What started as a bit in his stand-up comedy routine turned into a messy political fracas for local funnyman Muhammad Fadzri AKA Fakkah Fuzz. Sure, it’s not Hannibal Buress-Bill Cosby big, but still.
It’s a joke that went too far, according to Selangor UMNO Youth, who’ve called for the comedian to be barred from Malaysia entirely. And it’s not only politicians who failed to see the humour in it; Fadzri has been fielding multiple threats and abuse from offended Malaysians on his Facebook page.
The joke in subject? Linguistic differences in Malay between Singapore and Malaysia — Singapore Malays call a thief ‘pencuri’ while Malaysian Malays call a thief ‘perdana menteri’ (prime minister). Get it? Because 1MDB and all.
With the clip of that particular bit reaching virality on social media on both sides of the Causeway, it struck a chord (both good and bad) with Malaysians. Unfortunately, it didn’t sit well with Selangor UMNO Youth chief Zainuri Zainal, who called Fadzri’s remark “insolent”.
“…the act of using a leader of a neighbouring country as a joke is not mature and does not respect the sovereignity of Malaysia,” Zainuri was quoted to say in a New Straits Times report. “As citizens of Malaysia, Selangor Umno Youth is affected by this rude joke and we call on the ministry to bar Fakkah Fuzz from coming into Malaysia.”
Touchy, much? Nonetheless, the 29-year-old comedian decided not to make things worse for himself and issued an apology on his Facebook page after taking down the videos in subject.
“I would like to sincerely apologize if I unintentionally hurt my brothers and sisters across the Causeway. It was not my intention to hurt or cause unrest among anyone,” he wrote in a lengthy post.
“I’d just like to make it clear that political satire is not to be taken seriously as opinions. They are just jokes, people.”
Malaysiakini, however, reports that the Selangor UMNO youth is still pretty miffed about the whole thing, despite the apology — Zainuri says that it was not enough as the joke made a “deep impact” on Malaysians. We seriously doubt that hyperbole, though — clearly, nobody’s rioting in the streets over one throwaway joke.
“Our advice to Fakkah is to look at himself in the mirror before meddling in Malaysia’s affairs,” he said in a statement.
