The Hunt for NameWee Continues...... Apology?

Something smells very fishy here. As a possible conclusion to the on-going saga of NameWee, In a very short article in TheStar today, it claims that NameWee issued a statement that says:

"The controversy has taught me a lesson in nationalism and race relations. To end the controversy, I have decided to pull out the videoclip from my blog and I hope other bloggers would stop distributing the videoclip."

I immediately smelled something wrong with this statement because:

1. The video clip is not hosted on his blog but is hosted on YouTube. In fact, it was never hosted on his blog.
   
2. He had already pulled the video off, a long time ago, when troubles first started. So, this talk of pulling out the video clip is impossible to do.
   
3. The English is too politically exact to have been from him.
4. The word blog/blogger was used too many times in this statement. Blogs and blogging had nothing to do with the problem.
5. The statement was issued in Petaling Jaya. I was under the impression that NameWee was in Taiwan and comes from Muar.
   

All this indicates a statement made by someone or something else, that is oblivious to how the Internet works. This person or thing is trying to send a message to the bloggers. However, this person or thing isn't very familiar with the timeline of the manufactured fiasco. Maybe they tried to manufacture the solution too.

Next, I decided to do a little sleuthing to see if there was any news about this on his blog. Surprise surprise, there isn't any official statement from him on his blog. Plus, the video is still easily available on YouTube. I doubt that the video will ever die as his fans will just keep uploading new copies of the video. If the government decides to crackdown on these fan uploads, they will have a storm of protests to deal with.

So, this begs the question of: What the heck is happening? Something is VERY FISHY! I don't know what is happening, but the conspiracy gears in my head are certainly turning. So, let's come up with a hypothesis:

1. Even after weeks and months of pressure, NameWee and his parents did not cave in.
   
2. They have stood resolutely on the side of right.
   
3. A few days ago, the police sent a message to NameWee asking him to apologise in all languages.
   
4. This was immediately followed by an MCA mediation effort headed by OKC.
   
5. Now, we suddenly have this alleged apology issued.

However unlikely, it is possible that NameWee decided to take the political solution offered, which I had mentioned earlier. Or, the whole thing might just be a scam, engineered to keep everyone else happy. Personally, I believe that someone is trying to pull a fast one on the rest of us. I will believe this statement when it comes directly from NameWee and not as something so obviously fabricated. This is such a thin veil that anyone remotely familiar with these things will see through it immediately.

In the mean time, I would just ask everyone to keep an open mind. Let's see if NameWee issues any official statement later.

PS: I have a very simple solution for the government. If you can show that the video violates any laws in Malaysia, just send an official protest to YouTube and they will have all instances of the video removed. Alternatively, have NameWee send an official request (as the copyright holder) to have all instances of the video removed. This was what happened when someone posted damaging videos of the Thai King a few months ago. As long as the government chooses to play this whole situation up, it just means that they have no legal case against him anyway, which was my conclusion when I first heard about the fiasco.

UPDATE@+1: According to this article in TheStar, his dad was present at the news conference. So, it is likely, that he had at least agreed to issuing a statement. But, there is still no statement on his blog or his website. Furthermore, my previous arguments still stand as they are. Maybe, the MCA typed up the statement for him and got his dad to read it during the press conference.

Whatever my conspiracy gears think, I still feel that it's good that this issue is being drawn to an end. Now that the other political parties have weighed in, a solution has been found that is face saving for everyone. However, the harm has already been done (and I don't mean publishing the video).

*** photo from TheStar article ***

UPDATE@+2: The government has refused to accept his apology.