KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — Arts NGO Pusaka said the nearly RM1 million price tag for the Malay heritage festival it co-organised with the Selangor government over the weekend was “very modest” for its scale.
The group, which supports the viability of traditional Malaysian art forms, was responding to criticism that the festival was too expensive.
Pusaka said the special guests and performance troupes it invited to the Nusantara Festival of Malay Language and Literature were “Malay heritage treasures” who deserved to be compensated reasonably.
“Pusaka does receive payment as a curator, but we are not an expensive organisation. Nor are we cheap. You have to pay what is due… if our guests can be invited abroad to New York and Amsterdam, and receive reasonable compensation, why not here?” Pusaka founder Eddin Khoo told Malay Mail.
Khoo explained that most of the money was used to cover their transport, honourarium, and per diem allowances.
The three-day event in Shah Alam last weekend had brought in performing arts troupes from Kelantan, Perlis, and Aceh and Riau in Indonesia, and avant-garde Borneo ethnic band Nading Rhapsody from Sarawak.
It also featured regional literature luminaries such as Sapardi Djoko Damono, Goenawan Mohamad and Dorothea Rosa Herliany from Indonesia, Malaysian poets Latiff Mohidin and Siti Zainon Ismail, national laureates Datuk Anwar Ridhwan and Datuk Zurinah Hassan, and local rock legend Ramli Sarip.
“Am I supposed to give them only rice and tobacco? They’re Malay heritage treasures. But people don’t know them and the heritage that they bring. Malay language is not something to be trifled with,” Khoo said.
The spending had been criticised by political blogs that alleged the RM1 million was spent for an event “attended by only 10 people” and “should have cost tens of thousands of ringgit at most.”
They had also highlighted the event’s link to the Selangor government and its executive councillor Amirudin Shari from PKR.
“We’ve worked with everyone including the Culture Ministry for years. We’re not political people,” Khoo clarified, adding that the event had attracted hundreds of attendees especially for a poetry recital and the premiere of Goenawan’s play Amangkurat, Amangkurat.
Khoo also said that the cost did not just cover the organisation of the festival, but will also fund a documentary, and several publications recapping the event that will be published next year and distributed for free.
“We always talk about having a heritage of our language, but where are the materials? These are all to be put together and given out for free.
“We are not just enjoying a festival, there are many outputs that will come out of it,” Khoo added.
