, though for patenting the cultures, complicated requirements must be met here. For examples,  a patent application must include one or more claims defining the invention which must meet the relevant patentability requirements such as novelty and non-obviousness. The exclusive right granted to a patentee in most countries is the right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or distributing the patented invention without permission.
Ladies and gentlemen,

I think patenting is a good way to save our cultures. This is our weapon to preserve this country. If we don’t patent them soon, then, in the future we will not have pure Indonesian cultures to be queathed to the next generation.
Ladies and gentlemen,

Let’s save our cultures as the proof of our love to our country by patenting them in front of the world. Let them know what our country has had. Never let the other countries take them away from our hand.

That’s all my speech. Thanks for your attention.