Final Project

In this project, i am interviewing Mr.Lim, 57 years old, a retired man who loves photography. He had shared his memories back to 1980's at Cheras, as well as his esperiences during May 13, 1969. The photo above is Mr.Lim, the first time he bought his car.

May 13, 1969

According to Mr.Lim, when the May 13 incident took place in Kl, he was actually at Kota Tinggi, staying at his Malay friend's house. He said that, during his time at Kota Tinggi, they were ordered to be quarantined, somewhat like what was described in our history books on the "Darurat" situation. Everyone was fear and panic.

Mr.Lim's graduation photo in 1970's in ITK; Mr Lim (count from right, 3rd person)

Apart from that, he mentioned that, in Kl, when he studied at Institut Teknik Kebangsaan (ITK) in 1970’s, which is now known as UTM in Kuala Lumpur, there weren’t much problem with Malays and Chinese around his institute. The Malays and the Chinese was friend and they didn’t border about the incident. There wasn’t fight and conflicts aroused among the Malay and the Chinese in the institute. He explained that it might due to the fact that they were all students and did not border much about the politics. He didn’t see any killings between Malays and Chinese, probably most of the killings happened at Raja Chow Kit and other areas around there. He said, at that time, his parents were busying stocking canned food and rice. As for him, he was still go to campus and mixed around with his Malay friends. He added, in that time, even though Malays hated Chinese, and Chinese hated Malays, he was still being friends with his Malays friends and he even learn Jawi from that. He said that at that time, the BM paper was divided into 2 categories, which were one for the Malays and another for the non-Malays. He passed the paper.

Development in Cheras in 1980's

According to him, Cheras has developed a lot. He said that, in 1980’s, there was a dumping site which was located very near to his house, and now it has become a commercial area and surprisingly buses crowd around that area nowadays. He mentioned that during 1980’s, it was very difficult to get a bus at Taman Megah. Due to this, his eldest son had to walk approximately two kilometers to his school in Perimbun. According to Mr. Lim, in 1980’s, he often dining out with his family every weekend at Taman Connaught and Taman Midah. And now UCSI had brought the sudden development of the commercial area in Taman Connaught. Before UCSI was built, there was less shop lots and less crowded as compare to now. According to him, he used to bring his children to the Taman Connaught playground in 1980’s. He had a picture of his first daughter who played happily at the playground.

His first daughter at Taman Connaught playground in 1980's; his house was just at the back

Taman Connaught playground now

His house now

His Student Life in ITK

He said, when he was studying in the ITK, the female Malays teachers didn’t wear scarf (tudung). And now, it has become a rule for Malay students to wear scarf. In his opinions, he thinks that they should have their own freedom to do what they want instead of making it a rule. Apart from that, during the recess time, his Malays friends would sit with him and eat together, regardless of whether he ate pork or any non-halal food.

Our Burmese Days

Sally, an Anglo-Burmese, is ashamed with her Burmese family background and the heritage. She is cultivated English accent and often claimed to be born in northwest England. She could understand the Burmese language but she can’t speak. From here, in my views, she shouldn’t be ashamed to admit that she is an Anglo Burmese. This is her own culture and identity, so, she shouldn’t look down at her own identity even though she claims that she grows up in England. This is her family background and she should feel proud and admit it.

On top of that, her daughter, Lindsey takes her mother back to Burma to learn in depth about her own culture and to figure out why her mother feels ashamed towards her identity as a Burmese. In my views, Lindsey is different from her mother. She has the intention to know deeply about her mother’s heritage. Even though she knows that her mother is an Anglo-Burmese, she doesn’t feel ashamed for it, in turn, she has the desire to figure out the details of her mother’s culture and family background. She attempts to understand her family history.

The trip back to Burma is painful for Sally. There was a scene where Sally cried when visiting the graveyard. When she is talking in front of the video camera, she cries when refreshing her memory back in the past. She visits every single place which is related to her family history. Besides that, even though she claims that she is born in England, she can still understand certain Burmese words. It means she never forgets about her family history and her own languages, but she feels ashamed to admit it. In my views, probably because she cares on how her friends or other people look at her in regards to her identity. She might feel more sophisticated and proud when people perceive her as British. Apart from that, technically, this documentary is great. The camera does give a feel for contemporary life, which is both urban and rural.

Persepolis

The movie, "Persepolis" is about the story of a hard-core and premodern in Iran. It is narrating the effects of premodern Islam in a little girl, named Marjane, with a nickname called Marji. She had experienced the Iran war between the communist and the dictator.
According to Mahmood Mamdani, a writer of "Good Muslims, Bad Muslims", stated that premodern Islam didn't have the appreciation for human life, including their own. In my point of views, I do agree with this statement. In "Persepolis", one of the young adult who involved in a demonstration was shot dead by the security police. The young adult was only 20 years old, and the security police shot him. In Mahmood’s article, he quoted Huntington, which the role of Islam was enemy civilization, and from this statement, it means that Muslims were only bad. In my views, I am strongly agreed with this statement. Based on the “Persepolis”, the war occurred between Muslims and Muslims. Both of the parties are Muslims, but why they wanted to provoke a war and killed their own kind? Why they cannot solve the problem peacefully and stop the war? Once the conflict occurred, the Muslims used the violence way, which was provoking a war in order to solve the problem. They didn’t realize that the war was not worthy and it would only scarify the innocent human life. They were ignoring the human life and treated human life as nothing. From here, Muslims were bad and they didn’t have the appreciation for human life.
Apart from that, Mahmood also quoted from the pages of the New York Times that good Muslims are modern, secular, and westernized, but bad Muslims are doctrinal, antimodern and virulent. I did agree with this statement. In “Persepolis”, Mardi was a western-minded girl. She hated to wear scarf. However, she had to wear it because the Iran government was practicing strict Islamic. If she provoked, she might get caught. There was a scene where she was having a party with guys, but ended up get caught by the police. From here, it was very obvious that the antimodern was a threat for freedom of expression for a Muslim. Mardi’s country, which was Iran was practicing antimodern and resistant to be modern. However, not every Muslims in Iran were antimodern. Some of them were westernized. Thus, for the western-minded Muslims, they were not able to get used to it. In “Persepolis”, Mardi was psychologically affected by doctrinal Muslims policy in her country. She felt depressed and tried to suicide.
In short, in my points of views, through “Persepolis”, bad Muslims can be defined as antimodern, and they didn’t have appreciation for human life. They would go to the extreme and willing to do anything, include scarifying the human life in order to exercise their religion.

Milner's narratives and Liew Kung Yu's photo collages

Milner analyses the narratives constructed by Cheah Boon Kheng, Joginder Singh Jessy, shamsul Baharin, wan shamshuddin and Arena Wati, Wang Gungwu, Maswari Rosdi's and suhara Salim and Ibrahim Yaakub. The narrators are narrating the history of Malaysia from the different perspectives. Among the narratives, in my view, there is a linkage between Cheah's narratives and the concept of Liew Kung Yu's photo collages.

Cheah Boon Kheng narrates the history from racial perspectives. His narratives is focusing on three major ethnic groups in peninsular Malaysia, which are Malay, Chinese and Indians. According to his narrative, in Malaysia, nation building is based on the theme of the making and sharing of the Malaysian nation among its multi-ethnic citizens. From here, the theme of Liew Kung Yu's photo collages doees show the connection with Cheah's narrative. In Liew's photo collages named "Bandar Sri Tiang Kolom", the built environment shows the relationship between three major races in Malaysia. The buildings are arranged according to the culture of different races and there are bridges connected from one building area to another. Thus, it matches Cheah's theme of nation-building is focusing on the sharing among the different ethnics. Apart from that, as for Wan Shamshuddin and Arena Wati's narratives, it is more focusing on Malay race. In their narratives, it is less cognizant of the plural society issue. Their narratives had ignored the non-Malays but focused more on the contribution of malays.

In Liew's photo collages named "Metropolis Warisan", the significant building like Petronas Twin Tower appears in that collage. Petronas Twin Tower had been mentioned in Cheah's narratives. From Cheah's narratives, as compare to the previous Prime Minister, Mahathir Muhammad was one of the Prime Ministers who put a lot of efforts to promote national unity in Malaysia. According to his narratives, Mahathir Muhammad (the fourth Prime Minister) used "prestiged project" to promote national unity, including the world's third tallest building (the recent rank). Cheah did highlight the commitment made by Mahathir in 1991, which was to create a "fully developed country", in which non Malays and Malays would involved in a "full and fair partnership" and perceive themselves as the "united Malaysian nation". Liew's work appears in the Petronas Twin Towers.

As a conclusion, the concept of Liew Kung Yu's photo collages is promoting on the national unity in Malaysia, especially the collages named "Bandar Sri Tiang Kolom" and "Metropolis Warisan". Thus, Liew's concept is match with Cheah's narratives, which is narrating the nation-building in a plural society that consists of three major ethnics.

The Big Durian

1) What scene in "The Big Durian" made an impression on you, and why?
There was a scene where a teacher was talking about the mistreatment of a person (female) during her detention period for ISA. The teacher was saying that the person did not do anything wrong and she was detained under ISA. However, ISA is detention without trial, and the person cannot challenge the ground of the detention. Minister's decision for detention is final. Thus, in my point of views, there is no human rights in Malaysia. It is because once the person was detained , he or she cannot approach to the court. But how if the person is innocent, he or she tends to accept the detention, without knowing that how long would they being detained , as well as without knowing how frequent they will be mistreated.

2) What was rumoured to be Private Adam's grouse (pain)/reason which lead to him running amuck (amok)?
The rumour was about one of the malaysia's sultan killed his brother. However, Private Adam cannot sue the sultan in the court. Thus, in order to release his anger, he started the riots in Raja Chow Kit.

3) A character from Sabah ends her narrative by noting the look on Private Adam's face. What was it that she saw and how does it contrast with her feelings?
She felt that Private Adam was free from the "cage", and he was just releasing his emotion after being freed from the "cage". Thus, she admired his freedom and wanted to be like Private Adam.

4) From what historical vantage point is the director viewing the events of 1987? what is "present" of the documentary and what is its mood?
The director looked back to the "Operasi Lalang" events. He looked back to those events from a a present and the experience of the political upleavals of the late 1990s.