Dear Editor,
The cancellation of DBKL’s permits to the Instant Café Theatre shows a bureaucracy overstepping itself. From a single complaint they have taken the initiative to close down a company that has given so much pleasure and food for thought to thousands of Malaysians. It seems that DBKL missed the point, and they may well find themselves the brunt of future satire from ICT, as I cannot accept that this ban can be sustained.
Unfortunately, the government, from DBKL to Cabinet, only pays lip service to the importance of the arts in enriching lives or increasing the tourist dollar, let alone bolstering the creativity of a nation. But, hey, even in Singapore now it’s OK to dance on tables and chew gum… because a society that is too straight laced and incapable of creativity is on a slippery slope.
Rather than banning creative people, DBKL should be supporting them by providing good venues, helping to market and promote their products and providing grants so that artists and performers can continue to enrich our lives and dull the irritations that city living generates. Has DBKL done anything to help Actors Studio continue operating since the flood last month or are they expected to go it alone?
Can we only have foreign musicians at the Petronas Philharmonic being creative and supported by government taxpayer’s money? Why, for heaven’s sake, can’t we also help our own? There are no government grants for artists or performers that I know of. A few prizes are reserved for national treasure type people who have struggled a lifetime to fulfill their talent, but precious little comes the way of young artists struggling to develop their art practices, musical skills or theatrical talent.
A recent press article praised a pair of talented East Malaysian twins who had been given grants to further their studies in cello at a prestigious college in Europe, but the grants came from the University of Adelaide in Australia. When Malaysia gives a grant to an Australian artist to study in Indonesia I will be convinced that our policies to promote creativity have come of age.
But for now, artists get no support, just harassment. This has to change.
Angela Hijjas
Rimbun Dahan Artists’ Residency Programme