Commentary by Mustafa K. Anuar 

WILL Malaysians be allowed to see the beautiful rainbow without being censored by the Malaysian authorities?

This is to paraphrase Swatch Group chief executive officer Nick Hayek, who took a dig at the Malaysian authorities after Home Ministry officers raided Swatch stores recently for displaying its Pride Collection timepieces, and subsequently seized the items.

Malaysians, particularly those who see rainbows as a sign of hope, love and new beginnings, apart from inclusivity, are equally dismayed at the seeming attempt to prohibit the flowering of meanings surrounding a generic word.

While it is true that rainbows are often associated with the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community, the meaning of the beautiful seven colours is not the sole ownership of the community concerned.

If we were to go the whole hog (pardon the expression that is not certified kosher), would this mean that bedtime stories for Malaysian children that have elements of rainbows would be next in line for censorship?

Where do we go from here with the halt on the use of rainbows, a collection of natural colours?

The raids were carried out over the May 13 and 14 weekend at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, 1 Utama, Sunway Pyramid, Setia City Mall, Mid Valley Megamall, Southkey, Sunway Putra Mall, Sogo KL, Queensbay Mall, Fahrenheit 88 and Suria Sabah.

Warnings were issued to KTCC Mall (Kuala Terengganu), Aeon Mall (Kota Baru), Aman Central (Alor Star) and City Square and Vivacity Megamall (Kuching).

A variety of people in this world, who subscribe to a free flow of expressions, can assign various meanings to a particular object. In short, one object – such as the rainbow – can symbolise different meanings to different people.

One could argue that the rainbow of the LGBT community could be claimed by other people to whom the symbol means different things altogether. In a sense, the LGBT meaning could be “subverted” to a certain extent by the frequent use of its alternative meanings.

Similarly, the meaning denoted to the colour green by environmentalists could be “usurped” by environmentally wrecking companies through their brazen use of the word and colour green to greenwash their “corporate sins”. Such is the struggle of meanings.

The context in which the raids on the Swatch-selling establishments were executed suggests a knee-jerk reaction of the authorities to the backlash against the government’s approval to the forthcoming concert of British rock band Coldplay, which has been vigorously associated with the LGBT community.

It also suggests that the unity government has bent over backwards to allay the concerns of certain quarters in our society in the face of the impending elections particularly in the Malay-majority states of Terengganu, Kelantan and Kedah.

In other words, the Malay-Muslim component parties in the sitting government strive to burnish their Islamic credentials, but at the risk of alienating certain sections of their non-Muslim electorate as well as liberal-minded Malaysians.

This episode also gives rise to the question as to what extent would the government be willing to go in its attempt to appease elements in our society that have a yen for exploiting race and religion.

Life bereft of the rainbow, and its accompanying meanings, is not only dull but ridiculous. – May 24, 2023.