Very Grammatic - Saturday-at-Starbucks-While-Waiting-for-Someone Ranting Edition


On a relatively related note, yesterday the Prime Minister spent more than an hour in the studio of a local radio station to talk on a number of things. Commendable effort I have to say in part of him to engage with the people, especially the young, since from my personal experience, the young adults are the ones that the Government has always been a bit mindful. I'm tempted to say scared, but that is probably half truth. But the one part that really caught my attention was that the PM sure does have a very good sense of humor - and humor, I want to absolutely stress here, is what Malaysia and Malaysians in general really need at the moment. We all seriously need to learn how to lighten up a bit. No - a lot.

To demonstrate the seriousness of the issue, let's take a gander at Maharaja Lawak, a 'sorta' reality television show about a bunch of comedians contesting for the coveted spot of the absolute king of comedy. (Student of linguistics will probably see the seriousness of the title 'maharaja' since it is a step up higher than 'raja'. 'Raja' is king, while 'maha' is, loosely translated, great. So - great king. See?) Every week, contestants are given three minutes to present their material to the audiences in studio (and also at home), and at the end of their performance, a host of jury or critics, will give their opinion. Pretty typical reality cum contest television show. The one downside to it is that you need to have Astro (paid satellite television), and a certain subscription to be able to watch it live. But this being 2011, Youtube is always a few hours update away, and this is where shit starts to go, erm, serious.

One of the contestants for the show is a duo of thick and thin 20-something guy who call themselves Balas. They are one of the contestants that I really liked because of the laid-back, almost spontaneous nature of their comedy. And the other being the double entendre - the duo's weapon of choice. We Malaysians like to think of ourselves as modest, reserved, prudish type of people who at the slightest hint of things of sexual nature will shy away into their own retreat and blush the entire night. Which is absolutely spot on I reckon for a society that has been traditionally consuming tongkat ali for better 'performance' in bed before it goes mainstream. Just browse through the endless barrage of comments from viewers at Youtube who outrightly expressed their discomfort (and some, disgust) towards the sexual nature of Balas' joke. They were all speaking as if sex is no longer a taboo but a sin - a voraciously, sinister, dirty dirty sin. The angels in the heaven must be flushing red up there.

I'm here not to slam these people for them making their comments but God, can't we at least try to be more open-minded. I mean yes, so it is not entirely suitable for family viewing lest your six year old daughter start to ask about what does it mean when a sword has gone 'uneasy'. But consider this one tiny bit of information - the show goes up live at ten, which if I'm not mistaken in British television world, it is the watershed. It's the magical hour where everything goes, where Gordon Ramsay is comfortably at home cooking up a shitstorm, where adults get to enjoy their um, adulthood. What are they doing at such a late hour? Tuck your kids in to bed. They already have the entire Saturday and Sunday morning reserved for their turn in front of the TV. Let the night hour be the for-adults-only hour. And more importantly, let the comedians rip out at the audience whatever the content may be. Because if it works, if it is funny, then let us enjoy our laugh. It's only a joke, and jokes have rarely cause hurt to anyone.