Dinner time at the Agathians Shelter home in Petaling Jaya

Do you generally feel that real kindness might not exist (with all the endless wars and human injustices around us, here and elsewhere )? Or, do you  simply believe human beings to be naturally kind?

Have  you also wondered why there are so many kids without parents and homes in our towns and cities? Furthermore, what are your reflections on this essential yet  eternal and complex question, “How shall one live?”

One of the many places, where you can reflect on the above issues, is at the Agathians Shelter, in Petaling Jaya, a home for the displaced young people.

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A Penan family home, in the forest near Bario, Sarawak.

The Penan is one of the 200 (more or less) riverine and hill-dwelling indigenous Dayak people of Borneo; the third largest island in the world. About three quarters of the island is Indonesia’s Kalimantan; Malaysia’s Sarawak (biggest state) and Sabah occupy almost a quarter; with Brunei just about one per cent of Borneo’s land area.

Each ethnic subgroup has its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture. These Austronesian speaking peoples must have migrated here more than 20,000 years ago when the Southeast Asian landmass was not yet under water as it is today. As the sea rose, some Dayaks became seafarers too.

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Many Malaysians had hoped to see a fairer, freer and  friendlier country since then. We wanted a clearer separation of powers between political party and government, religion and government,  race and government and law and government. This is our country and it does not belong to any political party (ruling or otherwise). Has there been much change?

We would like to see the government uphold the rule of law, to look after the welfare of its peoples and not use its system to just protect the ruling political party’s elite members and their abuse of powers. Has there been much change?

Our legitimate political dissent and opposition to the ruling party is our constitutional right. It  also plays a vital role of check and balance and must not  be misconstrued as our being enemies of the state which is what the ruling party has been doing in the last fifty years. Has there been much change?

Most of us do not cherish the idea of living under these extreme conditions  any longer. Do you?

There are more then 4.5 million Malaysians eligible to vote but they have not registered yet. Let’s get as many as possible to do so for the next election. Let’s vote our way to a fairer, freer and friendlier country. Can we make the changes ourselves and for our children?

Listen and watch Malaysians speak, sing and dance their hopes and aspirations for the future…

Distinctive and mineral rich limestone outcrops surround Ipoh city.

Limestone outcrops  dot the Kinta Valley in Perak. The capital city, Ipoh, is surrounded by these geological features. These natural structures, formed over millions of years,  greet you as you enter or exit. The geology of this area was and still is  its natural assets. Tin was like its gold. Ipoh was a place tin and its peoples built.

The history of Ipoh was a continuing  fight over tin and other natural resources.  Today,  the battle is over the governing of the state and what’s left of its natural heritage and its peoples – for those in power to exploit. This week’s  news, from the Federal Court, that the people of Ipoh will not be given a second chance to decide their own government but instead have been forced to accept one they didn’t elect, is another dark chapter of its history.

How can the people of Perak deal with the present situation in Perak?  Over the last weekend, Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia brought some useful ideas to more than 120 participants in Ipoh.  At that forum, they got to know about the history of the struggle of all Malaysians  against their rulers and those in power, then and now.

Here is my video of some of the highlights of the event.

At the Bayon temple, the unknown Khmer artists and craftsmen were able to produced extremely detailed bas-relief carvings of Khmer political history on the gallery walls. This multi-level waring scenes show  events of their conquest and defeat of their enemies. Politics -conflicts of interest- at that time was mostly settled through violence, by going to war with each other.

The Bayon temple, is the heart of the temple complex, built by the ambitious builder, Buddhist King, Jayavarman VII, in 1181. This style of building, the Bayon Style, began to replace the previous dominant Hindu influences.  All the statues of any value had been plundered over time but this wall picture of Khmer history is well-preserved. I saw it for the first time a few weeks back when I visited Cambodia.

This picture of barbarism with solders killing and elephants trampling on opposing sides reminded me somewhat of what had happened in Kuala Lumpur  last Saturday 1 August. Malaysians made political history by marching  in the street with opposing views of the Internal Security Act, a long-standing law allowing detention without trial.

But one would imagine that after 900 years of waring history in this region, we would have learn t to settle our disagreements, alliances and balances of power without resorting to using the Malaysian riot police to fire tear gas and water cannons into its own citizens’ gathering.

When can we resolve our diferences among us without resort to violence and imtimidation, so that we can be stronger, freer and happier?

My exhibition of photos Empathy at KLPac closed on the 8 March. This third collection of images of people with disability doing their own thing in sports and in work, was on display for 7 weeks. During that time there were several write ups about the exhibition and one of the portraits of Siti Aishah made it to the front page of the Sunday People in the NST’s Sunday Times.

This media coverage of the disabled group gave all those people in this small and fragile community a much needed visual profile which they seldom get. The Star newspaper’s writer Tan Karr Wei also wrote about the portraitures with understanding.

Then there was Elaine Lau from the Option of the Edge who also gave a voice to this often voiceless fellow citizens. Ng Suzhen from the Malay Mail was the first to put this story in her CyberSpot page. The Chinese press too especially the writer Chee Nyuk Yan from Nanyang Siang Pau gave this group a center spread in their Sunday edition and this was followed by Sin Chew Daily‘s reporter Ten Yien Hsia’s news of the event. I was also invited to talk about the exhibition on TV3′s Malaysia Hari Ini morning magazine show.

After all the effort of first going out to get the cooperation of all my disabled friends to allow me to photograph them, and then to mount and promote the visibility of the subject to a larger public, it had dawn on me that this project of promoting a little more empathy for others, has been all a group effort by everyone who has been involved. This is also a note of thanks to all of you. Now I am beginning to understand.

Two rotting pears

This new year began with major military conflicts in the middle east, the Indian subcontinent, parts of Africa and many other corners of the world.

Our world’s military history probably goes back to the beginning of our human race. Happily many of the warfares among neighbours in the past  had stop but many more are emerging each day leading to many unnecessary deaths and unimaginable sorrows for thousands of families.

I can’t help but start this year reflecting on the present day conflicts. This feature of our human life that we need to go to war and fight each other for what ever reasons or objectives.

Is this an unchanging nature of man and women? Are we all by birth and culture unneighbourly? When will we be able to live with our neighbours and care for our neughbourhoods ?

Victor Chin, Pulau Perhentian No 38, 2004, Acrylic on canvas, 81x67cm

Victor Chin, Pulau Perhentian, No8, 2003, Acrylic on canvas, 81x67cm

Letter to the Editor, StarMag.

In Andrew Sia’s splendid review, ‘Whither Malaysian art?’, StarMag, Sunday 23 November, 2008, presented us with a wide selection of opinions about the state of art and the art market. However there is the under side of the story which might add to your readers understanding on this issue.

What we would like to know as in the case of artist Jailani’s painting ‘Tribute to Latiff Mohiddin’, (which sold for about RM200,000) is, who put up his painting for sale at the Christie’s auction? What if this sale was an inside job by a profiteering cartel, where one party puts it up for auction and members of that group buy it up, just to push up the price and hence the profit margin, if they happen to have a monopoly of the artist’s works?

It is also vital to know which gallery and the people involved in dealing with the works of Jailani, Yee I-Lann, Nadiah Bamadhaj, Zakii Anwar and Cheng Fee Ming? Why it is that it is always the same few artists’ works from the same few merchants that are popping up at these sales? Why is the other artists’ works, just as good as any, not in the picture when it comes to promoting Malaysian art here and elsewhere?

The auction houses will not reveal the details of the sellers and buyers, but they will profit from both the sellers and the buyers, and this is the standard business practice everywhere. The secrecy and nontransparent methods such as it is, is in part, what that has lead to the present world wide financial crush, we are experiencing now.

What sort of artists will emerge from this present system dominated by finance, unfettered by any government or professional regulations?

How will the creative minds operate in an increasingly close market in the hands of a few self appointed profit minded ‘gate keepers’ of Malaysian art?

What if there are moves to improve the art production and the market place, with less self interest but more transparency, and with fair incentives to all parties involved with the aim of serving not just Malaysian art but all Malaysians?

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