I can't find a video anywhere on the web, for love or money, of Singapore Idol Taufik Batisah singing the National Anthem with the wrong lyrics.
I settled down to dinner in front of the telly, all set to watch the F1 race with MySO. BTW, I know NOTHING about Formula 1. Except that the sound of the cars is a real turn-on. (Some of you will remember that I enjoy watching movies with lots of car-crashes.) For want of something better to do on a night like tonight when the whole country would probably be watching, I thought I'd join in so as not to be the only clueless eejit without any idea about the F1 drama unfolding not 15 minutes away from me.
And so it began. The National Anthem filled my living room via old Philips speakers, yes, the kind that are probably as old as (if not older than) me. Ahh great sounds will come from them when the race begins, I'm thinking.
When suddenly I hear "Marilah kita berseru". *Blink Blink*
I turn to look at MySO. "Did he just sing the wrong lyrics?"
MySO : Wait, wait, maybe we heard wrong. Give it a chance.
Me : But, but.. is he going to sing "bersatu" on the 2nd line?
MySO : Here it comes... listen.. shhhh.
And there it was again. Yup. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. It was all I could do to keep from jumping up (and possibly overturning my Japanese Curry with Rice meal) to get to my PC to tweet or blog all about it right away.
So I left it for a while, watched the race, wrapped Children's Day gifts while MySO drifted in and out of sleep, and only now decided to pursue this matter. And as I was looking for a video of this monumental event, I came across CNA's article of Taufik's apology. Ah well, it's not excusable and I'm not anywhere near accepting the reason for it. But I will accept the apology. If only because the report reportedly reported it nicely.
So I forgive you Taufik. At least he admitted that it was a mistake and instead of going on and on about why and how and what happened, he had the grace to ask for forgiveness. Sometimes, that's all it takes.
I feel sorry for the dude.
ReplyDeleteFirst the fact that he is Singapore Idol's FIRST winner.
Secondly this is an INTERNATIONAL event and he was representing US.
Thirdly and most importantly, the song was in his Mother Tongue! First Language for him.
Guess that if you gotta fail, do it spactacularly.
That's exactly what I said - it's in Malay!! helloo? ah but all's said and done and it's ok lah. I bet he feels worse than we do about the injustice that was done us.
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