The band The Sex Pistols was formed in London, England in 1975 during the punk rock craze, a subculture known for rebellion, decadence and nihilism. They produced a few memorable songs, then imploded when its singer, Sid Vicious, died at the tender age of 21.

So much for the year 1975 and for music and culture, or for some people, drunkenness and cacophony pretending to be music and culture.

We were visited by 1975 again recently, in the form of a British band that came in to play at a music festival in KL. It didn’t end well. There was an uproar, many people were appalled while some felt vindicated and very smug with themselves about how things turned out.

I didn’t follow what happened apart from the headlines. I’m all for freedom of speech, but this is one instance where Malaysians of pretty much all demographic criteria and political persuasions seem to agree is “too much”.

Let’s consign 1975 way back to where it belongs – in the dim past where we don’t have to deal with it any more.

Sanctimonious righteousness

Whatever the band’s intentions, they left the local LGBTQ community in an even worse situation than before. Their sanctimonious, righteous behaviour will be matched by other sanctimonious, righteous behaviours of those who’d feel even more emboldened to take over God’s job as judge, and His role as jury and executioner too.

The LGBTQ issue is actually a very interesting one. The ones most scared of the community are those who deep inside have great fears that perhaps they themselves could be “queer’. They project their fears on to others, especially those who are less powerful than themselves,

The louder they shout and rant, the more they want to punish others, then the deeper and more visceral are their own personal fears.

Chill. Nobody becomes gay or queer because of family or friends or the internet, the way people can become harsh and cruel because of family or friends or the internet. It’s more complex than that.

Anyway, I’m always more interested in the on-stage antics of a different kind of people – politicians. You might argue there are similarities between them and drunken British bands – foul mouths, brainless twaddle and antics that would get them kicked off stage if they don’t actually own the stage.

And you’d be right. But the political noises lately have been about the impending state elections in the six Malaysian states that chose not to dissolve their state assemblies when the parliament was dissolved last year.

(Parliament was dissolved last year? And there was a general election? And a bunch of politicians went out/came in with a bang/whimper, while others came in/went out with a whimper/bang? Was it really that recent? How come nobody woke me up when this was happening…?)

It being election season, the politicians are busily distributing billions in the name of helping the rakyat. It’s nice especially if you are a government servant, or even a retiree – they court you every time there’s an election. If you’re just a retiree from the private sector? Not so nice.

Hung up on hangings

Across the Causeway, Singapore had just hung one of its own citizens for a drug offence. They haven’t hung a woman for almost 20 years, but Singapore always cares about being seen to be strict and impartial – so this latest execution would burnish their reputation that “Singapore doesn’t care one…”.

Finally, an area where Malaysia may be ahead in the eyes of much of the world – something which Singapore AND Malaysia pretend not to care about but are actually as sensitive as chili powder up your nose.

We’ve done away with the mandatory death penalty. No, we don’t let our drug pushers and murderers off scot-free – they remain in prison for a long long time, maybe even their whole life. But, a small minority may have their cases appealed and be exonerated.

If that sounds strange, well that’s what the judicial appeals process is about – an admission that at any stage of the process decisions can be reversed, whereas executions are, like diamonds, forever.

Muslim-Christian tussle

Meanwhile in Sarawak, the seed of another lurid drama has been planted. A non-Muslim Sarawakian lady, who converted to Islam with the expectation of marrying a Muslim man, wants to revert to her original faith, which happens to be Christianity.

If you think The 1975 controversy was hot, just wait until this one hits the national fan. The wild card though is this is happening in Sarawak, where people are clearer-headed on matters of race and religion, whereas in the Peninsula, many have lost their heads over that.

Here in the peninsula, the insecurity among many Muslims, whether manifesting itself as opposition and even downright cruelty to those of other sexual preference or the loss of face of seeing the Muslim “lose one” against the non-Muslims, will guarantee this will suck up a lot of oxygen, leaving many brain dead.

If it’s up to the Sarawakians, this’ll be a storm in a tea cup, dealt with a lot more wisdom and compassion than what we’re used to seeing by now in West Malaysia. And long may this unhealthy “western” influence stay out of East Malaysia.

Political polarisation

Meanwhile, in the US, research into the effect of Facebook’s impact on political polarisation appears to be inconclusive. There is evidence that Facebook’s algorithms may push people into even more politically polarised positions, but there are also indications such a push may not be that strong and decisive.

So as of this moment, until further research can tilt things this way or that – or even continue with the confusions – the safe conclusion is that it’s not clear Facebook can push us into increasingly polarising political behaviours.

Maybe it’s Tik-Tok that’s doing that. Or maybe we humans just suck, with or without Facebook. I’m quite happy to go with this second conclusion.

Anybody who wishes to disagree with me, catch me off the coast of Tioman while I fish with my friends and get away from obnoxious music and musicians, the increasing polarisation of our politics (with or without Facebook), weighty matters of judicial philosophy as well as another round of hypocritical shouting on race and religion.

Sigh, I may be gone for a long time.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.