V for Vendetta and the Malaysian Government

I had some free time last night so I took the chance to check out the movie V for Vendetta as I remember reading some things about it recently. In case you’re wondering why I’m watching a movie a good 5 years late, I tend to do that all the time. I was commenting on the parallels that I found between the government in the movie and the government in Malaysia when my cousin (who is studying overseas) asked if it was that bad here. It served as a strong reminder to me that most Malaysians (locally and internationally) haven’t really seen how badly our rights have been trampled upon. I write this not as a supporter of a specific political party, but as your average Malaysian.

Note: There are some references to the movie below (obviously), but if you understand what a totalitarian government is about, there aren’t any spoilers. Not to mention, it’s a 5-year old movie, so most people have probably watched it :)

As as I always tell my customers, I’ll post this in point-form, as it gets the message across in a simple and easy-to-read format. I’d just like to mention some of the similarities and differences that I saw between the Norsefire (NS) government in the movie and our present Malaysian Barisan Nasional (National Front/BN) government:

Controlled media:

NS: Yes

BN: Yes

News spin (twisting the facts/truth), Propaganda:

NS: Yes

BN: Yes

Corrupt Government Officials:

NS: Yes

BN: Yes (too many to list)

The absolute fear of a specific date:

NS: Yes.

BN: Yes. 916, 709.

Secret police detaining people on whim:

NS: Yes

BN: Yes (Though it’s actually not-so-secret police)

No tolerance for dissent:

NS: Yes

BN: Yes

Deliberately causing chaos to spread fear amongst the people:

NS: Yes

BN: Yes. Molotov cocktails into churches, firing the water cannon into a hospital, raiding churches, etc.

Torture:

NS: Yes

BN: Yes

Brainwashing camps:

NS: Yes

BN: Yes

Banning of the colour yellow:

NS: No

BN: Yes (Oops!)

The list of similarities goes on and on, but fortunately, there are some good parallels, such as:

Heroes:

NS: V, The People, an idea (I call it the dream)

Malaysia: The People (Rakyat) who are slowly awakening

It’s a short list of positives against a long list of depressing facts, but I’d like to think that even a short list of positives can eventually overcome that long list of negatives, as long as we don’t give up.