Malaysians Defend Astro Awani's LKY Funeral Telecast After Ugly Attacks
Unhappy viewers lashed out at Astro Awani on its Facebook page for giving a considerable amount of airplay to the state funeral of Singapore's founding founder, Lee Kuan Yew on 29 March.
By Anabelle Ong — 31 Mar 2015, 06:29 PM
The day Singapore gave a hero's farewell to Lee Kuan Yew, Astro Awani broadcasted the state funeral procession, a move that apparently did not sit well with some Malaysians
It led to an onslaught of comment wars on Astro Awani Facebook page that turned from ugly to something pretty beautiful
Angry subscribers of Astro Awani questioned the significance of Lee Kuan Yew and his contributions to Malaysians
"If Tungku Abd Rahman just passed, would Singapore telecast live? Will they say he was as great as LKY?" the commenter also questioned what were Lee's contributions to Malaysia.
Another tells Malaysians not to respect Lee so much as "during his life he has said negative things about Malaysia, and a lot of it was accusing and degrading our country. Kuan Yu (Yew) once said JB (Johor Bahru) was full of crime."
The lashes continue with a slew of accusations that Lee captured the hearts of Singaporean Malays with lies. "When he came to power he will appoint a Malay to be President...finally a Malay Singaporean can be SINGAPORE'S PRESIDENT but until now, there is not a single Malay President in Singapore's cabinet. There're only two Malay ministers. Also, the ministers don't have power, just want to hit the quota only."
The comments quickly turned into a discussion about racism
"(Malays) who put great people from other countries on a pedestal, they forget that now they do not own the land that was once their ancestors. Shame on you for supporting LKY"
"Because of LKY Singapore fell to NON MALAY. SINGAPURA, NOT SINGAPORE."
One was so offended that the person took it a step further and threatened to unfriend Astro Awani on Facebook, calling them "unreasonable and bias" for supporting Singapore
"Astro is like Singapore's billy goat. Like they want to kiss ass or something. Enough ler. We are sorry but don't need to go overboard over PSL (Lee Kuan Yew)'s death. Sore from reading about the death since a few days nago. After this I want to unfriend Astro Awani. Unreasonale and bias."
Disagreeing with the criticism, other Malaysians came to the defense of the news channel for broadcasting the live telecast as it was their duty
They apprehended the critics for being disrespectful to a man who has already passed away and chastised them for making accusations before fully understanding the history of Singapore and Malaysia
"Could you be more respectful? People pass away still want to instigate further. Would you like it if someone did that to you?"
In response to a person that asked what were Lee Kuen Yew's contributions to Malaysia, one commenter said "Ah Qhu.. If you want to know what his contributions to Malaysia is ... Read up on the history of Singapore and Malaysia beforehand then only can you debate ..I think you yourself don't know that Singapore is working with Johor also..
Singaporeans also spoke up to praise and gratify Astro Awani's decision to televise the funeral in the spirit of love-thy-neighbour
"I highly appreciate the love-thy-neighbour culture as a Singaporean. Indeed, we are grieving the death of a human being who was one of the best of his time. He was a person who safeguarded the interests of all Muslim Singaporeans to be equal with the world community. Thanks Astro Awani and Malaysians for sharing our sorrow."
A beacon of hope still shines as some people saw the bigger picture that harmony was important between people, in both race and countries
"It's ok not aggravated if a few of you malaysians have this sentiment.... Insyalah, we won't do this 'sentiment' thing to your country... Because we understand and believe in being a good neighbour...please remember Singapore n Malaysia are like siblings... They fight and squabble but they will never break apart. Thank you."