Natalie Shobana Ambrose (4 September, 2008 - theSun)
MALAYSIA is a mixture of cultures, values and principles. A juxtaposition of modern living and traditional values, we are at home when we see women fully clad in Muslim attire while walking past another with the tiniest of shorts allowing for half her bottom to be on display. It seems perfectly normal and acceptable. After all we are a varied culture and these items of clothing are readily available in most clothing stores and pasar malam stalls.
While perhaps an older generation might not approve of the mini-skirts and ultra short shorts, somehow the Malaysian censorship board seems ok with it. I used to think that what we watched on television was rated U but how often do I have to change the channel because titillation is not my thing.
Some people might say I am ultra conservative. But when I turn on the radio or TV and the singer is asking for someone to touch her body, throw her on the bed and describes where her thighs will be, I think that can be categorised as “porn”.
Or what about another singer who describes to his listeners his fantasy of making love in the club with a woman he just met. Or the singer who describes how she brings all the boys to the yard with her milkshake? And she’s not talking about the tasty beverage. Then there is the singer who sings about smacking that on the floor till you get sore. Mind you those lyrics get worse as the song plays on. This is what plays on our radio stations and our TV channels.
It’s not just songs about glorifying promiscuity that are played everywhere around us. There’s a new hit entitled Everybody Nose. A rather catchy song, nevertheless a song glamorising snorting drugs. There’s another that is played on Malaysian radio about cleaning out the closet. But it ain’t about household chores. Rather, it is an angry hate rant about how much the singer detests his mother for the childhood he had.
It is worrying that what is acceptable these days is borderline pornography or advocating bad behaviour. Can we then blame our teens who exchange sex videos on their mobile phones, or get involved in crime? Are we consistent in our teaching the young to wisely choose what they listen to and how they dress? Are we raising men and women who respect each other and know they are not just flesh commodities? Or are we still not talking about these issues to the young and contradicting ourselves.
Somehow what we listen and watch does subconsciously influence how we think or expect to be treated if we are not educated about right behaviour.
When we disagree that pop concerts are not part of our culture, we need to be consistent. Consistent about what is readily available on our TV’s and Radio Stations and what we ban. We can’t censor or ban every single thing, but as a country that is moderate in beliefs, though we may be different in ethnicity and culture, we do share similar moral opinions as Asians.
What we do need though is consistency. We need to be able to talk about sex, drugs, bad behaviour not just make them taboo topics because no matter how hard we try to ignore them, curious minds will find out and experiment. So, would it not be better to have well-informed, mature youth who are able to make educated decisions about what is moral and acceptable, knowing the consequences of their choices. Instead we ban dangdut singers but allow for belly dancers to gyrate in public.
If we are to ban singers from jumping and making sure they cover up on stage, we should have been banned from watching women’s beach volleyball teams frolicking on the beach in skimpy outfits. Artists according to Malaysia’s rules are not supposed to jump or shout and neither can their clothes have drug-related images or messages on them. I wonder then how ballet dancers in tutus are allowed on stage?
Before we shoot off our mouths about what is decent, let us first become consistent, then perhaps our rules and regulations won’t be mere ammunition to the mockery we have become.
Natalie believes that everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial.
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