Upin & Ipin called out for promoting 'sexy' dance to minors

Malaysian animated series Upin & Ipin has come under the spotlight once again after YouTuber Akhi Fairuz Al-Jengkawi called out its studio Les' Copaque Production for allegedly promoting inappropriate dances to children via the song Goyang Upin Ipin. The MV for Goyang Upin Ipin showed the brothers and their friends dancing to dangdut music while inviting viewers to join them. Dangdut is a genre of Indonesian folk music.

Akhi said on Twitter: "I do not understand why Les' Copaque would promote the belly dancing and dangdut culture to children. There are many more dances in the Nusantara region that are more modest and cultured," he said.

He added: "I am sorry but this latest video from Upin & Ipin is almost on the same level as the memes and videos I criticised previously." Last month, he also criticised individuals for making obscene memes about Upin & Ipin characters. He specifically referred to an Instagram account "fucekshitpostid" which shared explicit memes of the characters Kak Ros and Susanti.

Meanwhile, a Twitter user told Akhi that the definition of modest is subjective to a region, culture and individual. However, Akhi explained that Goyang Upin Ipin might result in a TikTok trend that would eventually encourage children to attempt the "sexy" dance and share it online.

In his response to the user on Twitter, Akhi said: "[The song] was trending on the app last night. A young girl even wore sexy clothes and danced to the song with her hips. This is what I am worried about," he added. Some users agreed with him, adding that they were also concerned about the impact it would have on children. Meanwhile, others pointed out that this could be a marketing strategy by Upin & Ipin to engage Indonesian viewers. 

In June, Les' Copaque Production got one of the characters in Upin & Ipin, Fizi, to apologise after it was criticised for his previous comment during a Hari-Raya related episode. During the episode, Fizi said is no heaven for children without mothers. Netizens got riled up and demanded for a clarification. 

In a video titled "Upin & Ipin: Fizi minta maaf", which was posted on Les' Copaque Production's YouTube page, Fizi apologised to main characters, Upin and Ipin, for his insensitive comment while in tears. That said, the video ended on a good note, where Upin and Ipin accepted Fizi's apology.

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