Malaysians send good wishes to the country’s stand-up comedian Harith Iskander to become the world’s funniest person in the final of the international competition, Laugh Factory Funniest Person in the World, in Helsinki tonight.

Although Harith, 50, will be facing stiff challenge from four others, Katerina Vrana (Greece), Mino Van Nassau (India), David Kilimnick (Israel) and Alex Calleja (Philippines), he stands a good chance of winning the final as he topped the chart among the 20 semi-finalists last Sunday.

It is fortunate that last year Harith survived the threat posed by UMNO/Barisan Nasional Ministers and Deputy Ministers to stand-up comedians, as UMNO/BN Ministers and Deputy Ministers at the time like Ahmad Maslan, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, Paul Low and even the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, were competing with them to run them out of their jobs with their own comic and clownish statements and actions.

This was why I had occasion to remark last December that very soon, comedians like Harith would have to call it a day because Ministers and Deputy Ministers like Ahmad Maslan, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, Paul Low and even Najib would have taken over their jobs; leaving the professional comedians probably with the option of venturing into politics to encroach into the protected domains of the Ministers and deputy ministers!

Fortunately, comedians like Harith Iskander and Dr. Jason Leong proved to have great resilience and have survived the “threats” from “stand-up comedians” from Parliament and the political arena.

Let all Malaysians put aside their differences to root for Harith Iskander’s world success in Helsinki at 8 pm tonight (2 am Friday Malaysian time)!