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Khin Zaw Latt

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Khin Zaw Latt

Burmese visual artist Khin Zaw Latt was resident at Rimbun Dahan in May 2008. Following his residency, he returned home where he was awarded the first prize at the Myanmar Contemporary Art Award 2008 competition, a prestigious achievement which has greatly increased the selling price of his work in Myanmar.

Khin Zaw Latt then travelled to Laputta, in the Burmese south, an area devastated by Cyclone Nargis at the beginning of May. Armed with a donation from Rimbun Dahan, he provided the inhabitants of Laputta with aid in the form of clothes, food and help building houses, as well as books and school materials for children.

 

June 2008 — Return of the Blue-Winged Pitta

admin Nature Notes
June 2008 — Return of the Blue-Winged Pitta

BY ANGELA HIJJAS

The call of the blue-winged pitta can be heard all over the garden, and occasionally we catch the flash of its brilliant wings in the Taman Sari. Jesmi the gardener discovered their nest in an abandoned woodpile in the garden, and watched the birds fly in and out and issue alarm calls from a perch in a nearby tree.

The nest is hidden in thick growth on a pile of wood cuttings.

The nest is dug into the mound, supported with sticks and lined with fibers.

This is the second year that this species has been spotted at Rimbun Dahan. Last year it was only detected towards the end of its stay, when it was often seen hunting for worms in the Taman Sari which were carried off to its unseen nest — see Nature Notes August 2007.

Keynote Address for University of Melbourne Alumni Gathering

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Hijjas bin Kasturi delivered the following address to over 50 alumni of the University of Melbourne at an alumni gathering at the Royal Selangor Visitor Centre in Kuala Lumpur on 24 May 2008. The event was hosted by Mr Ian Renard, Chancellor of the University of Melbourne and also several deans of schools, including the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, Professor Tom Kvan.

Even though it is many decades since I was at the University of Melbourne, it was an important period of my life and I am honoured to have been invited to speak this evening to a new generation of Alumni.

We are amongst the privileged few to have had a university education, and not just any education… but at one of the world’s top ranking universities. Some of the alumni in Malaysia have gone on to have outstanding careers, starting with Tun Dr Ismail, who studied medicine there after World War II and who went on to become a key figure in Merdeka politics and in the first Malaysian cabinet where he was a champion of a multi-racial society. There are many other examples, in politics, the judiciary, business and government, which makes one think that perhaps their experiences in Melbourne developed their leadership qualities and equipped them to go out and make a difference.

Asian families have always placed a high priority on education, and I was the first in my family to have the opportunity to go to university. A good education is seen as a partial guarantee for the future, especially for poor families. When I finished school in 1955 there was just one university, the University of Malaya, in all of Singapore and Malaya, and of course I failed to make the grade to get in. Now there are over 20 public universities in Malaysia alone, as well as 15 private and 4 foreign universities. This rapid physical development has perhaps not been matched in quality development, but hopefully this will happen in the future so that coming generations of students will be able to have a quality education here at home.

But those of you here tonight have benefited from not just a good education, but the experience too of living overseas, being forced out of your comfort zones into a completely new environment. I have known Melbourne since the 1950s and how it has changed radically over that time, and which ever period you actually lived there would have opened new doors for you, too. More than merely attending University, Melbourne alone was as much the experience that shaped your attitudes and responses. As a boy from war torn Singapore, I was stunned by the honour system of buying a newspaper at the railway station… why no one stole the money was an early lesson for me in civil society, and I’m sure all of you experienced similar examples of culture shock that forces you to put your own way of doing things in a different perspective, and it is perspectives of change that I want to talk about tonight.

Some of you may have had scholarships to Australia, others were there thanks to your parents’ hard work and sacrifice, but however you got there, you now have an obligation to repay. We all owe someone for the privileges we have enjoyed. I personally owe to the Australian government and the people of Australia, as I was given a Colombo Plan scholarship when there was absolutely no one else offering a helping hand. Only three scholarships were given to Singapore that year, and one of them was for architecture that my boss in the Singapore Housing Trust recommended me for. Without any doubt, without that scholarship my life would have been completely different: possibly I might have ended up as the senior draftsman in the Housing Trust, as without that education my prospects were very limited. Instead, with that scholarship and education in hand, I came back to a newly independent country that had no money but lots of optimism, and by the time the building booms began in the ’70s I was in the right place with the right skills to have a career, make money, raise a family and be successful. Thanks to Australia.

To give you a little of my own history, I came back in the early ’60s, worked in Singapore for a year, before being bought out by MARA college to start a school in architecture and design. I worked there for 5 years, before establishing a professional practice of my own. Doing that “national service” was important, but it did not repay what I had gained.

So I still owe something, even at this late stage of my life, because this is a debt that can never be completely repaid… and the same applies to you. Your education hasn’t just provided you with a meal ticket, but it has equipped you as a citizen of Malaysia with a better intellectual understanding of your world, giving you the responsibility to help others and to develop the nation. I know the idea of developing the nation has become a boring refrain, especially over the last year of anniversary celebrations, but development is what we need if we are going to match what Australia has shown is possible. Our education system needs developing, so does our health care, so does public transport, just as the environment needs more consideration, and there is a slew of social issues that need to be addressed regarding social equity and justice… I suspect every field that we work in today needs the experience and vision that we have brought back from Australia, in particular from Melbourne, to truly develop Malaysia to hold its head high in the international arena.

We talk a lot about being a caring society but in reality the talk is not matched by our behavior. Malaysians, surprisingly, have been ranked amongst the rudest by an international study on tourism, and you only have to ask for help in a department store to know that this is true. We talk about Malaysia truly Asia, about our multi-culturalism and inter-racial respect, but the fact is that these things have to be re-invented by each generation. I went to school in Singapore, so of course I had lots of Chinese friends who are friends to this day, but this is not the experience of young Malays today. Something has to be done about it, and it’s not just the government that has to resolve this problem, it is we as individuals who have to make a difference.

You are among the future leaders, you need to play your part, and you will be rewarded, but it is not always a financial reward. To help others, either providing your skills and services free of charge to worthy causes, or initiating change and new ideas that will provide benefits beyond mere money, these are the important things. Take an active role in developing a civil society, you can influence policy that will have an impact. You can play a role in seeking social justice for those who don’t have the benefits you enjoy. Start thinking about something else apart from consumerism and when you are going to buy your next BMW… think instead about your global footprint and how you can change things. It must start with you, because you are the most educated and privileged in our society and it is up to you to show the way.

I was very disturbed at a recent meeting with Malaysian architecture students in Melbourne. Most of them expressed a wish to stay in Australia because of the high rewards that are offered in professional positions there compared with here, and the belief that the life style there and personal security is much better. I am appalled by such self-serving attitudes, and want to rectify the perception that Malaysia cannot offer a good life and adequate rewards. I have told my own children that whatever they do here can have a major impact, whereas if they were to stay in Australia or the UK, they will not be able to have anything like the same influence on social and business outcomes. There you have no social connections, here you do; there everything has been done already, here it is all waiting to be done… and that in itself offers a level of fulfillment that working and living overseas can never match.

The usual Malaysian response to need is to consider the family first, and yes this is important, but it must go beyond that. The patriarchs of our wealthiest families in previous decades started charities that built schools, orphanages and hospitals, purely because this country had given them the opportunity to build a good life for themselves and they wanted to repay their debt to society; but what has happened to this culture of philanthropy? Who now is starting foundations to help the poor? How are our newly rich entrepreneurs expressing their gratitude? Yes, in Australia there are tax benefits if you form a foundation, whereas here we don’t have that incentive, but that is exactly what needs fixing. someone in tax law should start lobbying for better incentives for charity, and our entrepreneurs should be made to feel obliged to get up and make a difference. We have all enjoyed a good business climate for the last few decades, we make money here in Malaysia, but we want to live in Australia because the lifestyle is better… sorry, count me out on the last item.

Don’t get me wrong; I love Melbourne and Australia, but I don’t want to live there… I am Malaysian and I must pay my debt here. Australia gave me an opportunity, but I came back here to make a difference, and Malaysia gave me that chance. What I want to stress to you is that you can make a huge difference here rather than there, and that alone shapes the quality of your life in terms of satisfaction rather than just your pay packet, because it is not just personal satisfaction at issue here, it is the fact that we all owe someone for the opportunities that were given to us and we have an obligation to reciprocate: do something to help someone else, or generate change that you believe in, just get involved, and distance yourself from those who urge you to migrate so you can enjoy the Australian life style. In the end, life is more than going to the beach and playing golf, and I assure you that you are more likely to find true happiness and fulfillment here, at home, in your own culture and place, where there is so much needing to be done and where indeed you can make a difference.

You are the ones that have to change whatever it is that you find undesirable in this country. You are among the future leaders, and you must play your part, and you will be rewarded, not just financially but in knowing that you have effected change and betterment, because at the end of your life this is what matters most: what you have done, not how much money you made or how many lifestyle holidays you have taken, but where you have made a difference, especially now, when the pace of change is beginning to accelerate. The recent elections and political developments here are opening a window where all the outstanding issues that have been ignored for too long will come to the surface, and it is your turn to re-tool society and the professions for a new age. That is what I want you to think about.

Thank you.

May 2008 – Python reticulatus

admin Nature Notes
May 2008 – Python reticulatus

BY ANGELA HIJJAS

This specimen of Python reticulatus, about 3m long, was caught in the hen house, along with two dead chickens, one of which had been eaten. In an attempt to escape, the python then regurgitated the chicken it had eaten. Some time later, the python was still in the henhouse, so Rimbun Dahan staff transferred it to a gunny sack and released it outside the property near a small stream.

This is only one of many such encounters with pythons at Rimbun Dahan. Two years ago, a large python was found trapped in the well and helped to escape; see Nature Notes August 2006. Other reptiles observed at Rimbun Dahan include the monitor lizard and other snakes including rat snakes, paradise tree snakes and cobras.

Python reticulatus

The Reticulated python is known to be the longest of all snakes, attaining a miximum length of 15 m. Its normal prey is warm blooded animals from chickens, pigs, goats and monkeys to small deer. Prey is swallowed whole, the snake’s jaws are not rigidly joined and thus can be stretched wide to acommodate bulky food. This python is normally found in forest, especially close to water, it can also be found in urban settlements. Small pythons can easily be captured and tamed, but adults are dangerous as they can deliver vicious bites, and their powerful coils may be too much for a man to handle. The female python lays from 20 to 50 eggs, rarely up to 100. The eggs adhere together in a mass, which the femail coils around and incubates for a period of betweeen 75 and 90 days. Baby pythons look similar to adults and measure about 60 cm in length.

Reference: Fascinating Snakes of Southeast Asia, by Francis Lim Leong Keng and Monty Lee Tat Mong

May 2008 — Before and After, 17 Years

admin Nature Notes
May 2008 — Before and After, 17 Years

Over the course of seventeen years, the constant planting, pruning, sun and rain have done their work in the garden at Rimbun Dahan. What was once hot bare expanse has become cool and crowded with greenery, as the before and after images below show.

The view above, taken from the dining room, looks out diagonally across the reflective pond to the balai beside the swimming pool, and to the rambutan orchard beyond, all of which can be clearly seen in the 1991 image. In the more recent image, the reflective pond is planted with papyrus grass, waterlilies and lotuses, which obscure the view. The lawn beside the house has been maintained, to prevent creepy-crawlies from having too easy access to the house. A rain gauge has been installed on the lawn. Note that the cool marble floor beneath the dining table continues to be a popular haunt for the household dogs.


The view above is from the guest house looking across the reflective pond back towards the main house and the durian orchard beyond. A hill of a palm oil estate can been seen in the far background, as well as a neighbour’s roof. The growth of the garden has increased the privacy at Rimbun Dahan, as well as reducing noise from the nearby main road. The 1991 image shows the emptiness of the lawn in front of the main house, with only a few small saplings. In the recent image, the trees are much bigger. The row of colourful canna lilies, native to South America, that lined the reflective pool has long since been replaced, and now a large specimen of the indigenous Congea tomentosa, a climbing vine with purple flowers, has taken over the plants beside the reflective pool.

Dance Day 2008

admin Arts, Dance, Workshops
Dance Day 2008

DanceDay08-027
Suhaili Ahmad Kamil and other Dance Day participants in Rathimala’s workshop.

Over twenty experienced dancers assembled in the dance studio at Rimbun Dahan on 1 May to celebrate International Dance Day with four workshops: Cunningham technique conducted by Yuka Tanaka, ballet performance skills by Kim Long, Shobana Jeyasingh repertoire by Radhimala, and Horton technique by Joey Chua.

From 9.30am to 5pm, the dancers sweated it out in the studio, trying a host of techniques that are rarely taught or practiced in Malaysia. They broke for lunch and a cooling-down session with dance videos in the underground gallery before returning to the studio.

Dance Day was free for all Balletbase dancers, and RM 50 for the day for all other participants.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOPS

Cunningham Technique, taught by Yuka Tanaka, 9.30-11am

Choreographer and dancer Merce Cunningham has been a driving force in modern dance for over 50 years. His choreography introduced the idea that music and dance can be independent of each other. He also introduced the use of chance in developing choreographic phrases. Cunningham technique emphasises a strong sense of spine and the ability to quickly change direction.

Yuka Tanaka received her Bachelors (Hons) in contemporary dance from Laban in London, with an emphasis on Cunningham and Graham technique. In London, she worked with choreographer Lea Anderson and performed at the Soho Theatre. She has recently performed in Malaysia with Balletbase.

Above: Dance Day participant Cecilia Yong trying new movement in Rathimala's workshop.
Above: Dance Day participant Cecilia Yong trying new movement in Rathimala’s workshop.

Ballet performance skills, taught by Kim Long, 11.15am-12.45pm

Kim Long was trained in Australia and directed Kim’s School of Ballet in Ulu Klang for many years. She is much loved and respected by her previous students for her patience, personal attention and eye for developing the whole dancer. Kim Long will give a ballet class emphasising style and presentation, and the techniques of projecting to an audience. Kim is now a competitive golfer while teaching casual ballet classes at the International School of Kuala Lumpur.

Repertory class, taught by Rathimalar, 1.45-3.15pm

While Rathimalar is best known to Malaysians as a star dancer with Ramli Ibrahim’s Sutra Dance Theatre, she also worked for five years as a professional dancer for the Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company. In her own work, she combines the Indian traditional styles of Bharata Natyam and Odissi with contemporary dance. She is currently making a duet work with Suhaili Ahmad Kamil for performance this July.

Horton Technique, taught by Joey Chua, 3.30-5pm

Above: Joey Chua conducting a workshop in Horton technique on Dance Day.
Above: Joey Chua conducting a workshop in Horton technique on Dance Day.

Horton technique was developed by American dance, choreographer and teacher Louis Horton in the 1940s and 50s, and is most visible today in the works of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. Horton technique is based on anatomically-conscious corrective exercises and emphasises the use of flat backs and lateral stretches. It encourages the development of strong flexible dancers.

Joey Chua is a Singaporean choreographer who will be resident at Rimbun Dahan from April to July 2008. She will be creating a solo work to be performed as a work in progress in Kuala Lumpur in July. Joey studied dance at the University of Adelaide in Australia, and followed this with a Master in Arts (Research) at Queensland University of Technology. She has been involved in implementing dance curriculums in secondary schools in Singapore. Joey has recently participated in the 10th Seoul International Dance Festival 2007 and the FNB Dance Festival in Durban, South Africa.

Moe Satt

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Moe Satt

Moe Satt, a performance artist from Yangon trained in zoology and community development, was in residence at Rimbun Dahan for three months, from February to April 2008.

Bio

Moe Satt (b 1983) lives and works in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma). In 2005 he graduated from East Yangon University with a Bachelor of Sciences (Zoology). Since then, he has participated in over 25 performance events and four solo shows as well as digital art exhibitions.

In his art works, Moe Satt tries to reflect the order and disorder surrounding people and the neverending justification in terms of human internal validity. He started out as a performance artist showing his work in the galleries and on the pavements of Yangon. In April 2007 he attended a certificate program in Community Development and Civic Empowerment at Chiang Mai University, Thailand. He exhibited his first solo art work abroad at Chiang Mai University in June 2007. He has participated in international performance art festivals including Performance Site Myanmar 05, 8th Open International Performance Art Festival in Beijing, China and 9th Asiatopia International Performance Art Festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Megan Keating

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Megan Keating

The Orchard, 2008, Oil on canvas, 122 x 153 cm.
The Orchard, 2008, Oil on canvas, 122 x 153 cm.

Dr Megan Keating was one of the Australian artists of the year-long Malaysia-Australia Visual Artist Residency at Rimbun Dahan in 2008. At Rimbun Dahan she created Plantation Nation, a body of large-scale oil on canvas works, which explores the idea of “home” and how we cultivate an environment to ‘ manufacture’ this idea.

About the Artist

meganMegan Keating was born in Sydney, Australia where she worked in a design studio before attending the National Art School. She holds an Honours degree (first class) (1998) and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Fine Art (2002) from the University of Tasmania.

She is a multidisciplinary artist crossing installation, painting, and paper cutting. Her practice explores the nature of extremes. These extremes or conflicts can be seen as conditions and consequences of contemporary living; such divergences include tradition and modernity, beauty and terror, craft and technology, media and reality, nature and culture. Within this forum Keating often uses motifs that nudge at the edge of acceptability such as bombs, military iconography or pornography, which she renders as elegant silhouettes.

She has exhibited extensively since 1999 with recent solo projects including Different Reds, Gallery 4a, Asia- Australia Arts Centre, Sydney (2001); And then there were none… Gowlangsford Gallery, Sydney (2003); In Dreams Begin Responsibilities, 2-28 Memorial Museum (curated by Yaohua Su), Taipei (2006); The Year of the Rat, Xue Xue Institute, Taipei (2007); Deep Water Dark Water, Criterion Gallery, Hobart (2007); and Hard Love, Devonport Regional Gallery (2008). Group exhibitions include Papercuts, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne (2003); Love Letters to China, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney (2003); Drawn Out, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (2005); Her name is Tan Hua, collaborative performance with Mei Li, Taipei (2006); This Crazy Love, Linden Gallery, Melbourne (2007); Loop, Barry Room Gallery, Taipei (2007); Under My Skin, Asialink touring exhibition to Manilla, Hanoi and Singapore (2008). Keating has also been the recipient of numerous awards including an Asialink Residency to Beijing (2000); Australia Council Residency, Tokyo (2003); Arts Tasmania Research and Development Grant (2003); Australian Council New Work Established Grant (2005); Asialink Residency, Taipei International Artists Village (2006) and Artist–in-residence, The European School, Taipei (2007). In 2008 Keating was the recipient of the year-long residency at Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia. Her work is held in the collections of Artbank, BHP Billiton, Pat Corrigan Collection, Australia, Australian Embassy, Beijing, National Gallery of Australia, Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia, Taipei Artists Village, Taiwan and the University of Sydney.

Keating currently lives and works in Hobart where she lectures in painting and graphic design at the Tasmanian School of Art. In 2009 Keating will return to Tasmania to curate an exhibition of contemporary Taiwanese art for the 10 Days on the Island Festival and the University of Tasmania.

She is represented by Criterion Gallery, Hobart. www.criteriongallery.com.au.

Plantation Nation

Plantation Nation is a body of large-scale oil on canvas works, which explores the idea of “home” and how we cultivate an environment to ‘ manufacture’ this idea. Images and inspirations have been taken from observations of Malaysia, especially around the locality of Rimbun Dahan whilst concurrently thinking about the issues related to being away from home, what is a home, returning home and trying to establish a sense of home in a foreign environment.

Lauren Black

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Lauren Black

Malaysia-Australia Visual Artist Residency 2008

Lauren (right) talking to visitors at her studio.
Lauren (right) talking to visitors at her studio.

Lauren Black (b.1971) is a contemporary botanical artist from Tasmania, Australia. During her residency at Rimbun Dahan her work has focused around the theme of disappearance; exploring themes such as rare and endangered species, the relationship between human culture and botanical life and, the transient beauty of plants.

Works on exhibit will be in watercolour and pencil.

Artist’s Profile

Lauren Black is a leading figure in contemporary Australian botanical art. Her career in this specialised field commenced in 1997 with studies at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. Currently working as a freelance artist and teacher she has been involved in many projects and commissions including collaborations with botanists, artists, universities, community and government organisations. As well as exhibiting regularly as both a solo artist and as part of group exhibitions in Australia, Lauren has also curated numerous botanical exhibitions of historical and environmental importance.

In 2004 Lauren won the inaugural Margaret Flockton Award for excellence in botanical illustration, NSW, Australia. In 2005 she was awarded an Asialink visual arts residency to develop her practice further in Sri Lanka.

Lauren’s residency at Rimbun Dahan has introduced her to the rich and diverse flora of the tropics. She hopes to continue this relationship with tropical flora; developing projects that can reveal both the extraordinary beauty and precarious nature of this region for a wide audience.

Lauren’s work is held in numerous collections including:

  • HRH Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark
  • Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Tasmania, Australia
  • Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, Tasmania, Australia
  • University of Tasmania Fine Art Collection
  • National Library of Australia, ACT
  • Royal Botanic Gardens Library, Melbourne, Vic. Australia
  • Private collections in Australia and Malaysia

Justin Lim

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Justin Lim

About the Artist

Justin Lim (b. 1983 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) completed his postgraduate studies in 2006 with the Master of Art (Fine Art) programme by The Open University UK conducted at Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore after obtaining a BA(Hons) Fine Art majoring in painting. He has exhibited widely in Malaysia and Singapore in various solo and group exhibitions. In 2007,he was the Artist-In-Residence at TAKSU, Kuala Lumpur and was awarded the 2008 Malaysia-Australia Visual Artist Residency at Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia.

His new body of works examines the connection between existence, religion, politics and its relation in our contemporary social context. Using painting as a medium, Justin’s residency exhibition entitled Gods, Heroes & Myths represents and questions the human capability to distort the truth. Inspired and conceived between the 50th Merdeka celebrations and the 12th Malaysian General Elections, Justin uses random people and fictional characters to question various events surrounding the nation and people’s perception towards them. In relation, the works also explore subjects like manipulation, power and religion.

About the Work: Some Thoughts on Gods, Heroes and Myths

For Justin Lim’s third and latest solo exhibition, figures have literally come to the fore. In fact, they loom large on the canvasses. The interest in figuration is not a recent or sudden one. His formal training in figuration could be traced to when he was studying visual and digital arts in Malaysia from 2001 to 2003.1 This was later overshadowed by his interest in abstraction when he pursued his fine arts degree in Singapore from 2006 to 2006.

However, when Lim returned to Malaysia in 2007, he was caught up by what was happening around him, especially the political and social events of the time such as murder scandals2, the 50th Merdeka Celebrations3, the HINDRAF controversy4and the 12th Malaysian General Elections. The latter proved to be particularly momentous as popular dissatisfaction led to the loss of the ruling party’s two-thirds parliamentary majority as well as five states to the opposition. Lim recalled the almost ‘festive’ air during the election period when his neighbourhood was festooned with posters and banners, and the gripping political drama was the topic of constant conversation. This was also a period when Lim was questioning the reality of the ‘festivity’. Issues such as the role of religion, the influence of social structures and conditioning, and the relationship between power and truth were pondered upon. How much autonomy do we really have in life?  And how do we relate to and perceive the people around us? This then led Lim to reflect on the political and social changes occurring in his midst. What is the relationship between power and politics, race and religion? How does the mass media influence public perception? How much should we believe of what we read? Can we really trust what we see? And how does one make sense of this paradoxical, topsy-turvey world that we live in?

Questions like these are explored through the use of figuration in Lim’s new works. In the case of the largest painting Gods, Heroes and Myths, the figures press upon the viewer, popping to life from a pristine flat background. Using the parade of characters, Justin highlights a number of ambivalences and paradoxes. Sumo and American wrestlers are a source of entertainment but are also treated as heroes by many in their home countries. So, how seriously should they be taken by us? Two other figures strike dance-like poses with eyes half-closed. Are they dancing or going into some sort of trance – one is never quite sure. There is a man sporting a Mohawk haircut and punk clothing. As an icon of anti-establishment counterculture, he takes silent aim at the central figure in the picture. A butcher, with knife in hand, who stands amidst hanging carcasses, looks at the viewer quizzically.  He wears a white rounded cap, usually associated with the taqiyah worn by Muslim men. How do we regard this enigmatic character? In an age when terrorism-driven fears have exacerbated irrational exaggerations and stereotyping, where is the place for truth and tolerance? In the work Animal Farm, Lim takes inspiration from the book by George Orwell, a cautionary tale about power and corruption. Featuring a line-up of animal carcasses stripped of all marks of identity, the painting seems to be reminding us that regardless of our desires, convictions and achievements, this is the ultimate destiny for everyone – to become mere remnants of anonymous flesh, nothing more, nothing less.

The notorious murder of a Mongolian woman with its lurid headlines of a gruesome murder using explosives, allegations over a shady purchase of submarines, and the involvement of the police and prominent political individuals, had transfixed the public for much of late 2006 and 2007.5 In addition, the turmoil on the international front, ranging from Gulf War to the oil crisis, provided much food for thought. The use of ghosts as a metaphor by Lim is an interesting one. Ghosts are said to haunt the living, just as the excesses of Malaysian politics continue to make their presence felt throughout the past 50 years.6 Ghosts are also sometimes regarded as the repositories of our irrational fears and suspicions. One characteristic of Malaysian politics has been the periodic resurrection of the so-called ‘bogeyman’. Referring to a terrifying spectre used as a threat to misbehaving children, politicians often resort to racial issues to incite popular unease or unrest within a particular ethnic community, thereby manipulating them to behave in ways which have not been helpful in fostering greater trust and understanding within a plural society like Malaysia.7 Lim has, though his canvases, created a disturbing world where ghosts such as the Toyol (slave ghost used for stealing money), Hantu Air (water ghost), Hantu Tetek (breast ghost) and Orang Minyak (oil man) collide with the submarines, warplanes, suited businessmen, petroleum kiosks and hand grenades from our  world. The atmosphere evoked in these works is certainly nightmarish and unreal, but is it any worse than the times which we live in?

Lim is an artist who has always been curious to question and investigate the world around him. As his personal circumstances changed, so did his field of exploration, and the means of his investigation also varied accordingly. The forms may be different but his investigative and creative spirit remains the same.

Low Sze Wee (Assistant Director – Curation & Collection) Singapore Art Museum

1 Interviews with artist on 6 June and 27 December 2008.

2 This refers to the trial of a political analyst over the murder of Mongolian woman in October 2006. The case became a political scandal because the defendant had close ties to the governing party as well as Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak.

3 This refers to a series of private and public activities which celebrated Malaysia’s 50th Independence Day in 2007.

4 HINDRAF refers to the ‘Hindu Rights Action Force’ – a coalition of non-governmental Hindu organisations – which had initiated protests and rallies to preserve their community rights in late 2007. These later led to several arrests and detentions without trial by the government.

5 This refers to the same scandal mentioned in footnote 2.

6Malaysia was ranked the 47th out of 180 countries in the 2008 Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International. This was said to be its worst performance since the ranking was introduced in 1995. (refer to http://www.transparency.org/news_room/in_focus/2008/cpi2008/cpi_2008_table and http://limkitsiang.com/archive/2008/sep08/lks4912.htm )

7There are numerous references to ‘bogeyman’ in Malaysian popular literature such as Internet blogs. (refer tohttp://educationmalaysia.blogspot.com/2006/09/bogeyman-politics.html andhttp://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF70.htm  where the education system and the Internal Security Act are respectively referred to as the ‘bogeyman’.)