RECENTLY, gender issues have been saturating conversations in Malaysia with the exposure of sexual assault and child grooming in schools. Take a brief look at Twitter and you will find many arguing for women's rights and ensuring safer learning environments with the #MakeSchoolASaferPlace movement.
Which is, you know, great but on the other hand, you find netizens essentially pitting two women against each other for no reason.
Madeleine Albright once said, "There is a special place in hell for women who don't support other women".
In the Malaysian context, it is the battle of Fazura versus Neelofa. The fight to get Fazura trending for no reason other than to boot Neelofa out of the list. At the time of writing, Fazura is trending on Twitter with 84.2k tweets.
In case you missed it, local celebrity Neelofa landed herself in hot water when she broke SOPs to organise a wedding, then celebrated her RM60,000 fine by posting a Ramly burger on her Instagram – netizens claim it was a subtle jab at a Ramly burger stall operator who got fined a whopping RM50,000 for operating past curfew.
And what did Fazura do, you ask. Well, nothing. The only thing she seems to have done was asking where to order lemang. The next thing she knows, she is trending.
Salam Darlings! Faz teringin nak order lemang untuk Raya ni. Boleh minta tolong suggest kat mana yang sedap? Faz suka yang lembut and rasa lemak masin macam tu.. hehe :) Thank you in advance darlings ???
— Nur Fazura (@missfazura) April 27, 2021
If you click on the trend, netizens can be seen mentioning Fazura’s name on their tweets. Some, highlight her accomplishments and career, while others simply for the sake of it.
What's going on guys fazura https://t.co/AaMYfQG4PN
— tony eusoff (@tonyeusoff) April 28, 2021
Muhyiddin is the best Prime Minister Malaysia has ever seen Fazura https://t.co/6OnFxb25cn
— Abah (@ChairmanGLC) April 28, 2021
What in the Fazura is going on. But nevertheless I fully Fazura this Fazura https://t.co/rNkI41GuXZ
— anime tiddies ? (@EvilKnievel__) April 28, 2021
Malaysians can go from one extreme to another – calling for protection of equal rights to provoking individuals who are essentially fighting the same battle.
These are public figures, business owners and most importantly, they are women.
While we understand that netizens get a kick out of it but what does it really do? What can it achieve? Will Neelofa learn a lesson? Will it nudge a comment out of Fazura on the whole issue?
The fact that fazura didn’t even do anything and we just bring her up just to annoy neelofa is so funny ?
— blurpy (@blurpppppppppp) April 27, 2021
Of course, the conversation surrounding gender issues, even in Malaysia, is still ongoing, with different perspectives coming from different stakeholders. And yes, Twitter is a powerful tool, but trending a famous woman’s name to boot out another famous woman’s name does not seem effective in the long run. – The Vibes, April 28, 2021
