Ten Moments in Yasmin Ahmad's Life

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She is no longer among us. But she will always be remembered. I am taking about the genius film maker Yasmin Ahmad. As I was doing some spring  cleaning, I found this interesting  article on her. So today I am highlighting this article that was published in theSun newspaper on April 4, 2006  

Headline : Captured Moments
By Bissme S

For Yasmin Ahmad, making movies is akin to recording snatches of life on celluloid. Whether she is shooting for commercials or movies, the results are never far from the realities of living.
They speak to us of moments that touch our hearts. Watching them, we cry a little and we laugh a little. Her uncanny ability to capture this has been recognised in a series of awards for her Petronas commercials and for her critically acclaimed 2005 movie Sepet.
The director has also completed a sequel to that movie. Gubra, whichopens on Thursday, continues where Sepet ended. The audience will finally learn the outcome of the love story between Orked and Jason.
Yasmin, who is a busy creative director of one of the country’s top advertising firms, advises the audience to stay on for the credits at the end of that movie. Her creative energy seems to have no bounds. It makes us wonder how much of her own life experiences have influenced her work.Here, Yasmin recounts 10 significant incidences in her life that have shaped the person she is now.

1) “The day when I was carted off to a place I had never beenbefore. There, I found many people of my age who were wearing the same (kind of) clothes as I. We were herded around by the authorities of that place. Some were brandishing ‘weapons of torture’ in their hands.Some of us were crying and some even wet their pants out of fear. “Oh, I am referring to my first day at school!”

2)“The day I went abroad (England) to further my studies. A bunch of usarrived at a strange place in the dark of the night. It was cold and there was some confusion as to where we were supposed to spend the night.“I never felt so lonely or homesick in my life. That terrible feeling of abandonment almost never left me for the next 10 years of my stay abroad.”

3)"The day I telephoned my fiance’s mother and found out that he had died in an accident. I was only 19."

4) “The night I won my first advertising award. I had only joined the industry for few months and it was my first commercial.”

5) "The day when I got married. After the akad nikah ceremony was over, my husband and I went to our bedroom to perform our first prayer together. At the end of it, we held each other’s hand and wept with joy.”

6) “The day our divorce was finalised. Just after the divorce, we sat on the bench outside the religious office, looked at each other and wept with sadness.”

7) “The day I woke up and saw the world spinning. I got my then boyfriend to take me to the doctor. My blood pressure had shot up. I was hospitalised for a week. Thankfully, my blood pressure is normal now.”

8)The day I married my present husband. The akad nikah was conducted in a small mosque in Subang Jaya. It was drizzling outside. I remembered gazing at the greenery surrounding the mosque and feeling at peace with the world.”

9)“The day I performed the haj with Dr Jemilah Mahmood, now one of my best friends. It took place just before my second marriage. As the plane approached the holy land, we were asked to call out to God: ‘You have summoned me, O Lord, so here I am’. I broke into tears.”

10) “The night Sepet won the top award at Creteil International Festival in Paris. Sepet was up against films selected for the Venice Film Festival (which were made) by directors who had been nominated for Oscars.My mother hugged me on stage, then turned to the audience and waved the bouquet of flowers presented to her.My father remained seated in the audience but I could see him wiping his tears of pride. The joy on my parents’ faces made all the struggles worthwhile.”

Me, My Body, My Mind

As I was doing some spring cleaning around my house. I found this particular interesting article I have done in 2008  where I interviewed  Pang Khee Teik and Angela M. Kuga and Yuenmei Wong . They talked about the event they were organizing called Seksualiti Merdeka. And the first Seksualiti Merdeka was held in somewhere in  August 2008 and this article appeared in theSun sometime in October 2008  Below  is the full article. 

Headline : Me, my body, my mind
By Bissme S 


"NOBODY can tell you what you can do and what you can’t do with your body," says Pang Khee Teik, art programmes director of The Annexe.
"When one person manages the most inner part of you which is your sexuality and your desires, then you are a nobody.
"When you give someone else the power to tell you what you can do with your body, you’re ultimately giving that person the power to control your mind."
His voice was one of many heard at Seksualiti Merdeka in late August. The three-day event included workshops and forums addressing sexual identity issues.
Interestingly, it was not just what academicians and activists had to say but also common folk speaking about their personal experiences and tragedies.
"We wanted the public to hear voices and stories of those who have been discriminated against and whose lives have been a living hell," says Pang, who initiated the event with Jerome Kugan, The Annexe’s media manager.
"There has been lot of injustice and unfair treatment of fellow Malaysians in the name of morality.
"In the end, the public still have the right to disagree with them.
"But let us hear their story first before making any judgment. We want to create compassion and promote understanding."
One seminar, "To Live Without Fear: Dealing With Violence Against Transsexuals", highlighted the prejudices against this community.
The event’s success prompted Pang to make Seksualiti Merdeka, a yearly event.
He said sexuality rights is not only about the right to have sex with whomever you want but also the right to be responsible.
Angela M. Kuga, a trustee with KYRSS (Knowledge & Rights with Young People through Safer Spaces), says, "When two adults have consensual sex, it should not be considered a crime.
"We are also under the impression that all religions reject people of different sexuality.
"There are religions which have no position on people of different sexual orientation and there are some religions that do. Interestingly, the same text is interpreted differently."
She felt the event also gave people the opportunity to know more about sex education.
"More young women are worried about unwanted pregnancies than AIDS, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. All these concerns were addressed in the event."
She also felt the scope for sex education has to be widened.
"Sex education is not about learning about your bodies and preventing diseases," says Angela.
"It should also be about building your self-esteem, handling peer pressure and appreciating your lover."
Not so long ago, Angela gave a talk in a university and was surprised to find many of the female students were gullible. She said that some of the students even believed that they would not get pregnant if they had sex at a certain time of the day.
Next year, Seksualiti Merdeka intends to target parents with children of different sexual orientation.
"Society is so negative towards people of different sexuality and it is only natural for the parents to worry about their children’s welfare," says Angela.
"We want to provide a platform where the parents can talk about their concerns and their anxieties.
"We are searching for parents who are willing to talk and discuss these issues."
Pang said that they want to work closely with the media.
"We want the media to report fairly when they are doing stories on people with different sexuality," he says.
"If the media quotes someone saying people of different sexual orientation are promoting moral decay, it should also get the other side of the coin."
Yuenmei Wong, a volunteer at the event and recipient of the 5th Research Award from the Southeast Asia Consortium on Gender, Sexuality and Health wants to highlight companies willing to hire transsexuals.
"We want these companies to be role models for other companies," she says.
Yet, Seksualiti Merdeka may have raised some eyebrows and ruffled more than a few feathers. "I am not doing anything wrong," says Pang.
"I am simply allowing people to talk about their sexuality and to be confident about their bodies.
"I would not deny that I had some fears when I wanted to organise this event.
"It is my dream that one day I will organise this event without having any kind of fear at all."
He dismissed the notion that the event promotes homosexuality. "It is not lifestyle that you can promote," he says.
"You are either homosexual or not. I feel we are promoting people to be responsible."
His personal vision is that the country will recognise them for who they are and their contributions, and not who they love and sleep with.

Legends on Motherhood

Malaysian celebrated mother's day on May 12. This time around I focused  onthe  folk stories that emphasis on mother's love  from three different race - Malay, Indian and Chinese.  The story appeared in the sun newspaper on May 10 on page 22 & 23 

The Full story here 

Headline : Enduring Tales Of Love 
By Bissme S 

A MOTHER’S love andaffection for her children is the stuff of legends that has lived on through the ages.In celebration of Mother’s Day, which falls this  Sunday, three experts retell some local legends – metaphors included – from  different cultures in Malaysia, that centre on a mother’s enduring love and 

Subhead : The Legend of Si Tanggang 

Saifulizan Yahaya of Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka (DBP) says the Malay culture has a  famous story called Si Tanggang to depict a mother’s love for her son and the  value of filial piety. Saifullizan, who is the language planning officer at  DBP’s Research Literature Division, hopes to share the moral of this tale with  the younger generation.
The story goes like this: When Tanggang was a young boy, he was always sick.  His mother, Deruma, took pains in ensuring her son would grow up strong and healthy. Later, the young ambitious Tanggang wanted to see the world. So when a ship docked at his village to reload supplies and take on additional crew members, Tanggang volunteered to go along.
His mother tried to stop him, saying she needed him to be with her in her advancing years but Tanggang told her he would go away for a few years and then return home a wealthy man so they can live comfortably together. Tanggang  eventually became a wealthy businessman. He also married a beautiful princess,  but has completely forgotten about his mother back in the village and the 
promise he had made to her.
One day, when his ship was docked at his village, his mother was so happy to  learn that her son has returned. She rushed to meet him. But embarrassed by  her poor appearance, Tanggang refused to acknowledge her as his mother in front of his royal bride.
Devastated and heart-broken, Deruma raised her hands to the sky and cried out  to God to make Si Tanggang recognise her as his mother.Suddenly, the weather  turned dark and stormy. There were flashes of lightning and thunder. When the storm subsided, Si Tanggang, his wife, his crew, and his entire ship had been
turned into stone.
“The story reminds us that we mustnever be ungrateful to our parents,” says Saifullizan. 
“This is a retribution for being unfilial.”
He points out that some believe that Batu Caves is the ship that had been turned into stone. Interestingly, there is a similar tale in Indonesia known  as Malim Kundang, where stones resembling human beings and a shipwreck can be found at Pantai Air Manis, in Padang, Sumatra Barat, while in Brunei, a folklore known as Nakhoda Manis also tells the same tale  with a rocky outcrop called Jong Batu, located off Kampung Ayer on the Brunei River, that resembles a capsized ship.

Subhead : Devaki, mother of Lord Krishna 

Shankar Kandasamy the head of Bharata Natyam Department of the Temple of Fine Arts, Kuala Lumpur, recounts the mythological tale of  Devaki, the mother to Lord Krishna.
The story centres on the evil King Kansa, who heard a prophecy that the eighth child of his sister, Devaki, would kill him. So he imprisoned  Devaki and her husband Vasudeva and killed all seven of the children she bore. 
However, divine intervention saw that the eighth child, Lord Krishna, escaped.  Years later, the mother and son were reunited. She asked Krishna why she was not given a chance to enjoy his childhood years as his mother. Lord Krishna  explains to her that in her past life, she was a great queen who was unfair to her servant girl.
She wanted the servant girl to give her all the attention and had prevented the servant girl from spending any  time with her own child.
“Lord Krishna told his mother that she had robbed the servant girl of her
motherhood,” said Shankar. “Therefore,she, Devaki in turn, had to suffer and  was unable to spend any time with her own child.”
Being a compassionate god, Lord Krishna made a miniature idol of himself as a child and gave it to his mother. The idol then came to life.
“Lord Krishna then told his mother that now she has a chance to enjoy him as a child,” Shankar said.


Subhead: The ghost mother and other tales

The Principal of KBU International College, Dr See Hoon Peow (right), says that there are many folk legends in the Chinese culture that highlights the greatness of a mother. See, who is also a trained folklorist, tells this interesting tale of The Ghost Mother.
“There are several versions to this story,” says See. 
“All the versions, however, indicate that a mother’s love is so powerful that even death cannot separate her from her child.”
One version, which happens during the Song dynasty, tells of a pregnant grieving widow who died and was buried. But then, she gave birth to a baby boy inside the coffin.
She appeared at the nearest provision shop to get the necessities to feed her baby. She told the shopkeeper that she was the daughter in- law of the wealthy Wong family and asked him to collect payment from her father-in-law.
At the end of the month, when the shopkeeper went to collect the
payment from the family, the father-in-law was shocked. He believed someone was impersonating his deceased daughter-in-law.
To find out who, he hid in the shop and when the woman appeared, the father-in-law was indeed shocked to see she was indeed his dead daughter-in- law. He then exhumed her body and found a healthy baby boy in the coffin
There is another version, linked to the famous Chinese poet, Su Dong Po, whose wife passed away after giving birth to baby boy. She returned as a ghost to the house every night to breastfeed her son.
She had to cross a lake to enter the house, so there were traces of water found around the baby’s cradle.
“On realising that his wife had come back to breastfeed their child the poet built a bridge from the grave to the house so that his ghost wife didn’t have  to cross the lake and get wet," See says. 
“Unfortunately, in the Chinese culture, there is always a god guarding every bridge, and because of this, the ghost wife was stopped from crossing.
“The ghost remained a tortured soul because she could no longer breastfeed her baby.”
Another popular tale centres on the famous Chinese philosopher and scholar  Mencius and his mother (below) who lived in ancient times. Mencius’ father died when he was young. According to Confucius teachings, the family should mourn  for three years. She and her son then moved to live near the grave of her  deceased husband. But Mencius’ mother decided to forgo the tradition when she found her son  imitating what took place at  the funeral procession.Wanting something better  for her son, the two moved again to a new home near a market.
“She soon found this location unsuitable because her son began to
take to the ways of the merchants,” says See. 
“In those days, merchants were considered low class and she did not want her  son to take up this trade.”
She moved again, this time to a home near a school. Inspired by the scholars there, Mencius began to study and his mother was content.
Then, one day, his mother found outthat he had been playing truant from school. Instead of beating him, his mother simply took a pair of scissors and cut up the cloth she was weaving.
Shocked, Mencius asked: ”Why did` you do that, mother? Now, you have to start all over again.”
His mother replied that what he did was no different from what she had done, as playing truant meant he had wasted his effort studying and now must pick up  where he left off all over again. Mencius learnt his lesson and never played truant again.

Sasterawan Negara : Baha Zain

I had the opportunity to interview the recently elected Sasterawan Negara (National Laureate). He shares his views on the Malaysian literature scene and The Malaysian National Language. This article appeared in theSun newspaper on Wednesday April 3. Here is the full article.   

Writing for unity
By Bissme S 

DATUK Baharuddin Zainal, better known as Baha Zain, was recently honoured as the 12th Sasterawan Negara (National Laureate). Prior to this, the 74-year-old poet, short story writer and literary critic has been the recipient of such prestigious awards as the SEA (Southeast Asia) Writer Awards in 1980 and the Anugerah Penyair Gapena (The Federation of Malaysian National Writers Associations Poet Award) in 1988.
In this exclusive interview, Baha Zain talks about the recognition bestowed upon him, the literary scene in the country today and what inspired him to become a writer.

* What was your first reaction on being named Sasterawan Negara?

"I was grateful to God. My generation is different from yours. All we wanted to do was to contribute without expecting anything in return. We wanted to enrich the national language and the Malay literary scene. However, if the title was given to me five years ago, I would have rejected it.”

* Why is that? 

“I was against the PPSMI (the teaching of Science and Maths in English). I am not against the English language. If I was, I would not have sent my three children to further their studies in England. 
“I just want to develop the Malay language as a language of knowledge. If you do not teach Science and Maths in Malay, how do you expect the language to be developed as the language of knowledge?  
“Japan and Korea are so much more advanced than us and yet they do not teach Science and Maths in English. If you want Malaysian students to master the English language, this is not the way. 
“I’m happy to see the government has decided to have Science and Maths taught in Malay, again. 
“I will not deny that a lot of scientific terms in Malay are borrowed words. But even in English, there are many borrowed words from the French and German language. There is nothing wrong in enriching the vocabulary by borrowing words.”  

* No women writers have won the Sasterawan Negara title. Do you think there is a Malay male dominion for the award?  

“I was on the selection panel for the candidates for this award for several years. We did not base our selection on gender or race. We looked for candidates who have contributed significantly not only towards the development of the language and literacy but also towards society.   
“For example, Keris Mas, Arena Wati, Usman Awang, and A. Samad Said were journalists who fought for independence through their pen. 
“They should not be spending all their time in the library, living in their own world and forgetting about the society around them. They should be socially-committed writers. They cannot just write about nostalgia. Their works should spark critical thinking. As a writer, you need to be connected with the society. You write because you want to express yourself.”

*Some people think you do not deserve this title. What are your comments?    

“I can be equally cynical and hit back at my critics but I will not do so. It can be counter-productive. In Islam, you are encouraged to be patient. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.”   

*What changes would you like to see taking place in the Malay literature scene?  

“We should find ways to incorporate more non-Malays in the Malay literature scene. The national language is no longer the language for Malays. I am happy to see that Karim Raslan (who usually writes in English) is now contributing to Dewan Sastera (a leading Malay literary magazine). 
“In the 70s, there were conscious efforts among artistes of different races to use the national language in literature to cut across the racial barrier. If you read Dewan Sastera in those days, you will find many non-Malay artistes like Krishen Jit and Redza Piyadasa contributing articles in Malay. In fact, a handful of non-Malay artistes have translated my poems into visual form. But today, I see less of such collaborations between artistes of different races.”  

*Why do you think there were more collaborations between artistes of different races back then?   

“The May 13 incident (1969) just took place, with the whole nation confronted with the tragedy. Artistes of all kinds, from writers to painters, believed they should come together and use their art to promote unity … to understand each other. Today, we have taken our peace for granted. What’s happened in Lahad Datu (Sabah) recently could be a wake-up call to teach us not to take anything for granted.”   

* What do you see lacking in our society today? 

“Our moral and ethical development are not on par with our physical and economical development. For example, we will not think twice about throwing rubbish on the road, polluting rivers, cutting down trees that provide oxygen, etc.” 

*What inspired you to become a writer?  

“I was born in 1939. I have lived through the traumatic times in our history – from the Japanese Occupation to the communist and Emergency period, right through the racial riot of May 13, 1969. 
“I had experienced eating rice only with potatoes and bananas. I did not have running water in my house. Poverty was everywhere. 
“I wanted to write about these difficult times to create an awareness. I wanted to tell people not to take our peace for granted and be grateful for what they have today. 
“But today is not the era of literature. People do not give importance to literature – they are too busy chasing wealth. One must remember that ultimately, it was literature that made us human.”

Liew Seng Tat

Liew  Seng Tat is a passionate film maker whose his first film has won many awards. Now he is working his second film  and recently he talked to thesun about this film  project. This article appeared in theSun on Friday March 1. Here is the article 

Headline : Perseverance pays off 
By Bissme S 


LIEW Seng Tat’s debut film in 2007, Flower in the Pocket, swept up multiple awards and prizes in international film festivals such as the Pusan, Rotterdam, Fribourg and Pesaro.
But that had not made it easy for him to get his second film, In What City Does It Live (IWC), off the ground. Liew devoted four years of his life – from developing the script to getting the funds – to make this film.
Shooting for the film was recently concluded at the cost of RM2 million. The film will likely open in cinemas at the end of this year.
Liew says his biggest challenge was securing the funds he needed for IWC. But with persistence, the filmmaker managed to garner support from a number of well-known international sponsors.
They include Sundance from the US; the Netherlands Film Fund, Hubert Bals Fund and Prince Claus from The Netherlands; the Torino Film Lab from Italy; the Fondation Groupama Gan pour le Cinema from France; the World Cinema Fund from Germany; and Vision Sud Est from Switzerland.
“I would like to tell young filmmakers out there to never give up on their dreams,” says the 33-year-old film director. “If I had given up on mine, I would not have gotten all the funding for my project.”
“Nothing is impossible if you are willing to work hard. My advice may sound cliché but there is truth in it.”
Liew recalls working with his producer, Sharon Gan, to send out countless proposals and attending endless sales pitches to prospective sponsors in their quest.
He says they had to compete with many talented filmmakers from different countries vying for funds from the same sponsors.
“We were nervous each time they (the sponsors) announced the name of the successful recipients,” Liew recalls.
The amazing portfolio of foreign sponsors also managed to convince our Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture to offer partial funding through the Creative Industry Grant scheme.
“Although we did not come out with any money [of our own] for this film, we’d put our youth and a huge amount of our effort into making it,” says Liew. “If you were to convert that into cash, it would add up to a big sum.”
IWC centres on a man named Pak Awang who wants to give a house to his daughter as a wedding gift. Unable to afford a new house, he comes up with the brilliant idea of restoring and relocating an abandoned old house.
Despite rumours that the house is haunted, he manages to convince his fellow villagers to help him physically carry it back to the village.
At the same time, a street pedlar named Solomon, who is an illegal Nigerian immigrant, runs into trouble and has to lie low. He decides to hide out in the very house that Pak Awang is in the midst of relocating back to his village.
One night, one of the villagers sees a shadowy figure in the house and tells everyone that it is haunted. The villagers decide to abandon the relocation project despite Pak Awang’s pleas.
Playing the lead role of Pak Awang is veteran actor Wan Hanafi Su while Solomon is played by Tanzanian student Khalid Myboyelwa Hussein. Others in the cast include Harun Salim Bachik, Soffi Jikan, Jalil Hamid, Normah Damanhuri and Azman Hassan.
“I’m dealing with identity and perception here,” says Liew of his plotline. “I could have easily written the character as a Burmese or a Nepalese immigrant but I didn’t want to play with everyday stereotypes and wanted to go to the extreme.”
One of the challenges Liew faced on the set was building and moving the kampung house from one location to another.
“We selected three abandoned kampung houses, tore them apart, and rebuilt the kampung house we needed for the set,” says this director who likes doing things out of the box.
They then had the task of literally moving the house as per the traditional way. “The ground was not even and we had to cross a little stream. We even had to chop down some trees along the way,” Liew recalls.
He says that initially, the owner who leased the land for the location shoot was quite particular that none of the trees be damaged.
But as the shooting of the movie progressed, the owner got enthusiastic about what went on behind the scenes and even became one of the extras.
With the impressive list of sponsors backing the film, Liew says he is trying his best not to let the pressure or high expectations get to him.
“I will just follow my instincts as something good always comes out of things when you follow your instincts.
“There will be people who are bound to dislike the film and others who like it. You must understand that you cannot please everyone.
“I shall take all the negative comments in a positive way and use them to improve on my next film.”

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Three years ago, in 2010,  I also interviewed him about an interesting project where a kampung house was literarily moved from one location to another…. Read more here 

Headline : Literally moving House 
By Bissme S

In the  old days, whenever a villager wanted to shift to another location, it was common for fellow kampung folk to rally together and literally carry the entire house to the new place.   
Over the years, this practice of moving houses has slowly died out. 
But filmmaker Liew Seng Tat, who is also the co-founder of independent production house Da Huang Pictures, hopes to revive interest in this practice through his latest project called Projek Angkat Rumah.
Collaborating with local theatre company, Five Arts Centre, Liew is inviting members of the public to participate in a special event tomorrow which will see a typical Malay kampung house, built specially for this event, being carried and moved to a new site.
The kampung house will be moved from its present site at SK Sentul Utama to its final destination at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac) in Sentul.
Members of the public are invited to assist in carrying the house or join in the festivities by walking alongside and cheering those carrying the house. The event will start at 9am and is expected to end at noon. 
At its new location in KLPac, the house will double up as a stage on that day for those who want to sing, dance and perform. The festivities will last till late in the evening.  
Liew says the idea for this project was partly inspired by a photograph that appeared in a local English daily in August 2007 during the 50th Merdeka anniversary celebration.  
The photo caption told of how a farmer, Abu Hassan Ahmad, decided to move closer to his mother-in-law in order to care for her poor health.  But he was reluctant to move into a new house.
As a result, 150 villagers helped him carry his house to the new site, which was half a kilometre away.   
“The idea is to get everyone come out and do something together,” Liew says. “This way, we can relate to the gotong-royong spirit again. We’re spending far too much time in front of the computer or television.”  
Sharing the same view is June Tan, a member of the Five Arts Centre and co-producer of Projek Angkat Rumah. 
“Our neighbourhoods have now become gated communities,” says Tan, a producer of plays such as Cuckoo Birds (2009) – a theatrical performance dealing with crime and violence, and That Was the Year (2007) – a musical examining the racial riots of 1969. 
“This project (Projek Angkat Rumah) is borrowing the spirit of a bygone tradition and it is supposed to be fun, exciting and a vibrant event.” 
Yet, there will be some who will criticise Liew for using a Malay traditional art to gain publicity and, perhaps, even bastardising it. 
“I could have done something that I’m familiar with,” counters Liew. 
“I could have made a movie or even a stage play. I wanted to do something that was out of my comfort zone … something I’ve not tried. I’m not trying to be superficial here. It’s also my way of understanding other people’s culture and art.”  
Liew is using this project to explore the theme of togetherness and trust.  “To carry a house from one place to another, the people involved need to trust each other.”   
He is also planning to make a film that touches on a similar topic next year. 
It will centre on a father who wants to give a house to his daughter who is getting married. But he cannot afford a new house, so he entails the help of his fellow villagers to move an abandoned house to a better location. 
Incidentally, the prestigious Torino Film Lab in Italy has expressed an interest to invest in this film. 
Liew’s first feature Flower in the Pocket was a favourite in the international film festival circuit in 2008, picking up awards in Pusan, Rotterdam, Fribourg, Deauville, Pesaro and Toronto, among others.  
Dariush Mehrjuim, head of the jury panel at the 12th Pusan International Film Festival, in a commentary after awarding Liew the New Current Award for Flower in the Pocket, said that Liew has created “a touching and humanistic story that tells the story of a neglected father-and-son relationship with a sense of humour, while using a beautifully composed cinematic style”. 

Harry Fear & Palestine

Recently I had a chance to interview Harry Fear, a British Journalist and documentary maker who have covered the war  that  is taking place in Palestine. This interview appeared in theSun on Wednesday Feb 27. Here is the story

Suggested Headline : Fear-less pursuit of Truth
BY Bissme S

HARRY FEAR is an independent British journalist, documentary maker and human rights advocate. His live reports on the carnage meted out by Israelis against the Palestinians has attracted a large following in the social media. Highly respected for his honest reporting, he is known to flesh out poignant insights that take place in war-torn Gaza.
Recently, Viva Palestina Malaysia, a local non-governmental organisation, invited him here to give a talk. Fear took some time from his busy schedule to answer questions from members of the press.

What is the greatest misconception Malaysians have about the war in Gaza?

That it is a religious conflict – which is a terrible misconception. Many of the Palestinians are Christians. When you to go to Gaza and you speak to Christian Palestinians, they just resent the identification as Christian Palestinians. They will just say ‘I am just Palestinian. It is a political conflict which started 65 years ago. It started between an indigenous population and a settled colonial population. It is really about land theft. Today, Palestinians are only living on 13% of the land that they were living on 65 years ago.

Do you think there will ever be a peaceful solution to this 65-year-old war?

Yes. There are reasons to be hopeful. If you look at the civil society of the world, people are increasingly fed up (with what’s happening in Gaza). The world is increasingly united and willing to do something and not just be sympathetic.

What motivated you to report the situation in Gaza?

The main reason is because I care. I do not want to die not having done anything. If you don’t do anything and when you look back at your life, you will say that you have wasted your life. And I do not want to waste my life. I feel personally motivated by my moral responsibility to bring some justice to the people of Palestine. The reason why Israel can kill 62 Palestinian children in two weeks is because people don’t do anything.

Does the situation in Gaza depresses you about life in general?

I am able to deal with the pain. In the situation of such pain, it can go two ways. It can go up or it can go down. In Gaza, it goes up and it is very hopeful. The people are unbreakable and if the people are unbreakable, then Israel cannot win. And that is very inspiring.

Do you think your work gets a lot of attention because you are a white man reporting on this war?

I get upset when people ask me about my race. In a lecture at The Hague, a young academician asked me whether I have ever thought about the effect I have as a white journalist. The way she put it was quite cynical. I was honest with her and I told her that I find her question
offensive.
I’m a young white man, fairly intelligent, fairly well educated, fairly articulate, who has gone to Gaza and I know this combination of my identity is what most people see me as, as a journalist.
Of course, I exploit this for the benefit of the Palestinians, using my skill as a journalist. Do I exploit my race? No, I don’t.
I never think of my race, especially when I am in Gaza [which] is the least racial orientated place I have ever seen. The Palestinians are ethnically mixed. It is not relevant whether I am white or not.
The reason we are having this interview is not because I am white. It is because I am fairly articulate. I am able to explain the situation (in Gaza) fairly well to the people.”

Are you a Muslim?

No. I believe in God but I am not a religious person. This is not a religious conflict. It is a political and humanitarian issue. It doesn’t matter what my religion is. In every single religion, there is a responsibility to help people.

What is the greatest misconception people have about you?

Some people who hate me are ignorant. Some of the reasons they hate me is because they think I’m rich. But I am not. My family is not rich, too.
People say that I’m a white saviour and I’m the voice of the Palestinians. But I have never claimed to be the voice of the Palestinians. I only represent myself.
I went to Gaza as a people’s journalist. I report what I see. I want the killing of the Palestinians to be stopped. I want the Palestinian children to be given a chance to live. I want Israel to stop shooting people in the head. I want the war to end.

Some documentary makers make films on the future. Do you have similar goals?

I am not interested in fiction. I have never appreciated fiction even as a child. The reality is richer than fiction. I became a documentary filmmaker because it is a powerful way to communicate with people – to get them to understand and feel (about the issues presented) and then do something about it.

Do you think documentaries can effect change?

In this 21st century, many films are made to entertain … just to give people an emotional ride. They lack political and moral context. You have a good cry in the cinema, you go home and you do not know what to do next, so you can forget about it. That is not good enough. You have to leave people with a sense of hope. You have to leave people with a sense of action, of what they can do next. Otherwise, what is the point of documenting the suffering?

A biography on Rose Chan

Today theSun published  my story where the  award winning poet Cecil Rajendra talks about this latest project. He has just written a biography on the life of the Malaysian queen of striptease Rose Chan . Here is the story.  

Title: Stripping bare The Rose

By Bissme S

Award winng poet Cecil Rajendra (below)has just completed a biography, entitled No Bed of Roses, that would likely raise a few eyebrows. The biography focuses on the late Rose Chan, Malaysia’s queen of striptease. 
Born Chan Wai Chang, she started her career as a cabaret dancer. The turning point in her career came when she was 27. Due to a ‘wardrobe malfunction', her brassiere snapped while she was dancing. 
She received thunderous applause from her audience, some of whom thought it was part of her performance
Seeing that the crowd loved it, she repeated this on a regular basis and eventually was bestowed the title’ of queen of striptease. The book is now in the hands of publisher Marshall Cavendish in Singapore and  is expected to hit the shelves before the year is out.
To date, the Penang-born poet has written 21 collections of poetry, published across 50 countries and translated into German, Japanese, Swahili, French, Chinese, Tamil,Bengali, Thai, Spanish, Malay, Dutch, Danish and Urdu, among others.In this exclusive interview, Cecil shares his thoughts on his new book.

* What we can expect from this book?

The initial title was The Last Days of Rose Chan but during the writing, I realised that in spite of all the glamour, Rose had a very tough life,  starting from her early childhood years – forced into wedlock at the age of  16, five failed marriages, hounded by the authorities, and finally falling  victim to the dreaded cancer. Her life was certainly No Bed of Roses!
No aspect of her life is left unturned – from her dancing, her strip shows,her husbands, her court cases and her sex secrets. Chan was also a great cook, accomplished ballroom dancer and philanthropist. I consider her to be our country’s first feminist – she could stand up to any man! What I admired most about her was her fearlessness and her fierce independent spirit.

Did you ever met Rose in person?

Rose Chan had been part of my schoolboy fantasies for decades, but I never got  to see any of her shows. In the 50s, a group of us tried to sneak in to watch  her perform. But we were caught and the security guards threw us out. The first time I met her was in 1980 when she came to Penang to spend her last days. She had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was given six to 18 months to live. But she lived on for another six years.I was first hired as her lawyer.Later, she asked me to write her life story. Over the period of five years, we met frequently. Her narrative was never linear but always episodic – preferring to jump from one event to
another … as the mood took her.
I have spoken to dozens of people who had seen her shows but they only knew her as a striptease queen, but nothing of her private persona. Though there was one gentleman who claimed to have leapt on stage and help  extricate Rose from her python which was strangling her.” (One of Rose’s famous acts involved her wrestling with a python.)

What is the common misconception about Rose?

That she was a mere stripper, performing unsavoury acts and breaking the law  in the process. Nothing could be further from the truth ... up to her  retirement in the 70s, every one of her shows in Malaysia and Singapore was performed with a permit.
In 1959, a group of moralists petitioned the Ipoh Town Council not to issue  Rose a permit to perform. The acting chairman, Dr W. Holmes, brushed their  objections aside, saying:‘There is a tendency in every male to be something of  a peeping Tom. It is perhaps better that we issue this permit for a striptease show, than to have people peep into your bedrooms at night 

What kind of reaction do you think the book will receive?

I don’t know what sort of reaction the book will provoke ... but no matter what, it is bound to kick up a storm in these hypocritical ‘holierthan- thou’ times where there is far more censorship than in good old Tunku’s days