Akub, the forgotten man

I met this old man while covering an assignment near to his house. He owned this traditional house with delightful ornaments made of plastic. We got into a bad start initially, him scolding me of disrespectful behaviour. He was right, I took pictures of his house without seeking his permission. Me with my own blatant assumption. I assumed that his house was an extension of the house that I was supposed to cover. I was wrong and was rightfully reprimanded. Anyway, the man soften a bit after i apologise profusely and assured him of my intention, not in any way to gain profit from the pictures i took. Then, I asked him of his age and his memory during our independence day. He was 25, when he cycled to the Padang Pahlawan, waiting for Tunku from his mission trip in London. Suddenly this old man cried and babbling about how hard it was back in the old days.

He said money was scarce and many people cant even afford a pair of pants. They survived from poultry they reared and vegetables they planted at the back of their houses. Sometimes they picked fruits like rambutan and durian and sells it to the towkay in the city. Life was hard and they make do, to earn more for their childrens schooling expenses, some of them have to walk or cycle about 20 to 30 kilometers to an estate, doing part time rubber tapping. But the old man, Akub told me on the day of the declaration of independence made by Tunku, all the hardships and sufferings was momentarily forgotten. Hundred thousands of people from all creed and belief congregate and shouted merdeka, merdeka and merdeka and for a moment there they believe that they would have a new start.

Batik Galore

Very different subject matter, yet with one common element: batik. RosZainol or Zainol, a painter based in Malacca has this deep fascination with the Malay traditional cloth and for several years did study on the utilization of batik and how it has enhance his understanding of batik to a different height. His latest painting try to potray batik as a possible tangible object and not reduced to the stereotypical clothing line as majority of Malaysian would love to accept in their frame of mind. The attempt to shape batik as a square and manifests it through watercolour and fashioned it after the essential characteristic of a batik; a cloth is commendable and unique.

Food paradise? Malacca?

Heaven to all kind of food, be it western, Asian or traditional. Malacca is trying very hard to acquire that status and self-proclaimed itself as 'the' place to be. The truth is, it might be so someday but for the moment, no. Still got a lot of things for the state to improve on before declaring itself a food paradise.

Red Square

The commercialization of Malacca as a touristic spot has somehow dampen the true gems that can be found at this red square.

Yes, the evidence was there and is waiting to be explored yet different people would somewhat have different degree of appreciation. The clock tower for example, an important landmark built in the 1890's because people dont carry pocket watches and having a time piece at that time was considered a luxury.

Hence the existence of the clock tower, (refer to Tuesday 17 July) a common monument shared by everyone with one function: to tell the time. A wealthy businessman, Tan Swee Bee donated the fund for the construction of the clock tower and in 1982 it received a facelift. The sad thing was on the fate of the original clock, during the facelift, SEIKO sponsored the time piece and inadvertedly the original time piece had been 'misplaced'. And as usual no one would admit to this debacle.

Fountain of Youth

Every evening, people from all walk of life pass through this derelict fountain, located within the heart of the city center. On this recreational space which emphasis on horizontal design with children's sensibility in mind, we can find teenagers playing with their skateboards, friends hanging out together and sometimes lovers spotted pouring their hearts out to each other.

The scenes are pretty much normal in any other recreational space in Malaysia except for the unkept and forgotten fountain plus what used to be recreational ornaments such as web structure made of plastic for climbing and giant golf balls designed for sitting. The setting of this so-called sanctuary was shortlived and survived only several years after completion. Now, in its sorry state no one is claiming responsibility. The Mahkota Parade management, the local council and the state government failed to response to this definite site of eye sore.

Failure to communicate

Nashairi did a wonderful job capturing the dynamism of this monument, from this angle, I'm sure many can appreciate the aesthetic and the elements of design present in the work. The symmetrical design was way too apparent. It was an honest work, I think, very modest by scale and was constructed as a reminder to our day of independence. We were not in any way sophisticated at that time so we make do with this manifestation. But the question remains, why do we neglect this important object? We sidelined it, we pass over it without even blinking an eye, we allow such pathetic misgivings because we were too busy doing nothing. This is our Merdeka monument for god's sake, where is our patriotic pride? where is our love to this country? If the symbol of our independence was not being attended to, then do we expect our freedom as Malaysian would be safeguarded and upheld righteously.

Look at the visitors passing by, they were not there to appreciate the monument, in fact they didnt even notice the significant of this site. What they were really after were the central air conditioning inside the Mall.






The Location: 2°11' 29.31"N, 102°15' 01.17"E

Malacca oh Malacca

This is an aerial view of the Malacca city centre and the red line drawing was the projected walls of the A Famosa Fort. 1708 witnessed William Farquhar, the then English resident of Malacca blasts every single wall of the Fort except the one at the most southern part, The Porta de Santiago. At the last hour before the final bombing of the remaining gate, somebody of his higher ranking interferes. Stamford Raffles gave an order for him to preserve the gateway as a reminder of history.
Not many people appreciate this leftover monument, some were too disgusted with the imperialists greedy take over and propagated destruction of the present gateway but majority of the people in Malaysia agreed that eventhough the fort brings bad memories and marked permanently on our once fatal mistakes of failing to defend our once prosper nation.

The most photographed site, the A Famosa.