1Malaysia, Sepet and Yasmin Ahmad

1Malaysia, Sepet and Yasmin Ahmad.

What have they in common?

Controversy, my dear.

1Malaysia has got Anwar Ibrahim and several MPs suspended from Parliament for connecting it to 1Israel, allgedly the brainchild of Apco.

In this musing, I am not going to elaborate on abbreviations, out of respect for the government's current fondness for them.

We have the KPIs, KPRs, NEM, NKEAs, ETP, PDP and whatever have you.

Read the newspapers.

It has got the Speaker Pandikar Amin in trouble for not keeping to his promise of allowing Anwar to have his say in defending himself.

It has directly or indirectly led the DPM to say that he was a Malay first and a Malaysian second, further obfuscating what it is that 1Malaysia is supposed to mean.

It has put the PM in the pathetic situation of having to publicy claim that he was the author of the 1Malaysia catchphrase and the concept behind it( whatever that may be), and no one else, and certainly not Apco.

It has even led the Selangor State Government to ban the public display of 1Malaysia logo on advertisement billboards

Sepet (the movie), and by extention, Yasmin Ahamad (the movie- maker cum director), have been pillorised as culture polluters (whatever that means again).

But what Sepet and Yasmin Ahmad do not have in common with 1Malaysia is that 1Malaysia has not won any awards.

Sepet (the movie) has won several international awards, including for Best Asian Film at the 18th Tokyo International Film Festival 2005 and the late Yasmin Ahmad herself had won numerous international accolades for her work in film making and advertising industry.

Just google Yasmin Ahmad to find out.

For those who have not watched any of Yasmin Ahmad's movies, try Sepet.

You may or may not like it.

It doen't matter. Just keep your mind open.

Give it a try.

The dialogues are not your typical scripted, stilted, boring, wodden exchanges.

They are how we ordinary joes and janes, ahmads and ani-s, ah chongs and ah mei-s, subramaniams and subhas speak to each other.

And so, if nothing else, the dialogues are such a refreshing departure from the usual bland, meaningless and really, dishonest fare dished out by our local fim industry.

The PM might or might not have authored the 1Malaysia catchprase, but to me Yasmin Ahmad personified 1Malaysia.

What do you say?

                                                          The Sepet Trailer