Tuesday, August 21, 2007

PROSECUTE OTHERS FIRST BEFORE CHARGING WEE MENG CHEE

Not contented with defiling the national anthem, Wee Meng Chee has once again riled up Malaysians with another new song titled Kawanku/My friend. Its lyrics are a blend of Mandarin, Malay and English and in it he rants “talk some more lah/Chinese go back to China/ if all go back ah/ This would not be Malaysia/ I fear where will you find work/ But its usual lah Malays also don’t like to work/ All go into the jungle/Live like Sakais”

He raps off by ending “But this is my true feeling”. My..my he sure has a way of expressing himself !

After this back to back success, could we expect another parody? Perhaps this time spewing venom against the Indians? Why not Indians have always been easy target.

His antics have found tacit approval from some who claim that he is simply venting out the frustration felt by many but who are fearful to express their views publicly. To them I ask, firstly, if you have an issue or hard done by isn’t there another way to raise it. Are all civil and political avenues to express their views in Malaysia closed ? Secondly, to those claiming that he is speaking up for the Chinese let me ask you this. Would you like it if some Malay youth in the name of creativity or freedom of speech were to make a parody of the lion dance or the Goddess Kuan Yin? I bet all hell will break loose.

I remain steadfast in my view that his parody of the national anthem was wrong and his excuses remain untenable. His latest “outburst” convinces me that he is simply a racist who is no different from the person who some time ago at a gathering brandished and waved a keris in the air.

So should he be punished? I say yes but not before punishing those who made seditious speeches in the UMNO general assembly. Not before punishing the Cabinet Minister who while on an official trip abroad insulted the Indians. Not before punishing the Member of Parliament who made the sexist remark in parliament. Not before punishing the Member of Parliament who shouted a derogatory word against the Indians. Not before punishing all those who were involved in circulating the vicious SMS which mobilised a Muslim mob to gather and terrorised Catholics outside the Silibin Church. Not before punishing those who disrupted a lawful Article 11 gathering. Not before punishing politicians who had threatened a reoccurrence of the May 13 incident. The list can go on.

I ask those baying for Wee Meng Chee’s head, where we you when all these transgressions occurred? You did not have the political will to stand up and ask them to apologise nor the moral decency to ensure that they were prosecuted. But when it concerns Wee Meng Chee, all of a sudden these morally deprived politicians become vociferous and heap the whole gamut of law on him. Now this, I (and many others) construe it as nothing less that an act of racial bigotry.

Norman Fernandez

Norman Fernandez is a lawyer in private practice and maintains his blog at www.normanfernandez.blogspot.com