HANDSOME and dashing with a Buzz Light Year jawline to match, Datuk Dr Sheik Muszaphar Shukor, seemed to have the world at his feet after he was hand-picked to be Malaysia’s first astronaut.
Recall that the former orthopaedic medical officer was launched to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz TMA-11 with the Expedition 16 crew on Oct 10, 2007.
He flew under an agreement with Russia through the Angkasawan programme and returned to earth on Oct 21that year aboard the Soyuz TMA-10 with the Expedition 15 crew members.
Sheik Muszaphar returned to great fanfare and was feted as a national treasure of sorts. One would think with the world as his oyster, the once part-time-model would have abundant business and career opportunities.
However, it has been revealed that the erstwhile astronaut has been hawking health elixirs online by leveraging his fame to lend credibility to an herbal remedy for joint aches and pains.
Memang “baka” pandai kot. https://t.co/CkQmlC8Oof pic.twitter.com/NjuCczV64A
— leave me alone please ♿🧠🦻 | #AmendAktaOKU (@hasbeemasputra) March 2, 2024
The reaction online has been far from positive with many netizens relishing the opportunity to troll the former space explorer.
Here is a sample of comments on user @hasbeenmasputra’s X (formerly Twitter) page where the advert was shared (the tweet has been viewed one million times at the time of writing).
The poster also made a few sarcastic comments relating to the quality control for the herbal remedy.
A few netizens though cautioned against spreading the ad as they believed the ad had used Sheik Muszaphar’s image without permission and that the endorsement was fake.
Others hinted at sour grapes for trolling the country’s pioneer spaceman.
If indeed the ad is real and this is the Sheik Musaphar’s chosen path, many feel that this is a waste of his talent and scientific background with some alluding to other candidates short listed for the original space mission.
They were alluding to Vanajah Siva, 52, who has since gone down the academic path and is now an assistant professor at the School of Engineering at Sweden’s Jönköping University. While pursuing her own endeavours outside Malaysia, she still contributes to the country through online talks with local universities, which she does pro bono.
Another said it was no real surprise that he has resorted to such business ventures as the ex-astronaut was demanding huge fees for public speaking engagements.
The netizen also lamented that Sheik Muszaphar has done little in terms of giving back to society despite the government’s expenditure in hooking him up with this space adventure.
Other netizens also commented on the same issue on @The VenusDarling’s X page where the same ad was shared. Some likened Sheik Muszaphar to a mere “space tourist”, beating the likes of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to the privilege.
I can’t believe the first Malaysian in space ended up becoming a snake oil salesman 😭 we could have had an actual engineer go up there with actual scientific contribution 💀 https://t.co/HfYn2v67kd
— 💀 Demon Glamour ❤️🔥 (@TheVenusDarling) March 3, 2024
The disappointment among many netizens was palpable.
As to the claims that the video and ads were AI-generated, poster @TheVenusDarling rebutted the argument by citing the timeline of the ad, stating that at the time AI did not have the capability to create deep fakes of such quality.
This being Malaysia, the polemics of race is never far from the surface.
One netizen summed it perfectly highlighting that in Malaysia, “money talks, bullcrap walks”. – March 5, 2024
Main pic credit: Astro Awani
