I was shocked when Jikon informed me of the news that the powers-that-be are shutting down Instant Cafe's Bolehwood Awards. Sharizal confirmed the news with Jo Kukathas herself.
The gist of it: The group was allowed to continue the show, provided that they took out the offensive bits - which I was told, constituted most, if not all of the play.
We convened an 'emergency meeting' this afternoon to discuss the matter (and gorge on fried kuey teow, rojak mamak and prawn mee) at Subang Ria. OK, so the intention was to drown our sorrows in food - I was 'sorrowful' mainly because I hadn't had the opportunity to see the show for myself after having heard so much about it.
There are those who admit that the show, while hilarious, had obvious bitter undertones. The question that needs to be asked is, can theater be bitter? If this bitterness reflects the sentiments of a segment of society, and the arts community decided to put the matter out in the open through a performance, should that not be allowed?
I can't say much about the matter, mainly because I haven't witnessed first hand the 'komedi yang melampau' as put by an Utusan reader, but where do we draw the line on artistic expression and political commentary, or rather, does such a line need to be drawn in a society that claims to want to improve itself?
Another question that sticks in my mind is:
Have Malaysians become too sensitive as to not recognise or accept satire and parody? ()
If so, are there deep-set psychological/national identity issues that we as a people need to deal with? ()
Questions questions... Off to Bon Ton again tonight to stuff myself silly - am seriously considering changing the name of this blog to Malaysiana Digested. Interesting to note, I used to scoff at people who claim that we Malaysians are obsessed with food.
Should I change my site name to "Malaysiana Digested"? ()
Posted by Najah Nasseri at 2003年07月13日 18:33 | TrackBackoh dang it.
:(
and i had tickets for tuesday too!
why-lah? whyyyy?
Last night, my neighbours in the hostel were discussing till 6 am, about how far Malaysia has come since 1969, have we become more mature and open to discuss sensitive issue, instead of suppressing them and create a time bomb? ( I will soon blog on this )... we reached a conclusion: that the future of Malaysia is bleak, because like what you say,some people including the leaders are just plain to coward to bring such issues up. I am doubly disappointed with their intervention in theatre. Only a matter of time, they attack blogs like mine.
Posted by: fooji at 2003年07月13日 21:01i caught it on fund-raiser night. i thought that it would be shut off. well now, it has been proven.
so much for freedom of speech.
the irony is that the entire show was speckled with jibes at the isa.... :D
luckily i caught it. it was EXCELLENT
Posted by: minishorts at 2003年07月13日 21:41Melayu memang macam tu, cakap sikit dah terasa. Siapa makan cili dia rasa pedas! Siapa yang pedas minum lah air, jangan lah haramkan bolehwood awards! heheheh...
Anyway, you should retain Malaysiana Digest and have ANOTHER blog called Malaysiana Digested. :)
Posted by: KaZ at 2003年07月14日 00:00Whaa....how the hell did this happen?
Come on, it had to come to this point in time when thespians cannot express their art in a manner that is justified!
Shameful even!
Was keen to go watch it too....dang!
Apparently Jo is taking the attitude that the show must go on. So in the spirit of incitement: go lend your support!
Posted by: Najah at 2003年07月14日 01:17Just finished watching 2DTV, a parody of all things British that can be parodied in cartoon format. Nothing is sacred - not even the Queen, let alone Blair and Bush [ok he's not British but he deserves to be parodied].
Was just thinking - kalau macam ni memang tak lepas kat Malaysia.
Betul pun!
Posted by: Idlan at 2003年07月14日 01:54Hey - just to confirm that as for the moment - shows at 12SI on Tuesday to Thursday is on as per usual. I *think* there's a different license involved - or something like that within our system that I just don't seem to be able to comprehend (after all, we need licenses for everything now don't we -maybe they should include it all in MyKad *grin*). Anyways, the point of this silly write-up is, the show on Tuesday onwards is on.
Posted by: Niki at 2003年07月14日 09:17I think this episode has given ICT more publicity for this show than it otherwise would have gotten.
I saw the show during its first run a few months back - to be honest, while some bits were good, I did think it dragged on too long. And while I love Jo, as a person and sometimes as an actress (*grin*), I did get a little tired of Ribena!
However, I'll close ranks with Najah, and incite you to lend ICT support and go watch it at 12SI this week.
Posted by: jikon at 2003年07月14日 10:02After the film industry, they attack theaters. With such defensive attitude, we won't have to wonder why stand up comedy show is not favourable.
fooji: as long as the server is not a malaysian server, they could not do shit about it.
In short, I want full production movies if not director's cut. I do not want any interference of any sort. But in reality, I think we have to butcher everyone at the Censorship board.
Woohoo, to quote Ash, "Flame me, it's alright" hahhahahaha
ach - the bolehwood awards IS the show - they can't close it down :( !
I'm not surprised that Jo and the rest of the ICT crew will keep on at it. They must prevail, if only for the sanity of the rest of us. I caught the show last year, it was excellent, sure with bitter undertones but what is parody without a bite o' bitter. It also seemed then that they had not really let loose on all that they could satirise on.
First They Came for the Jews
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller
Posted by: alphaque at 2003年07月14日 17:33i caught it last night and it was the first time i watched an ict performance. personally it awakened my conscience. and i didn't leave with anti-govt sentiments.
it's always fine that people sit around "lepak-ing" and talking bad 'bout politicians, races, cultures, yada yada yada (WE all know this happens). so why is it wrong to watch a bunch of actors DO that on stage?
i learnt this when i was much younger: "bagaikan ibu ketam mengajar anaknya berjalan betul." they can't even clean up the rivers and streets properly let alone fix proper drainage (BANJIR di KL, how embarrassing) and yet they wanna take part in cleaning the society off profanity and anti-govt stuff. sungguh memalukan!