In another attempt at painting the whole anime phenomenon as a “hentai” domain: Metro Malaysia decidedly to make headlines how certain semi-naked figurines are put on “public display with a mix of other action figures/collectibles.” Of course, said figurines are adapted from manga, anime or game franchises.
You know, while I do waxes lyrical about Singapore’s subtly oppressive authority, I do enjoy the maturity of the mass media here: they don’t descend into the kind of ludicrity we’ve seen north of us. Lowyat forum-goers (most famous for being a watercooler shed for anything related to computing, the Internet and increasingly, anime) already dismissed such allegations as painting the whole anime phenomenon “a pornography-strewn medium.” One should be directed at another tabloid newspaper, Kosmo, to illustrate the stupidity of the conservative community in Malaysia.
I can argued that the newspapers isn’t so far off, questioning the need to display such figurines in public display. We’re still talking about a majority conservative country, which should survive an EMP blast when us ‘Net users would be cut off, thus “eliminated” from existence. (They have the technology, they have the means to wipe out these so-called “virtual communities”, so be lucky that you had the privilege to do whatever you want when other billions are still probably starving or resorting to eking out ends meet and violating child labour exploitation laws in the process.)
I should play the “Devil’s advocate” here.
It’s not that we should ban all such figurines; just admit it: these figurines are definitely not made for children to buy. However, the article suggest that Government intervention is needed to curtail such “immoral display and selling of naked/half-naked figurines”, which I find it both excessive and stupid. The onus of education should NOT lie on the Government ultimately. Parents themselves are supposed to be wiser from their children, and educate them on the dos and don’ts on living the life they had aspired their children to be. Remember, a Hadiths mentioned: “A child is born fitrah (free of sins), only the parents will determine whether the child will grow up a Jew, a Christian or a Zorostranian.”
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