Malaysia Seeking Interpol’s Assistance to Investigate Comedian

In mid-June, Malaysia’s police chief made the startling announcement that the country’s government is seeking Interpol’s assistance in tracking down a stand-up comedian who made jokes about missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. Riffing on this theme, Chia joked that Singapore had risen to become a first-world country while Malaysia had remained a “developing” one, quipping, “Isn’t that the best breakup revenge?” She then pivoted to jokes about Malaysian airplanes, suggesting they “can’t fly,” which many took as a reference to flight MH370, which went missing along with 239 passengers and crew en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. As the New York Post reported, “the Greenwich Village club’s website was hacked, and 4,000 one-star reviews were posted on Google.” There was also a predictable beating of chests among right-wing nationalists in Malaysia. As the Malaysian internet creaked under the weight of online acrimony, the home minister denounced Chia’s comments as insensitive and offensive, and youth activists from the United Malays National Organization, the party that has dominated Malaysian politics for most of its post-independence history, marched to the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur on June to “protest” Chia’s jokes. As the New York Times noted, the outrage over Chia’s jokes “demonstrated the fraught line toed by comedians when edgy routines are removed from their natural habitats in dark, late-night, alcohol-lubricated clubs and posted to social media for all to see.” It is also a reminder that in many parts of Southeast Asia, national sensitivities are no joking matter.