An Angry Ox is a Dangerous Ox

I am pissed. Seriously pissed. Not drunk, mind you.. but angry. It's very rare that I am ever incensed enough to post while angry, but this is one of those rare, priceless moments. The reason for this is twofold: after almost 8 months of waiting, I've been told that my long awaited/desperately needed check "sedang diproses, so sabar lah ye?". I am so tempted to just rush off to the Bursary and give the old geezer there a piece of my mind. It's been "minggu depan, ya" for far too long. Why bother telling me it's next week when it's not even on the way? There's only so much I can take, and someone has to pay.

Okay. Next thing. Apparently the KDN has threatened to ban the popular news show Edisi Siasat (aired on NTV7) unless they stop airing sex related stories. This I think stemmed from the fact that the past few episodes focused on the sexual acts committed in public by Malaysian youths, and our society's preoccupation with sex aids and the like. Add to the mix some other very sensitive comments on an episode on stealing soil, and you know some people are getting a little hot under the collar.

So why am I riled up? Simple. Here's an excerpt from the article in Berita Harian yesterday. Mind you, this is from a deputy minister, regarding Edisi Siasat.:

“Kita akan bekerjasama dengan Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN) dan Kementerian Tenaga, Telekomunikasi dan Multimedia bagi memantau adegan ganas dan terlampau seksi yang disiarkan televisyen..Ini kerana adegan seperti itu jelas menyalahi budaya masyarakat negara ini serta mempengaruhi moral terutama remaja,” katanya.

First off, these are not "adegan" or scenes in a teleplay. It's actual footage. The acts shown weren't scripted in any way. Secondly, what's this talk of the show actually influencing the morals of youths? Face it, these things have been going on for a long while even BEFORE Edisi Siasat came on air. I'm sure many of us have received at least a few pictures of these "adegan" in our inboxes. In my opinion, airing the show in no way encourages these youths to try it, unless they really happen to be thrill seekers. This is a typical knee-jerk response from officials who've come to realise that they've run out of carpet to sweep the doo-doo under. In other words, ladies and gentlemen, the sh*t has hit the fan, and they're all in damage control mode.

It's amazing that we insist on being incredibly naive, even when we're so proud of being 46 years old. Ladies and gentlemen, your youths have (unprotected?) sex in parks, alleyways, parking lots and under staircases. If not that, they tape themselves in various stages of the act using webcams/digital cameras. I've received pictures in the past of them in flagrante delicto in a forest reserve, a hotel room.. you name it. Celebrities, Datins with gigolos...we've come a long way.

These things DO happen, and we can't keep ignoring them, hoping they'll go away. As long as we maintain this whole hush-hush attitude towards our sexuality, we'll always be shocked(?) everytime something like this makes the news. I understand some views that say by broadcasting this footage, we're irrevocably damaging the participants' reputations. Well, think of it this way. If they'd thought about what they were doing, there wouldn't even BE anything to show in the first place. Don't even let me get started on which particular racial group is dominating the whole affair, as evident in an interview with a self-professed "kaki skodeng" (peeping tom). Personally, whatever you want to do with your time behind closed doors is your business. I won't intrude. Human beings are sexual creatures, among the few species who actually enjoy sex, and we use laws/religion to moderate our desires. To each their own.

In essence, here's the gist of what I'm ranting about here. First, as much as some of you may like to disbelieve, Malaysians are very "advanced" sexually. Second: censoring or banning any news programmes that show footage of lewd acts won't work. Third, if you're in power and don't know what the hell's happening and are too scared to ask, STEP DOWN. Fourth, ever since the broadcasts, I've yet to see a single iota of concerted INTELLIGENT action being taken, except perhaps to establish more and more committees.

Let's all grow up, shall we? We're forty-bloody six years old, for God's sake.