GUARDIANS OF THE FOREST (documentary on the Temuan released in 2000)

Published on 14 Mar 2014

This film documents the plight of Malaysia's indigenous people, the Orang Asli, in their losing struggle to retain their traditional way of life in a rapidly developing nation. Pressures to renounce their beliefs, assimilate with Malay culture and make way for the modern world, are shredding the very fabric of Orang Asli life and culture.

We learn about the heartbreaking choices that a small community of Temuan Orang Asli face as they are about to be displaced by a giant dam project. The film also unveils chilling truths that speak to the decline of indigenous peoples all over the world.

Filmed in the lush Malaysian rainforest in the year 2000, this documentary provides a rare insight into a little-known community and introduces us to their haunting stories and songs.

Produced by Mary Maguire
Directed by Alan D'Cruz
Script by Antares & Rehman Rashid
Music by Akar Umbi
Narrated by Rehman Rashid
Featuring the voices of Huzir Sulaiman, Sandra Sodhy, Rafique Rashid & Jane D'Cruz
with a cameo appearance by Sherry Siebel

Executive Producer: Andrew Bird
Released & distributed by Verado Films, UK


[First posted 6 June 2014]

Oh Yes I Support Malaysian Authors 😍 (repost)

May Lee (a well-named marketing executive at MPH) welcomes me to the
Malaysian Authors' High Tea at MPH 1 Utama

Whenever I manage to get a book published I'm fashionable for at least six months. I've been getting invites from MPH to appear in the Merdeka issue of Quill, their in-house magazine; last Saturday there was this forum hosted by MPH on where Malaysia's book industry is heading (don't know why, but the word "industry" makes me shudder).

And next week (3-4 PM on Sunday, September 9th) I'll be giving a short talk on "Mythology in the Digital Age" at MPH Mid-Valley (to which everybody is cordially invited - pick up a copy of Tanah Tujuh and I'll happily scribble on the title page!)

At Saturday's Malaysian Authors Forum I found myself sitting behind Rehman Rashid, whom I hadn't seen in... well, quite a while.

Rehman was his usual larger-than-life comic-book Titan self. It was good to see somebody familiar in that room full of unknown faces (quite a few very prettily framed in designer hijabs). Maybe there are more Malaysians writing books than those actually reading them?

First-time novelist Kam Raslan was conspicuously absent - but I guess his book is doing well enough (a brilliant read, by the way, if you haven't picked up a copy of Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures).

There was talk of getting all Malaysian authors to form themselves into a guild. Apparently this may be the only way we'll ever break through the protective walls surrounding the literary game in the UK and the US (where the big money presumably is). Only as a organized collective will Malaysian authors have sufficient clout to set up their own literary agency and send representatives to hobnob with the movers and shakers. That's roughly what it takes to break into the global book market, according to those in the know.

I'm not much of a joiner myself - and I doubt if many writers are. Writing books is pretty much the domain of solitary types who enjoy the quietude and tranquility of the graveyard shift. Even if we do manage, out of pure self-interest, to assemble all at once and form ourselves into the semblance of a guild, it's almost a foregone conclusion that the administrative aspects will have to be farmed out to more pragmatic minds. In the end, the writers guild will most likely be hijacked by the few natural-born hustlers amongst us who get a real buzz out of entrepreneurial exertions.

In any case I can't help wondering what a Malaysian - brought up to be polite and face-giving and acutely conscious of other people's sensitivities - might have to say to the world at large. Since we've been told from a tender age never to use swear words or make fun of others - and that it's an absolute no-no to ever speak ill of VVIPs or even mention crooked judges and corrupt ministers - will we end up churning out cook book after cook book? After all, food is undeniably our unifying passion.

That's right, in Malaysia we're very good at cari makan - not cari makna!*

And yet, Malaysians have gained worldwide notoriety for three things: destroying forests by exporting loggers, committing credit card fraud with impunity, and using abusive language and venting unmitigated rage on web forums. Maybe e-publishing is what we ought to stick with?

Literary blogger Chet accosted me while I was assuaging my hunger with a few hastily swallowed curry puffs and introduced me to a svelte young lady named Choong Kwee Kim who recently published her first illustrated children's book - Ah Fu, The Rickshaw Coolie. What to do, I had to buy a copy for my grandson Max who turned seven on August 28th. Of course, I read it before wrapping it up. Excellent drawings, lovely story, Kwee Kim, very well done indeed!

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*Trans: cari makan = look for food (earn our keep); cari makna = look for meaning (quest for self-knowledge)

[First posted 30 August 2007]

TOO LATE LAH, UMNO!

Umno General Assembly 2007 (from The Star)


I had a good laugh reading this report in Malaysiakini. All these belligerent and blustering Umno warlords clamoring for Abdullah Badawi's resignation seem to believe the present PM bears all the blame for Umno's fatal injuries in the recent elections.

The truth is that a vast majority of Malaysians across the racial and cultural spectrum voted against the dead-end feudal mindset in which these Umno diehards are trapped. To them, replacing Dollah with someone "ferocious" (read "intimidating") and prepared to re-establish Umno's dominance by every means available - including authoritarian rule - will salvage the wreckage of Umno's pride. They forget that the original Umno effectively died in February 1988 during the battle of two Umno titans - Mahathir and Ku Li - and that the current Umno (Baru) was a hastily slapped-together sham of a political party that has no agenda, ideology or vision apart from serving to enrich its leaders at the public expense.

These dinosaurian and parochial Umno minds only understand a world that's already passing - a neo-feudal paradigm in which the elite feed parasitically off docile and ignorant serfs who applaud their every emptyheaded utterance.

3D Map of the WorldWideWeb

Too late lah. The rest of us have already shifted into the digital age which mimics the fractal, self-replicating nature of the internet - a technological quantum jump that, more effectively than any form of indoctrination, democratizes virtual reality... and then actual reality itself. In cyberspace the center is nowhere and everywhere and decentralization is how memes spread at lightspeed along optic-fibre networks - the same way thought travels through neural circuits within us and modifies our behaviors and perceptions.

When Rehman Rashid (left) of the NST ranted against the rising tide of uncouth and "unqualified" bloggers - whom he despises for their ability to reach a worldwide readership despite shortcomings like a semi-literate command of English or outright naïvety, gaucheness and even immaturity - he was really lamenting the transition from traditional hierarchies to an embryonic egalitarianism wherein somebody like Lilian Chan with strong personal opinions - but whose writing style marks her as the woman-in-the-street - can blog about whatever she damn well pleases and attract a massive cult following.

Take the legendary blogger Jeff Ooi (right) for example: even with his less-than-elegant command of English, Ooi not only succeeded in making a career out of blogging but actually used the publicity generated by NST's lawsuit against him to launch his new career as a Pakatan Rakyat MP. That's kungfu for you!

In any case, such myopic and noisome outbursts from the remnants of Umno - apart from their entertainment value as slapstick political comedy - can only strengthen the Pakatan Rakyat government-in-waiting by making their vision of a de-ethnicized and democratized management style all the more appealing. So let's have more of it, please.