Under the radar

Abang Adik @ Pudu Youngsters (Malay/Cantonese/Sign Language; 2023)
Director: Jin Ong

When you wander around the wet markets or back lanes of many major cities, you find a buzzing economy independent of the one considered by economists and the national budget. There is a parallel economy going on there. 

You see many moving around, working intensely, and doing things others think are dirty, dangerous and demeaning. You see people washing dirty dishes at the back of the restaurant, slaughtering chickens and carting around loads of vegetables or sundry goods. They are invisible to most people's eyes. And they are paid a pittance in cash. These transactions are not recorded; hence, they escape the revenue departments. They are voiceless and live below the radar because, on paper, they are persona non grata. They may be undocumented foreign workers, economic migrants who overstayed or refugees. Intertwined in this group are Malaysian citizens themselves, who, at birth or due to other reasons, did not have their birth registered at the National Department.

In the eyes of the State, they are not identified in the country's statistics and do not enjoy the privileges proffered to its citizens, like opening a bank account, being part of the cashless society, obtaining a passport, or even getting into schools. What is worse is being disabled on top of all this.

Abang and Adik found themselves as unwanted kids wandering the backstreets of Pudu, Kuala Lumpur. Abang took it upon himself to be Adik's guardian, and together, they grew into adults, just moving along with time.

Abang, hearing impaired, leads a straight life, working odd jobs and saving every sen in a biscuit tin under his bed. Adik is the 'adventurous' one. He dabbles with the thugs around town, cheating illegal immigrants of their hard-earned and moonshining as a gigolo. They rent a room in a debilitated flat which had seen better times a long time ago, now occupied only by illegal immigrants. This place is periodically raided by the immigration officers to fulfil a quota of detaining undocumented immigrants. Abang and Adik would be rounded off, too, but would be released later. Their closest friend is a transgender person who took them as their son.

An NGO worker who goes beyond her call of duty to get them their legal papers helps them out. She somehow manages to locate Adik's father and invites him to meet his estranged father. Unfortunately, Adik's resentment of their father leads their conversation into a hearty argument that does not end well. 

In the meantime, Abang has developed a soft spot for a Myanmarese girl who will eventually be relocated to the US under the UNHCR relocation programme.

The last twenty minutes of the movie are the most gripping moments of the movie. The movie's most striking scene is when Abang has a 'conversation' with a Buddhist priest. When told by the priest to look at life positively, Abang, in sign language, has a long monologue, lamenting the life he has led, the hardship he went through, the parental love he never got, and, to top it off, the handicap he never asked for. Definitely worth a watch. 4.5/5. Worth the accolades it received.

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Apartheid in pipeline?

Pendatang (Malaysian Cantonese, Malay, Newcomer; 2023)
Director: Ken-Kin Ng

In the old days, most houses will have a single bathroom. Two, if you are in the upper middle class. Bedrooms were hardly to go by, usually reserved for the female members of the family for modesty. The males would usually rough it out wherever there was space. This was especially so when relatives visited the household. Everywhere they lay their pillow, it was a sleeping place. 

Fast forward to 1990 and beyond. Even siblings find it difficult to share living space. They talk about wanting personal space and wanting privacy. The concept of her sharing and accommodation for a fellow roommate or a sibling has suddenly become an alien concept. Hell hath no fury for a person whose personal toiletry or cosmetics are used without consent. 

Outside the confines of the home, we were a tolerant lot. We did not tolerate but instead accepted each other with each other's idiosyncratic ways of eating or worshipping. There was no concept of one ethnicity dominating one area over another. No doubt there were majorities, but each just accepted the other. Nobody claims an area to be theirs, even if there were the majority. 

We had Indians in Kampong Melayu, Malays in New Villages, Chinese in rubber estates, etc. In the 1980s, we saw townships with a particular ethnic flavour. Shah Alam and later Putrajaya claim to be Malay-centric and refuse to exhibit 'features' or engage in businesses that go against the grain of Islam. The local councils barred the sale of alcoholic beverages and the opening of pubs and nightclubs. Slowly, everybody developed a 'holier than thou' attitude of themselves. 

Now, in 2023, even illegal immigrants who had somehow stayed undetected below the radar for years have risen to the occasion. The Rohingyas, Myanmarese, and Bangladeshis have all claimed their pieces of the pie. After congregating at certain localities around the country and developing them by their standard through business and occupation, they claim legitimate ownership of those places. 

Naturally, the self-proclaimed princes of the soil would not take any of these. Their leaders, whose mental capacity never grew after the 1960s, used racist and religious catchphrases to bulldoze their agenda through small-minded straw man arguments. The trouble is the people who matter most opt for peace rather than combat bigotry at its core. The future looks bleak. 

This film imagines a dystopian Malaysia where an enactment is passed to ensure races are kept separated. It becomes a crime to interact with or harbour a person of a different ethnicity. The race felt that that would preserve the sanctity of the race, but it was a bitter pill they had to swallow. To ensure conformity to the rule of law, there is a group of ragtag vigilantes. 

A Chinese family moves on into a traditional Malay house. Unbeknownst to them, a young Malay girl is spotted hiding in the ceiling and scavenging their food. 

After some initial trepidation, the family decides to care for her, much to the wrath of the junta, which came for a home inspection. Next to follow is a series of escapes from this hell hole to a neighbouring country. 

Something obvious amongst the high-level officials and mega businessmen is that the segregation law does not apply to them. A Chinese factory owner is married to a Malay girl, and a Malay politician is seen making business deals with the Chinese. 

The take-home here really is that each race needs the other, and they have no ill feelings towards the other. In their lust to stick on to power and usurp money, the politicians and leaders create a non-existent bogeyman to create fear, divide and rule. It worked for the British then and will work for present-day East India Company 2.0, run by the country's own son of the soil.

The Klang Valley and the nationalities who claim stake.

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We are not taking questions, thank you!

Mentega Terbang (Butterfly, Malay; 2021)
Writer, Director: Khairi Anwar

This release was released about two years ago and won international awards for its efforts. Unfortunately, it became famous in Malaysia only after the local artists guild decided to make a police report about it as they deemed that it offended the sensitivities of Malay Muslims in Malaysia. Many of its dialogues appeared like they were ridiculing Islam, it is alleged.

The Malaysian certification board had no control over Malaysians viewing it as it was broadcast online on a webpage. Since the recent brouhaha, even the said screening platform decided to stop having it on its accord.

We all grew up wondering about death in our formative years. With all the cultural-religious rituals associated with funerals and the stories related to the soul and the afterlife, we naturally assumed that God and religions give a kind of shield to protect us from untimely death. This internal squabble to choose the 'right' religion to fulfil our spiritual needs was important in my moulding into an adult.

Naturally, when Aisya, a 16-year-old Malay girl has an ailing mother with terminal pancreatic cancer, the thought that her mother may be gone at any moment must be daunting. The zest to save her mother from death or what would happen to her mother prompted her to venture into other holy scriptures to understand death. However, her parents, strict Muslims, were quite relaxed with their daughter reading other religious books about it. 

Aisya is excited about reincarnation and rebirth as preached in Buddhism and Hinduism. The idea of her deceased mother hanging around her as a bug or a butterfly in her next birth excites her. Her journey of discovery is eased with the presence of her neighbour, the dog-walking Auntie Esther, who helps with Christian scriptures. Then her classmate, Suresh, gives the Hindu-Buddhist perspective of life and death. To pour cold water into her burning passion is her busybody neighbour, Uncle Kassim, who is everywhere to remind her to stick to her religion and beware of the other practitioners who are out to sway her away from the one true path.

On her path to self-discovery, Aisya is seen patting and getting cosy with a dog, hanging around doing her school homework with her male classmate in her bedroom and saying that she has no qualms about eating pork. The scene that probably took Malaysians by storm must be the one where Aisya's father offers her the choice to embrace another religion if she pleases to come to terms with her mother's death. Even in the last scene at the mother's burial ground, Aisya thinks her mother is with her as a butterfly that lands on the tombstone. That is reincarnation.

History suggests the world of Islamic civilisation around Babylon and Basra was the envy of the learned. Its coffee houses with its intellectual discourses were to die for at the time when Europe was in Dark Ages. The Mutazilites' brand of Islam of the day encouraged such discussions in search of the truth. All that came to a grinding halt when the Ash'arites became the dominant force. Open Aristotelian type of arguments about religion was put to an end. A grown adult with his faculties intact has no willpower but to leave his life to a group of leaders who herd people into submission by invoking the name of God for their own nefarious intentions.

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A Malaysian gem

Spilt Gravy, Ke Mana Tumpahnya Kuah(2022)
Director: Zahim Albakri

There is a Malay saying, 'ke mana tumpah kuah, kalau tidak ke nasi', which implies that the traits of children do not differ much from their parents. Its direct translation would be, 'where does the gravy spill, if not to the rice?' Its English equivalent is 'the apple does not fall far from the tree'.

Even though this movie was due for screening in 2013, it never saw living daylight. Thanks to the local censorship board, it was put in cold storage till 2022. Apparently, the board felt that the story could hurt the sentiments of the Malay Muslims in Malaysia. Hence, it had to undergo multiple edits, some dialogues were muted, a significant plot change, a hand gesture blurred, etcetera to qualify for a PG-13 certificate. The version that appeared on Netflix seemed close to the original copy, with the dialogue, gestures and all.

After a long time, we see an intelligent Malaysian movie minus the typical racial stereotyping and silly slapstick comedies that Malaysian movies are often guilty of. Underneath the main story about an elderly father summoning his five children from his five previous marriages for a last dinner as he senses that his end is near is the narration of our country's history. 

Two characters in all-white airline pilot outfits pull their roller luggage. They are actually angels (or maybe a sort of Grimm Reaper) out to pick up 'Bapak', a widower, an ex-journo, living all alone in the heart of KL city. 

Like peeling an onion, the story of his life and his children is revealed to us. Their childhood, time growing up as a family and the different directions life took them is shown. 

Slotted within this is the discriminatory nature of our history against women, LGBT issues, being Malay and even the different 'types of Malay' within the community. 

The last part of what it is about being Malay is relevant even today. It is apparent from the analysis of the latest election results, GE15. The Malays in this country are not the single-minded same-thinking entity that the country's leaders want them to be. Increasingly they, the leaders, misuse religion towards this end to produce a single-tracked unquestioning brand of Malay. Even at the infancy of its inception as a nation, Malaya had to grapple with this conundrum. 

Roughly, there were two major divisions. The first was the so-called elites who benefitted from education and opportunities the ruling colonisers or government offered. These mainly comprised civil servants and professionals confident enough to voice their opinions and mingled in civil society. The second comprised the bulk of the heartland occupants who were suddenly jolted to the forefront. The latter felt lost, unable to understand independence when everything in front of them was foreign. They were told it was their land, but nothing made sense - the lopsided economic distribution and the sense of being snatched of what was rightfully theirs. The ill feelings continue till today, with the non-Malays being the bogeymen.

It makes you think. Kudos to the excellent screenplay, direction and acting. Essential viewing for Malaysians to appreciate how the potpourri of cultures within Malaysia is given due respect and to know how a Malaysian movie should be made. 4/5.

(RIP Playwright and actor: Jit Murad)

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Rocked you like a hurricane!

Blues Gang

I was just thinking the other day. Occasionally, in my social media group, one or two members would send snippets of Malay songs of the 80s and 90s. These songs used to be high on the music chart and ruled the airwaves in their heydays. I was pleasantly surprised that these group members were even familiar with such songs.

We, the teenagers of the late 70s and 80s, must be a lost generation. The generation that grew up under the umbrella of the Malaysian New Education policy imbibed in Malay culture and songs.

We grew up laughing at P Ramlee's antics in his actual Malaysian-themed movies and comedies in our preteen years. We ended up watching them umpteen times, probably able to rattle out certain classic dialogues and recall particular scenes from his films at the drop of a hat.

The 80s saw a renaissance of modern guitar and drums bands that were belting out hard and punk rock music. Rock Kapak was another branch of rock of Malay punk. These bands were so popular that every Saturday night saw mobile stages erected in small towns for bands to belt out their brand of music. National competitions were rave. In these otherwise mundane small towns, which had boring weekends and lights out after the territorial TV ended its transmission, these events gave them a purpose in life. Small-time businesses and vendors made their killings. 

Amy Search

As the saying goes, all good times must surely end. The new wave of Islamic scholars sent to the Middle East on scholarships generated by petroleum-fueled prosperity needed to prove their worth. They raised their eyebrows condescendingly, shaking their turban-donned head in unison. They decreed that uninhibited mixing of sexes was sacrilegious. The intoxicating mixture of electric guitar, drums and percussions swayed believers from the purpose on Earth, i.e. to hail Maker's glory. The police agreed as intoxicants found their way to these meetings. These concerts simply had to stop. The memories of Gersang, JJ Carefree, Sweet Charity, Wings, Ramli Sarip, Search, Chris Vadham, Ben Nathan, Blues Gang, Awie, Headwind, Alleycats, Ella and the Boys, Zaiton Sameon and even the notorious Mona Fandey and talented M Nasir just remain as that, mere distant memories of a bygone era.

 

With the new post-Iranian Revolution's zest to uphold self-perceived the Almighty decree on Earth, the interest in hard rock dwindled. This 'decadent' music was labelled as devil-worshipping, and believers who were seen indulging in such melodies were looked upon with accusing eyes reserved for a heretic. Music taste shifted towards desert-themed rhythm even though it should be Hawaiian as we are in the tropics. Remember Terang Bulan, Mamula Moon and Negara-ku?

So it was indeed a pleasing experience to have my social media friends showing keen interest in that music of our early adulthood when Malaysia had its own brand of rock - Rock Kapak!  

(PS. Dedicated to JT, SA, RS, SK, HS, SM. You know who you are!)

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Mix and Match!

 Rempat (Wander, Malay; 2015)

This is a fun, no-brainer movie that combines all the idiosyncrasies that make Malaysia Malaysia. There is the popular Mamak shop, an odd Malay-Chinese misfit who seem to have problems communicating with each other, their penchant for football, perennial money issues and loan sharks.

The first scene of the film generally summarises the actual situation on the ground. Every small group is happy supporting their own foreign football team while watching live games on giant TV screens in their favourite bistro. Everybody is a maestro on how the game should be played, but for a nation whose citizens are so brilliant on the intricacies of scoring goals, it has a national team that nobody gives two hoots. Nobody wants to watch them play.

That is where our two heroes come in, Halim and Chin Chye. Halim is a true patriot who roots for the Malaysian team. Chin Chye, on the other hand, is also concerned about the local team, not because he is a supporter. He hopes that the Malaysian team will lose as he has placed a large bet for them to lose. So, when they changed the channel to watch the Malaysian team when the rest of the restaurant patrons wanted to watch the English Premier League, they got whacked and got booted out. 

Just as they freshen up after the beatings, the loan sharks from whom Chin Chye had taken a loan started whacking them again. Chin Chye (and Halim too, since he is together) get an ultimatum - make Malaysia lose in the next game, or die.

Chin Chye and Halim later discover that they are from the same neighbourhood, like it is always the case in most communities; nobody knows each other. It is all just a facade. Everyone just puts up a front. After 64 years after independence and living together since the 1930s, each acts as if he is a tourist learning the customs and culture of each other. This speaks so little of our national integration programmes that have been organised all these years. Guess it is all money down the proverbial drain.

Now, Halim too, has money issues. His girlfriend is wooed by her wealthy boss. And Halim has to propose her fast. He desperately needs money for that. Since his girlfriend has two VIP tickets to the next Malaysian game, he decided to help Chin Chye get to the game. In return, Halim is to get some money.

The rest of the story is a comedy of errors, Malaysian style. The venue is changed again and again due to structural damages. They have to hitch a ride for that. In the midst of all that, another rival loan shark is hot on their trail to stop them.

This is no artistic work of art, but it is worth a watch to remind us of some similar comedies that came out from the Malaysian film scene, e.g. Mekanik and Ali Setan. 

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Slithering cold hearted snakes?

Ular (Snake, Malay; 2013)
Director: Jason Chong

This is a knock-off of the many Hollywood and Bollywood horror flicks. Even the film poster bears an almost near-replica resemblance to Hollywood's blockbuster 'Anaconda (2008)'. Besides that, it is a worthy effort, nevertheless. The CGI effect looks believable. It creates uneasiness; not laughs. The storyline seems credible enough. How different can a disaster movie be? As per usual, it starts with a potpourri of characters landing at a resort island, gleaming from ear to ear, hoping to have a whale of a weekend. Whale, they did not have, but snakes aplenty. The owners of the resort took great pains to keep the news of killer snakes away for the public. To ensure the safety of the guests, the owner did install an electric fence to keep the snakes at bay. As to how Murphy's laws dictate, anything and everything may go wrong when it is destined to go wrong. Thanks to a few mischievous frolicking holiday-makers, the fences fell into disrepair. So, the snakes, who were the pioneer occupants of the island, go on a frenzy to reclaim their island. 

Caduceus and Serpeants on
rod of Aslepius.

The people who rose to the occasion to try to save the day are a disgraced journalist (Lisa Surihani) and her photojournalist colleague ex-boyfriend (Yusri of KRU).

Man's fascination with snakes transcends all borders. Every civilisation, from the Sumerians to the Greeks, have had their brush with our reptilian friend. From the Caduceus to imply successful commerce and skilful negotiation to the twirling serpent on the rod of Asclepius to denote healing and medicine, we have seen Ouroboros which signify rejuvenation, cyclical nature of life and immortality.

Ouroborous

We have towns named after serpents (Nagapattinam), and we have people with snakes-honouring names (Nagaratnam, Nagma). They are amongst the many who have been worshipping snakes for aeons. From North America all the way to the Champas in Vietnam, they have built a symbiotic relationship with the ophidians in sharing the planet.

They are others who vilify our reptilian friends. Snakes, often associated with evil and negativity are often blamed for Man's misery on Earth. After all, it was the evil serpent's enticement that lured Adam and Eve to savour the fruit of knowledge and subsequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

Snake Plissken
Escape from New York (1981)

If you are one of those who take David Icke's conspiracy theories as gospel truths, then you would realise that many world leaders and entrepreneurs who live amongst us are reptilians in human's clothing!

And to top it all, I recently heard on a Youtube presentation by Praveen Mohan, the explorer of ancient Hindu temple about the rock cutting technology and the ancient alien visitation by a race referred to by the locals in Hire Benakal in Karnataka as Moryars. The Moryars are said to be small built highly intelligent serpent-like creatures who imparted their architectural skills to humanity. Humans, awed by their wisdom, started showing their reverence by placing them on a pedestal to honour them.

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