FEBRUARY 12 — As per usual when an Asian country that isn't us wins a major award there will be the usual chatter about why Malaysia can't too.
After all isn't “Malaysia Boleh” (Malaysia can) our de facto motto?
Forget the Oscars. Forget the Golden Globes. Cannes.
We cannot possibly compare ourselves to South Korea who decided a decade ago that they would market their pop culture to the world, and the world would love it.
Instead I think it's time we just go back to the basics. We are a terrible place for arts practitioners and content creators which is a shame as we have got so much to offer.
There is the argument that even countries such as Iran, with its moral policing and censorship, still manage to create some of the world's best actors, directors and films.
The thing is in Malaysia most arts practitioners are just trying to make the rent.
It is the No. 1 Malaysian priority that trumps all ideals: to cari makan (make a living).
Iran, I think, in the bleakness of such a repressive society, arts practitioners make art because they must else they will go mad.
Russia was similarly oppressed during the time of Stalin and yet, some of the greatest literature has come out of a place where you could literally be dumped in Siberia for subversive literature.
There is too little money going around in Malaysia for the arts and too little appreciation. Let's not even talk about the moral policing and the heavy-handed censorship.
I watched Birds of Prey last week and was amused at how the censors let the characters say “f***” but decided “a**hole” needed to be censored as well as that popular “up yours” gesture.
Let's not think about the Oscars. Let's think about how we haven't even managed to make the arts sustainable as a career path in Malaysia.
How the best, the brightest, must leave to survive and to grow.
We just don't take the arts seriously enough when we should. But ah, the problem is always, has always been, finding the money.
At the very least we have to start seeing the arts not as frivolous but essential. We need to acknowledge the arts are just as important as science and commerce. It shouldn't need winning an award to do that.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
