Politics of colours

 STOP, THINK, GO: This is fundamental knowledge that should be inculcated in young children, particularly, the yellow/orange colour which tells you not to rush but think before you act – Johnny Hii, PhD student of Tasmania University, Australia.

I WORE a purple blouse yesterday.

Violet, my friend, who believes in feng shui, said: “That seems to be the only suitable colour left for me to wear during Chinese New Year.”

She revealed she bought a blue cheongsam as this year comes under the Zodiac symbol of the Water Snake which, she reckoned, would feel comfortable with her water-blue traditonal attire and bring her good health, peace and prosperity.

She noted: “If, going by what Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said, red is support for DAP, yellow for Bersih and green for the environment and against Lynas, then surely blue is support for BN.”

Belonging to a group that do not wish to show their political inclination, Violet has been perturbed by the fact that one’s veneration for this year’s Spring Festival could be measured in political terms and degraded by simply classifying it on the basis of the colours of one’s attire on New Year’s Day.

Her mood during this festive season is also spoilt somewhat the BN-MCA’s Chinese New Year Concert in Penang, featuring performance by South Korean singer, songwriter, dancer and rapper Psy or Park Jae-sang, who gained global fame with his hit single “Gangnam style”.

But oddly enough and for reasons best known to himself, LGE was fuming when he heard such a show will be staged in Penang.

Has LGE over-reacted? Was it not so long ago that DAP produced a gangnam-style video, poking fun at BN -- and standing out prominently in the clip was wife of the Prime Minister, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

The video has since been given star-rating by DAP leaders and supporters. So a Real McCoy gangnam-style performance by the man (Psy) himself in a DAP-controlled state would be a boost for the video, wouldn’t it?

Not quite. An apparent kia su LGE has called on all those planning to attend the concert on Feb 11 to wear red in a show of support for DAP, yellow for Bersih and green for the environment and against Lynas.

Observers view this as a face-saving move to blunt the BN-MCA initiative that appears to have upstaged the Penang Chief Minister in his own backyard.

Pro-PR netizens have even pressured Psy not to come to Malaysia by resorting, as usual, to washing dirty linens in the public.

In an open letter, a certain netizen known as David Kang told Psy it is the citizens who will be paying for his performance in Malaysia.

He added: “The children in Sabah and Sarawak are struggling, walking miles of roads to school and feeding on the left-overs as they could not afford to buy fresh vegetables everyday.”

Such sweeping statements have offended many parents in Sarawak and Sabah for portraying them as uncaring and callous in the treatment of their children. Indeed, the current round of gangnam-related controversy has shown the true colours of many netizens.

Red, as a colour, is not only auspicious to the Chinese community, especially during the Lunar New Year, researchers have also discovered this particular hue has long been associated with love. And there’s some science to it as well.

According to a study, men are enarmoured of red clothes on women. In sports, athletes clad in red, are known to outperform their opponents. Moreover, red supposedly lends colour to the face of whoever wears it.

LGE probably will lose some points for asking people to wear red just to support his party and his political agenda.

In so doing, he is not only denying the people the opportunity to show love and respect for the Lunar New Year but also dilute the esteem in which the Lunar New Year has been held since time immorial.

Studies have shown blue and red enhance cognitive performance but they do not say which provides the greatest boost. It depends on the nature of the task, I suppose.

We associate red with danger, mistake and caution. In a heightened state, red makes us vigilant and thus helps us perform tasks where careful attention is required to produce a right or wrong answer.

Through association with the sky, ocean and water, most people associate blue with openness, peace and tranquility. This benign hue makes people feel safe about being creative and exploratory.

Studies have also found that red is most effective in enhancing our attention to detail while blue is best in boosting our ability to think creatively. So, the choice of blue or red should be made more thoughtfully!

Regardless, blue is still people’s favourite colour, besides red, and since this is the Year of Water Snake, it should come as no surprise – from the feng shui perspective -- if blue is preferred as the colour of choice.

Nonetheless, as it’s Chinese New Year and a time to celebrate, let us wear whatever colours we want, and pooh-pooh the antics of any political party to classify us by colours to suit its own ends.

Let the people in Penang, and fans of Psy in all corners of Malaysia have a good time, watching the Korean rapper strut his stuff on stage.

If there is a cause for complaint about the gangnam concert, this Foochow woman from Sarawak has made more “ringgit and sense” of it in her facebook post:

As a simple housewife, making a simple budget everyday, and every month too, I won’t pay my hard-earned Malaysian money, listening to an almost tuneless foreign rapper performing funny horse-steps on stage. P Ramlee impersonators for me anytime to show my patriotism. Not that my standard

is not high. It is a question of ringgit and sense. A sensible budget can put our country back on good economic and RM track in no time. Ask any good housewife.