Power to the People Artist: Jacqueline Jong, 1968 Victoria University Library, Toronto, Canada
Provocation was the theme for today. To tell you the truth, I was too nervous the night before to even think about the title of the conference - a DoP (acronym). I just didn't know what to expect. And the first impression I had when I arrived at the venue confirmed that. There's many OZs for sure, but nearly all looked disntinguished and "associated" to the theme of the day, except for yours truly la. But at 6.30pm today, I was walking back to my residence with a smile of my face. I have had a really wonderful day. I made new friends, and I got to learn more about culture.
There were 13 small groups altogether. The topics varied according to the interest of the participants (pre-determined earlier). I requested for the Culture group, and after a short coffee break, we headed to the lecture theatre for the Opening of the conference. There were 3 different speakers to welcome the participants to the day's event. The speakers were certainly thought provoking in each of their presentation. So I thought, hey not bad for a start.
I had a really great bunch of people in my group - very talented , far-sighted intellectuals - that is minus me. Hehehehehe, there were 3 OZs, 1 Welsh and 1 Chinese and we also had a sit-in member, a very wonderful Aboriginal lady. All of us are from different backfrounds such as journalism, language, geography, Aboriginal studies, media and nursing. We quickly became adapted to the topic, discussing things from our own personal views. I learn many new things that have never interest me before. Being already provoked, it lingered in my mind that there I was, listening to this one white man talking about some Aboriginal tribes in my own country that I myself have never taken the effort to know about. This man was narrating his experience in my country with my people. I felt so malu. But I was glad to discuss that out. I explained what they should know about Malaysia, and I believed that the discussions have brought them greater understanding of how things are in Malaysia. It was good as I get to see things the way they see it. We also talked about country, nationhood, ethnicity, race, skin color, resistence, art, geograpy, place, home, traditon, religion, beliefs, education, theory of "whiteness", identity, and loads and loads of other things. Meriel, Qian, Julie, Shaphan and Tim were really great thinkers who just worked as things cropped up. Our discussions were not theorectical at all when compared to the other groups, yet distinct. We just went with the flow - for nothing is definite. And the presence of Mingili was inspiring. She talked about her people. Being such a unique person and one who is very proud of her backgroud, I admire the respect that she has gained from the rest of the community here in WA. I know that she has seen so much in her life and she will always remain as the first Aborigine that I really have the chance to interact with. Needless to say, the experience was awesome. And yeah, we went to the Gallery too for the closing of an exhibition by some final year students. And do not ask me about it, as I am totally lost when it comes to appreciating arts as such. At least, Meriel said she could appreciate the sculpture.
And after not standing in front of an audience for quite some time, I was also nervous when we had to present our "provocative piece". But I did it! And I was very proud doing so. My voice might have shrilled, but I was proud to "show" them my country. Each one of us said something in our own mother tongue, and Tim sang an Aboriginal song. If you were to sum it up, the "provocative" piece is just like the language of culture - Shaphan said that statement was profound, hehehehehe. You just can't define what is precisely the thing that you call culture. It's dynamic (this is Julie's), it's too subjective to be categorised into fixed order or class. Afterall, as pointed out by Tim, we are first and foremost just mere human beings (if I quoted that correctly).
So, we had several workshop sessions where we interrogated the borders, unpacked the assumptions and produced the provocative. And the organisers were so thoughtful by specially providing me with halal food. I was touched. The day ended with a sundowner, not that I drink, but it was just a session to wrap up the whole group thingy and we promised to keep in touch with each other. I really hope so.
Kalau ada sumur di ladang,
Boleh saya menumpang mandi,
Kalau ada umur yang panjang,
Boleh kita berjumpa lagi ...
Though it had been a long day, I was happy that I attended this one-day conference. It was a conference with a different approach, exactly a new experience to me. All in all, I had a very provocative day, of being provoked and to provoke (I hope).
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