Thursday, July 20, 2006

Congratulations Siti

“Wow! siti is getting married big time”, “Finally siti has spoken and Datuk K has come out to show his true color”, “What’s the big deal?” and “Who’s siti anyway?”. These are some of the response that I’ve heard about siti nurhaliza. The public response to siti’s ‘live’ announcement of her wedding to Datuk K is mixed. Some are happy about it and some do not bother at all. I call it “subjective response”. It all boils down to our mindset.

There was media frenzy about siti last week; this is the first time in Malaysia that a young malaysian artist goes “live” on TV to make an announcement of her incoming wedding. Are we going Hollywood style or what? Do we have enough paparazzi to create a big buzz? Maybe we are.

To me, siti’s success story is a good story to lots of people. Siti can bring jobs and income to certain people. Show business is a lucrative venture nowadays. Look at Hollywood, Bollywood and Hong Kong, their artists are making million every year. I hope Malaysian artists can reach that level of success sooner or later. Artists are not just for entertainment purpose as they also create jobs for others either directly or indirectly. Even paparazzi will be out of job without artists.

I think siti has gone through a lot. She has been ridiculed, defamed, praised and humiliated. It takes a village to be where she is now. I cannot say she is just lucky. Apparently, she works hard to reach this level and she has her fair share of failure and success too. More than 7 hard years she labors her voice for money and fame, I think she deserves it. But after all these years, there is always certain person who just cannot accept siti’s success story for their own personal reason.

One of my metropolitan friends cannot stand the voice and sight of siti, either in TV or radio. He despises siti and he hates siti. He thinks siti is a hypocrite artist. He said siti cannot be an angel, in fact nobody is. He questions the wisdom of many malaysian who adore siti. Ironically he does not know siti personally, so I just ignore him every time he criticizes siti. To me, it’s just ironic.

Maybe certain people are jealous of siti. Maybe certain people are spiteful of siti as she comes from a remote village in Pahang and then sings to conquer a big city like KL with her voice. In short, siti is better and celebrated than most of them, so they just cannot accept that. I pity these people, may God has mercy on them.

Some people are very critical of siti’s choice to marry Datuk K. Why she chose an elder divorcee over others? What happened to our young bachelor? Why a Datuk? Why not an ordinary decent man? These are some of the big questions they want siti to answer. But these people are not interested in the answers, they're just being difficult. As regards Siti and Datuk K, I think it’s a fate, maybe siti is meant for Datuk K. In Malay proverb it is said “Kalau dah jodoh tak ke mana”. Actually there are a lot of young women who prefer a stable and rich husband than a young husband who has barely enough money to buy a proton car.

Therefore, I take this opportunity to wish “congratulations” to Siti and Datuk K, may they live happily ever after. The least I can do now is to respect their wish and let them live peacefully like us all. That’s all folks.

p/s I’m not a fan of siti actually but I believe everyone should have a fair chance in life to do great things.