What’s Behind Malaysia’s Despacito Ban?

Last month, Malaysia made headlines when the country’s public broadcaster said it would cease broadcasting the global hit song ‘Despacito’ through all its radio and television stations with immediate effect.

Though Malaysia, a Malay Muslim-majority country with significant ethnic minorities, is often cited as a “moderate Muslim country,” in some ways the country is in fact quite racially exclusivist and religiously conservative. While the constitution technically guarantees freedom of worship, in practice all ethnic Malays are considered Muslim, Muslims are forbidden to convert, and non-Muslims are forced to do so if they marry a Muslim. Sodomy is criminalized, and there have been restrictions imposed on films, books, concerts, and even forms of dress deemed immodest.

Growing Islamization in recent years has only further tarnished Malaysia’s traditional reputation for moderation. Though the reasons behind this trend are wide-ranging, the fact that the ruling party, the United Malays Nationalist Organization (UMNO), has been engaging in Islamic posturing to court Malay-Muslim voters amid its declining political fortunes has not helped things. The government of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s stance on a string of issues – from the use of the term “Allah” in Malay language Christian publications to the adoption of hudud, the Islamic penal code that sets out harsh punishments like amputation and stoning – has been quite telling in this respect.

The entertainment industry has not been immune to this broader trend. This year alone, Malaysia has made international headlines for banning a book aimed at promoting moderate Islam and toying with the idea of censoring parts of Hollywood films like Beauty and the Beast and Power Rangers due to the portrayal of gay characters. Each of these controversies has also been drummed up even further because the country is preparing for its next general election, which must be held before May 2018. Those close to Najib say that if the premier does not secure UMNO’s much-prized two-thirds majority in the election, he could soon face an internal challenge from within the party even if he does emerge victorious at the polls.

On July 19, Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said said that Malaysia’s public broadcaster, Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM), would stop broadcasting the hit song ‘Despacito,’ the Spanish-language song by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi and rapper Daddy Yankee, on all its radio and television stations with immediate effect. Speaking to Bernama, Malaysia’s national news agency, after attending the ministry function, Salleh said that an RTM evaluation panel had decided to withdraw approval to play the song following a re-evaluation of its earlier assessment.

Though Salleh did not elaborate, it was clear that the song’s sexually explicit lyrics were an issue. Despacito, which translates to “slowly” in English, is basically a song about what you would do slowly to someone you like. The lyrics have clear sexual undertones, and as the song has spread quickly to become the most streamed song in history, some have been concerned that its raunchiness goes too far.

Beyond the Malaysian government, there are some other Malay-Muslim voices in the country who share the same view. For instance, Atriza Umar, the Arts and Culture chairperson for the women’s wing of the Malaysian Islamist party Amanah (Angkatan Wanita Amanah Nasional), said that she was worried about sexually explicit lyrics because many young children were singing the song without actually understanding the words. And in an indication of how political parties often try to “out-Islam” each other ahead of elections, even Siti Mariah Mahmud, the chief of the women’s wing of Malaysia’s opposition People’s Justice Party (PKR), formed by Malaysia’s former deputy prime minister termed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, said she supported the screening of songs for inappropriate content.

But for others, the restriction raises more questions than answers. Several Malaysians took to social media to point out that other songs with similar undertones – both former and current – had previously not been censored. Philip Golingai, a columnist for the Malaysian daily The Star, reflected about how he had listened to similarly raunchy songs in the 1980s and 1990s and did not feel that he was corrupted in any way. A string of artists, netizens, and media personalities also bemoaned the government’s decision to curtail freedom of speech to appease Malay-Muslim conservatives.

Salleh was keen to emphasize that the ban on Despacito only applied to the public broadcaster RTM, as opposed to all other TV and radio stations, since they would have their own evaluation process with respect to the Communications and Multimedia Content Code. And the reality is that this will do close to nothing to deter private stations or individuals from playing a wildly popular song. Nonetheless, for those who worry about the trend of creeping Islamic radicalism in Malaysian state and society and what that means for tolerance and moderation, this was yet another ominous sign.