Friday October 10, 2008
History comes alive in Emergency Festival!
By IAN YEE
Creating exciting experiences which will make people want to accept a piece of history as their very own is what Emergency Festival! is all about.
If you don’t know much about the Malayan Emergency of 1948, you’re probably not alone in your ignorance. The funny thing about Malaysian history (at least what we’ve been taught in our schools) is that we’re probably more likely to remember a story about a white man being speared to death while singing in the shower than a 12-year period of violence and guerilla warfare.
And before you can even say “who the heck cares about Malaysia’s (or Malaya back then) snooze-fest history?” the young curators in charge of the upcoming Emergency Festival! will stop you dead in your tracks.
From Oct 16 to 26, at the Annexe Gallery of Central Market in Kuala Lumpur, this ragtag group of arts aficionados and passionate history buffs will treat art lovers to not just a simple exhibition explaining what happened during those difficult years, but provide a complete sensory experience for audiences to learn what life was like back in the Emergency.
The event will feature visual arts exhibits, performances, film screenings and hands-on events that will be just as much about communicating the message behind our country’s coloured yet oft-ignored past as it is about flexing the creative muscles of Malaysia’s young artistes.
Young actors: (clockwise from top) Chi Too, Janet Moo and David Xavier say they have a greater appreciation for our country’s history after working on Emergency Festival!, an arts festival commemorating the 60th anniversary of the 1948 Emergency. Fahmi Fadzil, who will be directing a play for the festival, was quick to state that the ultimate objective of the young curators’ efforts is to educate the younger generation about the importance of the Emergency, lest its significance is forever lost.
In 1948, a state of emergency was declared to curb the growing threat of communist insurgents who were fighting against British colonial rule. In the wake of the struggle between the two parties was a trail of bloodshed and unspeakable violence, resulting in thousands of Malaysians being killed, tortured and displaced €“ a sad yet powerful page in our country’s history that Fahmi Fadzil believes has shaped the way we are today. “A lot of things that we are experiencing now are actually a result of that Emergency. For example, out identity cards (now MyKad) are actually a result of those times, to control people.
“Which is why we want people to ask themselves: are we the way we are, semulajadi (naturally), or because of something that happened in the past? In order to do that, we have to make history relevant to young Malaysians, to make them take ownership of our history, and at the Emergency Festival! we’ll be doing it through memories of those 12 years,” he said.
The significance of the Emergency wasn’t lost on the other Fahmi involved in the project: indie filmmaker Fahmi Reza.
“We actually gained independence during this period of emergency, you know? It lasted from 1948 to 1960. That’s how important this time was in our history,” said Fahmi Reza, who will be showing a documentary he filmed, Revolusi 48, at the festival.
In the process of organising this event, the young curators realised that the subject matter of their festival is delicate, in the light of the current political climate.
Wong Tay Sy, one of the three curators for the festival’s visual arts exhibit (alongside Grey Yeoh and Norman Teh), believes that rather than shying away from the topic, people in theatre should learn to apply the past in today’s political context.
“We’re just curators,” she said. “We’re not people who actually went through the Emergency. But with what’s going on in the country these days, the Emergency seems to acquire a newfound relevance. It’s as if 2008 is a reflection of 1948.”
Mark Teh, who will be curating the festival’s presentations, performances and participatory events, agrees that there are similarities between today and 1948, albeit on different scales.
“It’s similar in that we are in a period of uncertainty, and we won’t know where we’ll be headed in the next few years. But back then (during the Emergency), that uncertainty lasted 12 years! Twelve very difficult years of great conflict and suffering.
“The most important thing is where we’re headed now, and how this generation can fit into that,” said Mark.
Variety: In line with the 60th anniversary of the Malayan Emergency, the young curators of Emergency Festival! will be offering different perspectives on the events, using various forms of art. They are (from left) Wong Tay Sy, Mark Teh, Norman Teh, Grey Yeoh, Fahmi Reza and Fahmi Fadzil. If the Malayan Emergency was that important, why then do so many Malaysians not know much about it? The curators have a few suggestions as to why.
“Our people usually think Malaysian history is boring,” said Fahmi Fadzil. “Our job is to make history exciting again.”
Teh added: “We actually have a very exciting history! It’s just the way that it’s always been presented that’s boring. This festival is all about creating exciting, creative experiences which will make people want to accept this (piece of) history as their very own.”
The reason why our history as told in school is rarely exciting, according to Fahmi Reza, is because it often marginalises historical narratives from certain groups.
“That’s why my documentary will be a look at the Emergency from the guerillas’ (communist insurgents’) perspective. Nobody ever hears their side of the story, even though they were fighting against the British, which basically means their war was one for independence. So actually, our independence was not without bloodshed, as many like to believe.
“But a lot of things like that go unchallenged, and no one even likes to talk about them anymore. So we’re left with just the British and typical Malaysian perspective,” he said.
Fahmi Fadzil’s work also seeks to explain the Emergency from another perspective, as he tells us: “My play, Operasi Oktober, will explain the start of the Emergency through the eyes of four Malaysians anticipating a revolution.”
Even the visual arts exhibit, curated by Wong and friends, will be done with a creative twist, and they believe that’s what sets their festival apart from others.
“Since this is the 60th anniversary, there have been other exhibitions on the Emergency, but we found that they were mostly text-based and on a linear timeline,” she said. “Of course they had pictures, but it was still a lot of reading. Our exhibition will be more of an intergration between different types of arts to help people experience history, not just read about it.”
Emergency Festival! is a project by the Five Arts Centre. If you’re interested in helping out at the festival, you can be part of their We! Will! Wikipedia! The Emergency! effort by taking up one-hour shifts throughout the exhibition to help input new research on Wikipedia’s Malayan Emergency page. For more information, contact the Five Arts Centre (03-77254858).
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