In our Selected Exhortations category, we republish interesting stuff such as must-read articles and essays not originally written exclusively for the blawg, and which have come to our attention. Please feel free to email [email protected] if you would like to reproduce your writing, but first follow our Writer’s Guide here.

This article is by Lee Lian Kong and was previously published in The Selangor Times as “A Critique on KL: It’s Alive”.

A 20-something year old girl, dressed in the current trendy look (loose patterned blouse, denim shorts, aviators, brown highlighted hair) walks with her DSLR camera in her hands.

She flings it to the sky and the video sweeps into the (as per usual) spectacular aerial view of KL’s cityscape, highway and suburbs.

That’s how the Project Alive website begins. According to its YouTube page description, it aims to highlight a day in the life of “unconventional and forward-thinking individuals”.

Their aim is to show the lively side of KL with all its coolest things to the public eye.

There are fashion designers, singer-songwriters, leather craftmakers, tattoo artists, flea marketers.

Their products include graphic T-shirts, leather accessories, quirky clothes, phone covers, oversized black rimmed glasses without the lens. A fashion designer describes the qualities of one jacket, with treehugger undertones “there’s nothing plastic, no polyester. It’s all natural.”

Subcultures were featured, skateboarders and the rather weather-inappropriate Mods with their scarves and suits cruising KL roads with Vespas.

Of course the beverage of choice for young hipsters are overpriced espresso based coffee complete with latte art.

As such, Artisan Roast café was featured, with a barista making espresso and latte art, while the owner gives us a slogan “Conversation as a reason and coffee as an excuse.”

Nightlife begins at 11.11pm, defined by shisha, nightclubs, dubstep, flaming Lamborghinis, DJs, ecstatic dancers, LED lightshow.

The video ends with cyclists on highways and all these people coming together at a roadside stall for drinks and finishes with these words “Share the passion that makes your city great.”

As a piece of commercial advertisement for a small fraction of KL-ites, it hits all the right “indie” nerves. It’s hip, it’s young, it’s stylish.

For that, kudos to the director and production crew. Let’s give credit where credit is due.

But one thing we cannot commend the video for is its originality. Or the severe lack of it.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, it is a tale told by a hipster, full of style and visuals, signifying nothing.

Well, close to nothing.

Like what half the comments left on its YouTube channel says, the video does represent KL, but just a tiny fraction of it.

There is no fault in showing a minority view of our city. After all, this isn’t a documentary, hence, we can omit the need for a comprehensive view of KL or to show the ‘real’ KL.

The problem with this video is its lack of originality. This culture they expound is one consumed from MTV, not one genuinely conceived from KL.

Children of middle to upper middle class convert their money into “cultural capital” by buying objects or activities of “cool”.

What they show to be cool and is called as progress, is merely the A-grade adoption of a Western-oriented culture with predominantly American and MTV origins.

They like fashion, “alternative” activities i.e. cycling and join the next cool subculture by consuming. What they call unconventional is the wearing of RayBans and skinny jeans like every other young ones do. The depth of these ‘forward-thinking individuals’ goes as deep as opening a coffee shop and a poor fusion of electro musical styles that they call “lapsap” music.

By not owning these cultures and merely adopting it, the activities shown seem synthetic and artificial.

It shows an urban youth that is not really getting the measure of where they were living, having no idea about their community there and forsaking their rich cultural history for the next ‘cool’ imported thing.

Remove the token scene of tudung-ed women and the food, this video can be adapted to just about any other city.

Why adopt someone else’s culture? The leftover of someone else’s dinner is hardly a delicious meal.

Is the video another example of our prolonged post-colonial hang-up, alongside the usual sarong party girls at Changkat Bukit Bintang and the adoption of American accents to be seen as superior?

Yes, we are not excluded from globalization. Nor are we immune to western cultural imperialism.

Yet, the Westernisation of KL is not one done by surrendering, where we abandon all our culture for theirs.

There is a clear, undeniable struggle between preserving our identity amidst the constant bombardment of Western elements.

This may be a weak struggle and all odds seem to be against us. Nevertheless, this struggle is acutely present. This video failed to capture this essential bit of KL in its rush to voluntarily embrace everything Western.

And for that, it strongly hints of a group of urban youth who is not proud of their heritage, bereft of a soul they can call their own.

Lee Lian Kong welcomes all feedback (even from hipsters) to her email at [email protected]

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121 replies on “KL’s Soulless Hipsters”

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  2. This is all getting too frivolous. Whatever man. KL is KL. There is no real way to define what KL is all about. "Hipsters' can do what they like and "Non-hipsters" should also be allowed to to do what they like, like expressing their views- no matter how illogical or "ill-researched" it may be . If you put a video out there, please be prepared to accept criticisms , whether constructive or not. You get some " congratulations, your video looks awesome" and some " Your video is shit". Life is not fair. Man up. Deal with it. If you cant't , too bad for you.

  3. It's obvious that you aren't a fan of the video, but trying so hard to discredit it is just sad – especially so on a site like LoyarBurok that champions the causes which are often overlooked.

    I worked in the same company as one of the people featured in the video close to 10 years ago. That was way before the term "hipster" was used to describe everything non-conventional. It put a smile on my face to see that in the decade (well, close to a decade at least) that's past, his style hasn't changed a single bit. He hasn't tried to evolve into looking "the part", but he has stayed true to his roots – true to what he's comfortable with. Yet here you are, labeling a person that you do not know a hipster, a fraud, a Western worshiper?

    Just cause he dresses differently from you, doesn't work the same kind of job as you or frolic in the same social circles as you, doesn't mean that he's any less Malaysian than you?

    We universally agree that the video doesn't show the WHOLE story of what KL has to offer, but even you say that it isn't a documentary. So what's the point of this post? To call out a video that you dislike?

    xinch has hit the nail on the head with these lines: "My wish is for a Malaysia that's inclusive, not exclusive. That's understanding and compassionate, not judgmental. That embraces, not shuns." and I hope that they mean – or will eventually grow to mean – something to you. Because if they don't, and your judgmental ways continue, then I truly do fear for the country that you look to shape.

  4. It seems that one of the real issues hinted at by this article, and which needs to be discussed is not so much an identity issue, but a class one, and the privilege of representation that goes with this; also the fact that corporations are able to take these cultural endeavors and turn them into signifiers for consumerism (the commodification of cool, so to speak). The ideological coordinates of the video is quite clear: it's a kind of lifestyle individualism (regardless of what the participants' actual ideologies are), individuality as the kind of thing you can have by consuming at the right places, or having the right commodities. You have to ask what message is being conveyed by Mercedes Benz when it claims that this is what makes KL as a city "alive" – what sort of individual philosophy today is easily converted into cultural capital, and by extension, forms capitalism's latest guise?

    On the other hand, what counts as 'authentically' or the 'essence' of KL seems like a moot question – by virtue of being a postcolonial nation-state, the so-called 'West' seems to be as integral to the identity of Malaysia as anything else (if we were fickle about tracing this, we'd end up subtracting a whole lot of stuff from 'Malaysian culture') ; could it be that the 'essence' of KL is precisely its non-essentiality, the invisible lack that structures any kind of postcolonial condition? To confront cultural imperialism, the question is not whether an outward sign originates from America, or China, or India, or wherever, but rather how one appropriates what is available in a context, and invest it with meaning that was not there before (e.g. Hainanese chicken chop). Postcoloniality, in the sense of moving away from inherited colonial mindsets, does not consist in subtraction (the eradication of the 'West' from our minds), but rather the distortion/appropriation of such terms as the 'West', in order to make us anew. One needs to dialecticize to move away from colonization, and not merely invert what is already there.

    1. I agree. And it is exactly this 'appropriation' and reshaping process that was not presented in the video and as far as the article is concerned, the author had merely pointed that out. I do not believe the article had in anyway suggested that we should eradicate everything west hence her making it a point to highlight in the first few paragraphs that what was featured is undoubtedly a part of KL but hardly a solid and fair representation.

      1. To add to that, I would say that there is a difference between merely consuming signs, and being able to appropriate them for one's own purposes – a difference I'm sure at least some of the participants in the video (and this thread) appreciate. As I said earlier (and you pointed out), the problem here is how such creative appropriation is presented by Mercedez-Benz as mere consumption in the video, the product of this or that lifestyle choice. In that sense the author here is doing ideological critique 101 – critiquing the appearance in order to uncover the kernel of truth in the video. This is different from merely taking sides on the issue, which is a very Malaysian way of discussing cultural politics – remember Interlok, anyone?

        I'm actually glad that she wrote this article, we really need a thorough discussion on issues like representation, identity and cultural imperialism. As she said, KL is a state of mind – it's high time we critiqued this state of mind in order to figure out where Malaysia as a nation is heading towards, instead of merely celebrating or dismissing phenomena like hipsterdom.

  5. Its amusing to see some take her opinion as saying that our culture is ONLY the traditional which is also an integral aspect of the identity although that can be debated in a different discourse. Just from one read you can tell that the writer was expecting the director to focus on the untangible agents of what constitutes us. To focus on the tangible is easy. Anyone who watches enough MTV and given some guidance in video making could have produced the same material. Whether or not the form is good is a different debate. The essence of the aim remains the same.

    I can't help but noticing how sensitive the critics are. From their defence you can easily construe the class that they belong to. From what I see this class is often very opinionated and critical of things that do not identify with them. Like brats, they believe that their lifestyle should be immuned from criticism but at the same time they should be accorded the freedom to mock (often shallowly) others. Its easy to spot this class laughing at the stereotyping of the lower income group by stand up comedians like Harith Iskandar but when someone comes to mock them they cringe behind the convenient accusation of bigotry.

    And you actually take some effort to step out of your comfort zone and bring yourself down to the ground a little you will find it ironic that this stereotyped lower income group, often chastised by the likes of you as conservative, can actually laugh and accept the stereotypes. They've learned to take things lightly and laugh at themselves.

    So why don't you do the same? Don't you fancy yourselves as the more opened ones? I think the writer struck a raw nerve here. You may mock her for it but I don't think the author minds. I am very certain that she knows that the majority of KLites are with her :)

  6. The ultra sensitive critics against the article reminds me of this south park episode where crybabies celebrities including the likes of Tom Cruise tried to kidnap the Prophet Muhammad because they wanted to get his power of 'immunity' which is the immunity from criticism and being ridiculed.

    From the language of the author it is fair to surmise that she wrote it in the same spirit as south park. I think most of the rebuttals are off the mark, failing to address the central theme of her article – the identity crisis. If you read the article carefully you'll see that she never said what was portrayed was not KL. She merely said it is a simplified, unoriginal depiction of KL which is to me, in a nutshell, a melting pot of the east, west and the intrinsic . An invisible essence as she puts it in her response. I agree. To say KL is MERELY us going to Changkat to club, going to some hip coffee joint, designing clothes with no distinction from clothing in the west is just as shallow as the understanding of identity and culture most of the critics presented in their arguments here.

    To me it would have been better for the director to interview what say a Malay Mgirl feels about clubbing in Changkat, what the designer felt about being an independent designer in KL and how is he any different from say a designer in Oslo or ask the owner how is her 'hip' coffee joint uniquely Malaysian. At least that would have opened viewers up to some in depth perspective of their endeavours.

    These perspectives, molded by the dialectics of our conservative tradition and aspiration to break free and shape new values, will be uniquely ours. Culture is organic. To say it is as static and simplistic as the activities featured in the video is a misnomer. But still, it does not change the fact that the enterprises featured is unoriginal which was what the writer had tried to raise. Why do I say they are unauthentic? It goes without saying.

    And much of the criticism also played on sentimentality. "Oh don't the writer know what passion they have". The author was not discussing this. She was merely pointing out the authenticity. Passion and originality are two different things. Lets say I may put so much passion and effort in being a hip hopper but does that mean the subculture comes from KL? I shouldn't even have to point this out.

    Her critique is also one framed from the perspective of the class friction. I will say conclusively, without a shadow of a doubt, that those portrayed in the video are not the city's majority. So was it fair to depict KL only from the perspective of the minority? To do that is parochial. And not to mention the condescending tone of the director in describing the those featured as "unconventional and forward thinking people". Is the director saying that those with respect for his or her heritage cannot be progressive? Plus, how is opening a coffee joint unconventional? How is aping the mod culture fwd thinking? Does designing tees and clothes make one ideologically progressive? Herein exposes the imperialistic nature of this perspective: if you do anything that mirrors the white perspective of modernity you are considered as fwd thinking and unconventional. This is cultural imperialism 101. And, in truth, the activities featured in the video have already been established as mainstream for quite sometime. I wouldn't describe looking like the mannequins in Top Man or opening a bicycle shop 'unconventional'.

    This goes to show the depth of her critics' understanding of authenticity. They can't even differentiate what is mainstream and what is not. This reminds me of the boom of grunge in the early 90s. The locals embracing them here thought they were unique not realising that they had learned of the subculture from MTV, the agent that helped raped and killed the scene and became one of the reasons behind Cobain's drive to suicide.

    That was the underlying tone of her article. Put a little effort. Try and be more objective instead of giving emotional criticisms and the message of the article will easily be crystal clear.

  7. Instead of debating the definition of subculture and hipsterism, the conversation would be of more value if we concentrated our efforts to uproot ideas and examples of what we each feel represents KL/Malaysian culture – something constructive that can move us beyond this debate.

    The video may lack the "depth" some of you are looking for, but I don't think the video ever claimed to "represent" EVERYTHING that is KL. Rather, this right here seems to be THE point of Alive – to generate conversation and provide a platform for people to discuss and discover it.

    Phang finally arrives at this destination by suggesting the Occupy Dataran kids, there is the Chair Project, countless philanthropy and social initiatives by amazing people that can be included in this conversation. Local business should not be exempt from this conversation either, as it plays a vital role in contributing to culture and giving back to Malaysian society.

    Now imagine if the media were to take an equally constructive approach to their "critiques" and actually do some real reporting there would be some real value to them. Perhaps that's why the writer got fired: https://www.loyarburok.com/2012/08/13/lee-lian-kon

    The point of the video was to ignite conversation – I say mission accomplished, especially evident in our impassioned writting. We say KL deserves more, so let's stop arguing and see it!

    To all, what makes Malaysia Alive?

    1. Well if this foreign director can talk about KL as a KLite herself surely the writer should be allowed to say something about it? As for her sacking are you saying someone with a different sense of writing style should not be allowed to say anything and make way only for the 'constructive approach'? What is constructive is relative. The key word here is style. She styled her piece in a very young, sarcastic and mischievous manner which I thought was entertaining. And from the debate it generated who is to say it is not constructive? There are several writers I know who write in a similar way Hishammudin Rais being one of them.

      If everyone was to write the same way the articles will be just as dull as your 'constructive approach' argument.

      Oh there's nothing original about Occupy Dataran, a midd-class-centric 'movement' which hardly represents anything other than some 15 kids buoyed by first world methodology and ideals :) If im not mistaken KL has some 8 million people living in it.

  8. I can't agree more with the writer. As a young adult myself, I am constantly bombarded with images of the 'hipster' culture. With all the instagrammed pictures, lapsap music and far out fashion sense slapped on your face, hipsters have become one thing, MAINSTREAM!

    Hipsters constantly pride themselves for being extremely anti or different and this idea is what hipsters use to make themselves feel special or important.

    However, since the hipster culture has become so incredibly mainstream, self important hipster twats have to accept the reality, YOU PEOPLE ARE EXACTLY LIKE EACH OTHER.

    YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL OR "COOL" ANYMORE BECAUSE BEING HIPSTER IS JUST AS EASY AS BUYING A TRIANGLE LOGO-ED T-SHIRTS AND DISCUSSING HOW THEY HATE THE MAINSTREAM ZOMBIES.

    Sooner of later, all hipsters will realize this pseudo intellectual crap will lose it's charm because hey, everyone is capable of snapping pictures with instagram and sip chai lattes at so called "underground" coffee shops.

    PS: Sorry to burst your hipster bubble but remember that "underground" coffee shop you love? Its listed on the yellow pages.

    1. It's funny how the stuff I like actually turn out to be hipster-ish now. I've wanted a lomo camera for years (but settled for Hipstamatic), I've ogled at Vespas and loved the classic Mini my ex had, way back in 2002 when I was 18 – I have my own modern Vespa now, easier to maintain than a proper vintage one. My boyfriend loves his fixie, but only because he has been riding BMX, downhill, dirt jumps in Malaysia for the last 14 years of his life, and in Switzerland we actually have bike routes and cycling is the best way to travel (next to my Vespa of course). I don't think both of us are actually trying to be cool, we just happen to be lucky that 2011-2013 is when our taste is cool for once. I don't think people are jumping on the vintage bandwagon just for the cool factor, some people actually DO like these things (classic car collectors and appreciators of old stuff have been around for decades). Anyway, we will probably be very uncool come 2014 coz I don't see myself swapping my handmade bags for LV or Gucci. I would rather support a cafe like Artisan's instead of overpriced Starbucks anytime, I don't see why that should change. I love the outdoor seating areas that can be found at Publika, and would much rather go there instead of freezing cold air-conditioned Midvalley or KLCC. Look, I definitely get the whole anti-"trying to be different" thing coz i used to wonder why punks and goths would dress the way they did, which in the end just made them look like each other! But no need to Hate lah, not everyone who dresses like a hipster is attempting to be different, it's just the fashion that is bombarded at you left, right, centre from clothing stores and the internet… like you said, it's mainstream. Maybe a time will come when your favourite style becomes cool and you'll know what it feels like to be called hipster :)

    2. I understand your gut reaction to the endless stream of media vomit on what you should consume to be cool and hey, it's great you realise that yes, sub-cultures do get appropriated by people to sell you shit. But perhaps we can move onto this instead of the label bashing?

      To quote the response from Chris below: " Instead of debating the definition of subculture and hipsterism, the conversation would be of more value if we concentrated our efforts to uproot ideas and examples of what we each feel represents KL/Malaysian culture – something constructive that can move us beyond this debate"

      1. In response to your prompt feedback, yes, the question is, what represents Malaysian culture? Is it the vintage nikon cameras? Is it the graffiti sprayed across city streets? Is it the environmentally conscious blazers produced by the newest designer in town? last but not least, is it the midnight bicycle ride?

        I don't know about you but none of the above represents Malaysian culture. I dont want to bash hardworking Malaysians. I think working Malaysians from the checkout chick at Carrefour to the CEO of public listed companies are the very fabric of Malaysian society.

        What irks me is when the new Malaysian hipster subculture throw their superiority in your face. They make the poor feel bad about not wearing their latest fashion designs but also make the rich feel guilty about buying expensive nike shoes that were made in Chinese sweat shops.

        In MY opinion, the Malaysian hipster subculture does not represent anything remotely Malaysian. The fact is, they only represent one thing, themselves.

        In my case, I am not a hipster but I am a Malaysian. How do i represent my country? I try to be good to people around me. I can't be nice all the time but i try. I try to pass on my Malaysian hospitality to others. Malaysian hipsters on the other hand, if you don't look like them, talk like them or think like them, you cant be them.

        I try to pass on the Malaysian morals and ethics to my white friends so they would know how to act in front of elders. Malaysian hipsters on the other hand are so completely obsessed with the Westernized version of the world, they have lost all respect for the common folk.

        I have complete admiration for young Malaysians who try to better themselves by starting small businesses. Its awesome. The thing is, they don't have to throw it in our faces.

        1. Wow Mariel, you must have met some really shitty hipsters in your life. Clearly my friends/friends-of-friends/acquaintances that I would have termed "hipster" for the style that they carry really can't be called hipsters at all. They're pretty damn nice to everyone around them, they treat people including the elderly with respect, and they love their steamboat and nasi lemak. Seriously, stop trying to sound like you're better than these hipsters and that you have way more moral values than them! What kind of generalization is that? How do You spend your weekends? Walking around Midvalley? Sitting at home watching the TV or surfing the internet or playing Warcraft? That seems to be typical youth Malaysian habits (dare I say culture?) these days…. The thing about media such as youtube videos is that you have the choice of clicking play or pause, or closing your browser altogether. Nobody is throwing their small business in your face.

          1. Exactly. I'm not sure what kind of event her her life triggered such an off tangent firestorm based off a YouTube video, but I'm sorry.

          2. Thats what people always say isnt it, if you don't like it don't click or watch. That's absolutely fine. The things is, its all around you now.

            Are there some nice hipsters? Of course there are, one my closest friends is an annoying little hipster but shes still my baby buddy. My point is, most hipsters constantly preach about the environment and social ills rather than letting the chips fall where they may. Thats what i call throwing it at your face.

            Im not saying that I dont care for the environment, i recycle my plastic bags and all that jazz but i dont make people feel guilty bout buying polyester. You wanna ride bikes because it releases zero CO2, thats awesome but you dont have to stand on top of a hill and scream, "Im amazing guys! Im saving our fragile planet!"

            Look, let me retract the statement, "lost respect for the common folk". It was uncalled for. However, I stand by my own opinion. No matter how much we choose to not admit hipsters are of the middle class, we know its true. Most hipsters are a forward thinking, articulate group whom are probably well traveled and versed. Since many hipsters are of a higher social class, many other social groups, especially from the lower classes are left out from this hipster society. Ostracism leads to disrespect and that is what i meant by "lost respect for the common folk".

            If I wanna hang at the mall, why not? There are some pretty awesome places for me to get a beer. If I dont wanna go out, of course I'll watch the tele, the food channel is my favourite ( I LOVE CUPCAKE WARS!) I dont know how to play warcraft or diablo but hey, if I learnt to play it maybe I will like it. Who knows?

            See hun, you guys do make people feel bad for wanting to do their own thing. So what if people like chilling at home or lepaking at the mall? It may be unproductive but in the end, it makes some people happy and there's nothing wrong with that.

  9. LLK, first you need to understand the main contexts of the video. 1. It's a Mercedes Benz sponsored video meaning it's meant to be created with a very western or modernistic outlook. 2. It's a short video that needs to capture as much of the urban side of KL which makes it impossible to fully explore background themes to give the video any meaningful character depths. If you failed to understand these two points, your critique will be from the beginning on shaky ground .

    My major gripe however with your piece is with the manner at which it was written – you were dismissive of the whole thing from the outstart, your tone arrogant and spiteful and you showed a clear lack of balanced reporting and research. In the process you have belittled my friends and the people featured in the video as 'token', 'MTV', 'treehuggers', 'artificial' and fake, weak, unproud of their heritage and lacking of any soul.

    You could have tried to meet some of these people to understand what they really are like and you could have tried to understand the contexts that the director has to work with. You mentioned that a good director needs to show the different sides to a story, in this case the struggle between keeping one's culture and globalization, you hinted at the complex issue of western cultural imperialism.

    A good writer needs to do the same, one one hand there is the simplified depiction of KL in the video that was reduced to western-only notions, on the other, the very real, very passionate creative people that put their hearts into their labour and hold pride in their tradition and their origins. The fact that you completely forgot to argue for the latter meant that you have failed 'miserably' at your task.

  10. The directors are not even Malaysian, hello?

    As a writer/journalist, you are pretty ill-researched and oversimplified perspective yourself.

  11. Kita kat Penang tak de masalah cam ni. Nak tau pasai pa? Senang je. Sebab kita kat Pinang ni, budaya semua ada. Tak perlu nak sengketa. Semua paham. Tak yah nak gaduh gaduh.

    Korang kat KL ni lak, lain le cerita. Pasal tu la gaduh giler. Sebab orang KL sendiri pun tak tau apa identity korang. Tu lah nak gaduh.

    1. That's just like saying that Penang doesn't have such problems because it's so small that subcultures can't exist and there is only one identity. I'm pretty sure I could also put together a very "hipster-like" view of Penang which some Penangites would equally not be able to stand.

  12. a well researched effort? its a advertisement! sponsored by Mercedes Benz!
    this comment thread is excellent.
    i'ld say its been a very successful ad.
    all power to all people making stuff.
    cheers,
    i-lann

  13. Due to the overwhelming response to my critique of the said video, I am obliged to reply to the criticisms that I find rather predictable and emotional. 

    We are a product of this tension created by the bombardment of Western influences, induced by the postulated aspirations of the powers that be, while struggling to accept and redefine our original values. This tension is reflective of our perspective of things. KL is more than the bars, the hip coffee stores. It is a state of mind. 

    The director, as an artist, has to find creative ways to depict this hidden essence. His failure to do this can be seen in the ill researched and oversimplified perspective. Do you mean to tell me the mere projected images of Malaysians doing Western-influenced activities is a well-researched effort?

    And it's cute how everyone assumes I am advocating an Orientalist view of KL in my disagreement with the director's perspective. And for this, the response to this assumption shall be in typical hipster language: that debate is so last week.

    1. Dear author,

      In my previous post I took a neutral stance by not being overtly harsh and tried to see it from both points of view, in the best hope of you taking the time to dissect every argument presented. You seem to not get the point, and dismiss all the counter arguments presented to you without ever explaining. As they teach you in law school, where there is no substance, there is a need to pad it up with fluff. Let us try to dissect your counter couter-arguments.

      "We are a product of this tension created by the bombardment of Western influences, induced by the postulated aspirations of the powers that be, while struggling to accept and redefine our original values. This tension is reflective of our perspective of things. KL is more than the bars, the hip coffee stores. It is a state of mind. "

      You seem to love using really big words, which is definitely not pretentious. The video does not present that KL is only made of its bars and hip coffee stores, but presents that this is something that you can do here, merely an option. It does not say this is the only thing you can do here. It is completely absurd that you can consider coffee culture a hipster idea. Maybe you're too young to be brought up in the era of Friends who hung out all the time at Central Perk and not a Starbucks. So by your logic, this would make them hipsters. Our values differ from person to person. You are in no position to give it a definitive status. We are ever evolving as a society. A Malaysian society.

      "The director, as an artist, has to find creative ways to depict this hidden essence. His failure to do this can be seen in the ill researched and oversimplified perspective. Do you mean to tell me the mere projected images of Malaysians doing Western-influenced activities is a well-researched effort?"

      Your argument here is just to attack the director by condemning his lack of research and oversimplified perspective. I find it extremely ironic that you can't seem to see that all your arguments seem to clearly point out the exact flaws your article has. You did not research properly what hipster culture is, and just label it as westernisation. If you've ever been to any western country, you would know that they have their own hipster cultures which vastly varies from ours, and this is what I label an oversimplified perspective. As for Malaysians doing western-influenced activities, please do not let me see you eating Froyo, drinking Coca Cola, carrying any LV bags, shopping at Zara, or partying at Zouk. Please always only eat at mamaks/local restaurants, drink teh ais, use local brand bags (and no Charles and Keith is not Malaysian), only shop at Komtar and don't ever go clubbing anywhere, because that is a western influenced activity.

      "And it's cute how everyone assumes I am advocating an Orientalist view of KL in my disagreement with the director's perspective. And for this, the response to this assumption shall be in typical hipster language: that debate is so last week."

      I like how you speak of assumptions and at the same time make assumptions and judgments baselessly. You did not say you were advocating an Orientalist view, but many made that assumption of you, but in return, you also made assumptions about the video by saying its pro-americanisation and MTV-isation without understanding the hipster subculture of KL. You seem to really like saying things just to make yourself seem more intelligent than you really are. If I was the thesaurus that you repeatedly rape I would definitely make a police report. I'm pretty sure your right click on your mouse has been worn down by all that thesaurus abuse.

      To paraphrase Lee Lian Kong, it is a tale told by a disgruntled law student with a baseless disdain for the hipsterism (which is very "hipster" in its essence), full of sound, with no foresight, and definitely signifying nothing.

      1. "…this is what I label an oversimplified perspective. As for Malaysians doing western-influenced activities, please do not let me see you eating Froyo, drinking Coca Cola, carrying any LV bags, shopping at Zara, or partying at Zouk. Please always only eat at mamaks/local restaurants, drink teh ais, use local brand bags (and no Charles and Keith is not Malaysian), only shop at Komtar and don't ever go clubbing anywhere, because that is a western influenced activity. "

        And you're not oversimplifying your perspective? What sort of argument is that? You're saying if someone criticizes hipsters they shouldn't live a modern life? Truly, it shows the depth of your perception of issues and the maturity of your rebuttal. How old are you, good sir? Nine?

        1. What I'm saying is that the author has oversimplified her arguments, and at the same time, labelled the video of oversimplifying Malaysian culture. I was merely making a point. My point being that "I too can oversimplify and reduce a culture into a two sentence judgement." Can't you see that? If we keep our blinkers on we will never gain perspective, which is what she lacks. She was given ample counter arguments, and instead of coming up with a "I see your point" rebuttal, she comes up with this hypocritical statements.

          Also… "In the Malaysian context, the closest we have in terms of an original subculture is probably the Mat Rempit, but of course they are vilified because they have bad PR, are not considered "cool" or "trendy", and are generally from the near poverty income bracket."

          Also…. people don't like Mat Rempits not because of the bad PR they have. It is also not because they are not cool and not trendy or even from a near poverty income bracket. People vilify them because they endanger their own lives and the lives of those around them. That I believe is the reason they are vilified by those that do not like them and not any of the reasons you have stated above.

          Also… I am 28.

    2. You have my support because at the end of the day, it is nothing more than an expensive consumerist subculture.

  14. When people adapt someone's culture and practice it as their own, they (the people) add their own local flavour to these practices – something which warrants examination. To attack them as unoriginal copycats is to underestimate them. Either way, there are so many ore serious issues that warrant writing. Not this.

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