Saturday, August 18, 2007

Rapping The Blues


Frankly, I don't know why we're making such a big deal about that boy who's been rapping the NegaraKu.
He's been rapped good and hard. He made a mistake. He's apologised. What more do we want from him?
Oh. I get it. We want him to suffer and suffer.

The boy loves the country. He said so.
Whot? The A-G's looking at his case? Hasn't Gani Patail got more important cases to look at?
I hope he finds that there is no case to prosecute.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said yesterday that the Cabinet has accepted his apology but the law must take its course.

Wee Meng Chee, 24, is a student at a Taiwanese University. Ok..so he isn't that young.
Let me see.... when I was 24, I was a graduate student at Boston University. I was also very angry with the government for having ISA'ed my father. He was still incarcerated when I was in the US.
Let me see... yeah... I wanted to do a lot of things that would have put me behind bars for the rest of my life but, naaah...
I was angry. Wee Meng is not. I was far more disillusioned with Malaysia than he could ever be. He's just rapping about our country, expressing his innermost feelings.
He may be in breach of some laws of the country. If we go by that, then, I think we cannot stop debating about some people having committed worse crimes, broken many laws in this country and getting away with impunity and immunity.

Sure, I know the authorities can deal Wee Meng the hardest, most cruel blow. Because they can. Because they can.

But, I hope they will not.
I hope common sense will prevail.
That. And a touch of humanity and compassion.

I believe that Wee Meng never knew what hit him. After this, I am sure he'd be more sensitive to some of his fellow Malaysians and know that you just cannot be too careful these days. You might just be breaking a law or two.

Honestly, I was not at all insulted by Wee Meng's antic. He did not show his butt in all its God-given glory with the Jalur Gemilang emblazoned. He did not show his middle finger as he was singing. He did not use any vulgar or obscene lyric.
Hmm, he did not replace the word "Raja" with any insulting "honorific".

Maybe I was just amused because I know this boy did not mean any harm. There was no mala fide. I knew he'd get round to seeing that there will be people who will not be amused. So, Wee Meng, either you don't give a damn or you do.
Obviously, you do.

Maybe I am thick-skinned. It's takes more than Wee Meng's antic to make me feel offended, angry and insulted.

Wee Meng is not a criminal. Nor a rabid militant who is out to topple a democratically-elected government.
So, let's have a closure to this.
We all have had enough,

36 comments:

J.T. said...

I agree with you Nuraina. I saw the video. He was just expressing what he felt.

Some are so quick to get upset with this guy but they forget their own actions that are disrespectful and can create disunity. *sigh*

zaitgha said...

Nuraina,

I can only say that we have too many idiots sitting high up there...i hve seen the video too but like you i was not offended....

i hope God will have mercy on us..

Hi&Lo said...

Hypersensitive people are always insecure.

Why is BN not angry at the right things? Insulting women, they don't see their mothers, wives and daughters are women also. I believe they have committed sexual harassment but then they have immunity in parliament.

They are not angry enough at big corruption cases fumbled in courts. The list goes on.

Hi&Lo said...

BTW, they are only good at prosecuting ikan bilis.

Anonymous said...

Dear Nuraina
Finally, I was rewarded with something after countless (disappointing) visits to your blog these past few days.

Well said!

Ya, I’m sure there’s a better and appropriate way to handle the case, and certainly not by overreacting.

Talking about other law-breakers!!

Well, it certainly can be used as a distraction from the other real issues on hand.

Regards.

Anonymous said...

So sad that a country with good natural resoures, relatively low population, fairly high literacy level, have to rot by these current bunch of idiots.

At the same time these idiots continue to gang rape the country assets and funds. And worst of all, nothing done by the leader.

No other mood other than feeling sick for the country.

Anonymous said...

a friend of mine, a PhD holder somemore, said she was offended. so i ask her, have you seen the clip or even read the translated lyrics. the answer is NO. then i asked, what are you offended of ? she said, the newspaper said so, so i think i am offended. oh my ... i said ... they shd revoke yr PhD .

Anonymous said...

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Merdeka he will be made an example of - as a Malaysian who has transgressed the nation's core values. Age does not exempt a person from the responsibility of upholding the national ideology and philosophy.

If the young have erred they must be chided. This is our duty as caring parents and citizens who want love our country and want to see ts peoples united and at peace.

If he was my son I'd screw his ears!!!

Anonymous said...

I love you.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

OFF: my sentiments exactly. Chide the boy. Scold the boy. Cane him, even.

But invoke the full force of Malaysian laws on him?

There is something really wrong with us when we find great pleasure in going on and on unrelenting, unflagging in pulverising the boy.

I ask myself why? i think it's because this boy is easy game for the politicians.

many people were offended by wee meng's parody of the Negaraku. It's the Negaraku, for heaven's sake.
Certainly, that is to be expected.
I was not offended. Perhaps, considering a great many, and greater sins committed by people in whom the rakyat had placed their trust, so i was not insulted.
but I agree that he should know that people were offended by what he did.
They have scolded him, whack him... so he deserved it.
But don't you think enough is enough.
The boy has learnt his lesson.
More than I can say for incorrrigible politicians who have shamed the country, the nation no end.

Wee Meng has apologised. As a Malaysian and a Malay, I accept his apology.
If he were my son, I'd give him an earful, only because, of all songs he had to choose, it had to be the national anthem, and of the unnecessary publicity that is so bothersome. But I'd tell him -- go, boy, go... let your creative juices flow.. (but, next time lay off the NegaraKu).

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

Kak Ainon,

I thought nothing of it at first.. but then, it kept me wondering.
I hope you don't mind my asking.
You remarked: "finally, I was rewarded with something after countless (disappointing) visits to your blog these past few days".
Care to elucidate? I 'd appreciate it very much.

thank you.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

JT, Zai:

I go by my instinct and my heart (and head).

I am no bleeding heart liberal.
If Wee Meng was seen stomping on the Jalur Gemilang, I's whack him harder than all those idiotic politicians put together.
If he promoted racism and bigotry in his parody, I'd Youtube my own version of whack-weemeng parody.

At the core of it, I think we have to ask ourselves, what all this is about?
I can't say what his intentions were. But because I dare say I was not insulted it's because, from where I am, I believe Wee Meng did not set out to offend anyone. Of course, that was a little naive of him. Because if he did set out to offend Malaysians, he'd not apologise. If he was the hard-core anti-national, he wouldn;t give a damn what we all feel.

As I have said -- we are a nation of bullies. we pick on people smaller than we are.
Easy picking. Looks good on our poliical track record when we get to whack someone who parodied the Negaraku.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

H&L: Long time no see...

my sentiments exactly....
ikan bilis easy to finish off.

sakit malaysia: the story of Malaysia...

msme: confirms my belief -- some people are just literate...

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

anon@11:47am: i can imagine why...

Anonymous said...

Dear Nuraina
Over that remarks? He he. Its just that I keep looking for a new post after TWB on the 14th. Sorry, guess, I was expecting too much from you.
You must be occupied, eh?
Regards.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

Kak Ainon,
oh dear...
i am so sorry...
usually i'd post something a day after TWB... you are right... so much to do, so little time.

thank you.

take care

KH Lim Blogs said...

Dear Aina,
You make sense. Please keep it up. Send my regards to the ol' gang. Cheers KH

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

KH,
I am sure many people don't agree with me.
but, oh well... it is not my intention to insult or please anyone.
thanks for dropping by.

i certainly wiil when i see them!

come on over to the NPC-lah.

xonar said...

Very kind of you to accept Wee apology.He is a young man with very much to learn and i would surely hope he learned from his mistake.
Unfortunately, our idiots politician are not as forgiving as you.
Its their selfishness that lead us to disunity.
May god bless Malaysia!
thank you.

Anonymous said...

the powers that be want everybody to focus on this video. a smokescreen for other more critical issues:
recent bus accident case which exposes can of worms in JPJ.
recent PKA scandal and corruption of RM4.63 billion.
recent major slide in the stock market which runs counter to the government's potrayal of a hunky dorry economy ( export has been rather stagnant for the past two months)..
recent clear fault line among component parties in BN
recent condemnation of corruption and downright incompetency in three vital institutions by the former IGP..

arent the above more vital isues than the wee video.lets stay focus and "hound" the government for answers.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

kehoe: actually. it's not a question of being kind. wee meng did not commit a capital crime. no maki hamun in his rapping.
yes, he did something quite wrong but i think tht's becos he got carried away with his creative juices.
so it is easy to forgive him.

it's an issue that could be easily resolved because -- no one was injured ot killed, no damage done --
except to some people's false sense of patriotism.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

anon@11:22PM: yes...it does look like it. divert people's attention...

Anonymous said...

You seem to be contradicting yourself.

You say, "He may be in breach of some laws of the country", and yet you go on to to mention that he "is not a criminal".

To common understanding, committing a crime means breaking a law (see, e.g., dictionary.com), and a law-breaker could well be a criminal. Hence if one says someone may has breached some laws, then he may be a criminal.

Secondly, by remarking that this person may have breached "some laws of the country", surely you must have these certain laws in mind. What laws do you allude to?

Anonymous said...

Agree with what you says,Nuraina.. The govt should look into much much more important issue lah...he apologize enuf lah...adui!

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

franz,

yeah...i probably am contradicting myself.
i am only aware that he may have broken some laws because the Prime Minister said so.

but i maintain that i don't consider Wee Meng to be a criminal.

Anonymous said...

Most importantly, he did not raise a sharp object (such as a Keris perhaps?) and threatened to bath it in someone's blood.
All these hoo hah is basically to cover the incompetence of the present government.

Anonymous said...

If all breaches of the law are deemed to be crimes, then the parking and traffic infringements I have committed thus far (not a feat I am proud of, mind you) would certainly make me a serial criminal.

The way I see it, albeit through my "unlegal eye", the statement "He may be in breach of some laws of the country, but he is not a criminal." is not necessarily a contradiction.

Husin Lempoyang said...

Saya pertahankan haknya untuk bersuara, walaupun saya tidak gemar kepada apa yang disebut seperti menghina amalan orang Islam. Sepatutnya dia lebih beradab sopan dan halus dalam kritikannya? Mungkin dia orang muda yang sentiasa dalam keadaan marah.

Semasa saya berumur 24 tahun, saya pun marah dan saya pun ada harapan dan tuntutan. Namun saya tidak pernah biadap dan hilang pertimbangan adab sopan. Ini semua melainkan saya marah, di kala itu saya menjadi bodoh dikawal emosi.

Saya difahamkan dari laporan Straits Times, Singapore terbaru bahawa Wee telah mengeluarkan video baru yang memanggil orang Melayu pemalas, mundur, sakai, dan suruh Melayu masuk hutan.

Adakah benar atau tidak? Adakah ini satu manipulasi akhbar media perdana?

Saya ingat dalam sejarah tuduhan sedimikian berlaku semasa peristiwa sebelum berlaku 13 Mei 1969. Mengapa begitu kesat dan benci sekali ia kepada orang melayu. Kalau dia marah dengan ahli politik Melayu, kenapa orang melayu harus dicela. Sebagai orang muda yang jahil dalam sejarah, masyarakat dan lain2.

Saya bertanya2 samada dia adalah seorang yang hidup dalam suasana yang mempunyai integrasi kaum. Jika saya boleh andaikan dari pengajian dia di Taiwan, ini bermakna dia adaalh aliran sekolah cina. Jelas saya menjadi runsing adakah perasaan benci ini di simai dari dunia persekolahannnya? Jika sungguh, maka agak bahaya suasana begini dikekalkan.

Anonymous said...

I agree with you, Cik Nuraina. The fact that the Malaysian politicans are making a hullaballoo of this is annoying, and it is an irresponsible waste of time that could be better used to address important public issues.

Contrary to what some others here may think and to what the Prime Minister may be indicating, I too do not believe that Mr. Wee is a criminal. Review this young man's actions again. I do not think there is a case against him. However, suffering and greater disillusionment will be caused by blighting his life just because of this affair.

ManaL said...

And have u not heard 'God Save the Queen' sex pistol version?

Did she the queen herself put all of them johnny rotten n the gang in prison and force them to apologize before the world? she was mocked and that song became like the 2nd national anthem of the late 70s and did she go "kuku" over that? surely she knew they're taking the piss but she was and still is the HRH Queen of Britannia....

My point here is: take it with a pinch of salt. All that he said aint new but what is new is how he managed to youtube his talent and made negaraku-ku a global vista.


Plus, he's in taiwan, and taiwaneses are bold in their political speeches. Talking about being patriotic the taiwan way.

Mior Azhar said...

Kak Ena,
Do visit kennysia.com. He has put together a hillarious video ala namewee. Its a suggestion for Jeff Ooi

Anonymous said...

Saya berasa apa yang tersirat di dalam tulisan Husin Lempoyan tak perlu lah diberikan perhatian lagi kerana tuduhan yang kedua ini belum lagi di sahkan benar tetapi sekiranya benar maka tindakan tegas perlu di ambil dengan segera inshaallah Melayu akan bangun..........

zewt said...

it will not be closed... cos they want us to focus our attention on this so that they can close other cases...

kimster said...

Maybe it's not the video.
Maybe it's the lyrics.

Can anyone translate?

Thanks + have a nice day.

dizai said...

assalamualaikum Puan,
Saya senantiasa mengikuti tulisan Puan sejak TWB dan saya kagum dgn penulisan puan yg "eloquent" dan "assertive". Tapi saya tidak bersetuju sama sekali dgn tulisan puan kali ini kerana mengikut terjemahan terus terang Wee Meng Chee menghina ISLAM. Berikut saya sertakan terjemahan yg dipetik drpd halaman Encik Roslan (http://n32.blogspot.com) terutama bahagian berikut: "5 in the morning
Theres even a morning call to wake me up
Sometimes a few of them will sing together
When you listen to it, its like a love duet
The voice ululates like an R&B song
Even though sometimes they sing until its out of tune
Even though sometimes they even sing until their voices break
Some sound like cockerels, but they wake up earlier than them
This way we can know the time to get ready for class and for work"

Pukul 5 pagi
Malah ada yang memanggil untuk gerakkan aku diwaktu pagi
Kadangkala mereka menyanyi beramai-ramai
Bila didengar, macam duet lagu cinta
Suaranya bagaikan lagu R&B
Walaupun kadangkala nyanyiannya sumbang
Walaupun kadangkala mereka menyanyi sehingga pecah-pecah suara
Ada yang macam bunyi kokok ayam jantan, tetapi mereka bangun lebih awal (dari ayam jantan)
Lalu kita boleh tahu bila untuk bersiap sedia untuk ke kerja"

Bagi saya cara & video berkenaan tidak "offensive" cuma lirik yg menghina agama adalah suatu garisan
yg tidak patut dilangkau terutama pelajar universiti sepatutnya lebih berakal daripada saya.

I prefer Anarchy in the UK better..

ikhlas
ZAiDi

Anonymous said...

Pada pendapat saya, mereka orang orang Cina yang tidak bercampur gaul dengan bangsa bangsa lain di Tanah Melayu ini, tidak faham adat resam bangsa bangsa yang lain. Apa yang mereka belajar adalah dari ibu bapa mereka sendiri dan keadaan sekeliling. Sekiranya ia datang dari kem kem kampung Cina yang ada di merata rata Tanah kesayangan kita ini maka pemikirannya terbantut kesatu peradatan saja.

Apabila ia keluar dari kongkongan kem kem Kampung Cina atau pun "Cina Town" ia merasa hairan dengan kelainan adat sopan santun bangsa bangsa yang lain.

Apabila ia di himpit olih polisi polisi yang sempit yang dirasakan tidak adil terhadap dirinya dan yang lain ,ia memberontak dengan cara dia telah mempelajari, walau pun pun pada pandangan kita ,yang telah mula mahu bercampur gaul ini, dianggap seperti kurang ajar.

Tetapi itulah realiti yang sebenarnya, kita kena lihat diri kita sendiri adakah kita adil terhadap semua LAPISAN MASYARAKAT yang ada di Tanah Melayu ini.....?