| Home > South-East Asia >> Malaysia | |
Malaysia's rising tide of sleazy news worries parents
Straits Times - April 2, 2011
Carolyn Hong, Kuala Lumpur – Malaysian political news can seem like endless episodes of Sex And The City and Candid Camera rolled into one. It seems to be all about sex scandals, with the sex caught on hidden cameras.
The latest episode is, of course, the video allegedly featuring opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim having sex with a foreign prostitute.
Where once sex scandals were vaguely described in the media as "affairs." today, no lurid detail is spared. It is so sleazy that some parents have begun hiding the newspapers from their children.
"I don't let my daughter read the newspapers these days, and only show her articles I want her to read. They should be rated R or X or something, what with the sordid details of Anwar's supposed sex lives," said s Alia Jamil, who has an eight-year-old girl.
Malaysia is not alone in its preoccupation with sex scandals, of course, but it has become the weapon of choice to destroy an opponent.
"A sex scandal is the best way to bring down someone in a society where morality is always being judged," said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, who runs the independent think-tank Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs.
Malaysia is, on the surface, so prudish that it's routine for Muslim politicians to object to sexy singers like Beyonce performing here. This is precisely why allegations of sexual immorality can be so damaging politically.
With this, the new Anwar sex video really comes as no surprise. "People see that as the best route to kill off enemies," said Wan Saiful, who noted that Malaysians have become tolerant of other kinds of wrongdoing, especially corruption, but not sexual ones.
There is just no impact in accusing someone of owning lavish houses or even whole buildings, a fleet of cars and private jets. With corruption, the accuser will be asked for proof. With sex, a bare assertion is enough.
"Sex scandals will make it into the papers, and whether it can be proven or not, the damage is done," said Wan Saiful.
It has, however, left many Malaysians feeling dismayed at the smut on public display. Marina Mahathir, daughter of former premier Mahathir Mohamad, spoke for many when she wrote in her newspaper column that Malaysian politics has become all about hypocrisy.
"It's not about making people's lives better by passing laws and policies that actually benefit people," she wrote.
"Instead, it has become all about proving that someone else is dirtier than you, and therefore, relatively speaking, you come out smelling slightly rosier. At least that's what you hope. The truth is, there isn't much to differentiate between one and the other; all sides smell like excrement," she said.
Many Malaysians will agree that gossip has eclipsed the real issues.
The opposition has produced an "Orange Book" – its manifesto that includes specific pledges for its first 100 days in office, if it ever wins power. On the ruling Barisan Nasional side, the government has proposed extensive economic and governmental reforms.
It is not stretching it to say that politicians have shown little interest in debating these platforms, other than a handful like Umno youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and the opposition Democratic Action Party MP Tony Pua.
A reader, Rajiv Nambiar, wrote on a news website that there is no shortage of real problems in Malaysia, naming traffic woes and poor maintenance as just some. "Yet, all we could think of discussing about right now is about a dubious porn clip?" he wrote. Too often, that seems to be the case.
See also:
 |