MCA: Dropping Ramadan ads is punishment enough

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

August 02, 2011

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — The MCA believes 8TV has been punished enough for airing a controversial Ramadan advertisement as the TV station had already dropped the advertisement that raised an outrage in cyberspace.

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said it was up to the public to judge the contents of the advertisement, claiming that the withdrawal of the advertisement was a sufficient form of punishment.

Dr Chua said ‘we should not poke fun at other people’s sensitivities’. — File pic

“The best judge is the public. The fact that there was a withdrawal of the advertisement... it is a form of rejection by the public, this is a form of punishment,” he told reporters today.


The country’s first private broadcaster, Media Prima Bhd, was forced today to axe a controversial series of Ramadan commercials on its 8TV channel after heavy public criticism and claims that the advertisements were racist in nature. The advertisements appeared to stereotype the behaviour of the Chinese during the fasting month.

Media Prima chief operating officer Ahmad Izham Omar announced the decision on micro-blogging site Twitter after coming under fire for the allegedly condescending tone of the public service announcement.
Dr Chua reminded TV stations and media companies to be more “sensitive” about the feelings of the different races in the country.

“In a country like Malaysia, people who do advertisements should be sensitive about the sensitivities of other races.

“We should not poke fun at other people’s sensitivities. What we need is mutual respect,” he said.
Released as a public service announcement on 8TV, the three commercials depict a socially-inept “Chinese” girl eating in public, wearing revealing clothing and being loud and obnoxious during the Muslim fasting month.

Pakatan Rakyat has called for 8TV to be taken to task over the advertisement.