By: Ivan, Kelly, CheeWah & Synru
With the rise of social media, government is forced to deal
with a new form of backlash that takes the form of mockery from the public.
When the government makes a statement or act that deemed outrageous by the
public, it will immediately go viral on social media and strikes back at the
government using humor in its deadliest form.
Below are a few incidences which recently went viral on
social media:
1. The emergence of
“McKangkung”.
On Jan 12, 2014, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak
delivered a speech on recent price hikes which frustrates the whole nation. It
was recorded and was uploaded on Youtube. The 1:08 minute video clip went viral
on YouTube with 619,962 views.
“…Kangkung dulu naik, sekarang ini dah turun. Bila turun
apasal tak puji kerajaan?”
(“Water spinach used to be expensive, now the price has
decreased. When the price is low, why no one shows appreciation towards the
government?”)
He used the inconsistent price of water spinach to explain
that government should not be blame on the price hike.
After the video went viral, McKangkung was then invented and
was propagated all over the social media.
McKangkung”, a burger with Kangkung Fried Belacan replacing
the usual meat patty was shared multiple times on Instagram.
Leon Ku, 22, said “It is so funny and I could not resist
forwarding and sharing it with my friends.”
Ah Beng, 50, expressed his opinion by saying “McKangkung
caught my attention the most and I think it is a trend now for the people to
forward and share these news and pictures all over social media.”
“Malaysia is just full of talented and creative people,”
said Thean Li Ren, 18 years old.
2. Ultraman comic book
was banned
On March 6, 2014, Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN) has banned
the publication of Ultraman the Ultra Power due to the misused of the
word “Allah”.
According to Home Minister, “It is an offence under Section
8 (2) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 for any person to
print, import, produce, reproduce, publish, sell, distribute, offer to sell or
have in his possession for any such purpose the banned publication.”
The Ultraman backlash hits social media two days after the
announcement of the ban.
“Haze also Ultraman, bridge collapse also Ultraman, now
everything also related to Ultraman,” said Wong Siok Wen, a business admin
student.
22 years old Wong Wei Jun shares his displease, “These
reactions are made to shows the shameful truth.”
Take the previous incident as example, “How can a bridge
collapse so easily? If there is no corruption involved then it must be the
fight between Ultraman and the monster that caused the bridge to collapse,”
Wong added.
Photo edit of the fight between ultraman and the monster
causing the breakdown of Cyberjaya flyover and haze.
3. Bomoh’s antics in
finding missing plane
When Malaysians are united in finding the missing plane, the “raja
bomoh” (shaman king), Ibrahim Mat Zin is invited to help in finding the
missing aircraft at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
Social media was bombarded with the spoofs of their act the
next day.
People making fun of the bomohs by imitating their act.
#Hashtag interviewed Gerald Lam Mun Wai, 20, who was
involved in mimicking the act with his friends.
He said “We are imitating the bomoh’s act for fun. We are
also trying to spread some sense of humor to our friends in social media.”
“I understand that these spoofing pictures will definitely
affect the government. I hope these reactions will make them realize of the
ridiculous choices they have made,” he added
Triapps, one of the apps and games developers, took advantage on this whole bomoh incident. They created a bomoh-inspired game, “Bomoh: Rescue Run” that surpassed 100,000 downloads on Google’s Play Store.
3,039 users gave a five star rating to this nine-days-old
application. Over 40 bomoh-inspired game applications was created and achieved
massive downloads on Google’s PlayStore.
4. Prime minister RM1
chicken
On March 11, 2014, the prime minister advised citizens to
shop wisely instead of complaining about price hikes after he manages to buy a
whole chicken for RM1.
The news received massive responses on Facebook.
“The public’s negative comments on social media will destroy
the government image. They are highlighting the incompetence of our leaders in
managing the country,” said Hanis Farhanah binti Sukor, 18 years old.
#Hashtag interviewed a psychologist to find out the reason
behind the behavior of Malaysian on social media platform towards this matter.
According to Ms Yew Wan Ping, a psychologist who specialized
in Developmental Psychology said “Malaysia is a country that lack of freedom of
speech.”
“The people took social media as a platform to voice out
their thoughts,” said Yew.
Ms Samantha Siew, a clinical psychologist, thinks that
social media had buzzed because the reactions are funny.
“The people show their anger through social media by posted
silliness or dissatisfied of the government, rather than doing nothing and
ignoring the authority,” she explained.
“I can see that every mockeries or sarcasm underlines a
certain anger and disappointment. They are angry and disappointed but at the
same time they are doing something about it,” said Siew.
“This is a maturing process and we can view it as a positive
symptom for democracy. However, behind all this, I see there’s hope for a
change in the future,” she added.
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