Idolatory on High

Just last Friday - nearly a week ago - I had the wonderful opportunity to be an active participant in Malaysian popular culture. I was among the six thousand or so enthusiastic public who thronged the Arena of the Stars on Genting Highland to watch Jac and Dina battle to become the first ever Malaysian Idol. And boy was it an experience and a half!

The days that have unfolded since have left a bittersweet taste for me.

So much has been said in the press and on the Internet on how Jac's win was a triumph for all Malaysians. And all because there was an overwhelming suspicion that Dina would garner more votes because of racial bias and such.

Suspicion alone is a bad thing. By expressing the suspicion, and applauding the outcome based on an unfounded suspicion to me simply consolidated just how racist we all are. Yes - I am lambasting the same journalists and opinion-leaders who parrotted on and on about how wonderfully Muhhibah this entire affair was - because Jac won.

For crying out loud - what was Jac's and Dina's contest of song meant to symbolize? Some epic battle of Melayu and Pendatang?



To be honest with you, I was tempted to vote Dina - and that impulse sprung from the appeal of the underdog. Added to that, I did prefer Dina's tonal quality to Jac's rather generic sound. Heck, Jac was light-years ahead of Dina - standing ovation notwithstanding - technically awe-inspiring and pretty as a picture. Really, what could my one measly vote do to a super-duper singer like Jac?

And mind you, if there were enough people who thought like me - the outcome could have been very different indeed - with the race factor not having played a part at all, and yet those suspicious minds would have construed it to have done so.

If you ask me, the the ensuing coverage of the Malaysian Idol results did prove one thing to me: we are still preoccupied with race, even when we think we are not.

Shame on us.