YOURSAY | ‘Truth continues to be erased by the vandal blades of officials…’

Pig character disappears off KL billboard for HK film

Vijay47: I don't think Malaysians should be particularly shocked by the latest antics of the Censorship Board, it is merely continuing a long-established protocol to stop Muslims from being confused and to prevent their faith from being weakened.

As we are increasingly being reminded, Muslims here are terrified of almost anything porcine. In the Disney cartoon ‘Beauty and the Beast’, Beauty looks down from her balcony and zap, the garden scene is cut as it includes a pig running around.

Then in 1995 we attained further filmdom fame when initially, the movie ‘Babe’ was banned. Incidentally, Babe was a sheep-dog pig, which I suppose counts as two strikes against the film.

With Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed informing movie buffs that "it is too trivial an issue to comment on" - then why censor the poster? - our Censorship Board reveals that it is a great fan of Charlie Chaplin and no doubt the Three Stooges.

And the Oscar goes to... ‘No Malaysian Will Be Neglected’ director, Najib ‘Arab’ Razak.

FellowMalaysian: Zhu Bajie, the pig-reincarnate is one of the three disciples of monk Tang Sanzang who made their epic journey to the west in this oft-mentioned Chinese fable, especially in children's books of mythical tales.

Removing the Pig's character from the billboard will render the portrayal depicted in the film poster incomplete as one of the four main characters was missing.

The legion of fans of ‘The Monkey King Trilogy’ will feel displeased and hurt with this 'character assassination' of Zhu, more so when the action was taken over a concern of religious sensitivity in the country.

Coupled to that, Nur Jazlan's calling the matter a trifling issue has just made the matter worse as it is obvious he is running away from his role as deputy home minister.

Commentable: The picture of Zhu Bajie depicted in the poster is not even of a pig. It is the picture of a human, an actor who is vaguely disguised to resemble as a pig. Nothing more, nothing less.

It is clearly not intended to offend any person, race or religion. It is a fictional fantasy movie.

Many movies depict the appearance of some form of animals, like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ or recently ‘Birdman’. But then, is it okay to depict rabbits or birds but definitely not okay for pigs?

Come on Nur Jazlan, for you it may be an issue too trivial to comment on, at least on the surface of it anyway, but dig deeper into the root cause (of such actions) the trend (of bigotry) is worrying and not in the least trivial.

By not voicing out and putting a stop to such trends, you and your government are encouraging it.

Turvy: Truth continues to be erased by the vandal blades of officials too stupid to live with it and by those too afraid to submit it. This nation has overtaken all near parallels of inequity, oppression and stupidity.

If what you believe in needs to be protected from pictures of imaginary pigs and even piggy banks, you need to examine not your belief, but how stupid you are. How can you align such a moronic move with your ambitions of being a leading centre for learning?

How do you educate your young? Or will you exterminate all pigs in this country as your final solution and offer votive rewards for the slaying of all pigs in the world?

Chances are you will. And then you will sell the meat as you sell everything that is movable in this country.

Res Ipsa: Everything seems to be getting out of hand and our goal of achieving a fully developed nation status by 2020 may be pushed backwards by another 10 years. A poster of a pig is certainly not the same thing as coming into contact with a live pig.

With all these uncalled for development in the mindset of a few paranoid ones in power, one wonders whether we can continue using common words such as ‘piggy-back’, etc. Even the lovable Pumba from the movie ‘Lion King’ could be censored.

Come on, Malaysia. I am sure we can do better as a multi-racial nation and do not keep harping on petty things.

Proarte: Umno has a poor regard for Malays and has successfully managed to dumb down many Malays into feeling insecure about their religion and position in Malaysia. Umno's self-appointed role is to 'protect' the ' vulnerable and weak' Malays and their religion which is under threat.

The utterly nonsensical decision to ban the fictional character of a half-man half-pig in a movie shows the depths of stupidity the Malays in the censorship board are prepared to display.

By blindly following Umno's stupid, racist and religiously bigoted modus operandi, they are actually insulting the Malays.

Telestai!: This is a nation preoccupied with petty issues. The world is in turmoil, both politically and financially, but yet this country has a fair number of small-minded people bent on picking a fight over the slightest issue.

Odin Tajué: Indeed, small potatoes of small mind always sweat the small stuff simply because they are intellectually insignificant to ponder profound issues, or to contemplate complex conceptions and affairs.

They subconsciously make up for their shortcomings by blowing up the mundane out of proportions, particularly when the results of their demolition destroy the kind disposition, diminish the dignity and offend the sensitivity of those superior to them.

We do not have to be a psychoanalyst to recognise this trait; a little more than cursory observation of those around us will unveil it. We see it here.

We have just recently seen it in the bigotry-clogged blood veins ruptured and masses of addled brains blown up by the imagined crosses on the rooftops of those terrace houses in Langkawi.

There is no dearth of such intellectual toyols in Malaysia. You know that only too well, of course. Toyols, I am told by a few Malay friends and acquaintances of mine, are not only small in physical size but are also much partial to thievery.

Speechless: Why are some people so afraid of the sight of crosses and pigs? If the Creator indeed created everything in the universe, surely that would include pigs.

I really feel sorry for these people who are so paranoid and whose faith is so weak.

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