Namewee and the 1 Malaysia runaround

Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle

WITH VIDEO Namewee’s video on how he tried to apply for a grant from FINAS (National Film Development Corporation Malaysia) for his 1Malaysia film leaves us with a feeling of déjà vu.

We identify with Namewee because he has managed to capture the range of feelings felt by the ordinary person, who has the misfortune of having to deal with a government department.

It is eye-wateringly frustrating, time consuming, anger provoking, energy-sapping and wastes money. Above all, it shows the relative lack of concern and urgency, by the government employee(s) whom you deal with.

In the video, Namewee says that his ambition was always to make a film. He decides to do one about 1Malaysia. He is inspired by Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s catchy 1Malaysia slogan, which was embraced by individuals and corporations.

His research revealed that the government had budgeted around M200 million to promote the entertainment industry. Namewee decides to apply for a grant to help finance his film.

After a press conference about his 1Malaysia film, Namewee sets off, script in hand, to FINAS. He was full of hope despite the misgivings of his friends.

That was in March 2010.

At FINAS, he was told to fill in a proper application form.

His own cover letter and script were insufficient.

A week later, he returns to FINAS with the completed application form.

Someone scoffs when Namewee says he has around 50% spoken Mandarin content, in his film. The rules say there must be 60 – 70% Malay language content.

He is also told the application form and format have changed.

In April 2010, Heng Seai Kei, the Deputy Minister of Information and Communications in the Ministry of Culture and Arts takes up his case. Namewee is optimistic about this meeting that he even borrows a suit. A FINAS representative and also the representative from the new department of Creative Funds are present.

He is told that his best recourse is via the Creative Funds as FINAS funding is not for Chinese or non-Malay projects.

He has to hand in a new application and start afresh.

He is also unaware that Heng has called for a press conference. He sits listening whilst she briefs the media for an hour.

Namewee is invited to another meeting with Heng and representatives from the Creative Fund. He waits for five hours before meeting the representative who then asks him how much Malay language content there is. He tells Namewee, “This is not 1Malaysia,” presumably implying that without 60-70% Malay in it, the film cannot be used to describe 1Malaysia.

The meeting is over in a matter of minutes.

Heng, to her credit, arranges to meet Namewee again, to try resolve his problem. She has invited other Chinese film directors to try uncover the extent of problems faced by Chinese film-makers.

A week later, she is transferred to another department and to date, Namewee has been unable to trace her whereabouts.

Namewee tries to do a follow-up with Creative Funds. Five months later, he receives a letter from the ‘fund management bank' and is told that his application has been rejected. He is given no reason except a hint from the bank that the orders came from the top.

Thus after almost a year, Namewee's applications, meetings and phone-calls have come to nothing.

Anyone watching Namewee’s clip can empathise with him. When dealing with members of the government machinery, it is an endless round of wrong information, form-filling and waiting. It makes saints of us all.

None of these bureaucrats value our time. They have little respect for us.

Maybe they think we don’t have lives to lead and that to take time off to see them, costs nothing. Some people have to take a day’s leave from their annual entitlement or maybe not get paid for that day.

Others have to make arrangements at home, for someone to fetch the children from school or for a minder to look after the children or the elderly relatives under their care, whilst they sort out their dealings with the government department.

What Namewee’s short clip has done is to expose the highhandedness and inefficiency of our civil service. It is a 1Malaysia phenomenon.

Namewee has scored another coup with this expose; The government has achieved a bureaucratic faux-pas.

Namewee is just as anti-racist as you and I – only his messages are packaged differently from what most conservative Malaysians are used to.

And he is not done yet. Namewee aims to meet the 1Malaysia Prime minister. If Najib does meet Namewee, it would make good political publicity. If he doesn’t, then one might as well abandon 1Malaysia.