Carburetor Dung - Mari Nyanyi Menjilat

Genre: Punk, Hard-Core

MySpace: carburetordung

My opinion & thought: A tribute to Carburetor Dung due to the Protes-Jilat incident.

Stands out track(s): Mari Nyanyi Menjilat

Carburetor Dung is a punk rock band based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Most of the band members are “veterans” of the Malaysian underground / DIY / Indie music scene; people who has been active since the birth of that scene back in the mid-80s.

The band was formed somewhere in late 1991. Throughout the years they have released one album (Songs for Friends, 1993) and a mini-album (The Allure of Manure, 1999); along with a 7” single in 2000 and many tracks on many compilations all over the globe.

Carburetor Dung released their first album, Songs For Friends in 1993. The album featured Fendi and Joe with vocalist Shahlan (of Terengganu's pioneering punk band Mallaria), drummer Lan Bear of The Infectious Maggots and lead guitarist Pari of Against Racism of Today.

The next release came in 1999 with the mini-album The Allure of Manure. At the time, the band featured Fendi and Joe Kidd with drummer Ollie of Silent Death and vocalist Lee from The Pilgrims. Some tracks from the mini-album appeared on a 7" single in London in 2000. It was called Sheepfarming in Malaysia.

Between the releases, the band appeared in a few compilations and played all around the country. The band appeared on 'Dari Jemapoh ke Mancheste' movie directed by well-known activist Hishamuddin Rais. They contributed three songs for the soundtrack album to the movie.

After a long hiatus in the late-90s, the band became active briefly in 2002 before a year of limbo.

In 2004, the band was joined by drummer Apuk (from Kuchalana) and later a new vocalist Alak (from the band Pusher), and Carburetor Dung started playing shows again. By late 2005, The band acquired a new drummer Bullet (of Nemesis, Punisher and The Shitworkers). The band recorded a track for the Radio Malaya compilation in in December 2005.

Between 2005 to 2007, Carburetor Dung constantly played shows in Kuala Lumpur. The band recorded 9 songs for a new album in June 2007.

In early 2008, Tom of the band The Bollocks joined the band on the other guitar, and the band went on 10-day tour of Java in May 2008, playing Jakarta, Tangerang, Bogor, Bandung and Yogyakarta. The band also continued playing shows in Malaysia for three weekends in June 2008. They visited Penang, Johor Bharu and also Singapore.

During these gigs, the band put out limited copies of a self-produced 4-track CDREP Macam Celaka/Hanturaya Putrajaya.

On July 6, 2008, the band's vocalist Alak was set upon by an angry mob during Carburetor Dung's performance of their anti-corruption song Mari Nyanyi Menjilat at an opposition-organised anti-oil hike rally at the Kelana Jaya Stadium, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

As a part of the satirical song's performance, the singer flashed the top part of his underwear. A part of the audience, which was mainly made of Muslim youths from the opposition coalition featuring the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and the People's Justice Party (PKR), were angered by the act and started throwing bottles and stones at the band. Seconds later the stage was invaded and Alak was pulled aside by an angry mob. The singer and other band members were rescued moments later by the security personnel.

Activist Hishamuddin Rais, who brought the group into the protest rally, took the blame and made an emotional apology to the crowd. None of the band was injured but the incident resulted in a huge uproar in the country.

Here is a special "PROTES-JILAT" incident  edition I made for you all. Included of 2 songs and pictures that related to the incident.

Tracklisting:

1. Mari Nyanyi Menjilat

2. Happy

The mooning "jilat (lick)" incident

This might just catapult punk rock as the go-to genre for protest music again, but damn. Alak of Malaysia underground legends Carburetor Dung, turns the other cheek and gets the living daylights smacked out of him by a throng of Pakatan Rakyat supporters and oil hike protesters.

The PROTES rally, in which de facto Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim was to deliver his proposals to lower the national price of petrol, also featured live entertainment by indie bands down with the cause, among them CD. Everybody who's seen their live sets will be very familiar with their signature antiestablishment anthem Mari Menyanyi Menjilat, and what lead vocalist Alak usually does during the performance of the song - basically mooning the crowd and telling them they can kiss his ... well yeah. Apparently, not a lot of the people gathered at the PJ Stadium in Kelana Jaya had ever been to a Carburetor Dung show, and what with the sexual allegations flying around (again) about Anwar, the mooning was misunderstood, and some news agencies even misquoted the title of the song as being "Liwat".

People - it was musical satire. Get with it. Alak might have crossed several lines (you won't hear me apologizing for his shenanigans here - it really was rather stupid to have pulled that stunt) in the minds of the amassed Pemuda PAS members and other conservative citizens yesterday, but the beatdown he received at the hands of the mob is not only relfective of our general ignorance to nuanced commentary, it's also just plain hypocritical of these so-called upholders of a democratic new way for the country. I thought you guys were supposed to be above mindless mob violence and arbitrary judgment. Hmm?

If you want a true democracy, act like you deserve it, and allow people to express themselves as best they can. And Alak - get some new boxers, man. The ones you had on display looked pretty ripe, you get me? Speak on it. I expect the comments section to blow the hell up on this one. Or maybe you don't even care.

- taken from KLue's blog -