Sunday October 12, 2008
It’s an Emergency
The upcoming Emergency Festival! will offer a zesty, unconventional look at one of the most difficult times in our nation’s history.
A STATE of Emergency will be declared this Thursday - artistically speaking, that is. To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the nation’s Emergency against the communists, a bold “buffet spread” of works by young (and young-ish!) dramatists, filmmakers, musicians, visual artists and designers will be staged from Oct 16-26 at the Annexe, Central Market in Kuala Lumpur.
What on earth is all this about? For those who know Hollywood better than our own history, the Emergency was basically our version of the Vietnam War, except that local communist guerillas began an armed revolution back in 1948 not against the Americans, but against our British colonial rulers.
The current bunch of artistic guerillas want to make the masses arise too. And so, they have fired up this Emergency Festival! to show that history - rather then being limited to old fusty-dusty characters - can be dynamic, relevant and perhaps even ... sexy.
The seven co-curators of the ‘Emergency Festival!’ are (from left) Mark Teh, Wong Tay Sy, Hari Azizan, Grey Yeoh (holding map), Fahmi Reza, Norman Teh and Fahmi Fadzil. The group’s base, at the Five Arts Centre office, may be located in the upmarket Taman Tun Dr Ismail neighbourhood of KL, but the decor - including a wayang kulit puppet and Che Guevara poster - is more egalitarian.
Theatre worker/educator Mark Teh, 27, one of the seven co-curators of the event says that the Emergency was actually an anti-colonial war.
“But the British didn’t want to call it that otherwise insurance claims would not be valid!” he quips.
“But despite the trauma then, that was also the golden era of P.Ramlee movies, where everybody dressed up beautifully and danced the joget.”
On a more serious note, he says that the event is relevant to our times too.
“We live in politically uncertain times now too. Is change on the horizon? People talk of another Emergency being declared ...”
The cast of ‘New Village People and Pineapple Rice’. Hari Azizan, in her 30s, is another one of the festival’s co-curators and says the group wanted to give “voice” to the people’s history.
“For the 50th Merdeka celebrations last year, it was all (mostly) about the political leaders. But how about ordinary people? What price did they pay to struggle for independence?”
Hari adds that while many Malaysians may not agree with communism we can still learn lessons from that era.
“We have to ask, how far would someone go to fight for freedom? They also fought for a free Malaya against the British. We have to acknowledge that they were also part of our history.”
It is said that those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. So how did the British defeat the communist rebellion? Was it merely through brute force and mass arrests under the ISA? Or did they have a more intelligent strategy?
It is hoped that the Emergency Festival! will answer some of those questions. Here is a look at some of the events on offer:
Can a social movement live on after its leaders have been arrested? ‘Operasi Oktober’ performers Janet Moo, Mislina Mustaffa, Mohammad Hariry and Lim Chung Wei will address that question. Film Screenings: Revolusi ’48 (8.30pm, Oct 20-26) and 10 Tahun Sebelum Merdeka (8pm, Oct 20), both directed by Fahmi Reza, with a special director’s commentary on Oct 23.
Fahmi’s 10 Tahun won the Most Outstanding Human Rights Film at the 2007 Freedom Film Festival, and has become something of an “alternative” favourite since, what with the Internet’s Youtube and small screenings nationwide.
“People keep asking me, how come this is not taught in our school history lessons?’ says Fahmi, 31.
10 Tahun is about the peaceful struggle for a People’s Constitution, including the nation-wide hartal (strike) of 1947. But now, in his follow-up, Revolusi 48, he focuses on the armed revolution against British colonial rule.
“Why did they choose to take up arms in 1948?” asks Fahmi, who is also a self-taught graphic designer. “People looking back now may pass judgement against it, but back then, the people felt they had no choice as they had already exhausted all other legal and peaceful means. History has called them terrorists but what is their side of the story?’’
10 Tahun shows how Malays and Chinese had already come together in 1947 - before Umno and MCA formed an electoral “alliance” in 1952 - in another multi-racial coalition called PUTERA-AMCJA (Pusat Tenaga Rakyat - All Malaysia Council for Joint Action) with equal rights as one Bangsa Malaya.
“But the British were against this (left-wing) coalition and arrested many of the leaders. They were also smart in their propaganda to play one race against another,” recalls Fahmi.
“The British called them bandits and criminals, but they were actually engaged in an anti-colonial war of independence similar to the Palestinians.”
He notes that when the British declared the Emergency, it was like the War on Terror declared by President Bush (following Sept 11).
"I am telling a story about people who were young back in 1948, people who were really willing to lose their lives to fight for Merdeka"- FAHMI REZA Fahmi says many youths, including himself, hated history in school.
“They can’t see the relevance (of the subject). But my story is about people who were young back in 1948, people who were really willing to lose their lives to fight for Merdeka. Just like we sing, Negaraku, tanah tumpahnya darahku...(my country, the land where I spill my blood).”
He visited former communist guerillas now living in the peace villages of south Thailand.
“They are wary of the media. When they were interviewed by RTM and TV3, the reports were twisted. So when TV3 went to the villages again, they were chased out. But they were open to me, after I showed them my first movie.”
He is now totally immersed in documenting these semi-forgotten “oral histories”.
“The leaders like Chin Peng already have their memoirs. But this story is about ordinary people. It’s a race against time. Many of the former fighters have already passed away.”
In fact, he learnt so much and there was no way he could include everything in his movie. Thus, he will also be giving daily lectures throughout the festival to share the social history of the “forgotten” Malayan Revolution of 1948.
Play: New Village People and Pineapple Rice, directed by Hari Azizan (8.30pm, Oct 21-26; tickets RM20/RM10)
Hari, who is a journalist with The Star, directs a performance that looks at how the lives of two good friends change forever when they are forced by the British army to leave everything behind and start afresh in a New Village during the Emergency.
“The two are oppressed by both the British and the communists, and they learn how to survive despite taking different sides,” she says.
This was part of the mass forced resettlement scheme to move people from their farms near jungle areas to cut off the communists from their supporters.
“The British didn’t know who was or was not a communist. They just moved everybody,” Hari says. “From interviews, I found out how people were literally pulled out from their old homes. Some families were separated. The British promised that they would give them land, but till now many New Villages only have TOL (temporary occupation license) for their land.”
Some survival strategies saw people hiding rice inside hollowed-out pineapples and very thin paper newsletters rolled up and hidden inside pens.
Why did she choose this topic?
“Every day I pass by Salak South New Village in Kuala Lumpur. In fact, there are over 450 New Villages in the country. Yet their original significance has been forgotten,’’ she says.
Play: Operasi Oktober, directed by Fahmi Fadzil (8.30pm, Oct 16-19)
Performer and writer Fahmi Fadzil, 27, directs a performance that looks at the beginning of the Emergency.
“It’s based on actual history, where many political activists met up in Kem Se-Malaya in May 1948 to plan how to oppose the British.
“They had anticipated starting their rebellion in September that year. But in June, the Sungai Siput incident happened (where the communists killed three British planters) and the Emergency was declared. Many of their leaders were arrested by the British.”
Operasi Oktober is a play about a play where four young people are tasked with creating a performance on Malaysian history. They come for the meeting but the organiser has disappeared. How will the show go on without a leader?
It will ask the larger questions: Are people merely sheep who follow orders? Or can they also take the initiative to continue their cause?
“We were interested because we saw how movements like Hindraf could still continue despite their leaders’ ISA detentions,” says the director.
Interactive exhibition: 12 Years, curated by Wong Tay Sy, Norman Teh and Grey Yeoh (11am to 5pm, Oct 16-26)
This exhibition will examine the notion that “the victor writes history while the loser fades away…”
It hopes to present history in a fresh, multi-angled and interactive exhibition rather than in the way that most Malaysians are accustomed to.
“When we speak of Merdeka, it’s always images of the Tunku,” says Grey Yeoh, 24.
“But there were other images too. There have been memoirs by former communist leaders like Chin Peng. But what about (stories about) the people themselves?”
One exhibition room will be a recreation of a New Village.
“People were sometimes moved about three or four times as the initial structures were badly built,” recalls Norman Teh, 23. “Our exhibition will also have warped houses to reflect that. There will also be barbed wire, as the New Villages were surrounded by it.
More chillingly, there will also be a room for the massacre at Batang Kali, Selangor.
“The British claimed to have successfully killed 28 ‘bandits’. But three survived to tell the real story. They were actually rubber tappers,” says Wong Tay Sy, 23.
Then there is a Propaganda Room, which commemorates how, for instance, the British produced 36 million leaflets between June and Dec 1948 alone.
“We will be showing a Wall of Propaganda which will also include commercial propaganda which we now call advertisements,” says Teh.
Make history
FOR the We! Will! Wikipedia! The Emergency! event, the organisers are looking for 100 people to collaborate with them to create as well as expand the entries on Malaysian history on Wikipedia.
Each person will be given an hour shift to input their own research (or someone else’s) on the festival’s computer at the Annexe, Central Market, KL. Email mark.teh@gmail.com for more information.
What else is on
THE Re:Search Re:Source event, curated by Mark Teh, will be on from Oct 16 - 26). Activities include:
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