In a predominately-Muslim country like Malaysia, calling someone “babi” is especially rude. It’s almost equivalent to calling someone by the holy grail of swear words — you know which one.
The Year of the Pig happens to translate into the Year of the Babi. A Malaysian production company Graph Studio cleverly makes use of this coincidence to produce a Chinese New Year video showcasing some annoying, swear word-inducing habits among locals.
The result is a hilarious mix of stereotypical stuck-ups and self-consciously shabby 1980s singing. You can watch the video in full here.
The video begins sounding like a buildup to a cornball motivational pep-talk by your primary school councilor — “This year is the year of you”.
But you quickly realise what’s happening when a man slides his car in front of another and the narrator goes,
You double mother parkers who double park without leaving your numbers.
Next on the feature reel, “Mr Blind-Spot Train Rider” pretends to be ‘blind’ so he doesn’t have to give his seat up to the pregnant lady beside him.
Then we have “Mr Party Pooper”, who party-poops not with traditional baked-brain talk but by making a mess with serious bowel business and refusing to flush.
The video goes on to name a few other nasty culprits like drivers who don’t signal on roads, adulterous lovers, and “Cancel-Causing Agents” who might as well be cancer-causing because of their tendency to cancel plans at the last minute.
Some of you may find the style of the video vaguely familiar. That may be because you’ve seen Bud Light’s equally whimsical 1998 commercial “Real Men of Genius”.
The commercial pays comical tribute to men in overlooked professions like Pro-Wrestling Wardrobe Designer or those with unusual habits like Mr Way-Too-Much Cologne Wearer and Mr Silent Killer Gas-Passer.
For all the poking fun at vexing habits, Graph Studio’s Chinese New Year video ends by encouraging locals to be more considerate — “Let 2019 be a Year of A Better You”.
While the focus was on Malaysians, Singaporeans too are sometimes guilty of those displeasing habits. In fact, the habits probably run through many people from other parts of the world as well.
In the spirit of Chinese New Year, let’s be better, more considerate citizens and not give others the chance to call us “babi”.
Featured image from Graph Studio.
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