When people are "oversensitive" and take offence at anything they perceive as a slight or insult,then freedom to create without restraints and censorship becomes a hindrance to creatives from advertisements,animation,drama or novels.Malaysian creatives likke Tash Aw,Tan Twan Eng,Preeta Samasaran,directors like Tsai Ming Liang,writers like Huzir Sulaiman can thrive only in a foreign land.Then we claim them as Malaysians but far from the restrictions of the motherland,they have space to grow.Only Kee Thuan Chye could get away with We could F@$ you Mr Birch as it was satirising whitemen.
I exhort readers and viewers to read between the lines as that which is left unsaid speaks volumes.Why dont we hear narratives about the Hindu Buddhist digs at Bujang Valley or did they know many parts of SEA were ruled by ancient kingdoms of Majapahit or by the Chola kings of southern India.We have to learn to dig up our own facts and not rely on books written by blinkered writers who can whitewash information.So why deny that the MPAJA had played a role to fight against the Japanese invaders who were victimising the Chinese? Why make the comfort women into "greedy prostitutes" when they were forced against their will to be sex slaves?
History is written by victors so we need Howard Zinn to open our eyes to the suppressed story of Red Indians,the black slaves and etc.If we dont learn from history,we're doomed to repeat it.Keep the narratives of nuclear bomb victims alive so that before they release nuclear contaminated waste into surrounding oceans,the suffering of these victims serve as canaries in a cold mine.
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