Turner Prize 1993

Vong Phaophanit with Neon Rice Field at the 1993 exhibition
© Tate Photography

‘I am writing to say something about one of the pieces of art in your gallery, The Rice. Although it looks quite impressive, are you thinking about the meaning? There are people starving. I know it’s not your fault but wouldn’t it be possible to take some of the rice and do something about what it is expressing. Try sending some to the starving people.’

– Letter from a member of the public (aged 9) to Tate, November 1993

And they say the West ignores Palestine...

On Pudu

In response to X no longer marks the spot in Kuala Lumpur, by Rehman Rashid, NST 4 Dec 2009.

The murals outside the Pudu Jail, at least, cannot and should not be destroyed. They reflect a deep sense of compassion and respect for the rights of the prisoner, a sense which we seem to have lost over years since. There used to be football games played outside the grounds among the prisoners, the field where you now see overgrown weeds.

The significance of a jail that allowed its prisoners these expressions should be kept by at least preserving its gates and walls. Now we have modern white-washed facilities in remote areas, which drain the will of the prisoner. Gone is the face of the prisoner, the hope that they can be rehabilitated, returned to society as functional human beings; replaced by cost-per-prisoner accounting and the dehumanization of the criminal.

As Ramsey Clark, the former U.S. Attorney General and human rights advocate said, “There are few better measures of the concern a society has for its individual members and its own well being than the way it handles criminals”. The Pudu Jail remains the last symbol of our lost sense of respect for human expression, the reality of crime and punishment, and our responsibility towards criminals.

Malaysians and Free-markets

I have been to Waubebas' Akademi Merdeka, this is not an unbiased opinion. Malaysians don't yet understand free-markets and capitalism. We have a translucent wall, in our minds, which equates capitalism and Americanism. We want cheaper cars but we don't want foreign workers. We frequent McDonalds but we don't want free-trade agreements. We expect the most from home-grown companies but we reject privatisation of everything from healthcare to highways.

There is valid reasoning behind some of these contradictory viewpoints, but it always seems easier for us to reject non-intervention in the face of planned actions which more often than not, result in unplanned outcomes.

In response to:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/opinion/wan-saiful-wan-jan/42688-dua-puluh-tahun-robohnya-tembok-berlin--rayakan-keranapan-sosialisme

On education

I was once on the mono-stream schooling brigade, until I realised freedom also includes the freedom to choose to where and how you want your kids to be educated. I studied in an SK and SMK all my life, and barely knew the Chinese-educated students. It wasn't their fault, and after high school, I became very close friends with a kid from my SMK, Chinese-educated, in university. It is not a fault of the education system if we are racist. It is the demarcation on ethnic lines which has been drilled into Malaysian society, from parents imposing their views on race on children, and the government with their hypocritical drawings of Malay,Chinese,Indians in primary school textbooks.

The best model we have, and the one that has proven resilient for decades is the East Malaysian model. Race is clear-cut,people are proud to affirm their race, but race relations are of no consequence to this. Restaurants, halal or not, are frequented by everyone, people get along anywhere anytime.

The real issue here is to stop inculcating racial lines, and start looking at schools from a purer perspective; that is centres of childhood development. The language and constituents of these schools should not play a part in determining our views of them. Right now, from a purely educational perspective, Chinese schools present the best model of academic achievement among the three streams we have. Their weaknesses and those of all non-private schools in Malaysia, the rote-learning system and the inadequate non-academic learning structure are not subjects of this debate.

At this moment, the heart of the matter is that Chinese schools present the best case for a good primary education, and it would not be a problem if all of us choose Chinese schools for our kids. Which would mean the end of racial separation at primary level.

On maids

A good measure of how civilized a nation is in the treatment of fellow human beings. The ongoing debate on the treatment and wages of Indonesian maids puts shame on our people.

It seems that what we want are slaves; to be paid as little as possible, and doing as much as possible. We denigrate our domestic help, criticizing their every move, but when enough is enough and they decide to leave we say we can’t live without them. We expect them to do everything, yet we pay them pittance wages, which we know are degrading to their very existence.

A family man with two young daughters once told me with satisfaction on what happened after he complained about his maid’s alleged incompetence. The maid was 16 years old, from a small Indonesian town far from the city. He told of how the agent beat and tortured her for 3 days before returning her; in a state of numb obedience.

I know of many people who intend to not comply with any ruling requiring maids to be given a day off. There are also those who feel that for RM 800 a month, they would expect their maids to feed themselves. These are the same people who can’t keep the same maid for more than 6 months without them running away or being ‘exchanged’ for a new maid.

However, the fact that these maids are willing to work for the RM600 they currently receive shows how few opportunities there are back home. For the authorities to raise the minimum wage would reduce work opportunities here as people stop taking in maids. This would punish prospective maids far more than the ill-treatment many of them have experienced while working in Malaysia.

What should happen is tightening of rules in regards to the treatment of maids and proper enforcement of them. Agencies should be properly regulated and the rights of maids should take greater precedence.

On a greater scale, we should begin putting perspective on how we treat foreigners in this country. The apartment where I live recently introduced a rule barring foreigners, mostly factory workers, from using the amenities, including swimming pools, playgrounds and gyms, despite the fact that they pay the same maintenance fees. On the other hand, we seem to be extraordinarily hospitable to foreigners of certain origins and wealth.

Xenophobia is rampant and selective racism seems to be the accepted order. It smacks of rotten values and a disrespect of human dignity. And it marks where we are as a self-described modern nation.