Continuing with Season 1, Squid Game (SqG) moves into a new set of games featuring a fresh group of players. Admittedly, SqG 2 is not as captivating as its predecessor. The storyline is predictable, and viewers can easily discern who will survive and which characters will likely be eliminated.
Nevertheless, while engrossed in the miniseries, I noticed that the entire storyline symbolises the challenges Malaysia's thinking voters face regarding democratic governance under their duly elected government.
To provide context, the games in SqG2, much like those in SqG1, involve teamwork and lethal consequences for the losers. An amendment was made to the clause allowing players to vote on whether to proceed to the next game. After each match, the accumulated betting money increases. If the players, by majority, choose to discontinue, the funds would be divided equally, and the games would be halted. Humans, being inherently human, are rarely satisfied with their earnings and are perpetually convinced of their invincibility, leading the majority to vote in favour of continuing. Despite the awareness that death is imminent and high probability with dwindling numbers of players, they do this. Not only are the losers killed, but players also engage in combat against one another to maximise their returns.
Most players are aware of their futility. Still, the lure of wealth and their hopelessness in solving various personal monetary issues push them further into the game's abyss.
After the shock of discovering 1MDB and the brazen ways the ruling elite manipulated the nation's wealth and sovereignty, Malaysians took to the streets to change the status quo. They believed they had the best candidate in Malaysia's disgraced former deputy Prime Minister. Citizens with differing ideologies on how a country should be governed united to oust Goliath from his throne. In this struggle, natural prey and predators joined forces. The prey wished their predators would turn vegetarian, while the predators hoped their food could live another day.
Thus, individuals with various financial issues were lured into the Squid Game as players. They convinced themselves they would only partake in this dangerous game until they had sufficient money. Once that was achieved, they would return to their everyday lives. Only when the moolah began rolling in did they reveal their true colours. Some are inherently malevolent, but the rest tolerate them. When push came to shove, their true forms manifested in full glory.
In Malaysia, once power started coming into their hands, the newly elected leaders, who were supposed to be flagbearers of the new dawn, recoiled into the malaise of their predecessors. Like the pigs in Animal Farm, they soon appeared as bipeds, forgetting their usual struggle to stay aground on all fours. The pigs use the same lingo, address the issues in the same manner, and continue the same oppressive laws. The intoxicating plunge into power gives our leaders the compulsion to stay in power forever, using whatever is available at their disposal, race, religion, distorted history, money or the convincing nod from the divine powers.
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