NAMEWEE is a Malaysian rapper with a penchant for extravagant eyeware and a dangerous interest in politics. Police picked him up at the country’s main airport in August, when he flew home from a spell abroad. A score of touchy groups had complained that an early cut of his latest video—which featured performers dressed as religious leaders gadding about a church, a mosque and a Chinese temple—insulted the dignity of Islam, a charge punishable by two years in prison. Authorities talked about asking Interpol to help them question his collaborators, a three-piece band based in Taiwan.
In gentler times Namewee’s only offence might have been crimes against music. But Malaysian Islam is gradually growing sterner, and its promotion by the state more aggressive. These trends are getting a boost under the government of the prime minister, Najib Razak. Tormented by claims that a national investment firm has been looted, his party is keen to change the subject. So it is recasting itself as a defender of Islam, the religion of its ethnic-Malay supporters. All this is souring race relations and worrying neighbours, who fear the shift will nurture...Continue reading
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