Are you offended ?
A 6 minutes video clip of Negara-ku in rap style produced by a Malaysian and posted on the Youtube has attracted unprecendented attention both locally and abroad. The video clip attracted more than 500,000 visits ! Out of curiousity, I visited the site. No offense intended, but I do find the video clip comical, humorous, amusing, and entertaining. Beyond that, we should refrained from politically and racially interpreting negative insinuations between frames.
Sometimes, we should allow ourselves to take a humorous look at ourselves, among ourselves. Life would be pretty pressurized and un-purposeful if all Malaysians are conditioned to take offense in any slightest jokes or unintended slurs. After all, are we Malaysian that thin-skinned and righteous ? I have seen even worst racial rhetorics shouted in well organized political parties, and nobody in the political gatherings felt offended. On this score, I don't think Wee Meng Chee, a Malysian currently pursuing his higher education in Taiwan's Ming Chuan University, intended to offend the national anthem, religion, and the various races in Malaysia. I believe he is merely artistically expressing his concerns and frustrations out of greater love of his country. .Sometimes, artists do have unconventional way of expressing their patriotisms, we should learned to respect their freedom of expressions.
As a young man, Wee artistically voiced out his "voices of dissents" and satirically reflected his frustrations and perception of unbalanced truths in the 6 minute video clip. Instead of unneccessariy instigating ourselves to the state of being easily offended, and initiatiate investigatation to legally held him liable under the Seditious Act, we should be more open minded to respect freedom of expressions, and to study Wee's "song of dissent", to better understand the frustrations of young Malaysians. Wee had also said that he has no intent to be seditious or to attack the Government. Let us take it as that and view his video clip as merely a piece of art work from a patriotic rebel, and try our very best to appreciate his artistic talent. Looking at his simple production of the video clip, I tend to agreed that, Wee is indeed very talented. Let us not simply invoked the needs to observe sensitivity, respect, and patriotism to drown voices of disents or frustrations. Who are we to say that Wee is not patriotic ? And what does patriotism really meant to all of us ? On a positive note, at least Wee manage to bring greater marketing awareness of Malaysia into the cyber world !
Let's all discard those fatalistic and unproductive mentalities of being easily offended. Let's demonstrate our civility of accepting and appreciating criticisms in whatever forms, be it jokes, satires, serious statements, unintended slurs, or whatever. In our eagerness to defend our prides, sensitivity, and honours, had our actions been consistent with what we claimed to be ? Are we what we said of others ?
I strongly believed that all Malaysians are patriotic citizens. We had never failed to come together and pool our resources when confronted by crisis and external challenges. In our eagerness to defend the honour of our country, race, and religion, we should seriously asked ourselves whether we are being patriotic by silencing the voices of "disents" from other patriotic Malaysians. Why not take note of all those voices of disents as a term of reference for formulating and implementing social justice policies to make Malaysia a greater country in the eyes of the world ?
To Wee, if Voltaire is still alive, he will probably say this again - 'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it'.
Sometimes, we should allow ourselves to take a humorous look at ourselves, among ourselves. Life would be pretty pressurized and un-purposeful if all Malaysians are conditioned to take offense in any slightest jokes or unintended slurs. After all, are we Malaysian that thin-skinned and righteous ? I have seen even worst racial rhetorics shouted in well organized political parties, and nobody in the political gatherings felt offended. On this score, I don't think Wee Meng Chee, a Malysian currently pursuing his higher education in Taiwan's Ming Chuan University, intended to offend the national anthem, religion, and the various races in Malaysia. I believe he is merely artistically expressing his concerns and frustrations out of greater love of his country. .Sometimes, artists do have unconventional way of expressing their patriotisms, we should learned to respect their freedom of expressions.
As a young man, Wee artistically voiced out his "voices of dissents" and satirically reflected his frustrations and perception of unbalanced truths in the 6 minute video clip. Instead of unneccessariy instigating ourselves to the state of being easily offended, and initiatiate investigatation to legally held him liable under the Seditious Act, we should be more open minded to respect freedom of expressions, and to study Wee's "song of dissent", to better understand the frustrations of young Malaysians. Wee had also said that he has no intent to be seditious or to attack the Government. Let us take it as that and view his video clip as merely a piece of art work from a patriotic rebel, and try our very best to appreciate his artistic talent. Looking at his simple production of the video clip, I tend to agreed that, Wee is indeed very talented. Let us not simply invoked the needs to observe sensitivity, respect, and patriotism to drown voices of disents or frustrations. Who are we to say that Wee is not patriotic ? And what does patriotism really meant to all of us ? On a positive note, at least Wee manage to bring greater marketing awareness of Malaysia into the cyber world !
Let's all discard those fatalistic and unproductive mentalities of being easily offended. Let's demonstrate our civility of accepting and appreciating criticisms in whatever forms, be it jokes, satires, serious statements, unintended slurs, or whatever. In our eagerness to defend our prides, sensitivity, and honours, had our actions been consistent with what we claimed to be ? Are we what we said of others ?
I strongly believed that all Malaysians are patriotic citizens. We had never failed to come together and pool our resources when confronted by crisis and external challenges. In our eagerness to defend the honour of our country, race, and religion, we should seriously asked ourselves whether we are being patriotic by silencing the voices of "disents" from other patriotic Malaysians. Why not take note of all those voices of disents as a term of reference for formulating and implementing social justice policies to make Malaysia a greater country in the eyes of the world ?
To Wee, if Voltaire is still alive, he will probably say this again - 'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it'.
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