AFUNDI ZAHID

This is not a post about how awesome the latest winner of Akademi Fantasia is. Although yes, I did spend some of my AFUNDIs on him.

Consider for a moment, the choices Malaysia had. A girl from Putrajaya with a pretty powerful voice, an amazingly talented singer from Sarawak whose chords sound like they emanate from a slimmer, slicker entity, a self-possessed rapper, a village girl with a penchant for folksy singers, a pretty boy with a pretty voice and little self-confidence, and the class clown.

If you've been following the whole season, you'll know what I mean. This boy who won is known as "sempoi" - simple. Not the stupid kind, stupid. But the laid-back sort who can hang out at the mamak till three, shooting the breeze with you and cracking silly jokes. He's silly but otherwise fairly understated, a prankster, a take-it-as-it-comes guy who at one point looked like he was ready to pack up and go home.

He's not glamorous like last year's winner, Vince. No mixed blood or good looks operating here. Just plain ol' Melayu city boy sillies with a village heart. And the ability to take whatever the Akademi threw him with gusto and a sporting smile.

Oh, and don't forget his Daddy. Week after week, there he was, in anything orange. The man must have acquired half a new wardrobe by now. One week I daresay he even dragged half his kedai kopi buddies with him. Really, if his son was the underdog at the start, he's the real sideshow. And sure proof that Daddies can swing them AFUNDIs too.

Half the KL gals would never date Zahid. Not even now. At least, not the Misha Omar sorts. They like the bling bling and the mixed bloods. But vote for him they did, with all his Melayu plainness and everything.

In the end, what won him hearts was perhaps just that. The boy has heart and a whole lot of it. And he can sing too, not too badly.

I hope he spends the prize money well. And treats his family nice after this. Because if there ever was someone who got somewhere because of his family, it was him.

Godspeed Zahid. You've just been launched into superspace.

And to all you men out there who keep telling me it ain't all about the looks, I know. So too, apparently, do a lot of Malaysian women.