Wrap of 14 Weeks of MMC Class

14 weeks has just passed in a blink of an eye. It is really, really fast. To be honest, I have learned a lot throughout these 14 weeks of class. At the first few weeks of classes, I was a little bored by the political issues that we discussed in class as I am not interested in politics.

However, as time goes by, I realize that in our daily life, no matter what we do, somehow would really related to politics. For example, what I have learned the most in this class is actually about our human rights (because of the group assignment). Many people may think that custody death is like, non of their business. But in fact, this is a serious issue. It is because that many people have this mindset, or they did not do anything about it even when they know about it. No public pressure is given to the government to look into this issues. What if the one who is locked in custody was you? Or your friends or family? Many people may think that it is impossible, but nothing is impossible. We never know what is going to happen in the future. We must know our own human rights so that we can protect ourselves. Without the knowledge of our human rights, the higher authority may abuse their power to bully you. A common example that we, as a normal citizen may face is when we were blocked by the police. According to our lecturers, we have the rights to ask the police for the reason to block us. Sometimes they will just threaten us just to get some "duit kopi".

Of course, I have also gained knowledge on the cultural performances/performing arts of the Kelantan-ese. 

What I remember the most from this class was actually the presentation of the Thai students. I love how they share their knowledge and culture with us in class and it was a really great experience that I had in class. 

Thanks for the awesome class Dr Carmen, Dr Andrew and Ms Ezzati! I have indeed learned a lot from this MMC class.

The Best MMC Presentation Group

To be honest, I think that EVERYONE has done a good job presenting their hard work today. I know that everyone has put a lot of effort in doing this assignment but the one group that I enjoyed the most during the presentation today was the "All in One" group. Their topic is about transgender. 

Transgender itself is an interesting word. It is indeed an interesting topic to work on. People nowadays are more open to the transgenders. In this group's presentation, they showed their interview session with the strangers public, including the students, adults and elderly. Most of the adults and elderly they interviewed said that they cannot accept transgenders, mainly because that they think that transgenders are breaking the norms and are a weird group of people. 

Therefore, Group "All in One" has presented a hilarious yet impactful play. This play is based on true real life story of the interviewee whom they interviewed. 

Throughout their whole presentation, the last sentence that Simon said really hits me hard. He said to the audience who were laughing hard at his character and his acting skill, (I cant remember the whole sentence but it was something like) "Ah laugh, this is what the transgender gets what they're mistreat by others"

Simon (left) acts as a transgender talking to Pei Wen (right) who acts as a police

Reflection of Our MMC Group Presentaion

After putting so much effort doing our assignment, it is time for us to present it to our fellow coursemates and lecturers. Since creativity counts, our group "We Don't Care" decided to add a short play before we start presenting. The play started with Teoh Beng Hock is being abused in the custody by MACC officer (which is played by me), and then the next day TBH is found dead and until now, the truth is not revealed yet. 

Left - TBH
Right - MACC Officer

I personally think that our play was not really clear and impactful as we are lack of rehearsals. Other than that, I think that we have done a good job in researching, collecting information, and interviewing the people who have more knowledge on our topic, which is related to human rights and student rights.  

Freedom Film Fest 2016

I went to the Freedom Film Fest (FFF) that was introduced by our lecturers at Jaya One yesterday. I only went for the night screening which was from 7pm till 10.30pm. That night, we have watched 3 documentary films in total. After every screening of each documentary, they had a Q&A session with the director of the film respectively. 

Among the 3 films that we have watched, I personally think that the first one, "Stories From My Father" directed by Ashleigh Lim, touched me the most. As the title of the film, she filmed her father's hidden past story. She thinks that people out there should know about what his father (and some of his father's friends) had been through in the past especially when her father was caught and jailed for many years and all he did was just stand for their human rights. He also shared the hardship that he faced when he was in the jail, which really pissed me off for a short while. 

I am really glad and touched that he did not give up, even until now. It is very heart-warming to see that his wife was willing to wait for him to get out of the jail and to marry to him. It is really touching to know that he had been through so much hardships in the past and now that he living peacefully and has a happy family. I would really want to thank him, and thank to those people who stands up for human rights. 

Journey of Our Group Assignment

I would say that by doing this group assignment, I have gained so much extra knowledge that cannot be learned academically. Our group named "We Don't Care", have chosen to focus on the absence of knowledge of human rights among the Malaysian citizens nowadays, based on the case of custody death of Teoh Beng Hock. 

On 22/7/2016 (Friday), my groupmates and I went to Publika for the "Remembrance as Resistance: Human Rights Exhibition" event. To our disappointment, we went there hoping to attend some talks about human rights or to interview some organizers of this event but unfortunately on this first day (event last for 3 days), it only had art exhibition. However we did not give up. We successfully asked for the contact of the organizer of this event. 

This was my first time attending an art exhibition. It really helps to raise awareness of human rights by looking at the arts.

Group picture with the staff that gave info to us

One of my most favourite art and its caption. [I did not manage to capture the arts ):]

During the first interview, with Tricia Yeoh, the Chief Operating Officer of IDEAS, I was not able to make it due to personal reason.

However, I join the second interview, with Wong Siew Yun, the vice secretary of Teoh Beng Hock Trust for Democracy. During this interview, I got to know more about human rights and the importance of it and how it may affect our daily life. Special thanks to Dr. Andrew who came and visited us and gave us some suggestions before interviewing Wong Siew Yun.

Wong Siew Yun also encourages us to join some activities related to human rights that organized by Teoh Beng Hock Trust for Democracy when we are free. 

Group photo with Wong Siew Yun (middle)

   
And at last, we decided to narrow down our topics of human rights to UTAR-ian (student) rights. Therefore, we have made an appointment with the president of SRC of UTAR, Ng Zi Kent to have an interview session in UTAR. He also provided us a lot of information of our student rights (which I really had no idea of what's our student rights) and what has SRC done to help the students to execute their rights. 

Really, I think we have chosen the right topic and I am interested in this topic.

Puteri Gunung Ledang

During this week's lecture and tutorial class, we have watched a Malaysian famous film Puteri Gunung Ledang!

It is a love story about a princess of the Majapahit Kingdom, Gusti Puteri and a Malacca warrior, Hang Tuah. Gusti Puteri leaves her kingdom and live in Gunung Ledang, hoping to reunite with her lover Hang Tuah. There are many obstacles that hinder them to be together. 

It is indeed a great romance action film involving the history of Malacca. However at the beginning of the film, I was kind of confused because I felt that all the Malay male characters in the film looked similar to each other (HAHA). To be honest, this was the first Malay film that I have watched in my entire life so far. 

After watching this movie, my mindset of stereotyping all the Malaysia Malay films has demolished. (Not to be racist but) I used to think that all Malay films are boring, but now I have changed my childish mind. 

There is a small question when I was watching this film*shy*. Why can the female lead of this movie wear kind of sexy and exposed outfit (even though she's a princess)? Isn't it not allowed according to the law of Islam?

Tiara Jacquelina
(She is very pretty!)

1984 HERE AND NOW

1984 Here and Now

This was my first time attending a play in a black box theater. 1984 Here and Now is written by Kee Thuan Chye, adapted from George Orwell's novel 1984. This play is written to criticize the Mahathir government and its oppressive rule. Besides, he also criticized the racial discrimination in our country. 

In this play, they showed us that in the year of 1984, all Malaysians are under the control of the "Big Brother". No matter what the political party or the government have said, the citizens HAVE TO believe or obey. If one does not obey and tries to go against the political party or the government, he/she will face some cruel consequences like what this play have shown us that at the end of the play, the main character, Wiran is forced to admit his guilt of disobeying "Big Brother" and apologize to "Big Brother" publicly. He is then tortured severely and threatened by the police as he does not admit his guilt (HE HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG TBH).

When I was watching the torturing scene of the play, somehow I immediately think of Teoh Beng Hock's case (as I am currently doing assignment regarding lack of knowledge of human rights based on his case). Unfortunately, nobody will know what he had faced when he was locked in the custody. However, a few weeks ago, I saw an article at the Remembrance as Resistance Human Rights Art Exhibition. It showed us the list of rights under custody. I personally feel that the torturing scene of this play can somehow related or linked to this issue (lack of knowledge of human rights) too.

Rights under Custody

I was very glad that I had this opportunity to attend and watch this play. I liked it very much (although the truth hurts). The settings, props, lighting, sound effects of the play and the acting skill of the talents are so professional and amazing! After watching this play, I feel really thankful to those who are very brave to stand up and voice out for a better Malaysia. It really takes huge courage to do so. I sincerely pray for a better Malaysia in the future.

RM20 and it is definitely worth it!

Cultural Performances in Kelantan

We have watched two documentaries about cultural performances in Kelantan in the class. First one is produced by UM students and the second one is produced by UTAR stduents. 

In the documentary which was done by UM students, they talked about Mak Yong. Before I watched the documentary, I had no idea at all that what is Mak Yong. After watching the documentary, I finally understand that Mak Yong is a traditional dance drama in Kelantan. The documentary provides sufficient information as they interviewed the performers of Mak Yong. Whole video is very informative and I like it.

Mak Yong

In the documentary which was produced by UTAR students, they talked about several cultural performances in Kelantan such as Main Puteri, Mak Yong and Wayang Kulit. The whole video is very informative too. It is very well-edited as compared to UM students' documentary. However, the only thing which I find it quite hard to understand about the UTAR documentary is that it does not have any subtitles. Therefore I only focus on the visuals and try to understand instead. 

Main Puteri

Wayang Kulit

So for both videos I would say that they are very useful and informative especially to those who are interested in Malaysia arts and cultural performances. The question I want to ask the UTAR seniors is that what software and how did you guys edit the front part of the video (it was super cool!) ? And what are the challenges you have faced when filming this documentary?

VIRAL, SIAL!

Viral, Sial! is a short documentary film which was directed by David Buri. This video is about the issue of Aisyah Tajuddin, a BFM journalist criticizing the government who implements hudud law in Kelantan and does not really help the flood victims in Kelantan instead. After a video of her talking about this issue is posted on the social media network, many extreme religious people bash her and threaten her as she is viewed as she does not respect Islam and Allah. Some netizens even said that they want to rape and kill her. This issue has gone viral and the NGOs want to arrest Aisyah Tajuddin. Link of her video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlS08K6ssQk

Well, in my point of view, I think that instead of blaming her for her "disrespectfulness" of Islam and Allah, the government should look into this matter thoroughly. Government does not help the Kelantan-ese is a fact. I really had no idea of how pitiful the flood victims in Kelantan are and how the effects of the flood look like until I watched the video of VIRAL, SIAL!   

Therefore I hope the netizens should really think twice before bashing Aisyah Tajuddin, as in my opinion, what she said is really a strong fact.  

Bukan Budaya Kita

What is our Malaysian culture? As Malaysia is a multi-racial country, we can see many different cultures in our country. For example, the Malays will be fasting for a period of time for a month before Hari Raya Aidilfitri, the Chinese use chopstick to eat and the Indians paint henna for special occasions like holidays, birthdays and weddings. In fact, although we (Malaysians) are of different races and religion, we do not just practise our own culture only. In this modern era, I see Chinese girls painting henna on their hands too! 

Henna

If we don't talk about cultural and religious practice, we Malaysians have our own Malaysian culture too. For example, regardless what race and religion we are, we speak "Bahasa Rojak" in our daily casual conversation. In Malaysia nowadays, in just one sentence, we will have a mixture of languages sometimes such as Bahasa Melayu, English, Mandarin, Tamil, Cantonese and Hokkien. This is our unique Malaysian culture that cannot be found in any other country. This also shows that we can live and mix well with our friends who are of different races from us. 



However, based on the National Cultural Policy (NCP) that was formed in 1971, there are 3 principles as the guidelines for national culture:

1. The national culture must be based on the indigenous culture (Malay).
2. Other cultures which have suitable elements may be accepted as the part of the national culture.
3. Islam is an important component and also the model of the national culture.

In my opinion, I think it is very unfair for the Malaysians. As I mentioned earlier, Malaysia is a multi-racial country. We should not just focus on only one race or religion. If we only focus on one race or religion, riot among races will happen again. Why would we want wars and riots in our country? Can't we just live peacefully as MALAYSIANS in our country? Isn't it good if all races practise the same MALAYSIAN CULTURES in our own country? Therefore in conclusion, I wish that no matter what race we are, we are MALAYSIANS. Everyone has the equal rights as a MALAYSIAN. Isn't it wonderful and heart-warming to see us Malaysians (including all races) being friends together sincerely and helping each other in our daily life? :D

Malaysia Boleh!

Colours

We have conducted a group activity yesterday during our tutorial class. Dr. Carmen divided us into groups and we were given a colour respectively. Each group of people must think as many things related to the colour that we got in a short period of time. Different groups got different colour. After drawing lots, my group got the colour GREEN.

When we think of the colour green, the first thing that comes to our mind is definitely grass or trees. The colour green is actually the colour of balance, it represents harmony and growth. Also, it is a positive colour! 

We've thought of many things besides trees and grass related to green, such as ketupat, ninja turtle, Milo brand, PAS logo, whatsapp and many more.

Through this small activity, I learned that different colour represents different meaning, thus affecting the mindset of a person. For example, if we think of the colour black, most of the answers are more towards to negativity. 

And what is more interesting about colour is that sometimes the colour you like the most somewhat shows your attitude and personality in real life.

Here's the link to know more about colours and its meanings! :D

Immigrants in Malaysia

The number of immigrants moving to our country is getting greater and greater every year. As a Malaysian, should we accept or reject them?

In my opinion, I would say to send them back after they have done with their work.

In fact, not to be stereotyping, Malaysia's crime rate has been increasing and one of the factors is because of the immigrants especially those illegal immigrants. I would like to share my experience that makes me think that accepting immigrants will increase the crime rate in our country:

My friends and I met a flasher outside our university. We reported to the security guard at our university and in the end the flasher was caught by the security guard. We filed a police report and the flasher was successfully arrested by the police. One or two days later, the police officer wanted us (the victims) to go to the detention centre to recognize and to officially point out the flasher among 10 suspects (including the flasher). In the detention centre, there was a white board recording the amount of suspects in the "jail". They categorized it based on the ethnicity of the suspects. What I noticed was the number of immigrants was the largest compared to the Malay, Chinese, Indian and Others categories.

Moreover, the job opportunity for the Malaysians will decrease if we keep on accepting immigrants. Employers nowadays would prefer to hire foreign workers rather than local workers as majority of the local workers have high payment expectation. When they hire foreign workers, the employers can save more money. Therefore, in the future, we Malaysians will end up "fighting" with the immigrants for job opportunities. 

With these 2 major reasons, I think that it is better to send the immigrants back to their own country after their permit expired.

Image VS Word

7/6/2016 ; Tuesday

Today our class had a debate and discussion on Fahmi Reza's case. One question that makes me wonder why, has been asked by our lecturer. The question was why do we often heard of those cartoonists or artists who criticize our political issues through their artworks got caught more easily than those journalist who criticize our political issues through writings? Is an artwork or a image really more powerful than words? My answer is YES.

People say "a picture speaks a thousand words". A picture is able to capture the attention of the audience rather than words sometimes. Moreover, instead of expressing some messages or information through writings, an image, an artwork or a picture can replace the writings more effectively in terms of expressing the content of the message or information. An image, an artwork or a picture makes people understand faster and better compared to words. For example:

Image to express happiness

Image to express the feeling of heart-broken

Images really do create a greater impact rather than words. For example, advertisement especially the Public Service Announcement (PSA) often uses image to convey the important message to the audience as majority of the people nowadays prefer to see images instead of words.

PSA of anti-smoking in words

PSA of anti-smoking in image and a short sentence

Obviously people would notice the content of an image first as compared to a content that is filled with text. Therefore, in my opinion, an image is more powerful than words. That is why when an artist or a cartoonist criticizes our Prime Minister, he or she will be caught or arrested so easily because their work or image catches people's attention more easily.

First Field Trip To Publika!

4/6/2016 ; Saturday ; 

Today, our class had a field trip to the Art for Grabs festival in Publika. Due to some personal reasons, my friends and I did not follow UTAR bus to Publika and we went there ourselves later than our other classmates.  

 The event place was swarmed by people as we reached there. There were many booths related to art, craft, designs, and books. Some arts and crafts were really nice but I did not purchase them all as the prices of some of them were quite high. 

                                                

                                     

                                     

Fortunately, my friends and I saw notebooks which we, as a university students, need, were being sold at a booth named "Unique Art 'n' Craft" at a very affordable price. The notebook was quite thick and it was only for RM5. Therefore my friends and I purchased all the notebooks that they had in the booth (they only had the last 6 unit in stock). 

Notebook to raise awareness of animal freedom

From left to right: Bernd Pickert, R. Nadeswaran, Sharaad Kuttan

At 2.30pm, my friends and I registered ourselves to a talk entitled "It Isn't a Crime: Re-imagining Investigative Journalism". The panelist of the talk was Bernd Pickert and R. Nadeswaran and the moderator was Sharaad Kuttan. They shared their opinion and experience as a journalist when writing a story. They said that a journalist has to try their best to find out all the facts and also to know what the readers want to read. To be honest I could not really understand some parts of this talk as the content was something very new and unfamiliar to me and I find it quite hard to get what they said.

From left to right: Harith Iskander, Lau Chak Onn, Ezra Zaid.

At 4pm, we continued to attend another talk entitled "Funning the News". The panelists of this talk was Harith Iskander and Lau Chak Onn and the moderator was Ezra Zaid. It is about making the news interesting. In the talk, they discussed about the credibility of the news when humor is added in the content of the news. Chak Onn stated that humor does not affect the credibility of the news and sometimes interesting news does not need humor to be interesting. Besides, they also discussed how to joke about a news. Honestly, I really enjoyed listening to this talk and I think it was very interesting as compared to the previous talk that I attended. 

Same design as my friends' but with black string

After the talk, one of my friends and I decided to follow UTAR bus to go back to UTAR at 6pm. Before we left, we bought bracelets of the same design but different colour strings for ourselves as our "friendship matching items". 

In my opinion, all the booth at the Art for Grabs festival in Publika were really attractive but one of the booth that really caught my attention was the booth set up by Fahmi Reza. To be honest I did not know who he was until he got caught by the police that day. His booth is one of my favourite because I think that he is very brave to stand up and "voice out" for most of the Malaysians through his art works as an artist. I did not purchase anything from him but he did really earned my respect as a Malaysian. Hmm that's the end of our first field trip! I hope we will have more field trip like this as we can gain more extra knowledge! Hehe.

A selfie before we left! *missing Anne & Sze Jia*