JAN 21 — A few months ago, I attended the George Town Festival back home in Penang; it’s a month-long celebration of arts and culture, mostly that of the city-state and within the South-east Asian region. It wasn’t the array of performances and activities that left a huge impression on me — indeed they were lovely in their own right — but the spirit that it carried.
Looking at the enthusiastic crowds following the Victoria Street Project, watching people lying languidly on the huge patch of grass outside Cheah Kongsi watching an open-air screening of short films, just being amongst all these old heritage buildings and watching artists and shop owners transform them into lively, inviting public spaces, filled me with such pride and warmth — because I saw people increasingly in tune with our culture (the space we inhabit, the history we inherit, the lives we live) and a growing arts scene with an enthusiastic, engaged crowd.
But most importantly, I saw a community that loved, took pride in, and celebrated itself.
Sometimes we forget to do just that. All the times when we allow political turmoil in the nation to define and divide us. Indeed it is important to engage in the current affairs of the country and to involve ourselves in discussions that would hopefully lead to different forms of progress, yet it feels as though the predominance of such concerns tends to eclipse our ability to appreciate just being.
Often there are no technical solutions to these complex, extremely tense affairs. But if we could look beyond the brokenness and attempt to celebrate and cultivate the good that lies within our community, we might just be, inadvertently, getting at the root of the problems our nation faces.
Contrasting the hype at George Town Festival and the lukewarm reception of National Day in KL last year, when flags were scarce and the day seemed like any other, I couldn’t help but wonder if, the state government along with the people of Penang invested more in developing a sense of community than did our national government and the collective nation, for a sense of national identity.
Surely, citizens must care about this Malaysia of ours (how else can we explain the high electoral turnout rates this year?), but it may well be true that the avenues of expression and articulation have neither been fully nor meaningfully explored.
Perhaps a good place to begin to soul-search as a community, would be public spaces. Housing estates, malls, parks, streets. Places we frequent on a day-to-day basis. Making modifications to existing spaces or creating new environments conducive for interaction (of people, tradition, culture, the arts) becomes imperative for any sort of exchange to take place. Thereafter, harnessing the social potential of public spaces would bring increased public engagement and over time, place attachment which is intimately connected with a sense of community.
Creating effective public spaces would be undeniably problematic in cities such as KL where city-planning prioritises highways and where safety is a glaring issue. But there still is the option of improvising design in existing public spaces, such as the ubiquitous shopping malls, to capitalise on the critical mass already existent.
In Penang, transformation of the heritage enclave over the past few years has seen many frequenting the area. The popular murals by Ernest Zacharevic. Street art by assorted local artists. Shophouses-turned-independent, modern cafes. Bicycle-friendly back lanes. Refurbished mansions and terraces. All of which have drawn tourists, but have also prompted Penangites to explore these new offerings, to look at the city they inhabited in a different light.
In essence, the state of things barely changed—the buildings always existed and roads remained the same. But the people and culture did. Penangites grew more interested in their own locality and took the initiative. Why shouldn’t all Malaysians?
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.
