We can be communal, as long as we’re not communists …
Recently, I self-enrolled myself into a certificate course at the RPK School of Journalism. After going through the course, I self-tested myself and found me to be competent and self-awarded the certificate. That this was all done by myself on myself is in keeping with what I consider to be the main thrusts of the RPKSoJ’s teachings, which are:
- Never let facts get in the way of a good story.
- Extrapolate available facts as far as possible.
- When writing about personalities, write as if you know them well. It makes you sound credible.
- Don’t use a sentence to express an idea when you can use at least five.
- Commit copyright violation by wholesale lifting of articles from other online sources (I failed this module, but that’s ok).
Given the above, I am thinking that I should write this post in the approved RPKSoJ style. So, here goes:
It was a dark and stormy night; Amir Muhammad had been tossing and turning in his bed for an hour and a bit, trying to find an accommodating position to drift into sleep and failing spectacularly even though he had checked to see whether there was a pea under the mattress (not that it would have made much difference since he’s not a princess, nor for that matter a queen). Actually, it wasn’t exactly dark and stormy, since the sky was cloudless. It wasn’t even night, since it was actually 2 in the afternoon. However, it felt like a dark and stormy night, because he had the air-conditioning on and the curtains closed.
He finally admitted to himself that his restlessness was not due to any unidentified object under the mattress but was instead due to the banning of his latest film “Apa Khabar Orang Kampung” (AKOK). He reflected that the reasons given by the Internal Ministry were a little condescending and noted that 18 years after the end of the cold war, we seem to be the only country in the world still fighting it. This is probably okay, as long as Beijing and Cuba don’t find out.
He then sat down and penned an appeal to the Censorship Board, except that he didn’t quite pen it, since it was typed on the computer. After which, apropos to nothing, he considered calling Jean Danker to congratulate her on her marriage to the Malaysian Prime Minister. He had met Danker once at a World AIDS Day party hosted by Marina Mahathir, which meant that they are now bosom buddies.
The banning of both his “communist” movies show that there still are some people who are worried about alternate views of the country’s history. The communist bogey, even after all these years remain a cause for concern. On the other hand, the fact that our political system is divided along communal lines does not seem to be too much of a problem, apparently.
Maybe things will change someday, just not today. Not yet.