Rapper held for anti-Islam slur freed on bail
Malaysian officials deciding whether to press charges
KUALA LUMPUR // A Malaysian rapper held in police custody for four days for a music video he produced that allegedly insulted Islam was released on bail yesterday, while the country’s attorney-general decided whether to press charges. Wee Meng Chee, an ethnic Chinese and non- Muslim, is alleged to have shot part of the video in a mosque in the state of Penang and to have used the words “Allah” and “Mecca”.
A magistrate’s court ordered the release of the 33-year-old, whose stage name is Namewee.
Race and religion are sensitive issues in Malaysia. The country’s ethnic Malay majority is Muslim, while the Chinese and Indian ethnic minorities are mainly Buddhist, Christian or Hindu.
The rapper directed and produced music video Oh My God! in a mixture of Mandarin and Hokkien Chinese dialects, for a Taiwan band. He was detained on Sunday on arrival from Taiwan at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Police acted on a complaint by the committee of the mosque where the video was alleged to have been made.
Police were awaiting instructions on whether to press charges.
“We have referred the case to the prosecution director and attorney-general’s chambers in Putrajaya for further directives,” police chief Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said.
In 2007, while studying in Taiwan, the rapper posted a video titled Negarakuku – a play on words blending the title of Malaysia’s national anthem, Negaraku, and the Hokkien-dialect word for penis.
He was investigated by police for sedition when he returned home a year later. He apologised for the video.