Malaysian musicians say ‘no’ to racism with new rap video

KUALA LUMPUR — The recent spate of race-related conflicts, such as the Seafield Hindu temple riots in Subang Jaya and the case of a beer promoter being verbally abused, led a group of musician friends to collaborate on a song to express their desire for Malaysians to reject racism.

Prem Darsha, 24, Sri Sidhartha, 20 and Arvind Raj, 25, took all of one day to pen down their thoughts into a rap song they hoped would counter the negativity and animosity, especially on social media.

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Thus was born the song Melayu Cina India, which has garnered 24,000 views in just one day since it was launched on Wednesday (Dec 5).

The trio worked alongside Indian and Malay rappers, while Chinese video editors worked on the project, too.

“There were racial things blown up on social media, and we have a lot of multiracial friends. So we wanted to show that we are above racial issues,” said Mr Darsha.

“We met up, and we wrote and recorded the whole song within hours.”

The friends were shocked when the video of a man verbally abusing a female beer promoter in a hypermarket went viral online last month.

In the 45-second clip, he harassed the promoter about her race and religion and asked why she had to promote the beer openly.

Since then, the culprit admitted to abusing the beer promoter and later issued a public apology over his actions after a police report was lodged.

Days later, on November 26, a group of masked men stormed the Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Subang Jaya, which led to rioting. Millions of ringgit worth of property were damaged and several people injured.

Mr Raj, who is the main rapper in the music video, said the news that came out from those incidents, and the comments played up on social media did not reflect the true reality of Malaysian society.

“I’m an Indian, and so I speak from an Indian perspective. Every Indian guy has at least one very good Malay and Chinese friend,” he said.

A line from their song reflects their desire for unity: “Melayu Cina India tidak berbeza, satu sama satu kami warna Malaysia (Malay, Chinese, Indian are not different, together, we are Malaysia as one colour).”

Mr Darsha said that while the song was largely in Tamil, there are Malay, Chinese and English elements incorporated into it.

“There is a sense of magic when more than two things become one. Just like our music,” he said.

Mr Raj stressed that the friends did not set out to achieve fame or popularity with the song.

“We were not doing it for publicity, we wanted the song to speak for itself,” he said. THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT