Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The one about Tian Chua, cut & paste, UMNO Youth, hurt feelings and the Prophet

This is Tian Chua's infamous badly doctored picture that caused all the ruckus.

While the picture has gotten generally negative reactions from Malaysians, here's a couple of interesting comebacks from UMNO's finest.

From my hero, KJ, whose feelings are apparently deeply hurt:

"We as Umno Youth and citizens of Malaysia are hurt by Chua’s actions.

Even in democracy, there should be a limit and we believe in this case, Tian Chua had gone overboard. He had abused the freedom that has been given on the use of Internet and the freedom of expression.

Investigations against Tian Chua will be a test case to our democracy.

In a country that practise matured democracy, we must play a proactive role by reporting incidents where lies, false information and slander are spread through the Internet. We must show good example to the younger generation that such acts are uncalled for and unaccepted."

Refer to Malaysiakini and Malaysia-Today.
Uhhh... hero, what do you have to say about this equally badly doctored picture that appeared on UMNO Youth's website then?

What kind of "good example" is UMNO Youth showing the younger generation by superimposing the heads of Opposition leaders onto the cover of Chin Peng's book and labelling them Komunis? (That means Communists for those of you who don't read Bahasa Melayu..., errrr Bahasa Malaysia). How does it factor into your 'test case' for our democracy?

Kudos to Malaysian Unplugged for pointing out Khairy's hypocrisy.

But Khairy is merely UMNO Youth's deputy chief. By my reckoning, UMNO Youth is like a giant toilet bowl and its members are the turds. The leaders are akin to the high-fibre floaters, which means that we have to go right to the top for the really good shit. And the biggest turd is (of course) the Youth Chief himself, Hishammuddin 'the Keris' Hussein.
Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that if people are allowed to make fun of Malaysia's leaders they would use the same freedoms to insult the Prophet Muhammad.

Mr Hishammuddin stressed that he was not trying to put Malaysia's leaders on the same level as the Prophet.

Refer to BBC News.
My dear Education Minister... just because you add a disclaimer after you've said something really dumb..., doesn't make what you said any less dumb nor any less said.

Imagine... what if I said... "if men are allowed to pay prostitutes for sex, they might use that same freedom to pay your wife for sex. But I stress that I'm not saying your wife's a whore."

Now... did I just call your wife a cheap whore and get away with it..., OR did I just illustrate how contrived your logic is?

Even the PAS numbnuts agree.
Senior members of the conservative Islamic party, PAS, said that by linking the two, he (Hishammuddin) had in effect done just that.
All Malaysians should be outraged that a senior UMNO leader and govt minister (for Education, no less... determining the direction of what your children learn in school) would try to incite religious and racial animosity, just to gain mileage in what is a purely political issue.

Muslims, in particular, should be outraged by how Hishammuddin debased the Prophet's stature (by equating him with this funny looking fellow on the left). But more so for manipulating the Prophet's name and Islam for his personal political agenda.

I would be terribly, terribly disappointed if Islamic clerics and activists in Malaysia display any less public indignation over Hishammudin's statement than they did over Salman Rushdie's knighthood, Danish cartoons, nightclub singers, bald women and crosses on Paddle Pops.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's interesting to note that in that very same press conference, the education minister brought up the kris again, and that he would kiss it again. Not reported in the English papers.

"Malay kissing keris is defend and preserve Malay traditional culture.
Kissing the keris is a symbol of bravery and power.
Moreover kissing keris is inherited from the first Umno leader Datuk Onn Jaafar thus passing on to us. You people want me to kiss the keris, I am willing to do it again.
Keris is a symbol of Malay unity. If a leader kisses keris it means he has the ability to lead." (translated in http://elizabethwong.wordpress.com/2007/07/09/the-perfect-crime-2/)

Anonymous said...

Tian Chua never mentioned that the girl in the pic is the murdered Altantuya, did he? Why all the fuss? Unless if those involved are trying to deny something?

And so it's okay for the Umnoputras to do something, but not okay for others to do the same?