A Diva Testing The Limelight?

Last week there was a piece of news given prominence by the local newspapers, almost all of them on the front page, of a spat between a singing ‘diva’ and a newspaper reporter and feature writer. The reporter had questioned why the singer spat in front of her and the singer responded that she spat on the ground and not at her so what’s her problem, she asked. All these happened at the courthouse canteen where a case involving the ‘diva’ defending a case of forwarding ‘hate’ eMails of another popular singer, had just been postponed. The reporter is a prosecution witness and the case was postponed for some technical reason or clarification and hence pending. I found it quite intriguing.

The diva, who comes from my hometown, has been in and out of the limelight throughout her singing career not just on her singing popularity but also of various news and reviews, court proceedings involving magazine publishers, individuals and others including one of her very close relative. People have also accused her of being ungrateful. I guess being a popular artist, she just cannot get away from the scrutiny of the press and the public. Nevertheless the way the scrutiny on her was presented and the incidents that happened leading to the scrutiny showed what she was made of. She has had limelights in her heydays, both positive and negative, and that was many years ago, and now she appears to yearn for repeats of the limelight.

In our culture, spitting in a public place is frowned upon. I consider it bad practice. Most parents would reprimand their children if they are seen to do so. When a ‘public’ figure do so, in public, close to an eating place, tells upon the character. More so if spitting was seen to be directed to a certain person or party, indicating contempt.

This singer has received various awards, including from the state. I believe she still has a good following, albeit small now as there are more and more singing sensations that are popular amongst the younger generation. But to me this singer is a ‘has been’, and what she does in recent years only hurts her reputation. I used to praise her, listen to her singing, watched her programmes on TV and followed news about her, proud that she comes from my hometown, but ……. she had recently proved her personal integrity to be questioned, her reputation to be degraded and her public display of recognition a shame. She has failed to maintain dignity of the awards given to her. Even if she wins the case in court, her public display of contempt and her recent behaviour may not salvage nor redeem her downward slide in popularity. Apart from singing popular songs, she is also good in Quran reading, in religious hymns, and verses praising the Almighty and his Prophets. My humble opinion is that she should concentrate in these, spend her remaining days in the ways of the religion (I will not doubt it if she already does so), repent, and perhaps then she can regain her integrity and redeem her reputation…… I ponder and I continue to wonder……….

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya