Najib sees 'wayang kulit' in space, Zam pricks him over durian back home

The latest offering on the popular home entertainment service Netflix is a new take on the science fiction franchise Star Trek.

Titled Star Trek Discovery, the series debuted on Netflix on Sept 24.

It appears that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is also a “Trekkie”, which is the term used to describe fans of Star Trek.

Taking to Twitter this evening, he posted an image from the pilot episode, “The Vulcan Hello”, which featured Malaysian-born actress Michelle Yeoh.

The scene showed Yeoh, who plays captain Philippa Georgiou of the USS Shenzhou, seated in front of a display shelf with various items.

“Who's following the new #StarTrekDiscovery series?

“Apart from our very own TS Michelle Yeoh, what else do you see here that reminds you of Malaysia?” asked Najib in his tweet.

The prime minister was obviously referring to the most discernable item on the shelf to the Malaysian eye – a wayang kulit puppet.

However, The Star reported two days ago that the puppet actually originated from Java and is called Antareja, according to cultural organisation Pusaka founder and writer Eddin Khoo.

Khoo revealed that Antareja is a character from the Javanese wayang kulit tradition and was the son of the great Bhima through his marriage to Naganini.

"He is a realisation of the Javanese imagination," he added.

Khoo also pointed out that there are cultural differences between the Malaysian and Javanese wayang kulit traditions.

"There are differences in the stories, the repertoire that they perform and the whole style and sensibility are different – even the lineage and history are different," he said.

Elsewhere in Twitter Jaya, former information minister Zainuddin Maidin took the prime minister to task over a thorny subject – durian.

This is after Najib proclaimed himself as responsible for getting the national fruit exported to China.

The prime minister, during a speech this morning, recounted a previous visit to Chow Kit, where he saw durians being sold for RM1 per fruit.

"But today, the 'musang king' durian is sold for more than RM100 per kilogramme because we have opened a new market in China,” he said.

However, Zainuddin, who is better known as Zam, criticised Najib for being responsible for the hike in durian prices that Malaysians can no longer afford them.

“No wonder locals cannot buy durian because Najib has succeeded in exporting them to China for a high price. Proud without realising people are upset,” he tweeted.

According to the former minister, Najib claiming that durian in Chow Kitt cost RM1 per fruit showed that the prime minister was truly “upper class”.

“It proves that he does not realise the high cost of goods, including durian,” he added.- Mkini