Hu-Kun, artist from China,’Taming the Tiger’, ink painting

The tiger, now an endangered species of wild life, mainly due to increasing number of poachers and deforestation, is found only in a few natural habitats. We are fortunate that in the Malayan jungle, in the 1950s (though they were already being hunted then), there were about 3,000  of these magnificent creatures.

Now it’s estimated that only 500 are alive (WWF sources).

Our nation’s emblems, crest and coat-of-arms, proudly carry the signs of the tiger. We also put the “tiger” in our car petrol tank. Many drink the “tiger” beer. And the Malayan Banking logo also uses the tiger as a symbol of strength and national pride.

In India, there are only 1,200-1,500 White Bengal tigers around. The Siberian tiger is down to 350-450 in the whole of Russia. Thailand and Vietnam have about 1,000 Indo-Chinese tigers. Sumatra has between 400 to 500 of their Sumatran creatures. The tigers in China are almost extinct except for those kept in their zoos.

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Langkawi, the magnificient karst landsacpe of Kilim

Why do people visit Langkawi? A lot of people go there to buy or sell duty free goods. Some go there to buy or sell airplanes during the annual international air show. Tourists go to the islands for the beautiful tropical beaches and sun. Others go there to work in the tourist industry, the main economic backbone of the island.

However, there is a growing number who go there not just for its unique geographic settings of the hills, sea, beaches and sun but to know more about its 550 million years old geological history and its landscape.

In 2007, Langkawi, part of the state of Kedah, was given a new concept, geopark, by Unesco. Not long ago it was popularly called eco-tourism and before that, it was fragmented into nature, marine, forest and cultural reserves.

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Tan Hon Yin in his studio/house in Penang

Tang Hon Yin, 67, was a geography teacher and later a State Education Director, in Penang for more the 30 years.  After school hours, his artistic passion was painting but now he does it whenever he likes. He is currently the chairman of the Penang Art Gallery.

For many years he has been producing paintings with Nature as the main subject. His first solo exhibition “Water Margin” was in 1983 in Penang. The collection was later shown in Kuala Lumpur in 1986. His latest series “Silk Road” was shown in 2008 in Melbourne, Australia.

Though he didn’t go to art school but through his many trips abroad, on his own initiative, he adopted two artistic parents, the American artists Mark Rothko and Richard Diebenkom. They were his main inspirations. Tang admired the two artists for their use of colours and shapes and compositions.

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Ahmad A Khairuddin’s ‘ Cityscape’

A group of artists — all autistic — got together and held an exhibition recently to celebrate United Voice’s own building.

A self-advocacy society for people with learning disabilities in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya, United Voice (UV) has been around since 1995.

After successfully raising more than RM1 million through various fund-raising events and donations, UV finally managed to purchase their own space this year.

The ground floor is their showroom and training centre where baking classes and craft making workshops are held while the first floor houses an art gallery.

It was in this gallery that the works of Nurul A. Rahman, Tan Seng Kit, Nadiah A. Jalil, Damiem Wong and Ahmad A. Khairuddin were shown.

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Syed Ahmad Jamal, Between Haven and Earth

Nature has always been an inspiration for artists throughout the ages. Mountains, in particular, have inspired many regional landscape painters.

From China there has been a long history of artists who painted the many outstanding geological features of their physical geography. Some of these artworks besides depicting the shapes and designs of mountain formations in great detail also conveyed clear information of the various geological compositions of their landscapes.

One of the most well-known Japanese artists, Hokusai, from the Edo period, made colour wood block prints of a series of 36 views of Mount Fuji. The Great Wave of Kenagawa done in 1831 is one of Hukusai’s signature compositions of this collection of early postcards of Japan.

Cezanne paid homage to his boyhood home in Provence by painting the Mont Sainte-Victoire in Aix at least 60 times from 1885 to 1906. His devotion to a single hillock slightly over 1,000m in his backyard set the modern standard of painting and looking at European landscapes since the Renaissance.

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I had always thought that being a Chinese, I am automatically a second-class citizen compared to the Malays who have been given preferential treatment in our country all these years.

As the Malays are the majority and are Muslims, I had also assumed  we had become an Islamic country and not a secular one, because of the  prominent mosques everywhere.

I have been mistaken and ignorant all along. In our Constitution, every Malaysian of any race has equal  rights and also, this is a secular country.

My new awareness of the Constitution and other civic liberty issues stems from what I had learnt at the Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia (SABM) roadshows and forums that I had attended. Here is the latest video of some of the highlights from  the SABM event in Melaka.

Hope this video (which I had put together) will throw some light on important issues affecting you.

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.

Syed Ahmad Jamal, Langit & Bumi 1, 1982-1986, acrylics on canvas, 203×224cm

NOV 22 — The 3rd international art market or Artexpo Malaysia is on this week in Kuala Lumpur. This will be a good opportunity for anyone interested in the sport of collecting artworks. The organiser has also got the National Art Gallery Malaysia in as co-organiser.

Artexpo promises art objects “Old and new, East and West. Whatever forms, whatever styles, whatever media. Paintings, sculptures, prints, assemblages, installations, new media (digital art). Astonishing artworks from all over the world — Asia, Europe — Eastern and Western, the United States, Central America. A true united nations of art people from all over the world every November since 2007.”

This art marketing event like all trading networks has an anthropological history. Man has always had this compulsive motivation to succeed or to win and will turn any human activity into a sport or a game (sometimes ruthlessly bloody). They argue that it could be both productive and also an amusement — a great pastime in the dark caves (perhaps in Mulu, Sarawak).

Over the thousands of years of human evolution this act of gamesmanship has become an art — the art of winning by cunning practices without actually cheating. Just think of the recent so called world financial crisis and see how some of the multi-national players got away with it and were rewarded as well. Some say it was not greed that got us there but envy.

Read more in The Malaysian Insider here…