Important Update

In light of what has happened to Hassan Skodeng’s satire news website, nose4news, I should perhaps point out that pretty much all the news pieces here (that are attached to the category known as ‘Satire‘) are bullshit, stories and not to be taken in literally. Since some (not all, but a good lot of) Malaysians tend to take a lot of these stories with way too much seriousness than is otherwise required.

Who are you?

While I won’t tell you my name just yet (some of you might know my identity, but let’s keep it at that), I’m a on-and-off Malaysian writer who has spent his time in, around and out of the country.

Why do you blog?

There are many, very many blogs out in what we call the Malaysian blogosphere. While we do have the usual look-at-me sites like Kenny Sia and XiaXue, you also have a few others that are dedicated to niche markets, like technology and even automobiles ala-Paul Tan.

But the vast popularity of the Malaysian scene (and I don’t mean majority, different thing altogether) seems to revolve around socio-political commentaries. While there are a few good ones -even if you may not agree with their opinion- thus highlighting the scope and issues regarding local politics, there are many others out there which don’t really contribute much in return. Either they rehash what has already been written, or they end up cursing the government and worshipping elements of the opposition like most of the commentators in the Malaysia Today domain.

Then I thought, why not satire? Pundits like Stephen Colbert do it well, and execute their style with finesse, earning praise from both sides of the American political divide. However, we live in a country where satire seems to occur in real life, and if you’re a Malaysian, you know what I’m talking about.

We’re a nation of complainers. We love to complain about how lacakadasial the government is, how high the crime has risen and how our national football team can’t even beat Vietnam. We also like to mutter about rising prices and the fact that general salaries haven’t changed since pre-1997 economic crisis times.

But we’re also a people who love to joke. We like to hear about funny situations that make our lives a little bit brighter in a world gone mad, even if we do shake our heads if we read about them in the dailies.

At that is why I choose to write satire. It’s not just a collection of funny statements that you read in a 1001-jokes book. They are stories that affect our way of life, the way we think, and how we perceive ourselves as Malaysians in the eyes of the world. They affect us and we are bothered by it, but at the same time we can laugh because sometimes there’s nothing more hilarious than tragic comedy.