Eww, so the "hentai" wan?

Hentai is Japanese for pervert. And pervert is a great description of most Malay minds. Male & female alike. No exceptions. Mad at that statement? Why would you be? Unless you are one. A hentai, that is ;)

Today, I witnessed another display of Malay hentai-ism during a Mak Yong theater. Yes, you heard right. Hentai-ism during a Mak Yong theater at Istana Budaya. Throughout the entire show, the biggest response came only after corny, porno jokes were told. Not after a beautiful display of Mak yong dancing nor during an intense fight scene nor even after a touching, reunion scene between a long-lost mother and son. During these times the audience were either yawning away or anticipating when the actor will say 'pele' (Penis in Kelantanese dialect) again.

And of course to add insult to injury they just had to throw in a cross-dressing pondan dayang into the mix. These kind of things really makes one wonder if Malay theater can actually survive if they omitted sexual jokes and softy mak nyah from the plots. Seriously, I even heard some guys reviewing the play based on the porno jokes and the pondan element alone. Forget the fact that it was a play to promote Mak Yong. Apparently porno jokes were more important. I'm guessing that these were the same guys who wolf-whistled and hooted when an actor had to embrace an actress. It wasn't even a proper hug. And yet they made such a ruckus. It was bloody humiliating. And it seems like I was not the only ones who felt this way. Several Mat Sallehs came for the show as well and they were actually looking around and shaking their heads when these "moments" happened.

Will there ever be a time when Malays can actually show 'depth' through their mindset. Or is it just wishful thinking on my part since we Malaysians are conditioned to act and think this way. I don't know. What do you think?