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June 2005 — Dry Season, and Heron Nesting at Tasek Putri

admin Nature Notes 5 July 200519 September 2020

BY ANGELA HIJJAS

Concerns about climate change persuaded me to get a rain gauge and I have been tracking precipitation since March. June is always a dry month and this was no exception with a total rainfall of only 59mm. Rain fell on just 6 days, compared with 14, 15 and 16 of the previous three months, and it was concentrated in two of those days when we had 16mm and 37mm. The garden dried out, many trees shed their leaves, but they did not all respond in sync with others of the same species. Only one of the ten Intsia palembanica, a merbau timber tree of the Dipterocarpaceae family, shed its leaves, and the photo on the right shows the new red growth.

Reasons for this typical coloration of new leaves in the tropics vary, but it is plausible that because red leaves have a higher surface temperature than green, the rate of evapo-transpiration and the deposition of nutrients in the new growth is faster, thus ensuring more rapid growth when the leaves are most vulnerable.

The nesting season is well underway in the heronry at Bandar Tasek Putri to the north of Rimbun Dahan, and west of Rawang. The photo below shows a nest of the black-crowned night heron, one of 39 species identified at the swamp to the left of the access road to the Bandar Tasek Putri housing estate. The developers have built a viewing platform at the roadside for the public to view the birds just meters away, but Selayang Council continues to dump rubbish on the opposite side of this unprotected wetland. Damage to the pandans by the huge numbers of birds is considerable compared with last year, and ultimately the birds will have to move.

The Selangor State government needs to protect similar wetlands to ensure that the birds have alternative sites where they can nest en masse. Birds that nest in isolation, rather than with the huge numbers and species mix at Bandar Tasek Putri, are more vulnerable to predators, hence this preference to nest together. This heronry is believed to be the largest in Peninsula Malaysia and is well worth a visit.

May 2005 — Long-Tailed Macaques

admin Nature Notes 19 June 200519 September 2020

BY ANGELA HIJJAS

We have a large colony of long-tailed macaques in the compound, and they have an interesting social structure. While the adults forage around the trees further afield, they leave the babies in a ‘nursery’ with one or two adults to keep an eye on them. These are not the really tiny ones, but are large enough to play with each other and practice the many skills they will need as adults. One favored location for the nursery is on the ‘assam gelugor’, Garcinia atroviridis, trees outside my bathroom. I think this is because the foliage and branching are dense enough to allow many ready handholds in case of falling. A favorite game is King of the Castle on top of the tree, and as a result the lead shoot is constantly pruned…

Macaca fascicularis or long-tailed macaques, can be distinguished from the langurs by distinctive head shape, more pinkish faces and more muscular bodies. Long-tailed Macaque has the longest tail of any Asian macaque, similar in length to its head and body. Body fur varies from grayish-brown to reddish. In Thailand, these macaques are most common in coastal areas and along large rivers, but farther south they are found in a range of habitats including hill forest, lowland forest, plantations and secondary forest. Diet is omnivorous, including invertebrates such as shellfish or crabs, as well as nestlings, small mammals, fruits and leaves. May become a pest, raiding rice crops, fruit orchards or vegetable gardens and entering towns or houses to scrounge for food. Highly gregarious, being found in troops of up to 70 individuals. Gives birth to a single young after gestation of five or six months. Range is generally south of Rhesus macaque, M. mulatta, in southern Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Philippines.

Fair Dinkum

admin Exhibition 14 June 200526 July 2022

Former Rimbun Dahan resident artists from Australia return to Malaysia for a joint exhibition. The images below were taken at the opening dinner on 14 June 2005.

L-R: works by Malcolm Utley, John Foubister, Malcolm
Utley.

Yau Bee Ling

admin Resident Artist, Yearlong Visual Arts Residency 28 April 200528 April 2015Malaysian, Painter

two_women — ‘Two Women’. Oil on Canvas. 79 x 62cm ( 2 Panels). 2008. Exhibited at ArTriangle II in 2008.

Yau Bee Ling was one of the Malaysian artists of the year-long Malaysia-Australia Visual Arts Residency in 2005.

Above: From The Gardener Series – exhibited at the 2005 Art for Nature exhibition in Rimbun Dahan.

Bio

Yau Bee Ling was born in 1972, Port Klang. She graduated from Malaysian Institute of Art (1992-1995) with award of full scholarship in fine art course (painting). Since then, she has been actively practising and exhibiting in Kuala Lumpur since she graduated in 1995. She was selected by the National Art Gallery to represent Malaysia at the 9th Asian Art Biennal in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1999. In 2000, she was selected by the renowned regional curator T.K. Sabapathy to exhibit at Singapore Sculpture Square. In 2002, her paintings were chosen to exhibit at the 2nd Fukuoka Triennale, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum and her paintings were collected as part of the Fukuoka Museum permanent collection. In 2004, her paintings traveled to Hokkaido Museum of Contemporary Art as part of “Soul of Asia: Fukuoka Asian Art Museum Collection”. In 2005, she was awarded as Rimbun Dahan, Malaysian – Australian Artist-in-Residence programme which was generously supported by Hijjas Kasturi Association/ Rimbun Dahan, Kuala Lumpur.

Exhibition Catalogue Essay

by Sharon Chin

If there is one thing that characterizes moving out of a home and into a new one, it is the humble cardboard box. More than being a container for objects, they also hold memories, histories and hopes for the future. Looking at Bee Ling’s previous works that paint the idiosyncrasies of home life in all its ritual complexity, and now at the new series created during the year-long Rimbun Dahan residency, I am reminded strongly of unpacking a cardboard box in a new house – the jumble of the past colliding with a heady anticipation of new independence.

Rimbun Dahan has been a transition of sorts for Bee Ling. Together with her husband and fellow artist, she has moved out of the old family home into new territories and new roles. What sort of home has Rimbun Dahan provided for the artist? It was always to be a temporary abode, but dwelling somewhere for any amount of time means that habits are developed, certain rituals invented, and time and care is devoted to one’s surroundings. This is the nature of inhabitation. No place is ever neutral, nor stays unchanged if you place someone in it.

Hence we are presented with paintings that act like windows looking in and out. In the foreground, views are framed – here by a stripe of color, there by the cheerful edge of a floor rug. We look in upon traces of life lived at Rimbun Dahan. In Celebration, for example, a multitude of empty glasses tells us light-heartedly of the consumption and chatter that accompany a heightened social occasion. Windows in the background leading to the world outside reinforce the in-between nature of these works, reminding us (and the artist) that all this must sit in context of a wider societal picture.

A period of transition is also one of negotiation. For Bee Ling, there are many roles to play as artist, wife, woman, daughter and now, daughter-in-law. In between must lie the personal search for individuality. As such, in the paintings, tables become platforms for a parliament of objects. It is not so much what is depicted, as the way they are grouped. They crowd each other, jostling for space and prominence, much as one must feel torn between fulfilling the many expectations of society, family and the self. There are quieter dialogues though, such as in Make-up set on Pink Table and Typewriter on Pink Table. These reveal a calmness that exists within the intimate private space of a person.

We could see the home as a container for all aspects of our lives – basically everything we put into a cardboard box upon moving out, as well as our very bodies. There are many symbolic containers in Bee Ling’s works, taking the form of baskets, which sit large upon the aforementioned tables. The objects that fill these containers are less defined, blurring into each other in a riot of color that threatens to overspill the confines of the basket, onto pristine table-tops and into the surrounding environment. These seem to speak of emotions and the sheer energy of living, the fruits of which are naturally a vibrant and at times chaotic harvest.

Here we see the artist pushing the potential of her medium, reveling in paint’s materiality to convey thought and feeling. In Working Hard in the Kitchen, for example, a basket is filled with a jumble of groceries. The brushstrokes overlap each other on a surface that is built and rebuilt again. These painterly gestures are almost self-contradictory – having started by making meaning, the artist proceeds to efface that meaning with other layers. This is reflective of a self-identity that is mutable and in constant change. After all, as any cook will tell you, in the kitchen one must be organizer, toiler, purchaser, and provider!

Moving out also means moving on. It takes courage to do so, to recognize the need for personal privacy, freedom and individuality. These are as important as the familial ties that bond people together. As much as we move into a new place, we carry with us that which has made us what we are. Yet if we hold on too firmly to the past, we can stifle the opportunity for growth. I see these new paintings as a transition between moving out and moving in, a record of the first brave steps into a world and a home of one’s own making.

Sharon Chin is an artist and writer. She majored in sculpture at Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia and has been living and working in Kuala Lumpur for the past year.

My garden does not exist in reality but evolved as a mental picture of those who inhabit it; a garden that oscillates between dream and reality. It changes from a site for self-discovery to a place for cultivating personal vision.The Gardener Series – exhibited at the 2005 Art for Nature exhibition.

Tony Twigg

admin Resident Artist, Yearlong Visual Arts Residency 28 April 200528 April 2015Australian, found objects, sculptor, Wildlife

Australian sculptor Tony Twigg was the Australian resident artist of the year-long Malaysia-Australia Visual Arts Residency in 2005.

Bio

Tony Twigg has produced over 40 solo exhibitions of wall-based objects and installations in Australia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore and the U.S.A., and has been included in group exhibitions across Asia and Europe. He received his Master of visual Arts from the City Art Institute Sydney in 1985. He lives and works in Sydney, Australia and Manila, Philippines.

Tony’s numerous exhibitions have been presented in a variety of disciplines including, performance, film/video, installation, painting and sculpture, as well as curatorial practice. He is represented in private collections and public collections in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines including: the National Gallery of Australia, the Queensland Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Ateneo Art Gallery Manila and the BenCab Museum, in the Philippines.

Tony Twigg in conversation with Gina Fairley. Rimbun Dahan December 2005

How did your journey to Rimbun Dahan, from Manila to Ho Chi Minh, up the Mekong to Phnom Penh and Angkor Wat, colour your arrival in Malaysia?

I arrived in Kuala Lumpur with certain expectations of an Asian experience built around the places I’ve gravitated to over the past decade. These are places where people quickly adapt ‘things’ – found objects – into life’s necessities, objects I see as ‘accidental art’. There’s an intuitive creativity in their making which speaks to me passionately of the human spirit. K.L. is a first world city, complete with all the accoutrements of now, where the prerequisites of “life-style” decide how things look rather than human need. Somehow, the first marks I made were ruled lines and then a lot of time was spent looking for a mark that comes from here, that is Malaysia, not just K.L.

Where did you find that Malaysian mark?

Here, along Jalan Kuang, at a demolition site, in discarded fish boxes beside a pasaraya and as crazy looking bottles of Chinese liquor from Kuang. It turned out that the Malaysian mark, for me, was the fish box. I started working with the ‘physical’ line of the object rather than its inspiration. The major impact was the surface. I found the subtle and random shifts in colour and texture of the timber aesthetically moving, so I began using thinner and thinner paint until I had the courage to use none. For me these fish boxes engaged the spirit of the original maker. There are two hands at work in my pictures.

Clearly you have a passion for the found object, but this feeling of a dialogue with the ‘original maker’ is a new development.

It occurred to me while making the works called 30 Fish Boxes. My proposition was simple: join three fish boxes together vertically to make a construction. As I worked the possibilities multiplied and I felt like I was jamming with the guy who made the boxes. The piece MT Madras was an amazing find and the most extreme relationship with the original ‘maker’. I found it in Brickfields during Deepavali and photographed it. The crate collapsed neatly enough to make it back to the studio. Not only did it not need paint, it didn’t need any carpentry either. My role as artist was limited to identifying the object, and conservator. This piece is the end point in the show and it has necessitated relinquishing certain controls over my surfaces and the arrangement of my constructions. Slowly, I’ve become aware of how subversively an object can be spirited. Accidental art has a great deal of beauty that I try to emulate by considering the making process rather than considering what beauty ‘looks’ like. The result is a set of elementary forms that have a certain universal understanding common to places like Chau Doc, Pasir Mas or Manila – the bird cages of Kelantan are a good example of this – but put them in cities like Sydney or K.L., they become exotic.

A dialogue with space is a constant in your work: architectural space, conceptual space, personal space, cultural space – it’s not static. Do you perceive an ‘Asian’ space?

I find the sensation of space physically exciting. I’ve come to realise that the way we perceive space governs our proximity to the objects we encounter. You and I might see U-shaped canyons walking through the city, but a town planner or crane driver would probably see it differently. In that sense, the way we perceive space becomes the operating system of our aesthetic. The idea of stacking space, and how that establishes illusionistic depth without referencing perspective, I think, is essentially ‘Asian’. Seeing Gao Xingjian’s recent show at Singapore Art Museum underlines this and it was also the big discovery for Ian Fairweather, an English artist who worked through Asia in the ‘30s on his way to becoming Australia’s pre-eminent Abstract Expressionist.

Do you consciously push the parameters of space outside the edges of the work to engage the gallery wall?

Yes, it is absolutely vital. It is not a question of an object surrounded by space, it’s a composition of positive and negative space. So, like a doughnut, the defining feature of the work could be an empty space. As a result my works are often multi-panelled because there are moments when the negative space is stronger than the positive space and consequently the work splits in two or perhaps fails to join. In this kind of work there are no right or wrong decisions, and the final relationship of the parts can change as they adapt to the constraints of a location or reflect the taste of a new owner. However, the drawing of the work – its lines, its spaces and its surfaces – remain unchallenged.

About the Work

Thompson Birdwing Butterfly (above), exhibited at the 2005 Art for Nature exhibition.

Shortly after arriving in Kuala Lumpur, I found a very appealing broken wooden box in Chinatown. Back in the studio, I put it together as an ordinary looking thing that I then tried to liven up with yellow paint. A month or two later, I was on a demolition site and found two pieces of circular something in wood. Back in the studio it was a match for my yellow construction. Once it was together I started wondering if a butterfly might be a solution to the picture, inspired by the Art of Nature show. Bee Ling came to my studio and said that I had a word on my box, and it was butterfly. Next Angela was looking at this piece and said, “Look, a yellow and black butterfly,” just like my work, outside the studio, in the garden. It is Troides aeacus Thompsonii, a male Thompson Birdwing.

April 2005 — Civet Post Mortem

admin Nature Notes 8 April 200519 September 2020

BY ANGELA HIJJAS

On the morning of 6th April, I took my coffee to my balcony where the sunscreen was down. Just as I went to raise it, I realised monkeys were in the tree immediately outside. They were Banded Langurs, Presbytis femoralis, and thanks to the screen I was able to collect my camera without them seeing me. They are extremely shy and flee at the slightest disturbance. I counted eight, but there could have been more, feeding on the seeds of Terminalia calamansanai, a tall pagoda-shaped tree heavily laden with fruit.

Soon after, I was called outside and noticed our youngest dog Santan carrying an animal that turned out to be a young civet. To be a naturalist and a dog lover is hard sometimes….

This particular specimen was a juvenile female, measuring 63 cm from tail end to ear tip, 9cm from nose to back of skull, with a 32cm long tail.

Common Palm Civet, Paradoxurus hermaphroditus

A widespread civet, varying from olive-grey to cream, with three dark stripes on back and additional dark spots on flanks, sometimes forming indistinct lines. Usually has a dark ‘mask’ highlighted by paler fur on forehead and behind cheeks, and sometimes with a pale spot below eye. Nocturnal and usually solitary, often seen on the ground, but feeds mainly in trees, where it eats fruits and animals. May be an important seed disperser of various forest tree species. Litter size three, born in a den in a hollow tree or under a boulder. Found from India through southern China, throughout mainland South-east Asia, Sumatra, Java and Borneo. Also occurs on the Philipines, Sulawesi and many eastern Indonesian islands where it may have been introduced.

From Mammals of South East Asia by Charles M. Francis.

Proposal to Transform Paya Indah Into Illegally-traded Protected Species Sanctuary

admin Letters to the Editor 1 March 200525 July 2022

Published in The Star, 1 March 2005

Dear Sir,

I was concerned by the articles in the Star of 22nd February about the
captive breeding programme operated in Janda Baik without legitimate
authorization. It seems apparent that this particular breeder has a special
relationship with someone in Perhilitan, and the fact that it can’t be
explained in an acceptable manner is extremely worrying. The trade in and
ownership of protected species is a crucial test of Malaysia’s commitment to
the preservation of biodiversity, and I strongly support the initiative of
the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment in questioning the
legality of this breeder.

The problem of the trade in protected species is not easily solved. It is
the third largest illegal international trade after drugs and weapons, and
government officers need much support if they are to contain it. It is a
sophisticated business that readily resorts to violence.

The recent closure of the Paya Indah Wetlands Sanctuary, however, might
offer a unique opportunity to improve the fate of illegally traded animals.
At present, I believe most animals that are recovered from the trade by
Perhilitan are destroyed, as Perhilitan does not have a sanctuary that it
can use as a transit point to stabilize these animals before they are
returned to the wild or to the countries where they were captured. (Some of
the more valuable species are placed in the Melaka Zoo, which is already
overcrowded.)

I would suggest that Paya Indah be turned into such a sanctuary. It could
be a vital showcase for eco-tourism, where some animals could be on display
and an educational programme would inform the public about our fauna, as
well as demonstrating Malaysia’s commitment to the preservation and
protection of its biodiversity.

I believe Paya Indah failed as it didn’t have a clear mission statement and
the concept of eco-tourism was poorly understood. By converting it into a
working institution with a definite conservation role that would engage the
public and tourists alike, it could be a unique destination for eco-tourism,
conservation and volunteerism.

Currently, many of our forests are developing the ’empty forest syndrome’,
where even if the forest is protected, the animals are no longer there. The
long term survival of the forest depends on the animals to pollinate
flowers, disperse seeds and ensure their germination. By reinforcing the
role of Perhilitan by providing the resources they need there is a chance
that we can reverse this trend and put some of the animals back where they
belong.

I do hope that the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment will
consider this suggestion.

Yours sincerely,

Angela Hijjas
Chairman, Selangor Branch
Malaysian Nature Society

February 2005 — Garden in Hot Dry Weather

admin Nature Notes 28 February 200519 September 2020

BY ANGELA HIJJAS

For the first half of February, the weather seemed unusually hot, dry and hazy. Temperatures in KL reached as high as 38C. In the middle of the month the weather broke with windy storms in the late afternoons and night. This morning I walked around the garden looking at broken branches and just relishing the damp again, when I noticed fallen seeds, since identified as Dryobalanops aromatica, known in Malay as kapor. These canopy trees were planted about 12 years ago, and I am delighted to find that they are fruiting so soon, although I have lost several of the original row planted along the length of the front fence to white ants. Ironically, kapor has a strong camphor frangrance and is preferred for making storage boxes that deter insect attack, but the tree itself seems particularly vulnerable. The fruits have five wings that enable the heavy seed to resist falling straight to the ground under the shade of the parent tree. As happened last night, they were dislodged from the tree by the wind and carried at least several meters, although I am unsure which tree produced the fruit. The fruit commences spinning like a helicopter about 1 meter into the drop, and then falls more slowly, carried away by the wind.

The huge Grammatophyllum speciosa with its occasional prolific burst of flowers.

The Grammatophyllum speciosa is flowering in its pot in full sun. This is the world’s largest orchid plant, seen in high canopy positions in the forest. The flowers are yellow and brown, so not outstandingly colourful, but a total of 20 infloresences (stalks) makes up for any deficiency. Seed pods are forming, so hopefully the wind will deliver them eventually to new sites for them to colonize naturally. This plant has flowered once before over the 10 years it has been cultivated, but never so prolifically.

The new planting at the back near the tennis court is settling in, but the previous planting done about two years ago is really starting to go ahead. I have planted three Gondstylus bancanus, known in Malay as ramin melawis, in a low-lying position, and they are now about 5m tall. Native to peatswamps from Perak to west Johor, and in seasonal swamps in Selangor, southeast Sumatra, and Borneo, ramin timber is the main variety that has been illegally logged in Sumatra over recent years and exported through Malaysian ports, although there is now some effort to contain this trade.

Victoria Cattoni

admin Asialink, Resident Artist 13 February 200513 February 2017Australian, installation, Multimedia, video art

tree – Victoria Cattoni (in collaboration with Masnoramli Mahmud).

Victoria Cattoni spent an Asialink residency at Rimbun Dahan in 2005. She is a visual artist working in the mediums of video, installation and multimedia. Cattoni’s practice during the residency focused on dress and its cultural interpretations. The first half of the residency took place at Rimbun Dahan and culminated in the presentation of a collaborative video work TREE, at Art for Nature 2005.

TREE is a montage of image, sound, text and performance structured around a simple question: ‘if you were a tree, what kind would you be?’ The video acts as an imaginative trigger, inviting the viewer to identify with a tree that becomes a metaphor for human existence, an embodiment of ourselves in relation to others.

During this time her work was also screened at the not that balai festival and she presented a public lecture at Galeri Petronas. In the second half of her residency Cattoni completed works for a growing list of exhibition commitments in Malaysia and Indonesia. Since completing the residency Cattoni has participated in the Bali Biennale 2005 with a digital media work titled White Onion:Bali Bride and exhibited new work entitled Kedai Kebaya.

Crisis in Captive Breeding for Sumatran Rhinos

admin Letters to the Editor 1 February 200525 July 2022

The recent deaths of all five captive Sumatran rhinoceroses at the Sungai Dusun Sumatran Rhinoceros Conservation Centre in Selangor is yet another step towards extinction for this unfortunate species. Despite the successful breeding of other endangered species in captivity, it is unlikely that the entire process can be achieved for the rhino. The objective of captive breeding must always be to release the young into the wild and to repopulate their original habitat. No species can be artificially sustained in pens forever.

Breeding in captivity is the first problem and this is elusive enough, but the subsequent problem is just as difficult: where is the habitat into which the young are to be released? Malaysia is losing more and more lowland forest every year and with fragmentation and depletion of species diversity as forest reserves are logged, no matter how selectively, there is not enough habitat to sustain wild breeding populations.

To ensure sufficient genetic diversity of any species, biologists believe there must be at least five separate breeding populations of any plant or animal. We cannot save an animal if there is only one breeding pair as eventually inbreeding saps vitality.

Extinction is not necessarily an easily identified point in time for any species. Some idealists believe that merely mapping DNA will be enough for future generations to recreate a lost species and that even if all specimens are dead there is a chance to clone it later. This might produce a zoo exhibit, but it has nothing to do with protecting biodiversity for the long term.

Unfortunately, if an animal no longer has a place in the world, apart from in zoos, genetic banks and breeding centres, then its path to extinction is pretty well determined. Captive animals are never as vigorous as in the wild and they are easy prey to Sungai Dusun type events.

This will be the fate of many species in the coming decades as long as we believe that we can have it all. Unfortunately, we can’t have it all and we must plan now if we are going to really protect our biodiversity rather than just give lip service. Taman Negara alone is not enough to protect our biological heritage, we need more parks in fragile areas that must be sacrosanct, and a proper network of links between protected areas needs to be planned and enforced so that isolated populations of a species can interbreed naturally.

If they have to depend on man for their breeding, without enough space in the wild, they are doomed; and so are we. Our selfishness as a species has made us extraordinarily successful, but we will so easily become victims of that success if we cannot see that the destruction of our shared, broader habitat for short term benefit is not good for our long term survival. Losing the rhinoceros, tiger, orang hutan and elephant, and the forest ecosystems they have occupied for millennia, will impoverish our own habitat and once that impoverishment spreads to other systems it will impact on us in serious ways.

Angela Hijjas
Chairman, Selangor Branch
Malaysian Nature Society.