I guess seeing a tudung-clad Malay woman making jokes that everybody found funny is in keeping with the muhibbah spirit of this country.
Even
arresting this woman for public indecency is hypocritical considering
the lack of pornographic uploads passed around on social media, in which
citizens of this country film sexual acts and spread it around.
You
know how some comedians say that comedians are just holding a mirror up
to society, well I guess in Malaysia it is a blacked-out mirror.
This
is not really about what people find funny or not funny. This is really
about what the state tells us what we should find funny. This is about
how we as citizens practice self-censorship because the state will come
down on us if we step out of line.
No laughing matter
Keep
in mind that we live in a country where certain states ā sanctioned by
the federal government ā have banned certain citizens from using certain
words because to do so would be an affront to the religious and racial
sensitivities of a certain group of people.
If this is not funny I do not know what is, but it is no laughing matter.
The
Penang mufti wondered if this was a coordinated attempt at insulting
Islam. The extremist forces in this country will grasp at any incident
to justify a crackdown because they understand that everyone would be
too afraid to do anything else but genuflect to their outrage.
Meanwhile,
the clubās founders and supporters are claiming that her act is some
sort of sabotage and are questioning her motives for doing her show.
There
are various conspiracy theories floating around out there attempting to
exonerate the comedy club when in reality they really did nothing
wrong.
All this does is feed into the cycle of outrage and
recrimination that further whittles down freedom of speech in our public
spaces.
Do not get me wrong, I understand why the club was so
terrified that they lodged a police report against the woman, but what I
do not get is, didnāt they realise they would be tarred with the same
brush?
Rizal said that his club would be more vigilant and on the
lookout for deviant aspiring comics who insult religion, where their
mics would either be turned off or they would be escorted off the stage.
And
this would be fine if these deviants comics were busy taking off their
clothes but it gets much more complicated when they are merely riffing
on current events and making people laugh.
What would have
happened if this headscarf-wearing Malay woman played it straight and
made jokes about the absurdities of a certain religion without even
naming the religion but it was obvious to everyone which religion she
was referring to.
Would that have made the performance acceptable or worthy of defence?
Or maybe we should just refer to Jakimās guidelines on excessive laughter.
