Hello, yellow colour not allowed

To the government, "Bersih" is a dirty word. Obviously. Looking at the way they been acting and continue to act.

Pretty much like what it was years ago with the letter R – R for “reformasi”.

I remember this one senior Umno leader I interviewed for a story in 2000. He was talking about the need for Umno to “change” in order to win back the Malays who had turned their backs on the party in the general election a year earlier.

When I asked him if he meant Umno needed "reformasi" his reply was “don’t use that word – use perubahan lah."  “Perubahan" for “change”. 

Then there was this thing on “keadilan” and “adil”. That’s Malay for justice and fair.

An old journalist friend told me when he used the word “keadilan” for a sports story he was asked by his editors to replace the word with “saksama" – Malay for “equality”.

The editors didn’t want to offend the authorities apparently. This was when the PKR party was newly formed. And the story was about a sport, not politics, mind you.

I was also told the P. Ramlee hit “Nona Ku Azizah" was not allowed radio air time then, simply because it is the name of the wife of a certain Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

So now it’s “Bersih”. And, no surprise, the colour yellow which comes with it.

Hence radio DJs take heed.

Perhaps it won’t be a good idea (or should it be “not politically correct?) to give airtime to Coldplay’s Yellow .

And if you want to please your not so young listeners, I suppose you should not play Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Christie’s Yellow River and Tie a Yellow Ribbon by Tony Orlando and The Dawn.

And every other thing yellow. Lest you be “accused” of being a Bersih sympathizer. Or worse, a “Bersih promoter"?

DJ radio saluran Melayu don’t think you all are in the clear. Jangan main lagu “Lancang Kuning” even the rendition (there are many versions of this old song) is by  Datuk Jamal Abdillah despite his Umno membership.(He being Umno is what the Malay press tells us anyway).

While we’re on the subject, it’s better to skip American outfit Grand Funk Railroad and the Ozzy Osborne fronted Black Sabbath as well.

Both bands have songs entitled "Paranoid". – August 30, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.