It’s been a while since I last post an entry; life has been very very very busy. I only got to spend very little quality time in front of my beloved PC. She has been like the best girlfriend ever. Never question where have I been, why am I back so late, have I been seeing anyone else behind her back; the usual nagging questions girls always ask. She’s been the loyal girlfriend, always entertains me with her long list of songs, completes the entire task I have her to do (though sometimes it took her quite a while to complete it), and can always be turn on when ever I need her, which is always (isn’t it neat!!! No more “not tonight sayang” or “I’m tired la sayang”); the best and perfect relationship so far.
Enough about my perfect relationship, been keeping a lot of steam inside me this few days. And it’s about time for me to let it out to my virtual punching bag --- my blog. I was involved in a quarrel with Pengarah Jabatan Kebudayaan, Kesenian, dan Warisan Negeri Melaka few days back. It is because I went to her with the intention of staging this very wonderful play; “Sangkar Madu” by Bahtiar Siagian , an Indonesian writer. The story is about a young couple that fled to an island so that they would live there and cherish the love they have for each other without being interrupt by others. Swastika, the male character that brought Nesia (the female character) destroyed the boat that brought them there so that Nesia couldn’t flee from the island. He proclaimed and name the island “Pulau Cinta” --- daerah yang menyerahkan segenap kebebasan, dimana cinta menggenap dan menyala sepuasnya. Disini musim semi sepanjang tahun dan kenkmatan tidak berbahagi. They lived there happily until one day, Nesia found a young man, stranded on the very same island. Swastika wanted to kill him; for fear that Nesia’s love would change. “aku tidak mahu cinta mu berbahagi Nesia.kalau dia sempat menikmati kecantikan mu , bukan tak mungkin dia tergoda. Tak kau sadari, air mencipta lumut, kenal menghantar sayang.” Being convinced by Nesia that her whole love, body and soul are only for him, he decided not to kill the man, but he stab the man’s eyes and left him blind.
When the blind man come to conscious, Nesia ask him, what had happen to him and how did he got swept to the island. The blind man told her that he lived in a fishermen’s village, but the fishermen in his village couldn’t go to the sea to work, due to the strong current and wave’s and that everyone in his village is starting to starve. All the men who dare to go to the sea never came back. And it is told by the bomoh in his village that the ghost of the sea demands a sacrifice to be made and this man volunteered to be the sacrificed. Nesia was puzzled by this and said that the blind man was doing a crazy thing, but the blind man replied,
“apa yang gila dalam kerjaan ku ini? Dek kerana pengorbanan ku ini, si atuk dapat bergurau dengan cucunya, si ayah dapat menimang-nimang bayinya, si suami bercumbu di ambang pintu, yang muda menyusun seribu janji. Bagiku, kau yang gila, kerana memburu cinta yang tak mau berbagi”
“kau tidak meyintai dirimu sendiri?”
“terlalu cinta dan itulah tempat bertolak. Aku ingin hidup abadi dalam hati mereka yang hidup atas pengorbananku”
“seaneh itu cintamu? Aneh, tetapi agung. Sungguh terlalu agung pengertian cintamu buta”
Having heard that, Nesia started to rethink about the real definition of love, because all her life, she felt that her love for swastika was big enough to cover the whole world; but the blind man’s love was even greater than theirs. She stared to fall for the blind man, not because the blind man woos her, but because of his heart and his meaning of love. Till one day, swastika discovered that Nesia is having feelings for the blind man, and out of anger and jealousy, he kills the poor blind man. Realising that Nesia is in love with the dead blind man, he then kills Nesia. In the end, swastika realised that he taken the wrong move, he went crazy and kills himself.
This “Sangkar Madu” maybe a very cliché story, but the plot, the characters, the words are very powerful. I fell in love with this play few years back, when I went to watch the play in “Pekan Teater”. When I got my hands on the script, I wanted to stage the play back, but with some adjustments, here and there to strengthen up the play and make it in a semi-musical version so that it would attracts audience. But THE Pengarah Jabatan Kebudayaan doesn’t approve my proposal, because she said that the writer is from Indonesia, and that Malaysia viewers are more attracted to watch a ha-ha happy play that would make them laugh their ass off and go home not thinking about it. I was very pissed off when I heard that, she not only insulted our viewer’s mentality but also trying to kill our needs to be creative and menyekat kebebasan untuk berkarya. I said to her because orang melayu terlalu malas berfikirlah yang menyebabkan orang melayu jadi bodoh. She was taken a back before she countered and said “ macam ni banyak penulis kat Malaysia, kenapa aiman tak pilih cerita diorang? Kalau aiman jadi penulis, aiman tak kecik hati ke kalau orang tak angkat cerita aiman, lepas tu angkat cerita orang lain, dari indon pulak tu?” that really pisses me off, ikut suka hati mak aku la aku nak buat cerita apa!!! Aku tak kacau hati mak ko pun!!!!!! I replied, “kalau saya penulis, buat apa saya nak kecik hati? Kalau sebab benda macam tu saya nak kecik hati, baik saya jangan jadi penulis. Sebab setahu saya, seorang penulis akan terus menulis walaupun tak ada orang yang angkat cerita dia. Sebab nawaitu dia nak menulis bukannya menunjuk pada orang yang dia boleh menulis.” When she heard that she came out with the lamest excuse ever by saying that the ministry will not approve the script and advised, no, not advise, told me to look for another “local” script. No offence to the local write, but I am a very fussy person, tak ramai penulis yang betul-betul dapat impress aku, contoh local writer that have a place in my heart, arwah Bidin Subari a.k.a Malina Manja, Arwah Usman Awang, Pak samad, Dinsman, and Ismail Kassan. Not to say that local writers are not good, they are good, but I don’t want to do their script I want to do this one!!! Is that too hard to digest???!!!
Kalau “Dewan Persidangan” karya asal Mahkamah Keadilan by the late Taufiq Al-hakim from Egypt, “Tanah Bernanah” adaptation from a Philippine script, and “Malam Jahanam” from an Indonesian writer boleh Kementrian approve what is wrong with this one? Is it because yang propose tu budak MMU, so that Jabatan tak nak forwardkan pada kementerian? Seriously, I couldn’t understand her reasons, it’s not that I don’t want to understand, but I just couldn’t understand, why is it this script could be approved by her?
I am determine to do this script by any means, call me stubborn, kepala batu, or what ever, I will try to find a way to stage this script and show it to the whole community that there are bigger definitions of love that we are not aware of. I have my reasons to stage this play. Because the text and subtext of the play is very rich, and I believe that I can make a different by staging this play, kalau aku tak mampu mengubah persepsi semua orang, at least aku berjaya mengubah persepsi mereka yang dekat pada aku, termasuk diri aku sendiri.
I hope that I will find the strength and the fund I need to stage this meaningful play. Please pray for my success, insyaallah…
For what is man,
What has he got?
If not himself,
Then he has not,
To say the things he truly feels,
And not the words,
Of one who kneels…
enough said
