'Despacito' deemed too saucy for Malaysian radio

You won't be able to hear catchy hit song "Despacito" on any of Malaysia's 44 public radio stations any time soon.

That's because public broadcaster Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) has banned the Luis Fonsi single, following complaints from conservative Muslim groups.

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The broadcaster decided to pull the song from radio play, because its lyrics were too explicit, the country's Communications and Multimedia Minister, Salleh Said Keruak, told news agency Bernama.

"We ask the radio stations to be sensitive to local norms and apply self-censorship of the song," the minister said, adding that stations should either take it down from airwaves or censor explicit parts of the song. 

The single by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber was recently named the most streamed song of all time, with over 4.6 billion streams globally. 

It's also topped the charts in Malaysia — "Despacito" and its remix currently sits at #2 and #3 in the country's iTunes chart, and the song sits at #1 on Spotify's list of top 50 songs in the country.

A Malay cover of the song has also gained more than eight million views on YouTube:

The runaway hit has worried conservatives in the majority Muslim country, with the women's wing of Parti Amanah Negara calling on broadcasters to stop playing the song, according to The Star. 

Its arts and culture chairperson Atriza Umar, noted in an interview that young children were singing the song without understanding its lyrics.

The song describes a sexual encounter between two people.

"['Despacito'] has caused a phenomena and it is now uncontrollable," she said.

Apart from its 44 public radio stations, the country has another 24 private radio stations, owned by Malaysian satellite TV giant Astro as well as academic and private ventures.

Malaysians weren't impressed with the official decision:

Barring the Latin pop hit from public airwaves has been a relief for some Malaysians, however:

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