Sayang, sayang sekali.
I was in Central Market yesterday for an hour or so, doing sketches and some further analysis of our allocated site somewhere nearby Jalan Hang Kasturi and Medan Pasar. I arrived there by train, so were my friends Kamil, Ijai and Auntie while Jawa arrived from Banting by bus. Last weekend, the whole batch of 70 people were there to do the same thing, lead by me, and the feeling was wholesomely different because I didn't enjoy carrying the weight of responsibility.
Yesterday, I felt rather relieved. It was a nice, cloudy day. I usually don't enjoy cloudy days because the photos captured in this kind of weather would turn out dull. Yesterday, however, I appreciate it alot because we were doing a lot of walking. It was nice and shady so we can complete whatever we want to complete without really being all sweaty and sticky.
It was when we were to catch the train back to KL Sentral that I saw this particular graffiti by on the opposite banks of the Klang River. It's a beautiful, embracing potrait of Yasmin Ahmad's familiar laughter in hues of pink over a white wall, imposing itself over the faint flow of the dirty river. Besides her potrait was another potrait of a baby, crying. And it was written besides the potraits, "Yasmin Ahmad 1958 - 2009, We Anak-anak Malaysia Will Miss You Dearly."
I sighed in emptiness, recalling the shocking news. What a loss, I said to myself. What a big, huge loss. Especially in times like these.
When she first suffered a stroke last Thursday, I immediately texted Qaisy, who happened to be a good friend of her. From Qaisy's stories, I see Yasmin as a kind-hearted person who just wants to tell stories, and above all, to be honest about her stories. I was more than delighted when Qaisy planned to invite me to meet her in person after the screening of my video during Rumi last month, though I was a little bit worried and anxious at the same time. But Qaisy assured me, again and again, that she is a nice person and she is totally OK to those who wants to learn from her.
Of course, I never get the chance to see that kindness from my own eyes. Allah knows best. I talked about this with my good friend Katrina and what she said sunk me. That God is taking away all the good persons, so that they won't be tempted to do bad things. And apparently there are lots of bad people out there still doing bad things.
"That the good things that they have done is enough. OK you, stop. Let others do the job." For me, it is so nice for her to view things like that. Katrina just lost her brother last March.
I would be lying if I say I don't look up to Yasmin Ahmad whenever I'm trying to produce a video, short movie, or whatever you call it. In fact I have been criticised on this. One particular lecturer of mine isn't fond of Yasmin Ahmad's style of film-making, saying that 'it's already done'. He said I must look up further, to Iranian movies especially, and see the way they make films.
I accepted that remark, however I'm never sure of how to respond to that. Because Yasmin Ahmad is not bad at all. She dared to try. The saddest thing is, 'dari dia hidup sampailah sekarang dia dah tak ada, orang kita sampai sudah tak nak recognise hasil kerja dia', to quote my ingenious friend in both life and architecture, Shiela. Truth is, in and out, the phenomenon is a disappointing thing.
Yasmin took the term Malaysian to a higher level in her own ways. She need not shout out rhetorical slogans. She just do stuffs because she wanted things to happen. That said, she enlightened many. Unwillingly, she also made the stubborn ones became much stubborn. While being labelled 'pencemar budaya' while she's actually fostering culture, her movies often went through many processes of censorship before they are actually screened locally. 'Muallaf' was screened twice in Singapore while it is never shown here in our cinemas.
For myself and many others, the future of the Malaysian arts scene and in fact, the future of the country went blank for awhile. It makes sense. We are sad because our politicians are so useless we have to turn to somebody else to feel that sense of belonging to a country. We are at lost because another beautiful soul is taken in the midst of a world full of lies and prejudice. We're dumbfounded because somehow we're losing a grip in our ride to chase the identity of being a citizen of nation, a human. We just lost another inspiration.
Like the graffiti said, we anak-anak Malaysia will miss you dearly. Very dearly. Your legacy lives on. Thank you for giving us hope to do great things while everybody else is shutting us down. We have a long way to go, and just because you have to leave early, doesn't mean that we'll stop here.
Those who judge you might strive for perfection, but just like you said, isn't it imperfection that makes us perfect? You are, indeed, a diamond now lost. Rest in peace Kak Min. Al Fatihah.
Posted in Shah Alam.
I was in Central Market yesterday for an hour or so, doing sketches and some further analysis of our allocated site somewhere nearby Jalan Hang Kasturi and Medan Pasar. I arrived there by train, so were my friends Kamil, Ijai and Auntie while Jawa arrived from Banting by bus. Last weekend, the whole batch of 70 people were there to do the same thing, lead by me, and the feeling was wholesomely different because I didn't enjoy carrying the weight of responsibility.Yesterday, I felt rather relieved. It was a nice, cloudy day. I usually don't enjoy cloudy days because the photos captured in this kind of weather would turn out dull. Yesterday, however, I appreciate it alot because we were doing a lot of walking. It was nice and shady so we can complete whatever we want to complete without really being all sweaty and sticky.
It was when we were to catch the train back to KL Sentral that I saw this particular graffiti by on the opposite banks of the Klang River. It's a beautiful, embracing potrait of Yasmin Ahmad's familiar laughter in hues of pink over a white wall, imposing itself over the faint flow of the dirty river. Besides her potrait was another potrait of a baby, crying. And it was written besides the potraits, "Yasmin Ahmad 1958 - 2009, We Anak-anak Malaysia Will Miss You Dearly."
I sighed in emptiness, recalling the shocking news. What a loss, I said to myself. What a big, huge loss. Especially in times like these.
When she first suffered a stroke last Thursday, I immediately texted Qaisy, who happened to be a good friend of her. From Qaisy's stories, I see Yasmin as a kind-hearted person who just wants to tell stories, and above all, to be honest about her stories. I was more than delighted when Qaisy planned to invite me to meet her in person after the screening of my video during Rumi last month, though I was a little bit worried and anxious at the same time. But Qaisy assured me, again and again, that she is a nice person and she is totally OK to those who wants to learn from her.
Of course, I never get the chance to see that kindness from my own eyes. Allah knows best. I talked about this with my good friend Katrina and what she said sunk me. That God is taking away all the good persons, so that they won't be tempted to do bad things. And apparently there are lots of bad people out there still doing bad things.
"That the good things that they have done is enough. OK you, stop. Let others do the job." For me, it is so nice for her to view things like that. Katrina just lost her brother last March.
I would be lying if I say I don't look up to Yasmin Ahmad whenever I'm trying to produce a video, short movie, or whatever you call it. In fact I have been criticised on this. One particular lecturer of mine isn't fond of Yasmin Ahmad's style of film-making, saying that 'it's already done'. He said I must look up further, to Iranian movies especially, and see the way they make films.
I accepted that remark, however I'm never sure of how to respond to that. Because Yasmin Ahmad is not bad at all. She dared to try. The saddest thing is, 'dari dia hidup sampailah sekarang dia dah tak ada, orang kita sampai sudah tak nak recognise hasil kerja dia', to quote my ingenious friend in both life and architecture, Shiela. Truth is, in and out, the phenomenon is a disappointing thing.
Yasmin took the term Malaysian to a higher level in her own ways. She need not shout out rhetorical slogans. She just do stuffs because she wanted things to happen. That said, she enlightened many. Unwillingly, she also made the stubborn ones became much stubborn. While being labelled 'pencemar budaya' while she's actually fostering culture, her movies often went through many processes of censorship before they are actually screened locally. 'Muallaf' was screened twice in Singapore while it is never shown here in our cinemas.
For myself and many others, the future of the Malaysian arts scene and in fact, the future of the country went blank for awhile. It makes sense. We are sad because our politicians are so useless we have to turn to somebody else to feel that sense of belonging to a country. We are at lost because another beautiful soul is taken in the midst of a world full of lies and prejudice. We're dumbfounded because somehow we're losing a grip in our ride to chase the identity of being a citizen of nation, a human. We just lost another inspiration.
Like the graffiti said, we anak-anak Malaysia will miss you dearly. Very dearly. Your legacy lives on. Thank you for giving us hope to do great things while everybody else is shutting us down. We have a long way to go, and just because you have to leave early, doesn't mean that we'll stop here.
Those who judge you might strive for perfection, but just like you said, isn't it imperfection that makes us perfect? You are, indeed, a diamond now lost. Rest in peace Kak Min. Al Fatihah.
Posted in Shah Alam.
