29/07/2025

TUESDAY | JULY 29, 2025

11

Love, lies and LED lights

THE Association Welfare, Community and Dialogue (Acid), part of the global family, welcomes French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement to recognise Palestinian statehood. It is particularly significant because France is a major power in the European Union, and its recognition of a Palestinian statehood could inspire other reluctant EU nations to follow suit. In the United Kingdom, more lawmakers have called on the British government to recognise a Palestinian state as pressure mounts on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to take concrete action amid Israel’s war on Gaza. Some 221 MPs from across the political spectrum have signed an open letter calling on Starmer’s Labour government to recognise a Palestinian state in advance of the upcoming United Nations conference on Palestine. It is surprising that UK MPs across the political divide have taken a stand since Britain is largely responsible for planting the Zionist state in the land of Palestine in the 1940s. The UK has a historical duty to correct the wrongdoing that has created a high magnitude of suffering in the Middle East. Last year, Ireland, Norway and Spain recognised a Palestinian state with its borders to be demarcated as they were before the 1967 Middle East for F EAR the Jumbotron – once just a brand name, now a big-screen moment waiting to happen. It doesn’t care if you are in love, in denial or deep in someone else’s problems. It does not wait for backstory, disclaimers or context. One accidental close-up and bam – your private moment becomes public property, broadcast in full HD, with surround sound and 40,000 witnesses munching on popcorn. One minute you are feeling sweet – lost in the crowd, thinking no one is watching – and the next, your face is 10 feet tall, your arms are around someone suspiciously not your wife and the stadium is whispering, “ Eh, tu bukan isteri dia …” The Jumbotron is not your friend. It does not ask if that is your spouse. It does not pause to check your relationship status. It simply zooms, pans and exposes – and just like that you are the main star of a nationwide gossip fest. In today’s world, where everyone is a part-time detective and gossip is a full-time sport, the Jumbotron is not just a screen; it is a trapdoor to public humiliation. If you are lucky, you will end up only as a meme. If not, God help you. Boom. Kantoi ! And this is not just some local phenomenon. Even abroad, the Jumbotron has claimed its victims. At a Coldplay concert in the US, a couple got a little too mesra on screen – and let’s just say the only fireworks that night were in HR’s inbox. That is the power of one hug, one camera and way too much confidence in the shadows.

Back home, our very own Encik Kantoi must have thought he had it all figured out – dim lighting, a distracted crowd, music blasting and romance in the air. Ideal conditions for a cheeky pelukan manja , right? Wrong. He underestimated the triple threat that awaits all public cuddlers in Malaysia: 0 An unfiltered Jumbotron; 0 Camera-happy strangers with no boundaries; and 0 A nation of netizens who never sleep – and never forget. These are not just fans; they are the mata rakyat . Always alert. Always suspicious. Always one screenshot away from launching a nationwide manhunt. Back in the day, if you want to curang , you had to put in real effort – multiple phones, airtight alibis, maybe even a fake outstation trip or an imaginary company retreat. For extra cover, you would pick a dim restaurant with no WiFi, no mirrors and preferably no surviving witnesses. Now? One careless hug under the wrong spotlight and suddenly you are trending on Twitter in a thread titled, “ Tu bukan wife dia, guys”. Within hours, Malaysians have the full report – his name, his wife’s Instagram, the family’s 2022 Langkawi trip, her throwback anniversary post, his daughter’s school concert footage and, quite possibly, even the cat’s TikTok account and favourite litter brand. The detective work was so next level, someone probably dug up his SPM results and the email he sent to his ex back in 2008. Because if there is one

delivered their verdict. “That is why I don’t let my kids go to concerts!” scolded one auntie in Subang, forwarding the video to her kuliah dhuha group chat. Mum, he hugged someone he shouldn’t. Coldplay just provided the lighting and soundtrack. So, what have we learnt? 0 Lesson One: Don’t cheat. 0 Lesson Two: If you absolutely must (again, please don’t), do not do it in public, especially not in a stadium with massive screens, 360° cameras and Malaysians armed with opinions. 0 Lesson Three: Fear the Jumbotron with your whole heart. Because in Malaysia, you are never really alone. Someone is always watching – whether in the stands, on a livestream or through a pair of tinted bifocals, silently judging your every move. And once it is captured, it lives forever. Not just on the Jumbotron but on TikTok, Threads, Reddit, your surau noticeboard and even your niece’s school group project titled “Modern Moral Lessons”. It is 2025. Privacy is extinct. Scandals are inevitable. And the Jumbotron? That is your dosa kecil , now screening in full HD. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have got a potluck to attend. We are serving bihun goreng , air sirap and unsolicited opinions. Some people have Netflix. We have got “ Peluk Kantoi : Stadium Edition”. Pass the keropok, please. AzuraAbas is the associate editor of theSun. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

thing Malaysia has more of than rain, it is semangat membawang . We don’t need the FBI. We have got fibre optic broadband, overthinking and a national talent for piecing together random clues faster than an ustaz quoting hadiths during a ceramah . Naturally, the internet caught fire. Memes came fast. TikToks appeared instantly. One genius even posted a parody PSA: “ Sila pastikan pasangan anda sah di sisi agama dan undang undang sebelum memeluk secara terbuka di khalayak ramai. ” Then the moral brigade arrived. “ Tak malu ke peluk-peluk macam tu ?” typed one account, whose bio read “open-minded traveller vibes only”, and who once posted a photo at the beach that made even the sand blush. As expected, calls to ban the Jumbotron followed because, obviously, the problem was not the hug, it was the camera that dared to expose it. Let’s not get it twisted. Infidelity isn’t new. Since the dawn of time, people have been warned: “ Jangan dekati zina .” There are verses, hadiths , khutbahs and now, Jumbotron footage. But getting caught in 4K, mid hug and under stadium lighting, with Coldplay crooning “ Nobody said it was easy …” in the background? That is not cheating. That is a live broadcast of your downfall, with a stadium wave and LED graphics. It is like sneaking a kuih lapis during Ramadan: you might enjoy one layer but sooner or later, your sticky fingers will give you away. And, of course, the makciks

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“In today’s world, where everyone is a part-time detective and gossip is a full time sport, the Jumbotron is not just a screen; it is a trapdoor to public humiliation. If you are lucky, you will end up only

as a meme. If not, God help you.

LETTERS letters@thesundaily.com Genocide, starvation in Gaza stir global conscience

War, when Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. The Vatican, which represents the Catholic world, has consistently called for peace, and it has used a stronger language, like barbaric, in condemning the war. What is particularly interesting is to see lively debates by prominent conservative and liberal commentators in the US, who are beginning to question their nation’s blind loyalty to Israel despite the atrocities it has committed. It is clear that the indiscriminate bombing of civilians and the use of hunger as a weapon of war in Gaza, combined with the violence and forced evictions of Palestinians by Jewish settlers in the West Bank, have awakened the conscience of the Western public. While it is imperative for European powers to recognise a Palestinian state, it is equally vital to take decisive action at the UN to declare expansionist Zionism as ethnoracism, a threat to world peace. The current regime in Israel has all the characteristics of far-right ultranationalism, including elements resembling fascism, such as an emphasis on national and ethnic supremacy. It is important to separate Zionist ideology and behaviour from the majority of the Jewish population, who are also suffering from insecurity due to endless conflict and war

The use of hunger as a weapon of war in Gaza, along with violence and forced evictions by Jewish settlers in the West Bank, has awakened the conscience of the Western public. – REUTERSPIC

conscience in the West and the world at large will ultimately bring about a just and comprehensive settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ronald Benjamin Secretary Acid

Palestinian self-determination by the international community has become imperative. This should be followed by diplomatic and economic pressure on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire. It is hoped that the awakening

perpetrated by their government. The reluctance of the US and Zionist leaders to mention Palestinians by nationality in press conferences shows how oppressive and unjust these hegemonic powers have become. In this context, the declaration of