Alfian Sa'at
orteoSpdsn0y0llhh92 1541m4g2m7it9m31a0m07lm09318l1uh15cu11M ·It’s awful enough that they downloaded a couple’s wedding photo without permission. And then for some reason decided it would be cute to turn them into standees with the original faces punched out. (I mean would you use a couple at a Christian wedding for your Christmas decoration? ) This seemed to me the main source of the controversy. But can we also talk about all the other whack elements in this decoration?
1) What is that coconut tree doing there? KaMpUnG sPiRiT is it? And why is it lime green? I guess this is me in primary school forgetting to bring crayons to school and colouring my coconut tree with highlighter.
2) Talking about green...yes, it’s a colour conventionally associated with Islam and Hari Raya (we stole the idea for ang pows from the Chinese and turned them from red to green kan?). But do we need to have green background, green walls, green floor, green wedding songket (kesian the couple, they just wanted you for the colour of your baju)? I think my mum would have said, kenapa tak masukkan Incredible Hulk sekali?
3) That thatched roof. I think maybe the intention is to create the impression of a kampung house. But not all kampung houses have thatched roofs. And really, one has to be careful with the equivalences one makes between Malays and the rural, and the rural with the “undeveloped” (especially when one lives in a society that has a long way to go in appreciating indigenous knowledge).
Do I have a problem with equating kampung houses with Hari Raya? Not really, and for many it’s a nostalgic image. But there are so many ways to do this where one can highlight the beauty of vernacular architecture—like decorative wooden carvings used for ventilation panels, daylight screens, railings, door panels etc. This ‘roof’ here looks like orang jemur keropok (like someone drying keropok in the sun).
4) That guy at the back. Dia siapa, bapa pengantin? (Who’s he, the father of the bride/groom?) This whole thing should just be a banner with that message and that MP’s image. But no, it was decided that one should construct an entire Hari Raya diorama around it. I have always found these banners gauche and opportunistic, because if you were really sincere about adding “some festive cheer for our residents amid this pandemic”, then focus on the decoration, not the MP. (It’s just like Trump insisting that his signature appear on stimulus cheques.)
It also signals some kind of insecurity to me—“in case you don’t remember, I’m your MP”. But maybe an MP’s visibility shouldn’t be dependent on banners hitchhiking on cultural festivals. Maybe an MP’s visibility should be based on regular walkabouts, and how about this—regularly attending all the Malay weddings that take place in your constituency.
Anyway here's a handy guide lah if it's so difficult:
Can:
Ketupat
Fairy lights
Skyline of mosque
Kuih tat, kuih ros, kuih makmur, etc
Songket design
Cannot:
Malay wedding
Muslim funeral
Pontianak
"No pork no lard"
Lee Bee Wah in tudung
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