Undilah video is a message on democracy

The Sun Daily
by Pauline Wong

PETALING JAYA (Oct 9, 2011): Despite the storm in the teacup that is the Undilah video, director Pete Teo remains unperturbed, even if slightly baffled, that its message on democracy would have attracted such a controversy.

The 4.48-minute video which features many well-known local personalities from celebrities to politicians and man on the streets, have been yanked from the air following a directive from the Malaysian Communication and Mulitmedia Commision (MCMC) - sparking off criticisms against the regulatory body.

Even though the MCMC clarified that the directive was made because the video had yet to be approved by the Film Censorship Board, the criticisms especially in the social network continues unabated..

Teo, despite it all, is still steadfast in spreading the message behind the video: that every Malaysian has a right to vote.

The inspiration for the video came to Teo when he was invited to speak at TED x Kuala Lumpur early last year.

"I was asked to speak on What Malaysia Needs. When researching for the talk, I realised what Malaysia needs is actually something simple - for the public to reclaim the country. Since this is a democracy, we can do it through the ballot box," he told theSun in a recent interview.

"As it is, we have about four million out of 15 million eligible voters who haven't registered. Of these four million, 75 percent are under the age of 30.

"This means that a huge proportion of the people who ought to be propelling the transformation of Malaysia aren't even registered to get their voices heard," he said, adding that he had enlisted the collaboration of well known actor, writer and director Adflin Shauki during a late supper in a meeting in Australia.

According to Teo, they agreed to turn the venture into a three-way collaboration, and sought out controversial rapper/actor Wee Meng Chee, better known as Namewee.

Namewee - the producer and main actor of hit local movie, Nasi Lemak 2.0, gained notoriety when he let loose a series of no-holds-barred videos on everything from Tenaga Nasional Berhad to Negaraku.

The collaboration was on hold until the trio could synchronise their busy schedules.

"It wasn't until when all our schedules cleared enough for a meeting a couple of months later that the project started in earnest," said Teo.

"Namewee came out with a song that Adflin and a friend added Malay and Tamil lyrics to. The video took almost a year to complete," he said.

Having produced the well-received 15Malaysia, a series of short films, Teo was eager to put his experience to full use.

"The concept of the video is fairly simple, as most good things are. A pop video is not a place to get all intellectually deep and argumentative.

"The message is: this is our country. Own it. Claim it. Citizens can do this by participating in the process of electing its government," he said.

Teo's message is echoed by his leading man, Namewee.

"The message of the video is to tell Malaysians that they are the boss," said the controversial rapper.

"If we are not happy (with the way things are run) then we can register, vote, and be in control."

The video has now gone viral on YouTube, despite the controversy, and comments from Information, Culture and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim that the video might be 'offensive to some people'.

With 400,000 views and counting, it would seem that the message is out there, and still going strong -- offensive or otherwise.