Siapa Syed Hussein Al Attas

Terakhir aku jumpa Syed Hussein di Seminar Pasca Kolonialisma ATMA, UKM pada tahun 2004 kot, masa tuh allahyarham cerita pasal Yang Di Jajah dan Terjajah, serta hal-hal yang harus diperkatakan di dalam masyarakat Pasca Kolonial, termasuk soal queer, tetapi isu tersebut tidak langsung disebutkan di dalam terbitan artikel-artikel yang kemudiannya menjadi buku. Apapun kelmarin 23/ 10/ 09 aku menyebut namanya dalam kertas kerja aku "Mencari Pendekatan Baru Dalam Pengajian Budaya: Budaya Nusantara, Antara Budaya dan Budaya Popular" yang dibentangkan kat seminar Media-Budaya, Hubungan Malaysia Indonesia di UM

Syed Hussein Alatas

(Wikipedia)

Syed Hussein Alatas was a founding member of the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia(Gerakan), which performed relatively successfully in the 1969 general elections.

Syed Hussein Alatas (September 17, 1928 – January 23, 2007) was a Malaysian academician, sociologist, founder of social science organizations, and former politician. He was once Vice-Chancellor of theUniversity of Malaya in the 1980s, and formed the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan). Syed Hussein wrote several books on corruption, multi-racialism, imperialism, and intellectual captivity as part of the colonial, and post colonial, project, the most famous being The Myth of the Lazy Native.

Syed was born in Bogor, Indonesia. His grandfather, Sayyid 'Abd Allah bin Muhsin al-Attas, came from Hadhramaut and settled in Bogor. ^[1][2]Syed Hussein is the older brother of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas .^{[3] [4]}

Early life

Political career

Syed Hussein was among several intellectuals who formed Gerakan in 1968 as an offshoot of the defunct Labour Party. Gerakan was relatively successful in the 1969 general election, where it campaigned on a platform of social justice and the reduction or elimination of Bumiputraprivileges outlined by Article 153 of the Constitution. Gerakan held a victory rally in the capital of Kuala Lumpur to celebrate. However, it deviated from its planned route into Malay areas of the city, where party members jeered at the Malays. Although an apology was issued the following day, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a major component of the ruling Alliance coalition government, held a retaliatory rally. This rally soon degenerated into outright rioting with at least 180 people killed during the subsequent riots (although other estimates put it substantially higher). As a result, a state of emergency was declared, and Parliament was suspended; it did not reconvene until 1971.^[5]

When Gerakan joined the Alliance coalition government in 1972, Syed Hussein left to help form Pekemas (Parti Keadilan Masyarakat Malaysia, or Social Justice Party of Malaysia), based on similar principles that Gerakan had been formed on.^[6] However, the party collapsed in 1978 due to massive defections to the Democratic Action Party (DAP).and series of articles will come up including this one.

Syed Hussein's academic career began at the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka publishing house, where he worked as head of the research department from 1958 onwards. He began lecturing part-time in philosophy at the University of Malaya in 1960, and served as the Head of the Cultural Division at the University's Department of Malay Studies from 1963 to 1967. He served as the Head of the Department of Malay Studies in the National University of Singapore from 1967 to 1988, before quitting to form Gerakan. He returned to academia as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya in 1988, before becoming a professor at the Centre for General Studies in the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 1995. He later transferred to the Department of Anthropology and Sociology in 1997, before becoming principal research fellow at the Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation of the same university in 1999.^[7]

Syed Hussein has authored a substantial number of books, the most well known, The Myth of the Lazy Native.^[8] In 1966, Syed Hussein began pondering the question of why Western colonialists had, for four centuries, considered the natives of the Malay archipelago to be generally lazy, since Europeans had not arrived until the 17th century. His research eventually produced The Myth of the Lazy Native, a book which was published in 1977. In the book, he cited one instance of a "denigrating" view of the natives, when a German scientist suggested that theFilipinos made their oars from bamboo so they could rest more frequently: "If they happen to break, so much the better, for the fatiguing labour of rowing must necessarily be suspended till they are mended again." Syed Hussein criticized such beliefs in the book as ranging "from vulgar fantasy and untruth to refined scholarship." He also asserted that "[t]he image of the indolent, dull, backward and treacherous native has changed into that of a dependent one requiring assistance to climb the ladder of progress".^[8]

According to Bruno Fernandes, a writer of an article on Alatas Syed, Alatas was a "sociologist, philosopher, academic and policy analyst" who "worked out a critical and reflexive work from the point of view of the ex-colonized countries", and while Alatas was and is today well "known in the Malayan intellectual world (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines) - and (by) a "broad Malayan intellectual (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines) community" , he is "broadly ignored elsewhere…." ^[9] The respect for Syed Alatas and his influence is also discussed in "An Intellectual Life" in Asian Analysis by Asean Focus Group and Faculty of Asian Studies at The Australian National University: "The lateEdward W Said, for example, whose book Orientalism recast post-colonial scholarship, acknowledged his debt to Syed Hussein whose critique of imperialism in his Myth of the Lazy Native (1977) and of colonial historiography in Thomas Stamford Raffles: Schemer or Reformer (1971) were pioneering efforts in Third-Worldist post-colonial responses to Western social sciences. He has been regarded as one of the founders of sociological investigation in Southeast Asia and as a mentor to many in the Malaysian Social Science and academic community, more generally. In the 1950s, he was already considering the significance of the contribution of Tunisian-born Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) to the philosophy of history and sociology. While undertaking postgraduate studies at the University of Amsterdam, Syed Hussein founded and edited the journal Progressive Islam (1954-55), fostering his links with intellectuals within the Muslim world, including Mohammad Natsir from Indonesia, Taha Husayn and Osman Amin, both from Egypt." ^[10]

Citing Syed Alatas as an opponent of corruption another writer wrote,"Syed Hussein's pet domains had been Malay studies, progressive Islam and fighting corruption. Read his books if you have the time: The Democracy of Islam, Mental Revolution, Sociology of Corruption, and The Myth of the Lazy Native, among many more."; as a supporter for multiracism, "To the young, you should be reminded that Syed Hussein laid the foundation for multi-racial politics, obviously ahead of his time....."; as an academic, Syed Hussein is remembered as a man with a sense of fairness and integrity. However, Dr Lim Teck Ghee, who was a lecturer at Universiti Malaya when the Prof was VC, said: "His insistence on the principles of excellence, justice and fair play irrespective of race made him unpopular in some circles. For this he paid a heavy price.”

Syed Hussein died after a fall in his home on January 23, 2007. The cause of death was later declared to be a heart attack.He was buried atBukit Kiara Muslim Cemetery, Kuala Lumpur

Further Reading:

• In Memoriam: Syed Hussein Alatas - The Postcolonial Oeuvre
• An Intellectual Life

Kolaj Post-Mortem Dialog Blog+Book=Blook@FACT Puncak Perdana

From the album: 
"Lots Of Love" by Jaja Kadir

Jemput Hadir Malam Diskusi TENTANG BLOOK

anda juga blogger bukan?

mari meriahkan...!

PANEL : DR ZUL, VOVIAN & AJAMI HASHIM

MODERATOR - VITAMINISME (FASYALI)

Ingat nak buat ulasan lepas Post-Dialog, tapi mata dah ngantuk, tidur dululah

Terima kasih UITM FACT kerana menjemput saya sebagai salah seorang pembicara, tahniah Fasyali kerana menjadi moderator yang baik, yang pandai membuka bicara, serta membiarkan kami2 berbicara dan seterusnya pandai masuk balik bila kami tersasar ke atau membawa kami balik ke arah tuju utama dan membiarkan kami mencelah2 bila perlu. Itulah moderator yang baik. Tapi ingat bila anda jadi Professor nanti awak nak jadi Oprah pulak bila ada acara semacam ini. Kalau awak memang menjadi pengacara tv takpelah hehehehehe.

Rasanya topik yang dibicarakan memang menarik dan memangil orang yang kena dengan topik terutamanya Ajami dan Vovin, yang memang bloggers, saya ni bukan blogger hanya sekadar ada blog. Tapi perbincangan tersebut menghasilkan perbincangan yang menari dan saya merasakan diri saya sebagai pemerhati yang ikut hadir, especially bila saya juga sedang mengajar subjek "Cultural Studies" yang sedang hangat diajar di Barat, mungkin ini masih baru di Malaysia. Kalau kat Indonesia dah melambak2 buku tentang ini. Saya tahu satu kumpulan anak muda yang aktif ber NGO dengan wacana dan buku di Jogja, namanya Kunci Budaya, mungkin mereka juga ada hubungan ilmiah dengan USD yang juga ramai pensyarah Cultural Studies. Ada antara kita di Malaysia yang salah tafsir Cultural Studies di Malaysia, terutama Golongan Akademik Dinasur yang ketinggalan sedikit, tak seperti Allahyarham Prof Syed Hussin Al Attas yang begitu up to date dengan apa yang berlaku di dalam masyarakat sehingga akhir hayatnya. Nama beliau juga hadir dalam persada akademik dunia, bukan setakat Malaysia. Itlah yang kita nak ikut jejaknya.

Sambungan.......................

Now ada beberapa hal yang saya terfikir:

1. Ruang yang disediakan begitu baik kerana lebih terbuka, saya pasti En.Norman ada campur tangan sebagi ketua program, alhamdulillah, ruang yang boleh bebas berkomunikasi. untuk kita yang bercakap pulak, eloknya rasa macam tak ada sekatan, lagipun waktu malam yang jauh dari manusia lain, tidak jauh dari situ pun ada orang boleh bom orang sampai berkecai dan kemudiannya terkenal tempat tu sebagai Mongolian Barbeque Centre.........bak kata Fadz ada demokrasi, kalau bahasa saya ada democratisation of space

2. again, moderator yang tak overated dan terbuka bukan nak menunjuk dia lebih pandai dari panel, kalau tak moderator jelah yang bercakap, tapi sebenarnya moderator boleh juga buat kesimpulan2 atau mengumpul ungkapan2, kalau nak lah, but that was fine...

3. an after thought--------kadang2 excursion juga boleh membawa kita ke satu daerah lain yang mengindahkan, munkin ini merujuk kepada komen Vitaminse

4.saya juga belajar yang orang yang ada blog itu tidak semestinya blogger, mungkin perlu ada satu buku "Bagaimana menjadi Blogger Di Malaysia?", laku tak kalau saya buat buku ini, saya jadikan satu penyelidikan saya, mana tahu mungkin boleh jadi kaya macam jutawan tu yang menulis bagaimana menjadi jutawan?

5. akan saya lanjutkan perbualan ini menjadi topik perbincangan dalam kuliah Cultural Studies saya kat Aswara....talking about Pop Culture, kebetulan saya baru saja menyentuk topik tu minggu lalu.......

Gambar2 diambil dari www.tontonfilem.blogspot.com, www.ajamihashim.blogspot.com dan gambar yang ajami cilok dari vovin........

Papadom & Other Food on Films

I was invited by Ajami Hashim to go and watch the preview of PAPADOM,  movie by Afdlin Shauki, and strangely I have never watched any of Afdlin's movie, and unfortunately I was unable to go, so what I could do is just reading reviews by others which is interesting. But frankly, I can't stop thinking about other movies with food as their theme. Then I got to google and found this interesting site called  www.londonfoodfilmfiesta.co.uk. I am not surprised kalau filem ni dapat terpilih ke festival filem makan kat London tu lepas ni. Tapi punyalah tak puas hati tak dapat pegi dan tak dapat sama-sama mereviu tu dan nak jugak menulis, walaupun sikit, ni hah, sempat jugak aku tempel-tempelkan tulisan dari bebagai orang tentang filem-filem tentang makanan. It is so happened that I have watched some of the films there, so now I am simply cut and paste, except Dim Sum Funeral, story about American Chinese that I watched recently on DVD (which is bad, compared to films like Eat, Drink, Man & Woman, Wedding Banquet, Joy Luck Club). Yes, in the near future, I will write about these films on food as I was just talking to another film buff. I am sure in the near future too Razak Mohiddin will do film like Nasi Kandar, or may be Hatta Azad Khan will do his next film on Nasi Kerabu and David Teo doing film on Penang Kuey Teaw or even Wantan Noodles. 1. DELICATESSEN
Dir: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet/ Wr:Gilles Adrien, Marc Caro/ France/ 1991
In a ravaged French city - possibly in a post-holocaust future, possibly an alternate 1950s - daily life trundles on, and a very French group of apartment tenants concentrate on a very French set of concerns : adultery, suicide, music and, most of all, food. The butcher (Dreyfus) who owns the block has developed a system to support his tenants by hiring odd-job men whom he fattens up and finally turns into tasty meats that usefully supplement the lentils that have taken over as hard currency in the starving city. The only people who remain untouched by this meat-eater's corruption are the butcher's saintly daughter (Clapet), a wistful but myopic cellist, and the old man (Howard Vernon) in the cellar who has turned his home into a watery swamp to support the two essentials of French cuisine, frogs and snails. Into this tidily unhappy world comes Louison (Pinon), an ex-clown still grieving over the death of his monkey, whose good-natured decency moves Clapet to betray the cannibals to the subterranean revolutionaries, and who upsets the whole people-eating system. While Delicatessen has a few bizarro precedents - Eraserhead, Brazil, Life On The Edge, The Last Battle - it is a delightfully original picture, poised perfectly between farce and horror. The sinister undertones of much recent French cinema comes out in the open in this mainly bloodless but conceptually gruesome item, which presents a cross-section of society stuck together in the crumbling apartment block and lampoons them all, from the senile brothers who manufacture moo-cow novelties to the rich woman whose elaborate suicide attempts consistently backfire. Pinon, best remembered as the bald punk assassin in Diva, is a quizzically charming hero, wandering around in his clown shoes and resourcefully doing his best to stand by his gutsy but fragile ladylove in a nightmare climax that finds them both on the run from the cleaver-wielding butcher. The Jeunet et Caro team have hitherto worked exclusively in short films, and this is their first feature. They have traces of the style-consciousness of their compatriots Luc Besson and Jean-Jacques Beneix, but they also resurrect some of the light, albeit deep black, touch of Jacques Tati and have an unusal facility, perhaps derived from French cinema's great Jean Renoir, to love all their characters, no matter how horrid they may be. A fair bet for cult-dom, and a lot more likeable than its subject matter suggests. Essential viewing for vegetarians. 2. Couscous (La Graine Et Le Mulet)/ FOOD FILMS/ FILM MAIN        154 minutes, Germany/France (2007)     Abdel Kechiche's third feature is an ensemble film about food, family, failure and friction within France's community of North African émigrés Take the grain away from fish couscous and you are left with nothing to absorb the acidity of the mullet or the spiciness of the sauce. A similar principle is at work in Abdellatif Kechiche's film. All the ingredients seem to be in place for a predictable ensemble recipe where everything will come together harmoniously in the end - only for the director to leave us impatient and slavering, like the protagonist's drunken dinner guests in the final scenes, for a perfect dish that may never arrive. In other words, he make us hungry for wishful fantasy, while slyly serving up something with all the frustrations, disappointments and unsavouriness of real life, so that we simultaneously are invited to dream up a happy conclusion while witnessing a tragic catastrophe that tastes very bitter indeed.  In a memorable image from Couscous, we see the 61-year-old Slimane (Boufares) running in circles, getting nowhere except out of breath, as he pursues a trio of taunting youths who have just stolen his moped at a moment when his future employment depends on it.  This allusion to Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves(1948) reinforces the film's neo-realist tone and working class setting, while the scene's hellish circularity encapsulates the Sisyphean predicament of a man who has been forced into early retirement with little to show for his 35 years of shipyard labouring but a paltry severance package and declining health. Slimane, it seems, has always been running in circles.  Despite his humiliation and emasculation, the downtrodden patriarch still dreams of restoring his own dignity and creating something of value to leave behind for his extended family - and so he decides (off camera) to start up his own couscous business on an old boat that he will refurbish himself.  Once again Slimane must face a vicious circle of French officiousness, prejudice and exclusion, and he ends up staking all his last hopes in a lavish dinner party designed to attract investors. At this point his ex-wife Souad (Marzouk), his many children, in-laws, co-workers and friends, his landlady/lover Latifa (Karaoui) and especially Latifa's daughter Rym (Herzi) all pitch in to make the perfect night for the man they love - until, whether by illogical happenstance or the workings of the evil eye, everything begins to unravel. 3. CHOCOLAT/ FOOD FILMS/ FILM MAIN Dir: Lasse Hallström/ Writing credits: Joanne Harris (novel), Robert Nelson Jacobs    Juliette Binoche plays an enchantress who is also an itinerant chocolate maker.She and her daughter blow into a staid French village in the 1950s and awaken its residents with her magic chocolates. Is she a witch, as some believe, or a pagan priestess? Movie includes Judi Dench, Johnny Depp and other non-French co-stars plus lots of wonderful looking chocolates...cakes, truffles, hot chocolate with peppers, chocolate almonds and more.  The story Chocolat begins with Vianne Rocher and her six-year-old daughter Anouk arriving in the small village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes--"a blip on the fast road between Toulouse and Bordeaux"--during the carnival. Three days later, Vianne opens a luxuriant chocolate shop crammed with the most tempting of confections and offering a mouth-watering variety of hot chocolate drinks. It's Lent, the shop is opposite the church, it's open on Sundays and Francis Reynaud, the austere parish priest, is livid. One by one the locals succumb to Vianne's concoctions. Harris weaves their secrets and troubles, their loves and desires, into this, her third novel, with the lightest touch. Sad, polite Guillame and his dying dog. Thieving, beaten-up Joséphine Muscat. Schoolchildren who declare it "hypercool" when Vianne says they can help eat the window display--a gingerbread house complete with witch. And Armande, still vigorous in her eighties, who can see Anouk's "imaginary" rabbit Pantoufle, and recognises Vianne for who she really is. However, certain villagers-- including Armande's snobby daughter and Joséphine's violent husband--side with Reynaud. So when Vianne announces a Grand Festival of Chocolate commencing Easter Sunday, it's all-out war. War between church and chocolate, between good and evil, between love and dogma.    Reminiscent of Herman Hesse's short story Augustus, Chocolat is an utterly delicious novel, coated in the gentlest of magics, which proves--indisputably and without preaching--that soft centres are best. Lisa Gee    The music The base structure of strings and woodwinds that dominate composer Portman's works exists in full force here. Upon first listen to the score without any knowledge of the film's plot, the music seems either Italian or Spanish, heavy with guitar driven Mediterranean performances and an overly melodramatic Italian theme. Pieces ofChocolat even draw their roots from the Tuscany portions of Only You. And yet the film takes place in France, which isn't too much of a leap. The moments of ethnic outbursts  are easily the highlight of the score,  delegating them to traditional guitars and woodwinds rather than her favourite piano.  4. FRIED GREEN TOMATOES/ FOOD FILMS/ FILM MAIN Dir: Jon Avnet/ Prods: Jon Avnet and Jordan Kerner/ Screenplay: Fannie Flag and Carol Sobieske/Based on the book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café by Fannie Flag/ 1992/ 130 mins The 1930s story of two lifelong friends, Idgie and Ruth, is retold during the 1990s. The elderly Ninny Threadgoode tells their story to Evelyn Couch. Couch becomes entranced by their story and continues to visit Ninny Threadgoode in a nursing home so that she may learn more. Threadgood's stories about the two strong-willed women inspire Couch to become more assertive in her life. The stories focus on the early adult years of Idgie and Ruth. Ruth befriends Idgie and tries to get her to be more respectable. However, Idgie also manages to get Ruth to enjoy life more. Troubles start for the two when Ruth marries. Unfortunately, her husband's violent temper soon leads to his battering Ruth. Idgie manages to convince Ruth to leave him and the two found the Whistlestop Café. While most of this film revolves around the two women's friendship, there are plenty of small moments when one gets to see presumably mouth-watering food. Also, there are many food scenes at the Whistle Stop Café. In the first few moments one is treated to short clips of food laid out for a wedding meal. However the best scenes involve Idgie trying out a recipe for fried green tomatoes, this soon devolves into a food fight between Idgie and Ruth which eventually results in the town sheriff getting frosting smeared all over his face and shirt. The barbecued ribs that are served to the detective also appear mouth-watering until you learn their origin (yes, this charming story of friendship among women involves cannibalism). The meals that are prepared by Evelyn Couch are also quite appetizing; one meal is fried chicken and mashed potatoes, and later they consist of tofu. The food moments in this film are relatively few but there are sufficient shots to make this a good food film. 5. DIM SUM FUNERAL Genre: COMEDY / DRAMA / FAMILY Cast: Bai Ling Steph Song Talia Shire Julia Nickson Lisa Lu With Kelly Hu And Russell Wong Executive Producers: Tom Berry, Clark Peterson, Donald Martin, Ray Cuerdo, Stefan Wodoslawsky, Andy Reimer Producer: Jeffery Lando Written by: Donald MARTIN Director: Anna CHI Synopsis: In a stately home, sixty-something Mrs. Xiao (Lisa Lu) lies in her bed, immobile, eyes shut. Her longtime housekeeper and, some might say, her only friend, Viola Gruber (Talia Shire), a force of nature who’s been with the family since the kids were in diapers, must now call each of the four children to inform them their mother has passed away.   Eldest daughter Elizabeth (Julia Nickson) lives in Maui and is stuck in a marriage that is falling apart. Son Alexander (Russell Wong) is in Manhattan. A successful dermatologist, he’s married to a former Miss Taiwan (Kelly Hu) and cheating on her. Middle daughter Victoria (Francoise Yip) lives nearby. Victoria can’t stop nibbling on chips and chocolates … and can’t stop being angry with her mother. Youngest daughter Meimei (Steph Song) is the star of B-grade Hong Kong martial arts films. She’s gorgeous, funny, and a bit of a princess. She’s also in a lesbian relationship (Bai Ling) and looking to.have a baby.  All the Xiao children had issues with their mother. She was domineering, manipulative, controlling, imperious, meddlesome, selfish, secretive, rigid, and a bitch. The kids have issues with each other as well. Mrs. Xiao had made them compete for her affections, pitting one against the other, and, so, they came to view one another as opponents. And they still do.  Now, here they are, gathered in the mansion built by their late father … to bid farewell to their mother. Mrs. Xiao’s dying wish, Viola says, was to have a traditional Chinese funeral.  Coming together, albeit reluctantly, to carry out this traditional funeral, the four Xiao children discover each other all over again … and come to know their mother in ways they never fathomed, in this touching and funny look at family life.

Tari Pendet, Serampang Duabelas, Kuda Kepang, Mak Yong, Rasa Sayang, Terang Bulan dan Apa Lagi Yang INgin Ditelagahkan

Sepertinya terlalu banyak isu yang ingin digaduhkan dalam perebutan budaya. Pastinya perebutan ini adalah yang berlaku antara yang tidak tahu budaya apa budaya siapa, samada orang Malaysia, yang terkurang budaya terlebih makan atau orang Indonesia yang terlebih budaya terkurang makan. Saya belum tahu benar soal ini, tapi ingin investasi

Tiga Budak Melayu Sesat Jalan

Beberapa bulan lalu saya dengar yang Uitm dah menyiapkan sebuah filem feature berjudul "3 Budak Melayu". Salah satu lagi sebab kenapa saya nak tengok filem tersebut adalah kerana penulis lakonlayarnya, Hatta Azad Khan(saya lebih suka memanggilnya begitu daripada memanggilnya sebagai seorang Professor Dr, kerana beliau ingin bekerja sebagai seorang seniman bukan sebagai seorang professor filem). Bukan apa, beliau baru juga menayangkan filem terbarunya Wayang setelah lebih sepuluh tahun tidak membuat filem setelah Mat Som. Sebagai penggiat teater, saya begitu tertarik dengan karya-karya pentasnya seperti Jebat, Kerusi dan Mayat yang dihasilkan di akhir tahun 1970an, di zaman kemeriahan karya-karya teater kontemporari yang menghidangkan karya alternatif.

Ok ok, apapun skrang ni bukannya nak cite pasal penulisan-penulisannya yang lalu, tetapi tentang  filem "Tiga Budak Melayu: Sebuah filem Malaysia". Saya bertuah kerana mendapat copy dvd filem ini, filem terbitan UITM: FACT, honour showcase 2009 arahan Faizal Lockman Hakim atau Mamu Hakim. Saya tak tahu samada filem ini dah masuk ke mana-mana pertandingan di Malaysia atau di luar negeri. Kalau dah ada masuk dan memenangi apa-apa tahniahlah. Saya ni plak bukannya seorang pengajar pembuatan filem atau teori pengajian filem atau pembuat atau produser, tetapi hanyalah seorang penonton dan peminat filem Melayu yang suka mengamat keunikan filem kita. Tapi maaflah kalau bahasa saya tidak memenuhi citarasa sastera tinggi kerana dulu saya sekolah Melayu dan bila masuk ke ITM pada tahun 1982 semua matapelajaran diajarkan di dalam Bahasa Inggeris kecuali Agama Islam. Itulah kebaikannya berada di Zaman Mahathir, skrang ni dah berneza lagi zamannya, Zaman Najib. Pembuatan filem serta topik-topik filem juga sudah berubah sejak zaman peralihan dari Zaman Mahathir ke Zaman Abdullah dan kini Zaman Najib. Dunia juga sudah berubah, kita sudah berada di Zaman Global, Zaman Teknologi Maklumat, the Third Millenium. Gaya penceritaan dan gaya kamera juga sudah banyak berubah.

Tidak dapat tidak filem ini sememangnya terkait dengan politik yang sedang melanda negara, terutamanya ketika Malaysia sedang melanda suatu krisis baru, iaitu krisis etnik bangsa Malaysia, semasa Malaysia sedang bertukar arah mencari perdana menterinya yang baru, krisis persoalan siapakan masyarakat pribumi, siapa melayu dan siapa rakyat Malaysia yang perlu mendapat haknya. Sehinggakan pelajar-pelajar Uitm tergerak untuk mengadakan satu demonstrasi besar-besaran, iaitu seramai 5000 orang pada bulan Ogos 2008 yang menuntut bahawa Uitm hanyalah untuk bumiputera apabila isu itu dijolok oleh Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, Menteri Besar Selangor(PKR). Sekurang-kurangnya pelajar sudah mula berfikir kembali setelah lama mendiamkan diri atau didiamkan oleh Akta Universiti, yang mengakibatkan masalah graduan tidak berfikir, tetapi hanyalah semata-mata graduan untuk mendapat kelulusan di dalam bidangnya, sesuatu yang sangat menyedihkan!

Kerana itulah tajuk filem "Tiga Budang Melayu" menarik perhatian saya, kerana berfikir yang pelajar Uitm sudah mula berfikir kembali. Permulaan filem itu agak menarik dengan statemen2 tentang masalah pelajar Melayu dan golongan muda Melayu, yang dikatakan malas, lembab dan hodoh. Tetapi ternyata rujukan-rujukan yang dinyatakan bukannya tertumpu kepada 3 budak melayu yang menjadi tumpuan utama, sebaliknya merujuk kepada pelajar2 di dalam kelas 3 budak Melayu. Dari situ mungkin boleh dikatakan yang 3 budak Melayu yang menjadi fokus adalah pelajar-pelajar yang pintar, cepat dan cantik. Tetapi sebenarnya bukan itu yang terjadi. Filem ini bukanlah menceritakan tentang kebodohan, kemalasan, kelembapan dan kehodohan mereka. Filem ini juga bukan menonjolkan kelainan di dalam pembentukan identiti bangsa Melayu, samada mereka datang dari Utara, Selatan, Timur, Tengah di Tanah Melayu(Semenanjung Malaysia) atau Malaysia Timur(Borneo). Filem ini juga bukan bercerita tentang budaya Melayu yang berbeza, kampung versus bandar, dan bukan juga tentang keturunan yang berbeza, yang mempunyai darah India, darah Cina, darah Siam, atau darah Indonesia. Filem ini juga bukan menceritakan 3 budak Melayu yang membuat approach yang berbeza di dalam pembikinan filem, samada dari segi estetikanya ataupun pembiayaan filem mereka. Tetapi filem ini menceritakan 3 budak melayu yang ingin menyiapkan projek akhirnya, tetapi bukan juga menceritakan bagaimana ingin menyiapkan filem tersebut dari segi cerita atau estetikanya, tetapi tentang macamana nak membeli sebuah kamera. Kenapa tidak nyatakan di dalam judulnya, seperti "kamera" atau judul seperti "Saiful Nak Bikin Filem". Opps! maaf, nampakya judul itu kurang original kerana sudah ada yang pakai "Johnny Bikin Filem" wlaupun filemnya belum masuk2 lagi ke pawagam sejak tahun 1995.

Saya melihat filem ini seperti terlalu banyak masalah yang dihadapi, dari skrip dan ceritanya yang sudah keluar tajuk, teknik kameranya yang outdated, yang kelihatan seperti format sebuah drama tv tempatan, make-up yang melampau, terutamanya untuk lelaki, sound yang teruk, lagu yang terpotong-potong dan melompat-lompat dari satu adegan ke satu adegan yang lain, serta lakonan yang begitu mendatar yang langsung tidak melahirkan sesuatu ekspresi dalam lakonan. Ternyata pengambilan pelakon tambahan seperti Zaidi Omar, Liza Othman dan Radhi Khalid membuang masa mereka, terutamanya jika mereka tidak dibayar. Saya rasa untuk lakonan dan penampilan sedemikian rupa filem ini tidak perlu mengambil mereka. Lakonan Umi Kalsom(pensyarah Uitm) sudah mencukupi untuk tugas tersebut, maka tak perlulah memakai star-star dalam lakonan.

Saya juga menjadi agak bosan dan marah sikit dengan lawak-lawak bodoh yang ditampilkan seperti menjadi orang buta untuk membuat duit, seolah-olah menghina kaum buta yang mencari makan dengan cara tersebut. It's about time we move on from these kinds of jokes, supaya fikiran Melayu semakin maju. Kadangkala saya melihat luahan-luahan rasa tidak puas hati penulis lakonlayar di dalam filem ini yang membuat komentar tentang filem-filem Melayu di Malaysia, seperti filem-filem komedi Razak Mohiddin yang menjadi box office di pawagam, atau filem Mamat Khalid yang memenangi anugerah di festival filem malaysia dan mendapat anugerah di festival luar negara. Saya rasa seseorang pengarah filem atau penulis lakon layar yang ikhlas tidak harus memikirkan tentang di mana pasarannya atau seperti kata pepatah "Don't Count the Chicken Before They Are Hatched". Seorang penulis lakon layar atau pengarah filem harus menulis atau membuat filem tentang sesuatu yang dekat dengan dirinya agar lebih committed dan yakin. Apalagi apabila membuat sebuah filem untuk projek akhir pelajar. Saya sendiri tertarik dengan projek akhir Rudy Soejarwo "Bintang Jatuh" yang kemudiannya disambar produser filem Mira Lesmana dan Riri Reza untuk mengarah filem "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta" yang menukar arah industri filem Indonesia di tahun 2000.

Setelah menonton filem ini, saya berfikir panjang, dan bertanya apakah yang dipelajari oleh pelajar-pelajar filem masa kini, kerana saya merasakan yang pengarah filem ini seperti menjadi hilang punca, bermula dari tajuk yang berbeza dan kemudiannya berjalan menyimpang-yimpang ke arah yang merata-rata dan kemudiannya berakhir dengan sesuatu yang jauh berbeza lagi. Saya juga bertanya kenapa tidak tiga budak melayu itu membuat filem-filem pendek yang berbeza tetapi digabungkan dalam satu filem dengan topik awal yang sama atau tiga orang watak yang berbeza yang akhirnya bertemu dan bersatu dalam satu cerita. tentunya pelajar-pelajar ini sudah banyak menonton filem-filem, samada filem Hollywood, Bollywood, Kollywood, Hong Kong, Korea atau Mollywood, yang merujuk kepada filem Melayu Studio Jalan Ampas, Ulu Kelang, P.Ramlee, Romai Noor, Jins Samsuddin, Rahim Razali, Yasmin Ahmad, Mamat Khalid, Khabir Batia, Amir Muhamad, James Lee, Tan Chui Mui, Woo Min Jin, Depak Kumaran atau filem siapapun.

Sebagai pengarah filem yang cerdik, seharusnya beliau sudah pandai mendekonstruksikan skrip/ lakon layar/ cerita dengan menggunakan teknik-teknik penceritaan yang berbeza. Pengarah haruslah belajar menjadi keras dan tidak terpengaruh dengan penulis lakon layar, produser atau penonton. Itulah pengarah yang berjaya menegakkan karyanya. Kerana menjadi seorang pengarah filem yang baik bukanlah sekadar memiliki sebuah kamera!!!

Tulisan Seni Visual: Si Pahlawan Pelangi Rafiee Ghani

Rainbow Warrior - Pahlawan Pelangi:

Membaca Karya Lukisan Rafiee Ghani

 

Sewaktu mendengar ungkapan judul pameran terkini Raffie Ghani, “Rainbow Warrior”, ada beberapa perkara yang terbayang dalam kepala; pertama, filem “Hang Tuah” arahan P.Ramlee yang asalnya dibikin dalam bentuk filem hitam putih (1956) dan kemudiannya diwarnakan menggunakan tangan. Mungkin kerana perkataan “Warrior” atau pahlawan atau pendekar itu yang membayangkan Pahlawan “Hang Tuah”, seorang pahlawan yang memperjuangkan kesetiaannya kepada raja dan negaranya. Terbayang juga, judul muzikal Andrew Lloyd Webber “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” yang memungkinkan ungkapan kata “Technicolour” yang menghubungkan judul “Rainbow” dengan warna-warna pelanginya.  Tetapi yang paling ketara adalah palitan warna-warna cat yang terungkai di dalam lukisan para Impressionis, Pasca-Impresionis, Nabis dan Fauvism seperti Gaugin, Van Gogh, Matisse, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard dan Paul Serusier. Apabila membaca tulisan Mulyadi Mahamood (1996) “A Stylistic Analysis of Rafiee’s Intimisme” dalam The Painted Garden, ternyata terjahan-terjahan pemikiran saya tidak jauh dari tulisan itu. Mulyadi menyentuh yang karya-karya Rafiee Ghani mempunyai satu pautan dengan para Seniman Besar Perancis yang kita namakan “Para Dewa Seni Moden”. Karya-karya Rafiee yang bertindih-tindih elemennya, antara Nabis dan Fauvisim serta antara Timur dan Barat yang Rafiee sendiri jelaskan sebagai “Timeless Quality” melahirkan sesuatu yang baru, yang juga bersifat universal.

 

Gerakan kumpulan seni yang memanggil diri mereka sebagai “Les Nabis” (Gerakan Pasca-Impressionis Avant-Garde Perancis sekitar 1890an) tidak kekal lama dan tidak diketengahkan secara menyeluruh, ianya paling menyerlah dalam karya Paul Serusier berjudul “Talisman”. Paul Gaugin menjadi penasihat untuk kumpulan ini memperjuangkan falsafah “Les Nabis” yang mementingkan pendekatan pembacaan serta pemikiran dan praktik studio. Sehingga kini kita dapat melihat yang Rafiee Ghani masih mengamalkan praktik-praktik ini, dari buku-buku lakaran kecil Moleshkines berkulit hitam kepada lakaran berwarna yang lebih besar, untuk menguji warna, sebelum dikembangkan kepada lukisan pencil atas kertas atau cat minyak di atas kanvas.

 

Dari tulisan-tulisan tentang pengembaraan dan pencarian seninya di Asia, Australia, Eropah dan Amerika, serta perbualan dengan beliau, kita dapat tahu bahawa beliau adalah seorang yang suka membaca, samada membaca tulisan-tulisan tentang ilmu seni, falsafah serta sejarah atau membaca gambaran-gambaran kenyataan tampak dan symbol yang tersurat dan tersirat. Kepada seorang seniman yang mementingkan proses berkarya, sudah tentunya beliau begitu menghargai memori, pengalaman dan ekspresi, dan itulah yang dicurahkan ke dataran kanvas atau lataran kertas. Memori-pengalaman-ekspresi itulah yang disusun rapi dalam warna-warna pelangi yang segarnya menjulang dengan penuh buak jiwa dan rasa.

 

Matisse yang terkenal kerana penggunaan warnanya yang hidup, gah dan bersifat original serta kepakarannya dalam menggunakan warna-warna secara expresif, telah menjadikan beliau salah satu ikon utama dalam seni lukis moden, samalah juga sifatnya dengan Rafiee Ghani. Oleh kerana itulah Rafiee sering dilihat sebagai Matisse Malaysia di tahun-tahun 1980an. Walaupun karya-karyanya di dalam himpunan “Hanging Garden Series” lebih bersifat Abstract Expressionism, khalayak lebih mengingati beliau kerana himpunan karya dalam “Kebun Sultan Series”, “Le Jardin Series”, “Room of Flowers”, “Oriental Afternoon” dan “Painted Garden”. Sebagai pelukis yang berbakat besar dan terlatih, beliau juga pernah menghasilkan karya-karya cat air, cat minyak serta printmaking(etching) yang meneliti pemandangan, bangunan, still life serta figura. Tetapi karya-karya terkenalnya hanya menunjuk ke arah lukisan pemandangan dalam rumah(interior) dan luar rumah(exterior) yang tidak mempunyai unsur manusia, mungkin ini adalah pengaruh gerakan abstract expressionism di Malaysia pada ketika itu yang mulai menjauh dari lukisan figura hasil dari pengajian dan pengaruh guru-gurunya di Institut Teknologi Mara, pertandingan-pertandingan seni di Balai Seni Lukis Negara serta arus penerapan nilai Islam dalam kehidupan orang Melayu Muslim di Malaysia. Rafiee tidak langsung memasukkan figura ke dalam lukisannya pada tahun 1980an dan 1990an, berlainan dengan idolanya Matisse yang akan meletakkan figura-figura wanita di dalam ruang-ruang dalaman rumah. Jika dikatakan yang Matisse melukis dari alam, termasuk figura manusia dan “still life”nya, Pablo Picaso pula lebih berkarya dari imajinasinya. Rafiee pula membawa kedua-dua elemen alam dan still life serta imaginasi ke dalam karya lukisannya, iaitu gabungan imaginasi dan observasi. Rafiee tidak pernah dilabelkan sebagai pelukis Melayu Islam yang menampilkan karya-karya islamiknya kerana telah ada ikon karya islamik ketika itu, rakan baiknya, Yusof Ghani pula dilabelkan sebagai pelukis Abstract Expressionism Malaysia.

 

Rafiee Ghani pula sebenarnya adalah seorang seniman “Nabis Islamik” tanpa mengemukakan tulisan-tulisan khat khufi dan thuluth serta rekaan-rekaan arabesque di dalam karyanya. Sebaliknya, beliau berjaya menterjemah dan menampilkan sari kehidupan kebudayaan Islam di negara-negara Mediterranean yang saling mempengaruhi antara timur dan baratnya, seberang menyeberangi Laut Mediterranean, yang banyak persamaannya dengan kehidupan dan kebudayaan warga nusantara atau Malay archipelago yang sering dibilang orang perancis sebagai Asiatik (tidak termasuk orang Afrika dan Arab). Pengaruh-pengaruh ini bukan hanya lahir dari ketaksubannya kepada Para Dewa Seni Moden Perancis, yang kebanyakannya merujuk kepada Selatan Perancis, Negara-negara seberang Laut Mediterranean seperti Nigeria, Morroco dan Algeria serta kehidupan lain di Afrika dan Pasifik. Walaupun petunjuk dan pencarian mereka kepada suatu bentuk baru di dalam dunia seni di Eropah ketika itu bersifat Orientalis, mereka telah berjaya menemukan bentuk-bentuk serta warna-warna baru. Picaso sendiri mendapat idea mengembangkan bentuknya dari patung-patung di Africa. Pengembaraan dan penjelajahan juga telah membawa Rafiee Ghani ke Negara-negara Afrika dan Eropah, sebagai pengalaman baru kepada sebuah pencarian. Rafiee Ghani telah berhijrah, bekerja dan bermastautin di Seychelles(Afrika kecil di Lautan Hindi - 1,000 batu dari Afrika, 7 jam penerbangan dari Malaysia, beberapa jam ke Johannesburg, dua jam dari Mauritius) yang agak “isolated”, sama seperti negeri kelahiran ibunya, Kelantan. Kelantan, walaupun mempunyai sejarah kerajaan hindu-buddha Chih-Tu(Tanah Merah), Langkasuka, Chermin, Sri Wijaya, Majapahit dan hubungan dengan Chola, Angkor, dan Ayutthaya serta kemudiannya mempunyai hubungan yang rapat dengan kerajaan islam Champa, Pattani dan Melaka, menghasilkan karya seni Islam yang luar biasa dalam ukiran kayu, tenunan, songket, perak, emas, batik, permainan termasuk wau yang penuh aneka warna dengan mengabadikan ilham flora tanpa menampilkan figura manusia dan binatang di dalamnya. Warna-warna di dalam lukisan-lukisan Rafiee jelas membayangkan memori warna dari zaman kanak-kanaknya yang diabadikan dari warna-warna dan rekaan waunya, rebana ubi, wayang kulit, songket, limar, tenunan serta batik sarong. Melihat kembali zaman kanak-kanak dan remajanya ternyata ianya penuh warna, bukan hanya memori kereta merah ford milik ibunya, tetapi juga ketulan cat biru milik bapanya serta warna-warna pen magic di sekolan rendah.

 

Ternyata, memori inilah juga yang menjadi tunjang karya-karya terbaru Rafiee Ghani, “Rainbow Warrior” (Pahlawan Pelangi) yang melihat kembali zaman kanak-kanaknya melalui tubuh anaknya sebagai model utama. Ini pula mengingatkan saya kepada judul filem Hollywood pada tahun 1985, “Back To the Future” tulisan Robert Zemeckis dan Bob Gale, arahan Robert Zemeckis, lakonan utama oleh Michael J.Fox. Majoriti himpunan karya Rafiee Ghani di dalam “Rainbow Series” pula berkisar sekitar tubuh seorang kanak-kanak serta portret-portretnya yang bersifat spontan dan bersahaja tetapi punyai penuh gaya dan lagak(attitude). Sesekali kita melihat postur-postur tubuh kanak-kanak itu seperti sedang menari. Itulah yang pertama-tamanya menarik perhatian kita. Kita di Malaysia pernah dihidangkan dengan karya-karya yang terilham dari studi tentang tubuh dan tari seperti karya Amron Omar, Yusuf Ghani dan Sivanatarajah. Di Indonesia, karya-karya berunsur tari sejak zaman kolonial seperti Le Mayeur, Antonio Blanco serta pelukis Indonesia seperti Srihadi dan Affendi yang kini telah menjadi semacam tradisi lukisan tubuh dan tari. Di barat pula kita tidak dapat lari dari merujuk kepada karya-karya yang berunsur tari dari Edgar Degar, seperti karya “Dancers at the Bar” dan “ballet Rehearsal”. Tapi apa yang juga menjadi perhatian kita adalah karya-karya “Woman in Bath” oleh Edgar Degar yang hanya menampakkan bahagian belakang tubuh wanita serta studi-studi tubuh oleh Henri Matisse, Francine Van Hove dan Auguste Rodin.

 

Apa yang menarik dalam karya figura dan tubuh Rafiee Ghani kali ini adalah pemilihan kanak-kanak lelaki belum baligh sebagai sabjeknya, sekaligus seolah-olah menampilkan pendiriannya yang masih teguh berpegang kepada aliran Nabis islamiknya. Tetapi apa yang lebih menyerlah bukanlah hanya tentang studi gerak dan bahasa tubuh tetapi impian, harapan dan cita-cita seorang kanak-kanak. Bak kata Edward de Bono yang memperkenalkan “Lateral Thinking” dalam Pemikiran Kreatif, “Untuk menjadi kreatif, kita perlu menjadi seperti kanak-kanak kembali, kerana kita bebas berfikir dan berkreasi tanpa batasan-batasan yeng menyempitkan pandangan kita”. Di sini kita melihat Rafiee Ghani membiarkan dirinya membayangkan seorang kanak-kanak yang bebas berfikir dan bermimpi untuk menjadi apa saja yang dia mahu, dari menjadi seorang ahli bomba, pengutip bunga jasmin, pembisik bayang, pengamat alam, peniti buih ombak hinggalah menjadi seorang superhero yang ingin menyelamatkan dunia dari bencana. Meskipun begitu rupa impian, cita-cita, perasaan dan harapannya, bayang-bayangnya juga tetap melahirkan warna-warna seribu cahaya yang menjadi bekal hingga ke malam, kerana dia adalah seorang Pahlawan Pelangi.

Muslim Voize Festival in NYC

Youssou N'Dour Headlines BAM's Ambitious, Overdue 'Muslim Voices' Festival

By Tad Hendrickson

Tuesday, June 2nd 2009 at 3:44pm

• Courtesy Muslim Voices Festival

  

  Youssou N'Dour, back in the U.S.A.

Dick Cheney is having a hard time letting go, but cowboy diplomacy is on the wane here in the United States—ask President Obama. Nevertheless, the Muslim culture and faith remains misunderstood, at best, and demonized, at worst, by many Americans, so to counter some of those uncertainties and misperceptions, BAM, the Asia Society, and NYU's Center for Dialogues are presenting "Muslim Voices: Arts & Ideas," an extensive festival running June 5 to 14.

The program includes music, film, and theater by more than 100 Muslim artists from as far away as Indonesia and as nearby as Brooklyn. Highlights include a live performance by Senegal's Youssou N'Dour (arguably Africa's biggest music star), who'll be represented by a new, award-winning documentary as well. There will also be Sufi music from Morocco's Aissawa Ensemble and France's Al Taybah Ensemble, Persian classical from Iranian singer Parissa, and maqam from Palestinian singer Kamilya Jubran.

"Muslim Voices" will also provide a litmus test as to how things have changed within a government bureaucracy now serving an administration more interested in dialogue with its global neighbors. In the past, the Office of Homeland Security has been particularly stingy in granting performance visas to male artists from the Middle East, Africa, and Cuba. As of press time, though, all artists for this fest have been cleared. "My inviting these artists to New York City, there has been nothing but positive-ness," says BAM executive producer Joseph V. Melillo. "It's amazing how it's gone in the opposite direction so quickly—from the extraordinary negativity in the Bush administration to this openness and positive-ness about what is possible through art and culture."

Artists feel that transformation, too. In 2003, N'Dour cancelled a U.S. tour in protest over the Iraq invasion. "At that time, canceling the tour was the only thing in my head to protest," N'Dour explains, recently speaking on the phone from Senegal. "This war was not good for the United States or the rest of the world. What I appreciate is that, since then, people are now more open and more appreciative."

While N'Dour (who's toured the States since) is famous for his highly danceable brand of music called mbalax, his 2004 album Egypt paired lyrics addressing his Sufi strain of the Muslim faith with the sounds of a distinctly Arabic orchestra. His Senegalese fans were not happy about their biggest pop star talking about the Koran and celebrating religious figures, but the album was universally acclaimed abroad and won a Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album, a predicament and success story explored in Chai Vasarhelyi's excellent new film I Bring What I Love, which will be screened as part of "Muslim Voices."

"The time is now to show the face of everything, but really the face of Islam," says N'Dour, hoping the film shows audiences who he is as both a Muslim and an artist. "A long time ago, I thought something like that wasn't going to happen in the United States, but in the last six years, I was thinking that we need to use what we have to promote something that is really important."

The concept of intercultural dialogue is further tested on June 13, when Qawwali singer Faiz Ali Faiz and his ensemble join Craig Adams & the Voices of New Orleans on BAM's stage for a touring project called the Gospel Qawwali Creation. "I think it's going to be controversial, because whenever you deal with two religions together, it's going to be controversial," says Adams. "But music is something that everybody understands. Whether its Qawwali or gospel, it's geared toward touching people with peace, joy, love, and happiness."

It's altogether appropriate that this festival is happening in a city once victimized by terrorism. We've seen the worst from the extremists; now it's time to experience the best from the artists. "The depth of the artistry and their own personal aesthetic is going to be a great discovery to New York City," promises Melillo. "This is one of the great cultural reservoirs that has not been researched."

For a complete 'Muslim Voices' schedule and other info, visit muslimvoicesfestival.org