January 02, 2013
Teo
presses a mock detonator to kick off the DAP video, during the launch
event in Kuala Lumpur January 1, 2013. — Picture by Choo Choy May
KUALA
LUMPUR, Jan 2 ― Riding on the “Oppa Gangnam Style” viral video hit, DAP
has put out a parody of the South Korean song to reach out to young
voters and those who find politics boring.
The “Ubah Rocket Style” parody was launched last night and highlights
financial scandals such as the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) that
rocked Malaysia last year.
“In the video, we highlighted quite a number of scandals in Malaysia.
So we hope that by using this approach we can bring the attention of
viewers to these scandals in Malaysia and use as a reminder,” DAP’s
deputy publicity secretary Teo Nie Ching told The Malaysian Insider.
Teo, who is also one of the video’s assistant producers, said the “funny” video was a “modern youthful approach”.
The Serdang MP said the party hopes to spark the curiosity of young
voters previously unaware of the scandals highlighted to find out “what
are the stories behind the scenes.”
The short video clip features scenes that allude to the National
Feedlot Centre scandal involving a federally-funded RM250 million
cattle-rearing project.
It also lampoons the government’s defence procurements ― including
submarines and tanks ― that the federal opposition has frequently
claimed are overpriced but which Putrajaya has defended by pointing to
the equipments’ customisation.
Tony Pua, the DAP national publicity secretary, said, “I think the
main thing is to reach out to those who find politics too dry and
boring.”
“We can have fun while hopefully serving a simple message to our electorate,” Pua, who is also the video’s producer, said.
He said the message is that “we need to stop corruption, stop abuse
of power, we need to lower prices”, three themes which he said was
evident throughout the song.
Pua said the video portrayed “all the key issues that are affecting
Malaysians” such as scandals and accountability for the use of
taxpayers’ money.
The Petaling Jaya Utara MP also said these “key issues” will be given
emphasis during Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s campaign in the coming elections.
The video has lyrics referring to the perceived high crime rate, high
car prices, corruption, the controversial Lynas rare earth plant in
Kuantan ― all which have been actively taken up by PR in its electoral
campaign against the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
At the launch of the “Ubah Rocket Style” video in four languages ―
Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin and Tamil ― yesterday night, a hall
packed with around 500 people were treated to a live performance where
dancers in cow costumes pranced about the stage.
DAP’s newly-elected Socialist Youth chief, Teo Kok Seong, launched
the video, which the hosts described as “explosive”, by pressing on a
mock detonator labelled “C4” ― the type of explosive used in the
high-profile murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
DAP’s hornbill mascot, “Ubah”, along with the party’s chairman Karpal
Singh and party’s secretary-general Lim Guan Eng were also featured in
the video.
At the launch, Pua told the crowd that Lim had in September hit upon
the idea of producing an “Oppa Gangnam Style” parody after noticing that
the song by popular Korean singer Psy had by then garnered around 178
million views on YouTube.
DAP had last year launched its election theme song “Ubah” in
preparation for what is expected to be the most intensely-fought general
election.
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