Amid racial discord and religious spats that have marred the outlook for Malaysia, a young filmmaker has taken up the issue in a light-hearted movie named for an iconic rice dish said to be symbolic of the Southeast Asian nation.
“Nasi Lemak 2.0,” by 28-year-old Namewee (picture), is a comedy that parodies ethnic stereotypes about Malaysia‘s three main races, sparking national debate about a usually taboo subject.
The film follows a brash young ethnic Chinese chef who is forced to rethink his racial prejudices after he falls on hard times. After losing his restaurant, he is forced to ask for help from a Malay nasi lemak seller he had previously scorned and is sent on a journey to learn how to make the dish.
Nasi lemak is made up of several components such as rice and spicy sambal, each from a different culture. The dish, not tossed into one, is said to reflect how the different races live together in Malaysia but maintain their identities.
“The most serious problem in Malaysia is the racial policy,” Namewee, a second-generation Malaysian ethnic Chinese, said in an interview.
“This policy can still be maintained but it shouldn’t be separated by what colour you are. It should be defined by how poor you are.”
Racial harmony is a common theme in Namewee’s films and music, which argue that a decades-old policy favouring ethnic Malays has bred a culture of inertia among Malays and widespread resentment among the country’s minorities.
About 60 per cent of Malaysia‘s population of 28 million are ethnic Malays and Muslims by birth, and they are given preference in jobs, education and business under a policy designed to redistribute national wealth.
High achieving non-Malay students routinely complain of being overlooked for government scholarships, while professionals such as lawyers and architects say Malay firms still tend to be preferred in the tender for government jobs.
Prime Minister Najib Razak has said the policy would be reformed but critics say it would be tough to balance the demands of ethnic minorities with the claims of the Malays, who are his core voter base.
“I hope the system will be equal and I hope the pace of improvements will be faster,” Namewee said, dressed in his trademark beanie, oversized shirt and baggy pants.
“I hope the freedom of speech would be widened.”
Change, but slowly
Namewee, a communcations graduate of a Taiwan university, thinks ethnic relations have actually improved in the last three years, but the progress has been eclipsed by reams of bad press on racial discord.
“Once I went to donate blood in high school, the Malay nurse spoke to me in Bahasa Malaysia and asked technical things about blood,” he recalled. “I couldn’t understand her and she told me to go home to China.”
He believes Malaysia will be able to achieve racial unity within the next five to ten years, driven by a young generation pushing for change and moves by the government and opposition to encourage racial harmony.
Over the decades, inter-racial marriages have become the norm, and a growing number of ethnic Malay children attend Chinese-medium schools. But critics say that beneath the harmonious surface, suspicion still runs deep.
Namewee, whose music and short film productions are laden with expletives and sexual innuendo, has jolted a country where open discussions on racial privileges are typically forbidden and debates on morality are cloaked by a conservative exterior.
In the 2007 “Negarakuku” he spliced sections of the national anthem with rap music to poke fun at police corruption and government bureaucracy, and questioned Malay privileges.
Critics called for his arrest for offending racial sensitivities, and he later apologised.
Now comes Nasi Lemak, his first full-length movie, a budget production filmed on less than US$320,000 (RM1 million).
