The traditional fine arts community needs continual communal support. There is also a need to rebuild an audience to ensure traditional fine arts is given its due respect and is appreciated.
“The appreciation and audience building must start from the schools. It’s for all within the community to admire and appreciate,” said Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Mohamed Ghouse Nasuruddin, former chairman of the board of directors of the National Arts and Culture Academy.
“Various forms of engagement – from traditional to modern – are required to promote traditional fine arts. The idea is to develop a mindset that is able to look beyond physical manifestation.”
Ghouse, an honorary fellow at the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, said the number of traditional fine arts practitioners involved in wayang kulit, traditional dances or those who play instruments like the rebab and serunai, had dwindled.
“There is a dire need for training facilities. When you start at the schools, and when traditional fine arts is exposed at that level, you will see the progressive exposure to such elements,” said Ghouse who plays the rebab, serunai and violin.
“To do this, teachers would need to be trained.
“Traditional fine arts is suitable for children as they are visually driven. Once they enter higher secondary, students should be given an option to further their studies or expertise in the scene.”
He pointed out that the state of traditional fine arts education at the tertiary level in Malaysia was in dire straits as it is accorded the lowest priority in terms of academic and intellectual recognition.
“The mindset of policymakers and parents must be corrected. Most of the time, many of them believe fine arts is merely entertainment and is not intellectual. This is wrong.
“Our policies emphasise too much on science and mathematics. Arts develops character and enhances one’s visual experience.”
Ghouse added traditional fine arts are performed regularly in hotel lobbies in Indonesia.
“The same cannot be said in Malaysia. We only see some form of traditional fine arts performed during Ramadan or when celebrating festivals,” he added.
“This is where the respective ministries should dictate that traditional fine arts be part of the tourism sector, for example, so that such performances are held on a regular basis in hotels or public areas.
“It’s about re-educating the public about traditional fine arts and to also encourage the private sector to embrace such initiatives. We need to build an audience, ensure there is a market that appreciates such art form and everything else will fall in place, which includes job opportunities.”
On Monday, the Cultural Economy Development Agency (Cendana) and cultural organisation Pusaka signed a memorandum of understanding to mark the initial point of collaboration to work together in enhancing sustainability, visibility and preservation of traditional arts masters or those who are experienced and committed practitioners of the traditional arts in Malaysia.
The collaboration will see both parties implementing the inaugural Adiguru Cendana Programme – which is one of the components in the Communications and Multimedia Ministry’s Malaysian Creative Industries Stimulus Package.
Cendana initiated a nationwide call for applications and nominations since April 8 for those with an exceptionally high degree of knowledge and skills in the practice and transmission of traditional arts.
Applications and nominations will be evaluated by a selection committee of experts from relevant fields of culture and the arts. Successful applicants will be notified in June and the programmes will start from mid-July onwards with grants of up to RM30,000 to be used over 12 months.
Here’s the news round-up of The News Normal today.
RICH NATIONS CORNER COVID-19 VACCINE MARKET, SAYS KJ
Khairy Jamaluddin, the coordinating minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, said one of the biggest reasons for the low vaccine supplies in Malaysia and other middle-income nations is that rich countries have cornered the Covid-19 vaccine market.
He said some rich countries have bought enough vaccines for their citizens three to five times over. This has forced middle-income countries like Malaysia to manage the supply of vaccines from several sources.
“That is also why Malaysia has had to balance our Covid-19 vaccine portfolio to include Pfizer, AstraZeneca and also those from non-Western countries like Sinovac (China),” Khairy said in a statement.
As of yesterday, 417,470 people in Malaysia have received both doses of the vaccine. Some 8.6 million have signed up for the national immunisation programme.
RATIFYING ICERD WASN’T MY IDEA, SAYS SAIFUDDIN
Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said it was not his idea to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).
He acknowledged ICERD was part of Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto and was mentioned by then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at a United Nations (UN) conference in 2018.
ICERD is a UN convention that commits its members to the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of understanding among all races.
The UN convention was not ratified after several parties opposed it, claiming it contravened the Federal Constitution, particularly Article 153, which touches on the special rights of the Malays and the bumiputra in Malaysia.
DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke Siew Fook had earlier claimed it was Saifuddin’s idea to ratify ICERD and the Rome Statute and not that of DAP.
GUAN ENG: DON’T USE ‘NO MONEY’ EXCUSE TO AMEND TAX LAWS
The government’s admission that it does not have much money left should not be used as a pretext to amend tax laws that violate established legal principles of natural justice, said former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.
Lim, who is DAP secretary-general, said the Perikatan Nasional administration “should boldly borrow more to spend more”.
“If necessary, the government debt ceiling should be increased from the current 60 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) to 65 per cent or even 70 per cent. A government running out of funds should not be so desperate to fill in their coffers through high-handed and arbitrarily victimising businesses or taxpayers (who are) already suffering under the economic recession,” Lim added in a statement.
He was responding to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s revelation that the RM622 billion used for various Covid-19 economic stimulus packages has left the government short of funds.
VAISAKHI, VISHU, PUTHANDU AND UGADI – HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
April 14 is a significant date for Indians worldwide. Various celebrations – including Vaisakhi, Vishu and Puthandu – are observed on this day for the different Indian communities. Yesterday, meanwhile, was Ugadi. Here’s what you need to know about the four celebrations.
