MP Syed Saddiq releases NFT collection to fundraise for flood victims

Syed Saddiq, member of Parliament for Muar, has collaborated with charitable organisation NFT4HOPE to release a collection of NFTs featuring his face. With this collection, the organisation aims to raise funds for the nation's flood victims. 

A total of four NFTs can be seen on NFT4HOPE's site, and have been labelled as either "Super Rare" or "Ultra Rare". Titled "Metamorphosis", the "Ultra Rare" copy is a hybrid of digital and physical artwork by contemporary artist, Jaee Tee.

Inspired by the transition of Syed Saddiq's career, Tee digitalised an oil painting she created and integrated it with digital effects to create a unique-looking work in the form of video. According to Tee, the splashes of yellow, red, blue, and white that were used "invoke great importance as they are derived from the Jalur Gemilang". With this NFT design, Tee hopes to inspire and bring hope for those who want to create a brighter future for Malaysia.

While Syed Saddiq's NFT collection was announced, it is still not available for purchase. There are no indications of how much each NFT would cost as well. Aside from Syed Saddiq, former chief minister of Sabah, Shafie Apdal, will also be launching his own NFT4HOPE collection, alongside TV host, Deborah Henry. There is currently no information on when these NFTs would launch. A+M has reached out to NFT4HOPE for additional information.

Last December, individuals in areas such as Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, and Perak were impacted by floods, which have since continued into the new year. According to CNN on 3 January, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan and Sabah were still affected by floods.

This is not the first time a figure from Malaysia has released its own NFT. In November last year, Malaysian singer and songwriter, Namewee who caused controversy with his song, Fragile (玻璃心) also created his own NFTs. According to the artist in his YouTube video titled "Using NFTs to Fight the World", the idea of opening an NFT account was "to counter the intermediaries" and secure ownerships of items such as art. 

Similarly, Malaysian artist Red Hong Yi added five new exclusive artworks to her NFT Memebank Banknotes series in that same month. Inspired by world currencies and the contemporary meme culture in the digital world, Yi's Banknotes series are a spoof on dollar bills with the latest redesigns covering Malaysian Ringgit, Singapore Dollar, China Yuan, Japanese Yen, United States Dollar, and British Pound. 

Meanwhile, Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia and new media art collective Filamen unveiled a collection of an exclusive Arteon NFT earlier this month, titled "Accelerated Futurescapes". According to VPCM, four one-of-a-kind crypto art based on the flagship Volkswagen models will be available for purchase on the Southeast Asia NFT platform Pentas. The NFTs will also be presented on Filamen’s virtual gallery and co-curated design research platform, No-to-scale.

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Volkswagen Malaysia and Filamen drops exclusive NFT collection