Friday, June 12, 2009

Gadoh

Racism. A word so strong it could provoke anger, frustation, madness and so on. Well to talk about racism in Malaysia, when there is numerous races, would make this blog entry go on and on and on... well, you get the picture. But still, it is an issue we have been facing ever since Tuanku Abdul Rahman declared Independance on 31st August 1957 until now.



Such a taboo issue it is today that the mere thought of this word, the mere mention of anything to do in this word would make everyone stare at you, thinking why the hell did this person bring this issue up, is this person trying to kill him/herself with words?




Well, that doesn't seem to be the issue for a group of people who made the story 'Gadoh', which basicly is about racism.


L-R : Felicita, Sofina, Seb, Then and Me



I had the opportunity to join a dear friend of mine, Seb, with her coursemates to watch this movie in HELP Institute last night. I came there with no expectation what so ever on this movie, thinking that it may be made by a couple of amateurs, trying their luck at pleasing the spectators a.k.a us or the students.



As the ticket said, and I quote, "GADOH is a feature film that explores our PERCEPTION OF IDENTITY and challenges our HATRED OF THE 'OTHER' "





Watching this film was a bitter sweet event for me, as it does prove to be true at moments, whereby these are the words mentioned by people around me, when I'm in high school, and in fact up till now. (In addition to that, the filming was done in my previous high school, Sekolah Aminuddin Baki :D)



"Orang Melayu pemalas."

"Orang Cina penipu."
"Orang Melayu bodoh pun boleh masuk U."

"Orang Cina makan babi."

"Orang Melayu semua pun free."

"Orang Cina tak mandi pagi."



Well. Those were just excerpts from the film. But I guess you could guess the issue raised by this film, which has been there since a long time ago, but everyone sweeps it under the carpet and hopes that it would disappear, but in fact it collects and becomes a much bigger issue.




Us taking picture with one of the leading actors, Nicholas Liew Davis (Heng)





Me with the other lead actor, Zahiril Adzim (Khalil)



I'm of mixed parentage you see, my mother is half Melanau (Sarawak native) and Malay, while my father is half Murut (Sarawak native) and Chinese. (And people wonder why I look the way I do :P) When people badmouth the Malay people, of course I would feel pissed off. But when the people badmouth the Chinese, I get pissed off too. When people badmouth the Sarawakian natives, I get pissed off too. I'm partially one of them as well, you see.



I think the main problem is people get pissed off with an individual, but instead of getting pissed off with that certain individual, they would just go label the race instead.



Well, my point now is, everyone, I would really encourage all of you to see this film - Gadoh. It's not a inter-racial love story like Sepet, but more about how people could change they way they perceive an individual if they just open their eyes and are willing to accept. :)


p/s :
1) Am feeling very ungrateful when I saw the film, as the last time I went to my high school was about 5 years ago, before I entered medical school. I've never looked back since. :'(

2) I wonder why people called Khalil in films always look very appealing at the moment. e.g : Gadoh - Zahiril Adzim, Sepi - Pierre Andre

6 comments:

- e n i g m a - said...

farah kenal sof ek?

EFF said...

azlin : baru kenal. kl ni kecik. :)

ayumin said...

I fucking hate racism. Grrrr.

EFF said...

ayu : tau tak pe. kata 1malaysia kan? even though 52 years down the road, we're still dealing with this.

Elisha said...

Murut? Are you referring your dad as half Lun Bawang and Chinese?

If yes, you should know some few basic greetings like "Anun Bala" yea? =)

By the way, it's not Murut but Lun Bawang. ;-)

EFF said...

Elisha : not really. My dad himself didn't really practice speaking the language. So I myself am limited to talking bahasa melayu sarawak, and i don't really know the other native languages. :)