Dolla vs the Religious Minister: A Fight That Explains Everything Wrong With Malaysia

OPINION | Dolla vs the Religious Minister: A Fight That Explains Everything Wrong With Malaysia

18 Nov 2025 • 7:30 AM MYT


TheRealNehruism
An award-winning Newswav creator, Bebas News columnist & ex-FMT columnist

Image credit: World of Buzz


Have you heard of the M-pop group Dolla?

I first stumbled upon their name through a snippet of an Amelia Henderson podcast that appeared on my Facebook feed. Amelia and her guest were talking about the group and their song “Dolla Make You Wanna,” and I thought both the name and the title were catchy. When I checked out the song on Spotify, I was surprised by how good they sounded.


And then — just days after discovering them — I came across headlines showing that Dolla had come under the scrutiny of the Religious Affairs Ministry, and not in a small way.


According to news report, Religious Affairs Minister Na’im Mokhtar publicly thanked Universal Music Malaysia for taking down Dolla’s music video from all official platforms.


He praised the label’s “discernment and responsibility” and said the takedown reflected the industry’s sensitivity to community voices and “shared values.”


Universal had removed the music video for Dolla’s latest song “Question,” released on Nov 6, after it sparked outrage among conservatives for the girls’ outfits. The video showed members Sabronzo (Wan Sabrina Wan Rusli), Tabby (Tabitha Ariel Lam) and Angel (Angelina Chai) in halter neck tops, corset bodices, miniskirts, and midriff-revealing clothing — outfits that are standard in their genre.


Netizens also attacked Sabronzo personally for her attire as a Muslim woman. The minister went even further: he said he would consider filing shariah offence charges against her, stating that shariah legal action “is within our consideration.”



It was at that moment I realised that whatever potential Dolla might have had — whatever chances they possessed to rise, compete, and perhaps someday become Malaysia’s breakout global act — might never be realised. Not because they lacked talent. Not because the market had rejected them. But because their own government machinery had stepped in to cripple them at the starting line.


And that is when I started thinking seriously about what it means to succeed — or fail — in a world that is relentlessly competitive.


I don’t listen to much new music these days, but I do know my fair share of K-pop, especially Blackpink and the solo work of its four members. And when I listened to Dolla, I thought: if fortune favoured them, if they had the right charisma and a viral moment, if they continue to grow as artists and a group, they might someday have the same shot that Blackpink had, and maybe even be able achieve what Blackpink has achieved.


That was the theory anyway.


But after the decision to take down their music video — celebrated by a minister who has probably never had to compete for anything in his career — that theory may remain only a theory.


The "offence" in question has to do with their revealing outfits. In the musical category Dolla occupies — R&B and hip-hop — revealing costumes, suggestive lyrics, and highly choreographed performances are simply part of the game. If you want to win in that arena, you cannot pretend the rules don’t exist.


Could Dolla play the same game without revealing outfits or suggestive lyrics?


Technically yes.


Realistically? Almost impossible.


Anyone who has ever competed seriously in anything knows that it is easier to follow the market than to change it. Only the strongest players — the Blackpinks, the global American acts — get to alter trends. Emerging artists from small markets do not.



At this stage, what Dolla needs to do is play the game well, play it better than others, corner a niche market like the Malaysian market and offer something extra to audiences: more appearances, cheaper tickets, relentless consistency. That is how you rise through the ranks.


But achieving this is far harder than people think. From Africa to America, India to Indonesia, Austria to Australia — the world is filled with millions of people trying to succeed in the same fields we are. The competition is merciless.


Understanding this should make us more sympathetic to groups like Dolla. Even if we are not interested in their field of endeavor, we should at least be appreciative of their effort to succeed.


If we appreciated their effort to succeed, we might appreciate their their discipline, their ambition, their attempts, rather than focus our attention on finding their faults and shortcomings. We might even want to help them succeed, knowing that success has spillover effects that lift everyone.


The success k-pop, for example boosted everything from the sales of Korean handphones to Korean cars to Korean cuisine worldwide. If we play the long game, we will be happy that one of us is succeeding, because their success will likely make it easier for us to succeed, even if we are not in the same field as them, simply because the market my equate their success with their identity, and cause it to be more receptive to everything that comes out from their identity group.


But that mindset is not something a religious ministry has.


I do not know what qualifies someone to become a religious minister, but it is certainly not a track record of competing to win. Such positions are often given, not earned. And when someone has never fought for success in a competitive world, they cannot understand those who are trying to climb from nothing.


And that is exactly how we end up here — with a minister celebrating the takedown of a music video, threatening shariah charges against a young performer, and placing obstacles in the path of artists who have barely begun their journey.


Dolla is not just facing criticism. They are facing institutional obstruction from people who have never once lived the kind of struggle it takes to succeed.


And that is why, instead of climbing toward regional or global stardom, they are being forced to shrink themselves for the comfort of people who have never competed — and therefore never understood what it takes to win.


This whole saga with Dolla, by the way, is not just about a girl group, a music video, or an outfit.


It is symptomatic of the deeper sickness Malaysia has been carrying for decades.


Years of corruption, nepotism, and cronyism have created a culture where the people at the top — the decision-makers, the gatekeepers, the ones who control the platforms and the levers of power — are often individuals who did not reach the top by competing and winning.


And when you have not reached the top through competition, discipline, strategy, sacrifice, and excellence, you simply cannot understand what those things require. You will not know what it takes to win in a real marketplace. Instead, you will carry your own personal, insulated, untested ideas about how success works — ideas divorced from reality.


Worse, you will impose these strange, disconnected ideas about success onto everyone else, using the authority, power, and platform you inherited rather than earned.


And that — not Dolla’s choreography, not their outfits, not their genre — is the real tragedy.


This is exactly why Malaysia has been stuck in the middle-income trap for so long.


This is why we are still disproportionately dependent on commodities like oil palm and oil and gas, or on the exploitation of cheap labour in manufacturing and service sectors to keep the economy afloat.


Because we have empowered — and continue to empower — people who have no understanding of what it takes to succeed in the real world.


These people think that all you have to do is succeed is show people how good or nice you are, and success will come to you, and they probably think that because that is how they rose to the top in Malaysia.



In the real world however, you have to compete to win - not just be nice or act virtuous, and expect that success will come to you as a reward for your goodness and virtuous.


And when people who have never competed are placed in charge of those who are trying to compete, the result is always the same:


They drag everyone down to their level.


They suppress ambition.


They smother potential.


They punish excellence.


Dolla’s difficulty is Malaysia’s difficulty.


Their struggle to grow is our struggle to grow.


Their blocked path is our blocked path.


Until we build a culture where those who compete, win, innovate, and excel rise to the top — and those who do not are kept far away from positions of power — we will continue to watch our brightest talents get punished, sidelined, or chased out.


And Malaysia will continue to wonder why it cannot rise, even as the answer stares us in the face.



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What Do Netizens Say?


lelkl
• 19m
Holier than Thou...


OgL
• 34m
@factfinder better all ministers wear sarong to work ya. Inside no underwear also alright.


Ashok
• 2h
High testerone religious bigots.


ctyap
• 2h
His batang naik...


yuyu
• 3h
Send the unelected minister to Afghanistan's cave. Inside there his eyes won't see anything sexy. He is more fitter to be a desert minister instead of Malaysia where is he more anti-establishment than a role model/catalyst for better future. Poordahhhhh.......


dmak85207
• 3h
A very well written article👍. But sad to say, those who have never competed on a level playing field, would never understand the hard work and sacrifices it takes to achieve success. They choose to see the world only through their own lens.


Michael_Honor
• 3h
That's why super stars and super singing group are giving Malaysia the cold feet.


KilliKullu
• 3h
up head cannot think coz bottom head overthinking!! Big head small brain


AruKK
• 4h
Dolla, keep doing your best according to your values!! If the situation is not conducive, you can always find another host who will be fair to you ya.


rebelchef_
• 5h
And yet complain why international artises and bands skip Malaysia... Ini tak boleh itu tak boleh... Best example.... F1....