Sunday, August 19, 2007

The Namewee Affair

Well, this young punk sure has got guts. I'm talking about Namewee, the Taiwan-based Malaysian who has caused more than just lots of red faces and is now facing stern legal actions for supposedly insulting the Malaysian national anthem.

His adapted version of the Negaraku (or rather Negarakuku!) was posted on YouTube and has been going around the cyberspace, much to the fury of the Malaysian government and its staunch supporters.

I've seen the video clip and I must say, the "song" is all so true, yet crude and hilarious at the same time. I saw the original version in Chinese and Bahasa. And if you read Chinese, it will have you in stitches in no time!

Few people have the guts to do what Namewee did, me included. One wonders whether he did it on impulse or had given it a lot of thoughts prior. We whinge about the unfairness we experience with increasing regularity but that's what most of us do. We just whinge among ourselves.

Not Namewee. This bloke actually verbalises, loud and clear, what we, particularly non-Bumi Malaysians, always bitch about. But what he conveys is all true - the injustice, the corruption, the horrendous civil service, the favouritism, etc. And he does so in a crude, yet equally creative and catchy manner.

Namewee is now a condemned man in Malaysia. See the unfairness in speaking the truth? Well, that's Malaysia for you. There is no such thing as freedom of speech there. It's just a myth.

2 comments:

anfield devotee said...

He's a hero in my book. A true patriot. U should post the video here la. I tried on me blog but couldn't. see if u have better luck.

weiyin69 said...

Err, havent' figured out how to do that just yet. A bit lazy to try it now. Maybe when I'm very free ...