To All RAINgers!
February 23rd, 2008 by yougonnadie So here is the story, just recently a friend of ours
told us (Kudeta Collective) about this news which has been circulating
in the scene. I think everyone knows the band Hujan and the fact that
they are homophobic. Well, if you didn’t, they are. A big one. Even
though, the same story was being repeated by a few reliable sources and
friends, we still thought that it would be better to verify the news
first. So what better way to do it than Google. I got on the internet
and started googling. Through my little “research”, I found out that
they did make a clear public homophobic slur and it was not something
recent. That was enough to convince us to start a campaign against
homophobia. Not Hujan. It was nothing personal. It just so happens that
they are homophobic and we are a bunch of free spirits and feminist.
You can’t blame us for wanting everyone to find their soul mate or true
love or not discrimination others for their sexual orientation.
In
the midst of us planning a campaign against homophobia, a little birdie
whispers in my ear that Hujan will be performing at my Uni. Being
shocked and all, I quickly sms-ed a couple members of the collective so
that we can have a little “awareness campaign” during their
performance. I must admit, it was a very short notice and it was a
Friday night-yeah, we have lives too- so most of them could not make
except for one. Driven with anger both of us started writing a letter
to the HEP to ban them from playing there that night and pretty much
any other night or day. I know it sounds pretty ridiculous now but what
other options did we have? As I have said earlier it was a Friday, and
my Uni is a very good reflection of Kelantan, everything literally
shuts down at 5 pm. Fridays are even worse, the whole place is a ghost
town by 4 plus. So I didn’t end up sending the letter on time, which
means they ended up playing.
Since that didn’t work out, my
quick thinking friend printed out some signs on A4 papers saying,
“HENTIKAN DISKRIMINASI TERHADAP WANITA DAN GAY” and “STOP HOMOPHOBIA”.
Okay, you may ask “we know that they are homophobes but why ‘wanita’”?
I have actually read them addressing their female fans as “awek-awek”.
(…band band local yang memberi sokongan dan semangat kepada HUJAN, awek
awek, kepada yang sudah membeli cd HUJAN, kawan2 di myspace, dan kamu
semua. - Hujan’s Myspace) Seriously, are you like kidding me? Let’s get
some things straight here shall we, females are not your property for
you to label. The term is neither flattering nor does it compliment
anyone, instead it belittles females. I hope we are not the only ones
who find that degrading.
The whole event was scheduled to start
at 9pm while Hujan was supposed to play three songs at the end of the
whole event. Throughout the whole thing, both my friend and I were
holding the signs and explaining to people the meaning of homophobia.
Even though we were just two girls holding A4 papers, we did attract
lots of attention. There were many who were with us on this issue and
there were some against us. As the whole event was coming to an end, my
friend and I were contemplating whether or not confront them. But in
the end, we thought we should as it would have been pretty pointless
for them (Hujan) not to know why we were doing it.
From the very
beginning, the organizers (my fellow students whom I don’t know and
would not like to be associated with) were trying to avoid us from
meeting Hujan; maybe they were afraid of confrontation. Nevertheless,
they were on their side. They thought we were blowing things out of
proportion. We heard someone saying, “What’s the big deal?” In order to
meet Hujan, I actually had to ask the lead singer to tell them that he
knew me so that my friend and I could confront them. So when he said
yes, it was as if the King has spoken. The groupies, I mean the royal
subjects had to obey the words of the King and bowed out gracefully.
Then again, the conversation was not between the band and us but it was
between the lead singer, two of his preacher friends, and both us. The
other band members were nowhere to be seen. I gotta say, their fans are
really loyal and care for the safety of the lead singer. They kept
buzzing around the conversation. As I said earlier, they think that he
is their King or something. The conversation later became somewhat of a
public forum. There were at least 15 to 20 of them there supporting the
lead singer and his two friends.
As the conversation grew, both
my friend and I realized that they were not going to budge from their
homophobic point of view, so we decided to compromise. They think being
gay, lesbian, or bisexual is totally wrong and it is their
responsibility to guide those who choose to have an alternative
lifestyle back to right path. We were getting pretty sick of them so we
proposed the idea of them apologizing to those they have hurt by making
such remarks including those whom are heterosexual. Even then, the lead
singer refused. According to him, if he apologized to those, he and the
band have hurt in making the statement; we would manipulate it and make
it sound as if the band is apologizing to those whom are gay, lesbian,
or bisexual. And they felt like that’s something that they won’t do as
a) “It is our (Hujan) responsibility to direct these people to the
right path as what they are doing is against the nature” or in simple
words “we are a bunch of homophobes and big time ignorant” and b) they
don’t want their fans to think that the band has no principles by
apologizing. Now, tell me how can you even talk to someone who has that
kind of mentality? They actually think discriminating a fellow human
being is fine. Essentially, it was not only him; the whole crowd was
like, “Mana boleh Noh/Hujan minta maaf”. At that very moment, I could
feel shooting pain in my left arm; I think I had a heart attack after
hearing that.
The 40 minutes plus conversation came to a halt
when one of the organizers came between Hujan and us and told us to
leave. Their reason was they have to make the payment to Hujan and they
have to go back to their dorms. They were reciting the rules as if I
did not know the rules and not even from there. In the end, it was very
clear that they were not going to apologize and will stick to their
so-called principle while we will continue campaigning at their events.
What pissed me off more than anything was the fact that they kept
silencing my friend whenever she tried to say anything and the fact
that they kept using religion as their reason for discriminating
others. My friend pointed out a very interesting point, “if you guys
are so Islam, then kenapa tak nyanyi lagu nasyid je?” I might not have
much knowledge on Islam but doesn’t Islam also forbid its followers to
play any stringed instruments e.g. guitar, to wear skinny jeans which
accentuates your figure, and have female like hairstyle? Go figure.
We
kept our words and we have organized two campaigns so far, thanks to
the support of venues like Annexe, entertainment companies, and concern
individuals, as well as kick-ass bands in the scene that have gone to
the extent of making anti-homophobic statements during their
performance to support the cause. We will keep campaigning to create
awareness until people realize that it wrong discriminate others. Call
it homophobia, racism, sexism, or anything, it still boils down to you
as an individual or a group discriminating a fellow human being, which
I bet with my little religious knowledge, no religion or belief allows.
Please
visit our myspace http://www.myspace.com/cintaitubuta to get info on
our next campaign or activities. We would definitely need your support
and participation to stop ignorance as such.
