IN RESPONSE TO THE BALIK PULAU CONTROVERSY
We have heard this one too many times and let’s face it, we are getting sick of it. The idea that all us are out to ‘hina Melayu’ is so last decade. By blaming Arts-Ed for bringing out ‘isu perkauman’, the ‘Gabungan Bela Hak Insan’ has stooped so low in order to spread its own political ideologies.
According to ‘Gabungan Bela Hak Insan’, they were “merely pointing out errors”. The last time I checked, pointing out errors did not involve burning 15 copies of our children’s hard work and screaming “Allahuakhbar” while doing so. Stop making everything racial and religious. We are just tired of this pattern of using race and religion to gain more support.
Let us be clear, Arts-Ed is non-political! It is an organization that educates youths about our community’s heritage. This is done by children residing in the community whom conduct interviews and collect oral history from their own community. We have no intention to alter history whatsoever but to share history and stories that are unique to each person in the community. It is basically residents sharing their life stories amongst each other. How can one say my personal family and life history is wrong? It is my ancestors, my family, my life. I am appalled at the claim by Muhammad Farid Saad saying we are deliberately attempting to steal the rights of our fellow Malays away.
Arts-Ed is a remarkable effort to educate youths about our history and gives us a sense of identity. Something that formal history education and school culture has failed to do for years, Art-Ed achieves this in a span of a few months. I have been working with Arts-Ed since 2003 at the tender age of 13, and Arts-Ed gave me a reason to be proud of my culture, my state and my country. I knew nothing about history. All I learned from schools is how to memorize history, not understand my history. The Government thinks by singing a few National songs and murmuring some ‘ikrar’ on a weekly basis would make us students more patriotic. Boy do they have it wrong!
Arts-Ed takes a different approach to learning history. They use arts as a tool to educate youths about heritage. We learn so much about our people and ourselves. We learn skills schools never thought us. There is only so much textbooks and classrooms can teach us. We learn maturity, independence, and most importantly, we learn unity. We realize how all of us are uniquely different but fundamentally the same. We learn the songs, music, and traditional trades. We try with our very best to keep our heritage alive! By burning copies of our work, what are you planning to achieve?
Instead of bashing Arts-Ed efforts, they should be applauding Arts-Ed for their efforts for really making the ‘One Malaysia’ vision come true. Go for an Arts-Ed meeting, see how our children interact with each other, see how they do not even notice the color of each other’s skin. See the love, support and patriotism they have for each other and for our beloved Penang. Learn from them! Arts-Ed children have grasped the idea of ‘One Malaysia’ long before our government even thought of implementing it. Race and religion has never been and will NEVER be an issue in Arts-Ed.
Yours truly,
Natasha Khanum
