The Essence of Malaysia in Yasmin Ahmad’s Rabun and Sepet
Once in a while a film will capture the heart or essence of a country. Once in a blue moon, a film may just encompass the real essence of a country’s culture. But it is rarer still to find two films made by the same director to do exactly that. And that director is Malaysia’s very own Yasmin Ahmad and her two films that cleverly depicts all the above-mentioned is Rabun and Sepet. As such, we shall discuss Yasmin Ahmad’s Rabun and Sepet and their function in relation to Malaysia.
But before we delve deeper into her ‘Rabun’ (2003) or ‘Sepet’ (2004), it is important to take note of Malaysia’s population breakdown. This is because only when we know and are familiarized with the different races that make up what we call Malaysians can we understand why the films are significant to them and Malaysia as a whole.
Twenty million people live in Western Malaysia (“Demographics of Malaysia”, n.d., par. 1), sixty-five percent of which are made up of Malays as well as other indigenous tribes (“Malaysia”, n.d., par. 66). Twenty-five percent of the population are Chinese and another seven percent are Indians. The other 3% of the population represents the other races such as the Eurasians (“Malaysia”, n.d., par. 66).
It is interesting to note that there are too many formulaic mainstream Malay films that do not represent the true state of the people in its entirety. Take one of the most popular melodramatic films, Mr. Cinderella (2001) for example. It is about a man who helps out an attractive female royalty whose car broke down and is stuck on the highway. Whilst helping out, the man accidentally left his shoe at the scene and the woman uses that shoe to find the man who helped her in her time of need. While this is a story where dreams are made of, it really does not reflect anything about the issues concerning Malaysia. Fair enough, once in awhile, it is alright to make a fantasy film where the audience can leave their troubles behind but the problem is that too many of these films are made. These, so-called romantic fantasy films. Whatever happened to good, smart films?
Enter Yasmin Ahmad. She is a part of the new age independent Malaysian filmmakers such as U-Wei or Amir Muhammad who are making a statement with their films. It is interesting to note that she began her directing career as a writer (“Yasmin’s magical moments”, n.d., par. 7). She also comes from a middle-class family, which in Malaysia, can be considered to be well-off (“Yasmin’s magical moments”, n.d., par. 7). She lives in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur and her big break came when she did ‘Rabun’, which interestingly enough, was released as a telemovie (“Rabun (2003) (TV)”, n.d., par.1). She then received rave reviews for ‘Sepet’ and won 7 awards (“Sepet (2003)”, n.d., par.5). Now, how exactly are her two films considered important in the context of Malaysia? Let us review ‘Rabun’ first.
 ‘Rabun’ is basically a story about an elderly couple, Mak Inon and Pak Atan, who decides to go back to the rural village to do up Mak Inon’s father’s house. Pak Atan’s vision is not very good, thus the name ‘Rabun’; meaning ‘short-sighted’ and his disability is taken advantage of. Their nephew, Yem, tricks them into giving him an extra thousand dollars to do up the place. They find out about it and complain to Yem’s mother while Yem, in return, becomes angry and starts to sabotage their home. Only towards the end of the film does Yem’s actions become clear to them and fed-up, they decide to go back to the city to live with their daughter, bringing along Yem’s mother with them.
‘Rabun’ functions as a commentary of the sentiments of Malaysians and the state of Malaysia. It briefly touches on inter-racial relationships, something that is unavoidable in a multi-cultural and multi-racial country such as Malaysia. For example, there is a scene whereby the Chinese contractor to the elderly couple tells them that he once loved a Malay girl when he was still in school. Yet he decided not to pursue it simply because he would have to be circumcised if he were to marry the girl. This echoes the religious differences as well as the sentiments amongst the Chinese and the Malays in Malaysia as well as Singapore. The Chinese contractor was not ready to make that big leap in the change of faith and that is exactly what I’m sure many people in Malaysia must feel. While it is unavoidable to be attracted to another person from a different race, they can do nothing but look from afar as the religious and cultural differences are too big. Again, this short scene in ‘Rabun’ tackles this issue clearly and succinctly.
‘Rabun’ also criticises the Malays who do nothing but ‘lepak’, a term which means doing nothing but to sit around all day. This is clearly illustrated in the scene whereby ‘Yem’ , having just been fired from his job, is just sitting outside his kampong house doing nothing. Another good scene would be the one where he is smoking marijuana and hits his mother under the influence of the drug. Yasmin Ahmad is obviously saying that the Malays, having been given so many privileges in Malaysia as compared to other races, have turned complacent and lazy in the context of society. If you were to go to Kuala Lumpur, you could see so many Malays doing nothing but sit outside the shopping centres of Jalan Bukit Bintang, their version of Orchard Road, and just smoke their life away. The scenes in ‘Rabun’ serve as a reminder to the Malays in Malaysia to buck up and spend their life productively and usefully.
However not everything in ‘Rabun’ is a scathing attack on the people of Malaysia. It also shows how important family values as well as unity are to Malaysians. In the very last scene, we see all the different people of the different races come together as they play a traditional Malaysian game. They all come together, interacting and socializing with one another and not a trace of prejudice nor judgement to one’s other races is scene. In fact, you could say that the last scene is an example of a perfect racial harmony. Malaysia, just like Singapore, is a multi-racial society. And as such, their goal is always to live together as one. This very last scene echoes the sentiments of not only Yasmin Ahmad, but the leaders of Malaysia as well as their people. The fact that so many different races live together in both the city and the rural village areas serves as evidence to those who have never been to Malaysia that it is a country that preaches racial harmony.
It is also a film that can serve as an artefact to the future generations of Malaysians. For example, it tells the audience the many differences of living in the city as opposed to living in the rural villages or kampongs. And since maybe one day, many of those villages may have to give way to the rapid industrialization of the country, this film reminds the viewers of how it was like to live in those times many years ago.
For example, it tells us the audience how much cheaper it is to live in the rural areas. This is depicted in the kampong scene where Mak Inon tells us that the price of cement that the contractor is quoting is almost as expensive as the price that can be found in the city. It also tells us that it is generally more peaceful to live in the kampong areas, depicted in the scene where Mak Inon tells her husband that she is afraid of living in the city because she has heard of news on murder and burglary on the city radio, something that would not be happening in the rural village areas. And Mak Inon again becomes the voice of social commentary when she tells the people she met having arrived back in the village of how much closer the people are as compared to the city dwellers.
 ‘Sepet’ on the other hand, is a story that focuses almost entirely on the complexities of inter-racial relationships. The film is about Orked, a Malay schoolgirl who falls in love with Keong, a young Chinese video compact disc (VCD) seller. Right from the start, they look beyond the obvious skin and cultural differences and their love for each other blossoms. At the same time, Keong is pressurized into going out with the sister of an underworld gang leader and was seduced into going to bed with her. The girl gets pregnant and Keong decides to be frank and tells Orked of his predicament. However he still pledges his love to her and promises to be with Orked once the baby is born. Orked naturally finds it hand to accept his explanation and disappears from his life. In the end, Orked forgives Keong and in the last scene, Keong gets into an accident on the way to see her at the airport.
As said before, this film totally focuses itself more into the aspect of multi-racial relationships which is uncommon in multi-racial countries such as Malaysia as well as Singapore. This film functions as a lesson to all the races of Malaysia that they should be more accepting towards each other despite the obvious racial and cultural differences. Also it teaches the value of sacrifice. This is shown in the scene where Keong’s friends continuously tease Keong that he can no longer eat pork if he decides to be with Orked and this is something that although it seems to have gotten Keong thinking, he is obviously ready to give up that aspect in order to be with her. The film also showcases how the different families in Malaysia might respond or react to the issue of their children being in relationship with a different race. For example, it is worth noting that Orked’s father is not too excited about the prospect of her dating a Chinese man while her mother is seemingly alright with it. Keong’s mother is also more understanding of Keong’s situation although she does remind him the pros and cons of being in a multi-racial relationship. Perhaps the fact that Keong’s mother is a Peranakan serves as an explanation for her more accepting attitude.
The scene where Keong and his friends are chased by gang members also illustrate to the audience the problem of gangsterism as well as racketeering that is prevalent in modern day cities such as Kuala Lumpur. This scene not only illustrates but hopefully it is there to educate the people watching it that Malaysia should do something about that problem.
‘Sepet’ also functions as a reminder of how closely related the different races of Malaysia really are. Although on paper we can physically classify Malaysians into three separate races; Malays, Chinese as well as Indians, on the ground however, it is not that black or white. In fact, the lines drawn between the races have been so blurred that it is physically possible to mistake a Malay for a Chinese or an Indian for a Malay. The people are now an eclectic mix, no doubt due to the numerous cross-racial marriages that has happened throughout the generations. For example, Keong’s mother is a Chinese ‘Nyonya’ who speaks to her son in Bahasa Malayu while Keong would reply to her in Cantonese. While this may seem unusual to non-Malaysians, this breaking of cultural barriers is very common especially in the city areas. Another example would be Orked’s love for Japanese films and her family’s inclination to Thai music. Again this shows that the people of Malaysia are also receptive to cultures other than their own.
As shown above, the two films from Yasmin Ahmad function beautifully as a testimonial to the people of Malaysia. And as such, it is can be seen as documented proof of what the society of Malaysia is like as well a critique of some of the problems that Malaysians are facing. This is exactly the reason why both ‘Sepet’ and ‘Rabun’ will be remembered and revered for generations to come.
Written by: Muhd Khairil Bin Abdul Rahim
References:
“Demographics of Malaysia” (n.d.). Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia. Retrieved on July 10, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia#Demographic
“ Malaysia” (n.d.). Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia. Retrieved on July 10, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia
“Rabun (2003) (TV)” (n.d.). Rabun (2003) (TV ) . Retrieved on July 10, 2006 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368190/
“Sepet (2004)” (n.d.). Sepet (2004) . Retrieved on July 10, 2006 from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433692/
“Yasmin’s magical moments” (n.d.). Welcome toSun2Surf. Retrieved on July 10, 2006 from http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=11126
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