RIGHTEOUS THIEF

Hong Gil Dong...

Hong, born an illegitimate child, is not accepted by his father and family. His father, after hearing from a shaman that his son is cursed, attempts to kill him but fails. Shocked and appalled at his father's actions, he goes out into the world, where he becomes a bandit leader. He becomes a bandit for the people, and steals from the rich only to give to the poor. His popularity within the peasant society soars, and many view him as a hero

Both the drama series, Iljimae and the movie that I watched, Descendants of Hong Gil Dong put this element in their plot. In Iljimae, Lee Jun Ki played the main role as Lee Geom; a son who’s his father was framed and killed. He was determined to find the killer of his father without realising that the killer was the King himself. With the only clue that he has, a sword with a character carved on it, he broke into every high-ranked officials to find it. In order to hide what he was searching for, he took some of their fortune and gave it to the poor. The citizen called him the righteous thief. 

As in the Descendants of Hong Gil Dong, a family who is the true descendants of him carry on the task that has been passed from generation to generation. They only steal from a wealthy man who makes money by bribery. Both stories have the capability to make my eyes glued on the screen.

Righteous thief. Is there such a theory? You have a good intention, but the way you do it is wrong. To be frank, I was intrigued by this theory. Can it be done? Will it be consider as a good deed or a wrongdoing? The righteous thief, is he a good guy or a bad one?

Whatever it is, it is still wrong. As a muslim, I knew that, “niat tidak menghalalkan cara”. No matter how unfair society is, or how bad the person is, we just have to use the correct channel  to fix it. If we persevere, we will get what we want. According to the law, the righteous thief is the criminal no matter how good his intention is, or how much people support him.

They act by the name of justice, but what they done does not portraying the justice at all. So, how? Who is the actual bad guy?