Malaysian Cabinet Bullies Young Student

In an unbelieveable circus which, for one reason or another, can only happen in Malaysia, the entire might of the Malaysian cabinet bore down upon a 24 year old helpless young man who is currently still a student at a university in Taiwan. For what? Because he shot a video of himself singing and criticising the negative aspects of the country in a crude satirical fashion.

Yes, Wee Meng Chee used swear words. Yes, he used images of feces. Yes, he sang that he got woken up by prayers at a mosque early in the morning. And yes, he made the national anthem a tad more snappy to those who are young at heart. I wouldn't do that.

But for goodness sake! Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, himself the Minister of Education, as well as the Datuk Seri Najib "Islamic State" Razak labelled Wee Meng Chee a "traitor" on national television and all mainstream press. Tan Sri Muhammad Taib, the influential former Selangor Menteri Besar asked for his citizenship to be revoked! Other ministers asked for him to be extradited to be trialled back in Malaysia, for his university sponsorship to be retracted (even if he wasn't sponsored by the Government), for him to be charged under the draconian Sedition Act (even though there was a national anthem act).

All because of a 3-minute entertaining satirical music video which must have been view more than a million times by now by viewers all over the world. Wee Meng Chee rapped on police corruption, civil service bureaucracy, discrimination against Chinese education as well as the insensitivity of the authorities.

Harian Metro led the charge to demonise Wee, leading to plenty of threats against him and his family. "Now the messages posted in Youtube say the Malays want to bomb my family, burn my house, kill my family members and others."

Under intense pressure and threats, Wee finally succumbed to apologise to "those who are offended by his work". This apology was proudly conveyed by Datuk Chua Soi Lek, representing the Malaysia Chinese Association (MCA). Wee and his parents must have suffered total ignominy when the Minister of Health went on national television to publicly and openly criticise Wee as being "naive and immature".

Wee must have swallowed his pride in order for the furore to pass, as promised by the MCA politicians in the hope that his parents will be able to find peace and anonymity in Muar once more. MCA for a day, behaved like heroes for "saving the day".

But unfortunately, it was not to be. MCA's bed partner, UMNO, decided that the apology should not be accepted, and the matter must be referred to the Attorney General for prosecution under the Malaysian laws. Clearly, it has shown Malaysians that MCA can't even protect the interest of a 24 year old student from UMNO, even after forcing an apology out of Wee, as well as bringing Wee family's reputation into disrepute with the public scolding Dr Chua meted out. (What type of useless party is that?)

I feel completely disgusted. I'm completely disgusted not only to the treatment meted out to Wee Meng Chee, but also the total double standards the Barisan Nasional government handles these type of matters.

While Wee's videos were crude and rude, the article posted by Kelab Penyokong Maya UMNO (KPMU) was incontrovertibly offensive and seditious, when the latter insinuated that the Christian God was false, and their descendents deviants.

The overwhelming might of the Cabinet and Barisan Nasional was brought to bear upon Wee, while til today, absolutely no action has been taken against KPMU despite a police report having been filed more than a week ago. The offensive article remains in its website, totally unchallenged, not even by MCA who claims to represent the Chinese community.

Or what about the case of Tung Ket Ming who was trashed and tortured by the Police after being arrested? Absolutely pin-silent from our BN, the epitome of moral uprightness.

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. This Government has clearly lost its moral compass.

Read also Ong Kian Ming's view of the circus at our other blog here.