opinions – dua tiga sen

(This article was published on 6 May 2019 on #Liberasi and Malaysiakini.)

by Michelle Liu

About one to two thousand people gathered on the streets of Masjid Jamek in the afternoon of May 4th to “defend the sovereignty of Islam”. UMNO and PAS politicians appeared alongside NGOs like Ummah, ISMA and Sedar to give speeches. Plenty of signs and placards supporting The Crown Prince of Johore were also visible at the rally. Unfortunately, it had to end one and a half hour earlier due to a downpour.

While the freedom of expression is to be celebrated, a non-Malay Muslim onlooker such as myself cannot help but to ask if the “sovereignty of Islam” was so threatened to a point that it has to be “defended”.

(This article was published on 18 March 2018 on ASASIkini and #Liberasi.)

By Arveent Srirangan Karthirtchelvan and Michelle Liu

Satire has always been on the cutting edge of comedy. It is unapologetic and often offensive to many people. The topics discussed are usually risqué and hit close to home, making light of recent traumatic events or looking at what would be considered painful memories in a humorous light.

This is what was attempted by the Imperial College Malaysian Night team when they wrote the lyrics to their dikir barat performance. As per tradition, they took a handful of universities and made fun of them. The common occurrence this year has sparked a huge blowback in terms of a petition started by a few Malaysian students who urged Imperial to stop including insulting and demeaning comments about other Malaysians in different universities. This sentiment is echoed by over 1000 Malaysian students throughout the UK and it seems the people really want Imperial to drop the practice.

Tag: opinions

The hypocrisy of Himpunan 405

Imperious Imperial Impetuous Instead?