An Open Letter to The Production Team of ‘Here in My Home’
Dear producer,
The over all feel of this song is good. However I disagree with one part - the Chinese lyrics.
The lyrics can be literally translated like this: I represent the Chinese to voice out, in order to have a better future.
I find this part ‘racist’ and resembles the rhetorics told by some ‘divide-and-rule’ political parties.
We don’t need a representative to voice out on our behalf. The Malays can voice out our plights and we, the Chinese, can fight for the predicaments faced by the Indians. Why the lyrics is stressing the racial word “Chinese” when the main aim of this song is advocating the otherwise?
We don’t need a representative of our race. We can always speak up for the others regardless of skin colours.
I propose the word “華人/Hua2 Ren2″ to be replaced with “人民/Ren2 Min2″ (the people) or “國人/Guo2 Ren2″ (the citizens) that don’t emphasize on race.
Wishing to listen to the improved version from you soon as this song will definitely be a song that everyone remembers when we celebrate the 100th anniversary of national independence.
Thank you.
Regards,
古越遺民
Thanks for your email.
We disagree with you that the Chinese rap part is racist. A rapper speaking on behalf of the chinese community is not racist. Racism is when you think your race is superior to others. This is far form the case here. The Chinese rapper concerned is part of a group called klg sqwad. His band mates rapped both the Malay and Tamil section. They are good friends and rap in 3 languages normally.
We agree, however, that the divide and rule politics of Malaysia is harmful and divisive. But to ignore our basic racial and cultural differences is not the answer to that problem (as you seem to suggest). The fact is - we ARE different - and no amount of ‘polite talking’ will change that. The real spirit of unity in our country is NOT to pretend we are all the same in every way but to accept and celebrate the fact that we have differences - and have genuine respect for those differences.
You will find this also - that each of the rappers rapped in their own language - by doing that, they implicitly speak on behalf and to their own communities as well as to all Malaysians. The use of multi-language alone acknowledges that we have real (not just rhetorical) differences between the various communities in this country. Are we to say therefore that they are all ‘racists’ because they rap in their own languages? Of course not. Just because our political history has been tainted by harmful divide and rule politics does not mean that a young Chinese rapper can no longer be a Chinese Malaysian and cannot speak as a Chinese Malaysian on behalf of Chinese Malaysians (or that a Tamil or Malay rapper cannot do the same). We maintain that real unity lies in the ability to RESPECT and CELEBRATE each other’s differences. To ignore our differences (even in the lyrics of a rap) is as misguided as divide and rule politics.
The problem with divide and rule politics is that it uses our differences to sow suspicion about each other. I think we all agree that we should acknowledge our differences, rise above them and be united with each other through our COMMONALITIES instead. Thus, we also completely agree with you that that each race in the country ought to speak for the plight of the others. If we can do that despite our differences, look instead to our commonalities, then that’s real unity. What MAFU have tried to do is simply to illustrate that Malaysians can do that in a fun and upbeat way.
Still, this is a small disagreement. We appreciate your concern and are gratified by your support. We also genuinely hope that this small difference in interpretation of one word in the rap lyrics will not stand between us.
Yours sincerely,
Pete Teo
Comment by Pete Teo — 20 May 2008 @ 3:58 pm
Hi Pete Teo,
I am very impressed with your swift response and totally agree with you that we don’t need to drop our identity to be Malaysians. I feel that it will be very very great if we can instil and foster the new spirit of speaking for the others.
We have already stayed in such mindset to speak for our own only. I think we have reached the time for us to go beyond that - speaking for the others too. I feel that speaking on behalf of the poor, speak up for the oppressed… sound better than just speaking on behalf of Hua Ren.
This song is a great song to create new awareness and new ideology, and i’ll feel a bit sad if we wasted this opportunity.
I’ve posted a similar comment on your youtube to trigger more discussions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNbAnX9SJrw
Yes. I’ve posted an open letter on my blog. How did you know that?
P/S: I will post your reply in my blog soon.
Regards,
Sim
Comment by 古越遺民 — 20 May 2008 @ 7:06 pm
allow me to elaborate on this:
‘我代表华人开口’ 并没问题。
为何？
因为他是个华人是件不能否认的事实。
就像他两个同胞是马来和印度人。
因此他用他华人的身份来代表华人说话是他的权利。
就像他两个同胞用各自的言语来发表他们的梦想。
然而，重要的不是他代表谁，而是他们说的到底是什么？
很明显的，他是说“不理什么肤色我们都是一家人“。
他代表华人并不等于他顺序divide and rule。
他代表华人并不等于华人会接受他代表。
他代表华人并不等于他不替别族开口或同情或团结。
问题在那儿？
老实说，我明白你的观点和担忧。
但当百多个爱国人士下了那么多力量和热心来付出一点点心意后，Sim兄所看到的只是马华的影子，而不是一位二十来岁rapper小孩的心声。
不觉得可悲吗？
pete
Comment by Pete Teo — 20 May 2008 @ 7:09 pm
Pete,
我明白。我的郵件并沒有冒犯之意。我純粹是想讓整個社會從‘為本身族群或自身利益說話’提升到‘為廣大民眾或其他群眾說話’的論調去。
畢竟，我們被分而治之的政治深深影響。我們一直被灌輸要‘忍讓’、‘諒解’、‘包容’，這種‘被迫遷就式’的思維已經老樹盤根。
我想推出新的論調：不再是忍讓，而是擁抱；不再是諒解，而是喜歡；不再包容，而是互相學習。
50年的‘忍讓’、‘諒解’、‘包容’應該足夠。是時候擁抱、喜歡和互相學習。我不想還停滯在為本身利益說話的層面，希望能把整個社會的輿論晉升至和‘別人感同身受’和‘為別人說話’去。
我說話直接了一些，莫見怪。
Sim 上
Comment by 古越遺民 — 20 May 2008 @ 7:10 pm
Sim,
不但没见怪。
十分同意。
而也就是MAFU的主义。
大家努力！:-)
pete
Comment by Pete Teo — 20 May 2008 @ 7:12 pm
Pete,
就是因為如此，我想借此機會想你建議更改歌詞。
你這首歌肯定會紅起來。論壇、Blog在討論，電臺在狂播。所以，只要歌詞能帶出我剛才所提到的理念，并傳到全國各個角落去的話。我們國家的族群關係應該會較和諧，人們也不會被“舉劍的政客”玩弄在手掌上。
如果工程太浩大，那就不必大費周章了。
忘了告訴你，我也是二十歲出頭的小孩，二十沒有過半。:P 我和幾位朋友也開始進行和你類似的運動 - 我們印 T-shirt去賣，而T-shirt上的設計都是關於本土議題的。
附言：你還沒回答我，你怎麼知道我有個blog，還把信件post在我的blog上？
Sim 上
Comment by 古越遺民 — 20 May 2008 @ 7:14 pm
手牽手大家一起走，我代表華人開口，未來就沒有溜走
[Hand in hand we’ll march like blood brothers
I speak for my people, hope we’ll find peace forever]
Pete,
1．）为什么英文的翻译不是如下？
Hand in hand we’ll march like blood brother,
I speak behalf of Chinese, hope the future will not run away
2．）我们来谈谈感觉。
先说说我听到这首歌时的第一感觉。 ( First feeling, first impression, 没有经过思考的想法）
[ Em….不错的创作。可是，来到这段，怎么会有种族的味道呢？]
当我听这首歌时，我还没有看video，我不知道唱这一段的是华人。
当我从video看到rap 这段的是一位华人。感觉就是：
[“哇，这么一首宏观、鼓励团结的歌曲，会突然出现狭窄的观点？”]
当我读到这首歌的英文翻译时，
[ 英文和华语的翻译不match。英文的翻译很positive]
如果我不懂华语，纯粹从英文来了解华语歌词的意思，就是这首歌带有鼓吹团结和平的意识。
不过，如果你翻译成
[Hand in hand we’ll march like blood brother,
I speak behalf of Chinese, hope the future will not run away]
那么，读到的意识也不一样了。
3．）不是每个人都会费心机去理解歌词、了解创作者的原意。
动态媒体（广告、音乐、video）给观众的first impression 很重要。
First impression 往往就决定了观众对它的评价。
猫上
Comment by 猫 — 20 May 2008 @ 10:23 pm
猫，
1。 翻译是我们不但需要翻歌词的意思，而也需要把翻译后的英文句子显有诗意。不然熟悉英文的朋友们会觉得很奇怪。所以翻译后的效果是一个compromise.
你翻的：
”Hand in hand we’ll march like blood brother,
I speak behalf of Chinese, hope the future will not run away“
是literal translation。 感觉笨重。放出去的话会被人笑的。
2。 你说听到rap那一段就觉的有种族的味道。这没错。但是它真的也‘没错’。那rap的一段就是要有‘种族的味道’才能反映大马的情况。 像我以经说过， 我们国家不同种族和文化是是fact。不是歌词里出招数就能变的。问题是，我们能rise above our differences吗？MAFU这个project不是形容大同社会，而只是说’we should or can rise above our differences’。Most importantly, it also pre－supposes that we are different。要不然的话，可能你现在所写的的不是我们保守，而是我们不老实。
3。你认为，为了两个字，听众便会觉得’马华’－ 就拍拍屁股不听了。这未免over-react了一点吧？平常人是听整首歌后才做决定的，不是单评两个十分平常的字眼。这歌发行了三天，我们download了超上万多个files （over 120 gig)。comments更数不清。像你俩，大部份人很热心也很supportive。但除了你俩外，还没人提起‘华人’这两个字是有毛病。为了我们家，希望不变吧。
好了，its been a long day。累了。假如有地方得罪了的话，请原谅。
pete
Comment by pete teo — 21 May 2008 @ 2:06 am
not sure if you have gotten his reply about this, but i ‘ve made a small research on google on 古越遺民, it shows all links to your blog.
Comment by Sze Min — 21 May 2008 @ 3:55 am
pete,
既然英文歌词要有诗意，那华文歌词也要有诗意啊。
“我们华人…”每次听到这句都觉得很唐突和愕然，怪怪的。
个人觉得，我们应该强调我们是马来西亚人才说我们的母语背景等等。
My 2 cents
Comment by chen jie — 21 May 2008 @ 10:06 am
chenjie,
我倒不覺得Rap需要詩情畫意。我沒聽過50cents的rap很有詩意。連周杰倫的“我叫你爸，你打我媽”也不見得需要詩情畫意。
Comment by 古越遺民 — 21 May 2008 @ 10:45 am
chenjie,
“个人觉得，我们应该强调我们是马来西亚人才说我们的母语背景等等。”
对呀。我十分同意。 整首歌4分钟长。除了rap那部份（25秒）之外，全都是强调我们是一家马来西亚人。rap那一段，因为是用种族母语唱，怎么也一定会有’种族的味道‘ － 但我已经说过，对我来说，那是强点，不是问题。假如你觉得那25秒rap是把歌搞‘小’了，而效果是把整首歌毁了，那我除了‘creative differences - different taste’之外，也没话说了。
我觉得相反。Official site的faq里提起过－ 就是我本来不太喜欢这首歌（original version － 没rap的）。总觉的太甜了（我对’甜‘特别敏感）。太‘童话’了。不过yasmin爱甜，说她特别喜欢。yuhang也说很不错。那我就想了老半天，终于加一段multi-language rap之后才能够接受。为何？因为rap那一段加了种族味道，把那‘大同童话’的感觉消了。不信吗？试试把rap那段抽了出来才听。对我来说真太fairy tale了。
好了。不说了。忙到抽筋。很高兴认识你们。
laters。
pete
Comment by pete teo — 21 May 2008 @ 12:50 pm