MANY influencers of today have gone to great lengths to exploit their creativity so as to enable them to rope in as many followers as possible.
Unlike their non-Muslim peers, it seems that Muslim influencers have much self-censorship to adhere to in their quest to conserve their fan base so to speak.
And sadly, non-tudung (scarf)-clad female Muslim influencers tend to face the brunt of religion policing at great length with accusations of indecent dressing – via the exposure of so-called private parts (aurat) comprising hair, arms, legs and chest.
Likewise, their liberty in relationship is more constrained with many busy-bodies a.k.a. overnight family counsellors surfacing and encroaching in their private lives with torrents of comments over their ‘unruly misdemeanour’.
A case in point is how actress Sharifah Sakinah Al-Khaired attracted backlash with her good intention of urging the public to stay fit and active.
“How you treat your body will determine how it treats you tomorrow. Don’t abuse (your body) with poor choices. Eat healthily, stay active and exercise!” the 32-year-old celebrity who is no stranger to controversies shared in her Instagram post.
Even with such uplifting message, Sakinah’s posting has in turn been flooded with netizens reprimanding her over her revealing outfits as well as her provocative poses, according to the Hype portal.
What is astonishing is perhaps the dogmatic tone of the comments. “The end of the world is upon us. Enough with showing off your body (for public viewing). Come back to your one and only Creator. Let us all pray for Sakinah, ameen,” wrote IG user @mudhoney82.
Another user, @esansxe commented: “The body you are displaying will be burnt in hell”. Surprisingly, the “Pekak” singer responded to the latter comment with red heart emojis.
Delving on moral grounds, what Sakinah did is just a tiny fraction of what the famed MsPuiyi – the 24-year brave-hearted social media influencer, model and cosmetic entrepreneur who in January 2022 became the first Southeast Asian to be featured on the front cover of the adult Penthouse magazine – is capable of doing.
Born Siew Pui Yi, the Penang lass who was presumably on a UK vacation posted several photos of the places she visited in her oft-explicit style – one of which at the British Museum.
Posted on May 17 with a one-line caption “The British Museum visit”, the post (top, right) inadvertently garnered 36,000 likes, 1,100 comments and 589 shares on Facebook at the time of writing.
In early April, MsPuiyi caused another stir when donning Vietnamese traditional costume, the Ao Dai, which is a long tunic with slits on both sides and pants underneath. However, her rendition of the Ao Dai seems very different as she has forgone the pants, thus exposing her butt.
While some loyal fans loved her poses, Vietnamese netizens flooded MsPuiyi’s comments section with vitriol, majority of whom requested that she remove the photos in respect of their culture.
“Ao Dai is a tradition of our Vietnamese culture, I find (your) way of wearing the Ao Dai really inappropriate and in Vietnam we call (this) offensive. I and everyone else ask you to take down the image and apologise to Vietnam!” one comment read.
Others attempted to educate MsPuiyi on why the Ao Dai matters so much to them. “For us, (this) is trampling on (our) history as well as (showing) the loss of quality of the Ao Dai,” another netizen opined.
Several others commented that her dressing was similar to prostitutes otherwise known as phò. Well, one lesson learnt: Thrive on controversies and one is half-way through to be a successful influencer. – May 25, 2022
