Feb 22 2011 by Suzy Sulaiman
When I received news from fellow artists about the plight with Arts Ed's MybalikPulau newsletter, I knew I had to say my two cents before the matter became further distorted by political figures solely out to for their own image and popularity.
My working experience with Arts Ed came through an invitation to work on a collaboration between my research team and their organization. This was to produce a heritage architecture trail brochure. It was designed as a brochure for tourists that gives information about heritage architecture within a section of George Town.
In 2008, my team spent two weeks in Penang; as we are KL-based; to work on the production of a prototype version of the brochure. We were introduced to the neighborhood and were also equipped of basic research skills of conducing interviews by Arts Ed. Arts-Ed arranged for graphic designers, testers and even a heritage architect; to come over and discuss my team’s proposal. They came across as very dedicated, driven and hard-working individuals. It was a fantastic learning experience for the team and I as we got to work closely with the local communities and hear the `untold’ stories of the people.
Above: Drawings produced by my research team about the neighborhood architecture in George Town. (Picture Credits: Author)
What I can summarize from Arts-Ed’s initiative is historical empowerment through community engagement. Children and youths are trained to be gate-keepers of their own heritage as they learn the methods of conducting research. We want to make everyone feel that their stories matter. No person exists in a vacuum and their foot paths can be traced back to a certain beginning. Every voice adds to the collection of our oral heritage.
All great and robust cities are cosmopolitan. They consist of a population from different races, religions and languages. And everyone matters, because it is in their differences that create symbiotic relationships crucial for economic survival. It is high-time that we acknowledge every groups of people; especially those who had migrate to Malaya in search of better opportunities because they have helped build this country in some small way. From the colonial master's gardener to the colonial master himself; must be brought forward. Strength in unity through diversity; is what I feel Arts Ed is about.
It is very disheartening to know that the works of Arts-Ed; that champions educational empowerment through artistic endeavors; is being portrayed so negatively in the recent turn of events. All of their sleepless nights, toil, sweat and tears are going down the drain simply because ruthless parties want to manipulate this into an issue to get political leverage. To those irresponsible parties; I suggest that instead of bickering and burning a newsletter; why not focus on more constructive efforts like better quality education or basic amenities for Balik Pulau?
Suzy Sulaiman holds a diploma in Architecture and masters in Digital Media from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). In 2005, she founded a designers' collaborative known as `Responsible Community Architecture + People (re-cap.org) that is dedicated towards community-building through new media and architecture.She has lead research projects for private and non-government organizations like Rapid Penang, Arts Ed., Anak-Anak Kota and the Heritage Trust of Malaysia. Suzy also lectures extensively in subject of architecture, culture and theory.
