Malaysian Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, along with producers Pete Teo and Liew Seng Tat, have just released this year’s most liminal Merdeka Day video, where Liow plays both himself and a disgruntled citizen. It’s imaginative titled, Citizens.
Hey, no no wait. Sorry, it’s hard not to snark. We actually liked it. It had the kitchen-sink, raw dialogue and bleakness of a Mike Leigh film, without being nearly half as miserable.
The six-minute-long short was released today, and unlike most rose-colored National Day videos that get released, this one dealt with the unseemly sides of how some feel about a country that no longer works for them.
In the role of Citizen Liow, wearing a singlet, shorts, and messy hair, Liow taunts the politician in front of him, also played by him, and expresses his disappointment and fears for Malaysia.
Entirely in Chinese, one can draw parallels between what Citizen Liow says, and what the community may fear, as a whole.
Teo wrote in a Facebook post that the video would “have to contain anger, helplessness and conflict. Yet it must contain hope – for we are even now not without hope – and so the film should also unite us in hope across the political spectrum.”
At least politicians aren’t tone-deaf, and understand why people might be mad. And one must also commend it for being a bi-partisan message of union behind the flag.
Honestly, it’s an interesting project, and Liow is a pretty decent actor.
It’s not his first project with Teo, as he acted in the producer’s shorts 15Malaysia, and Hari Malaysia. A bit of a muse, eh?
His wife, Datin Seri Lee Sun Loo, also makes an appearance in Citizen.
Next steps: Actual citizen and federal politician have face-to-face, kitchen-sink dialogue. No candies thrown. Who’s in? Art and politics, what can go wrong?
