KONFRONTASI KUDETA DENGAN HUJAN by kudetakolektif

Originally, posted by friends from KUDETA COLLECTIVE [ http://www.myspace.com/kudetakolektif ]


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.


NOTE DARI ALIFLY:

“if you guys are so Islam, then kenapa tak nyanyi lagu nasyid je?” I might not have much knowledge on Islam but bla bla bla bla. <--- loser yg xde point lain mmg slalu akan tny soalan macam ni.


SOALAN AKU: kalau kau islam, kenape kau menggalakan heterosexual?


TUNTASNYA:
KALAU KAU BERPEGANGG PADA HUKUM ALAM, KAU MENANG. KALAU KAU NK SENTUH BAB AGAMA. ALIH2 KENE KAT DIRI SENDIRIK JUGAK! hahaahahahahahaha. ..