An anti-opposition video that looks at the difficulties Penangites are facing under DAP (the opposition) has been making the rounds on social media to divisive responses.
Penang is an island-state 400km north of Kuala Lumpur that has been under opposition leadership since the 2012 election.
The three-minute-long video of an unnamed woman narrating and claiming that since the opposition took power five years ago in the last general election, the hardships of everyday life have worsened. This is spoken over a montage of clips from around the island.
The narrator claims to be a senior executive working on the island, yet even on her professional salary, she cannot make ends meet, nor can she support her parents. While the cost of living has gone sky-high to rates not seen outside the capital, salaries have remained stagnant.
The video includes clips of Penang’s Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, including a photo of him hugging deputy PM Ahmad Zahid Hamidi during the island’s floods, adding that the federal government has done more to help the people of Penang than DAP, yet DAP still blames them for the island’s woes.
Housing is another issue that is brought up, with the narrator claiming that too much focus has been placed on luxury homes for expats, while locals have not seen any improvements in affordable housing.
While the producers of the video have gone unnamed, the clip was shared widely on Facebook yesterday by pro-BN bloggers, including opposition critic Lim Sian See and Friends of Barisan Nasional.
Damn, seems like whoever made this video really doesn’t want the opposition to win, but is a bit shy about saying it outright.
Facebook users were quick to call the clip out, saying that it was clearly produced by the coalition government, and branding the video’s protagonist “a traitor.”
One user noted that the clip was narrated in Mandarin, writing that a true Penangite would have spoken in Hokkien, and that an imposter was in our midst.
Other users concurred with the video’s message, saying that it was about time that the stagnant DAP government stopped riding on the coattails of simply being “the other guy,” and actually do something for the people. Others said it was about time they were taught “a lesson.”
A lesson … by voting in “the other guy” aka BN, whose main appeal is just not being DAP, which is sort of what the video claims got Penang in trouble in the first place.
Catch-22, Penang. Keep us posted.
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