Cadangan-cadangan Untuk Negaraku

Liew Kung Yu’s “Cadangan-cadangan Untuk Negaraku” [Proposals for My Country] is a collection of four large photo collages. The collages are all loud, colorful and layered to look like a gigantic children’s pop-up book. To create the collages, Liew Kung Yu traveled throughout the country taking pictures of sculptures, monuments, buildings and decorations and then putting them together in a whimsical, exaggerated way.

Doing this, Liew Kung Yu is highlighting the buildings, monuments, motifs and design elements that can easily be found all over the country, some of which are sources of national pride and identity such as the Twin Towers, the national car and the national mosque.

In a way, it is as though Liew Kung Yu is trying to make sense of how all these buildings and sculptures came about and to establish a connection on how they relate to us, the people who live with and make use of them.

Also, using design elements that are so readily found right here in our present, Liew Kung Yu seems to be constructing an exaggerated vision of what the future of Malaysia might look like. And if it looks like what he created in his collages, then the future would have an air of ludicrousness about it because in his work, all the images used would be familiar to the average Malaysian yet the overall picture doesn’t make much sense.

Perhaps this is what Liew Kung Yu is trying to address in his works; that the authorities who commissioned these buildings, sculptures and monuments might find them beautiful but not everyone will agree with them, therefore creating a distance or a sense of detachment between the people and the spaces in which they live. This sense of detachment is caused perhaps when the people cannot make sense of the design elements. Some elements such as the bunga raya, batik and distinctly Malaysian animals can be easily identified with but a lot of the other elements might not fit in with the context of local culture.

When this feeling of detachment sets in, the people wouldn’t be able to develop a sense of home or nation towards their own country. Maybe that is why a couple of the collages in this series are depicted like amusement / theme parks. This suggests temporariness as though we just paid an entrance fee and coming for a visit instead of actually living here, which is how people feel when they have no sense of roots in their home town or country.

As mentioned in Anthony Milner’s essay on nation-building, different narratives exist because they are trying to reach different segments of the people and also because every different narrative is trying to achieve a specific purpose. Therefore, Liew’s views on the state of architecture in Malaysia might not be universally shared by everyone but it is safe to say that what he is offering is a different, alternative view of Malaysia as envisioned by the government and his purpose is to open up the eyes of an increasingly disinterested community to their surroundings.

The Big Durian

Q1
From ‘The Big Durian’, the scene that made the strongest impression on me was the scene where the director/narrator interviewed a young girl about the countries she has visited and how they compare to Malaysia. She said the other countries were all great but when asked if she would migrate to another country, she said she still preferred Malaysia. First, this scene stands out because it is funny, especially when she tells us what she likes about Italy. But this scene was also memorable because of how real her sentiments were and how they reflected those of many youths in Malaysia. While Malaysia has its fair share of faults and flaws, many would still prefer their home country over someone else’s.

Q2
It is rumoured that Private Adam ran amok because his younger brother was allegedly murdered by a sultan but because of the sultan being who he is, no action was taken when Private Adam tried to bring the case to justice.

Q3
The character from Sabah noted that Private Adam looked free, like he had just been released from a cage. It contrasted deeply with her own feelings because she feels that her life in KL is like being trapped in a cage.

Q4
The director is looking back at the events of 1987 through today’s point of view, or specifically 2003, when the film was made. Therefore, the ‘present’ of the film would be in 2003. The tone that the director takes is a curious one; as in he is curious about the events that happened in his teens and up to a point, remain unexplained. He uses the film to dig deeper into the political events of the 80’s and 90’s such as the case of Private Adam, why it so easily incited fears of racial strife and riots and how it is related to the 19 ISA detainees and also the political climate of years to come. However, the film ends on a rather hopeful note in which the director conveyed a sense of hope that Malaysia might find its political footing soon and get past whatever strife holding it back.