10/06/2025

TUESDAY | JUNE 10, 2025

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Goblin up the hype T O be frank, this makcik is clueless about Labubu and barely spares a side glance at the snaking queues outside a Pop Mart store in e-commerce gladiators – frantically refreshing as if their lives depend on it. And what happens after that? If you are lucky, you land a Labubu at retail price

LETTERS letters@thesundaily.com

THE Children’s Commissioner (CC) of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) is deeply saddened and concerned over the tragic death of a seven-year-old girl who fell from the 29th floor of a condominium in Puchong, Subang Jaya on May 21. This incident occurred just four days after a two-year-old boy fell from the 7th floor of an apartment in Putrajaya. These tragedies are not isolated accidents. They are preventable deaths that starkly expose the failure to implement essential safety measures in high-rise residential buildings. Their loss is a direct consequence of a systemic failure to prioritise child safety where it matters most: at home. As a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Malaysia is duty-bound to protect every child’s right to life, development and protection from foreseeable harm. A safe home environment is not a luxury; it is a legal and moral obligation. The CC urges the government and relevant stakeholders to take urgent action by implementing the following measures to prevent further tragedies: 0 Legislation and safety regulations: The Housing and Local Government Ministry should enact specific laws to enhance child safety in high-rise residential buildings. This includes making it mandatory for all apartment and flat units, including rental units, to be equipped with safety grilles or protective mesh on windows and balconies. Additionally, minimum safety design standards for child friendly high-rise units must be established under existing building laws or regulations. 0 Mandatory child-safety design standards: The Housing and Local Government Ministry and local authorities must review current building design guidelines to ensure child- safety considerations are integrated as mandatory requirements in all high-rise residential developments. 0 Public awareness and education campaigns: NGOs, joint management bodies and management bodies/corporations of all high-rise buildings should spearhead public awareness campaigns on home safety, targeting parents, caregivers and communities. These educational efforts should be incorporated into community health programmes and disseminated through health visitors, particularly to households with young children. 0 Regular and strict compliance inspections: The authorities must conduct regular inspections of high-rise residential units, especially rental properties, to ensure compliance with child safety standards and features. These deaths were not accidents – they were preventable. The absence of basic safety features in highrise homes directly contributed to the loss of these young lives. This is unacceptable in any society that claims to uphold children’s rights. Suhakam calls upon all actors – federal and state governments, local authorities, developers, joint management bodies, management bodies/corporations and communities – to take immediate and unified action. Homes must not be high-risk zones for children; they must be places of safety, protection and dignity. To all parents, while we push for reforms to take place, in the meantime, vigilance is key. If you live in a high-rise residence, never leave young children unattended and ensure safety measures are installed. Let us do all we can to prevent further loss of innocent lives. Dr Farah Nini Dusuki Children’s Commission Suhakam Strengthen protocols for high-rise buildings

But ask any collector and you will hear a variation of the same answer: “It makes me happy.” And honestly, in a time when happiness feels like a luxury, who are we to judge? Still, the madness rolls on. Limited-edition drops vanish in seconds. Facebook groups host dedicated Labubu clans – trading, selling and occasionally squabbling over authenticity and resale ethics. Even shopping malls have started turning releases into mini-events, complete with props and photo ops – as if Labubu himself were a visiting celebrity. It is surreal. It is slightly absurd. And it is also kind of brilliant. Because Labubu, for all his snaggle-toothed strangeness, has become a mirror. He reflects our hunger for something fun, something offbeat and something to hold onto that is not just another soulless screen or endless doomscroll. He is the oddball mascot of a generation trying to find happiness wherever it can – be it in bubble tea, K-dramas or a gremlin with bad posture and stellar marketing. So here’s to Labubu, the punk-rock toy Malaysia didn’t know it needed. Long may he reign – scruffy, silent and mildly terrifying – on display shelves across the nation. Just don’t be surprised if your next dinner guest is late… because they may be stuck in a mall queue – for a goblin. AzuraAbas is the associate editor of theSun. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

– anywhere from RM59 to RM89. If not, you turn to the aftermarket, where prices balloon like a durian in heat. A rare edition Labubu can fetch over RM2,000. That is not a typo. That is a full month’s rent – or two, depending on where you live. And yet, collectors will happily shell it out, proudly posting their catch with captions like: “Finally got him!” – as if they had just adopted a child, not a gremlin in a box. It is hard to explain Labubu’s appeal to the uninitiated. It has the unsettling energy of something that may haunt your dreams but also... it’s cute? Sort of? In an “ugly-cute” kind of way. But this goes beyond aesthetics. Labubu mania taps into something deeper. In a world that feels increasingly out of control – climate anxiety, rising living costs or the existential dread of Monday mornings – Labubu offers a tiny, tangible slice of joy. It is nostalgia, comfort, chaos and consumerism all in one box. A millennial and Gen Z coping mechanism – with fangs. Of course, the craze has not escaped criticism. Some scoff at the resale market. Others question the wisdom of spending hundreds – or thousands – on a toy. M A K C I K A B A S

one of the country’s many malls. If you are just as lost as this makcik , fret not – you are not alone. Apparently, Labubu is popular. Yes, people, these wide-eyed, wild-haired goblins with rabbit-like ears – collectively known as Labubu – have taken Malaysia by storm. Why? Why not. This scruffy little vinyl figure, with a thousand-yard stare and teeth that look like they were flossed with lightning wire, is now the reigning monarch of Malaysian toy shelves and online resale groups. Labubu is not new; it is part of The Monsters series by Pop Mart, a Chinese company renowned for turning tiny plastic things into full-blown cultural phenomena. While Labubu has long enjoyed niche popularity among collectors, something curious has happened in Malaysia: Labubu is not just a toy. It has become a statement, a personality and even a part-time investment portfolio. Every new release sends fans into a frenzy. People queue for hours outside malls, jostling for a position like it is a Yeezy drop – not a figurine that looks like it crawled out of the woods and stole your snacks. Online, shopping carts crash, websites melt down and grown adults devolve into M A R I N A T B Y A Z IN a span of days, Malaysia bore silent witness to three deeply unsettling episodes – separate in detail but unified in a pattern of human dominance over the voiceless. From the state-sanctioned killing of stray dogs in Negeri Sembilan to a captured monkey drenched in blue paint, and now, to bulldozers flattening green sanctuaries in the heart of Putrajaya – all speak of a society slowly forgetting its moral contract with the creatures that share its space. In Negeri Sembilan, all state assembly members have unanimously agreed that stray dogs in predominantly Malay residential areas must be culled to “address public disturbance and safety concerns”. It is a decision cloaked in administrative justifications, yet stripped of empathy and devoid of public discourse. No attempt was made to explore sterilisation programmes, designated stray zones or community partnerships. The vote was clear: lives that inconvenience shall be erased. This is not governance; it is extermination. These dogs, born into neglect, often rely on human scraps and street kindness to survive. To declare them threats and execute them en masse is not only cruel – it is morally bankrupt. Worse still, it teaches our young that life – when unclaimed or misunderstood – is disposable. As this tragedy unfolded, another one entered our screens. A video surfaced of an elderly man gleefully spraying blue paint onto a monkey trapped in a cage. The paint flooded the animal’s eyes and mouth, visibly burning and choking it. The monkey did not resist. It simply cowered, humiliated and helpless. The man laughed. The internet raged. But rage is no substitute for reform. This cruelty, casual and public, is not rare. It is tolerated and tolerance is complicity. What is missing is not enforcement; it is empathy. Not just punishment but prevention. COMMENT by Suzianah Nhazzla Ismail

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Malaysia’s war against the voiceless

All of these incidents - culling dogs, torturing monkeys and bulldozing habitats - reflect a singular truth: when human convenience collides with animal survival, we have made it clear who must retreat or perish. – MASRY CHE ANI/THESUN

establishments that displaced them. My question is this: Who approved the idea of placing a wet market in the middle of Putrajaya’s core governmental hub? Did no one pause to consider the optics, the congestion or the ecological consequences? Did no one ask whether the “development” of one corner may signal the destruction of an entire ecosystem? All of these incidents – culling dogs, torturing monkeys and bulldozing habitats – reflect a singular truth: when human convenience collides with animal survival, we have made it clear who must retreat or perish. But that truth is not unchangeable. We must demand more from our leaders, our neighbours and ourselves. We need urban planning that respects ecological integrity. We need legislation that enforces protection, not just punishment. We need a cultural shift that elevates compassion over conquest. We cannot bring back the dead civets. We cannot unpaint the monkey’s face. We cannot revive the strays. But we can choose to no longer look away. Let us remember this not as an aberration but as a turning point – when Malaysians finally say: enough. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

And now, we turn to Putrajaya – our seat of power – where yet another assault on the powerless is quietly underway. Just in front of the ministries, land once rich with green cover has been razed for the construction of a wet market – in the heart of one of the busiest administrative precincts in the nation. Here, civil servants converge, international delegates are hosted at Putrajaya International Convention Centre and the machinery of government turns daily. Yet now, this environment is to be interwoven with the congestion of vendors, delivery trucks and market-goers. And at what cost? The land that was cleared was home to a thriving population of wildlife: long-tailed macaques, dusky leaf monkeys and musang pandan (palm civet). When the clearing began months ago, at least four musang pandan were found dead – struck by vehicles as they fled the destruction of their habitat. Bulldozers did not just remove trees – they erased lives. Once the market is operational, the scent of fresh produce will attract surviving wildlife back to their old territory. They will forage through trash, be seen as pests and inevitably be culled following complaints from the very