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.

Wooden sculpture

A tripod is an excellent creation, it encompasses stability, precision and deals mostly on technical superiority. However, when an artist were given the liberty to exploit this everyday form, the results sometimes could be startling and even eye candy to some. The understanding of material and processing it into a work of art is no easy task.

Sculpture made of wood wouldnt last and wouldnt stand the test of time, but come to think of it, what other things would?

The most visited

(The Clock Tower - built in the late 20th century)

(Victoria Fountain - adjacent to the clock tower)

Both monuments received countless visits from tourists all over and are amongst the most photographed sites in Malacca. The top ranking monument as in the most visited, the most photographed and the most significant - The Santiago Gateway, Porta de Santiago, the remaining gateway of the A Famosa city built in 1512 by Portuguese Admiral Alfonso de Alburqueque.

Yeah! Gems, gems...

Amongst top work found in the exhibition

1st part

Fascinating Melaka - the review


The numbers were staggering, some 60 individual paintings of varying qualities, all denotes some sense of contribution to Malacca. The idea was simple, come up with a thematic artwork that would reflect on Malacca as a fascinating state. Let's talk about several things before we swim deep into the core subject.

The venue:

Bastion House, the space offers great possibilities, high ceiling and all but the display panels were much to be desired for and the overall design of the exhibition seems placid and very homely. Clearly style and flair was never on the exhibitor's mind. The space was not utilised as creatively as one should. It seems like the exhibition was not intended for good curatorial treatment. One would be forgiven if associating this kind of exhibition with the one in Melaka International Trade Centre (MITC) where yet another Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) exhibition thrive.

The paintings:

Undeniably, there are some exceptional paintings, like Sham Ahmad's narrative piece (the most bottom pix) on Malacca river reminiscing of Zulkifli Dahalan's style and approach but with a more colourful tongue in cheek presentation. The iconic river and its significance in mapping out most of the adult Malaysians state of mind whenever the subject of Malacca came to question. Inspect it closely and you would be suprised to the detailings via humour that he had manifest through this piece. Another good one was from the veteran Abd Rafiee Abd Rahman (red river) who boldly painted Malacca all over with red, some would say that it was already too late for him to adopt such style at his current bearings but to me, I somehow could feel the rush and excitement from the bloody river.

Where as for the rest, such mediocre outings, it's sad that most of you were pretty occupied to interpret Malacca as JUST some pretty pictures with no soul and lust within it. What you guys were offering can be surmised into one word : FARCICAL. I could not feel anything and also could not cope with the plain insensitive mind who execute their work just for the sake of it.

Let the Bloody River Flow!

As seen the masterpiece displayed above, the River-in-Red, which portrait The Malacca River, a well known seaport, where people fish, trade, travel, get together, party here. Wishing that the "blood" that flow in the vain of The Malacca River, can keep-on flow without obstacle.

So, Let the river flow!

Developments, constructions, civilization, modernization, etc, are such BIG words that reflecting economy, living standard, wealth. BUT... nature, environment, peace, tranquil, can be easily eliminated by those words. The Malacca River began to bleed, the colour become reddish.

And so, let the bloody river flow!

Fascinating Melaka

Why people tend to be daft and unimaginative is beyond my comprehension. Take, Malacca for example, was this state too sterile? hence lack in culture and historical values?

or was it because the artists assigned to interpret the qualities attributed to malacca were too lazy to think?

These thoughts linger. (click on image to enlarge)