[ad_1]
MALAYSIA KINI | Since it was first released in May 2015, the Malaysianskini feature film segment has undergone a number of changes.
Initially raised as a focus on the rising stars of Malaysia’s socio-political scene (which included a future minister in Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman), it soon expanded to cover interviews with Malaysians from all walks of life who have fascinating stories. to share.
The format has also changed, from a weekly column published every Sunday to a more ad hoc collection of articles. But the theme – “a series about Malaysians you should know” – has remained constant.
2020 has been a particularly challenging year, but a variety of personalities such as Huzir Sulaiman and Ramli Ibrahim, Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto and former astronaut (astronaut) finalist Vanajah Siva has been among those who took the time to share their stories with us.
In no particular order, here are eight of the best Malay pieces of 2020:
Returning from the edge of hell
By Faisal Asyraf
Ang Tan Loong is the successful founder of a thriving pest control company, soft-spoken, approachable and humble.
Upon meeting the kind gentleman, one would never guess that he was once a prisoner, a long-term drug addict, and a short-tempered and occasionally violent member of the triad.
Ang shares his recovery from the brink of disaster and how at his lowest point, contracting an illness during solitary confinement while serving a sentence in jail, he could never have imagined recovering.
But going into a drug rehab center really helped him turn his life around and, step by step, he rebuilt his life.
Fighting for respect in the shadow of the front
By Fion Yap
Rita Santaran has taken up the fight for hospital cleaners who play a crucial role, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, but who have very few rights and benefits.
Former president of a union of hospital cleaners in Perak and a single mother of four children, Rita raised an entire family on a monthly salary of around RM1,000 (after deductions).
He helped form a workers’ union to defend his rights and those of his colleagues.
But this provoked a hostile reaction from their employers.
Overcome stigma so you can ‘speak’ for the deaf
By Alyaa Alhadjri
Growing up as a child who could hear in a deaf home, it didn’t take long for Goh Soo Leng to find herself in the role of her parents’ unofficial interpreter.
In her early years, Goh admitted to being embarrassed by her parents’ condition, and kept it a secret not only from her friends at school but also from all the teachers.
She eventually overcame those feelings and joined the Kuala Lumpur Society for the Deaf in 2000 at the age of 21, both as a volunteer and to enroll in a class that taught Malay Sign Language.
After two years of volunteering, Goh formally signed up to work as a full-time interpreter at the Malaysian Federation of the Deaf (MFD), a job he deeply loves and has held to this day.
From humble beginnings to USM’s first Orang Asli Dean
By Martin Vengadesan
Professor Bahari Belaton has come a long way from the boy who was born in the late 1960s in a village of Orang Asli in the Kinta district of Perak and who lost his father and most of his seven siblings to a tender age.
Now that he is the father of four children, Bahari has never forgotten how his mother struggled to make a living and provide for her two surviving children.
He remembered how he overcame the bullying and used it to strengthen himself.
In the 1980s, he barely knew computers when he applied to be part of a pioneering group of apprentices and continued his studies in South Australia.
Keep the Papia Kristang flag flying
By Geraldine Tong
Philomena Agnes Singho is determined to ensure that the language of the Malay Portuguese community not only survives but thrives.
Its unique Creole language is known by many names, but it is known primarily as the Papia Kristang language.
With only some 2,000 fluent Kristang speakers worldwide, Singho, 66, has worked on various initiatives with the Malaque-Portuguese-Eurasian association in collaboration with Universiti Malaya (UM) to help promote the language.
This included the publication of a book entitled “Beng Prende Portugues Malaka” (Come, let’s learn Malacca Portuguese) on Kristang, as well as an online dictionary of the “BibePortMal” language available as a mobile application.
Fighting the fearsome factory fumes
By Low Choon Chyuan
Pua Lay Peng is a representative of the Kuala Langat Environmental Action Association and is fighting a fearsome battle.
In late 2017, Pua and several residents discovered that there were several illegal recycling factories operating secretly in their neighborhood.
Gathering evidence overnight, they managed to identify no less than 48 factories involved.
After she became known as an activist, Pua’s older sister suffered a blatant “red paint” attack outside her Jenjarom home and she believed this was a “warning” from the illegal operators.
The girl PJ who just wrote the next Disney movie
By Martin Vengadesan
Adele Lim has gone from precocious columnist to The starin the Youth section in the 1990s to begin work on world-class television shows such as Xena: Warrior Princess, One Tree Hill, and Private Practice.
He co-wrote the script for the 2018 hit Crazy Rich Asians, starring Constance Wu, Henry Golding and Michelle Yeoh, and it earned US $ 238 million (RM988 million) at the box office on a budget of US $ 30 million.
However, Lim dropped out of the sequel in protest of the gender pay gap after learning that she would be paid only an eighth of what her co-writer Peter Chiarelli could earn.
Fortunately, he landed another exciting project: He co-wrote Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 59th animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon.
How Professor Dinnie Makes Award-Winning Movies in Rural Sarawak
By Annabelle Lee
Wan Zulfadli Ad-Dinnie Wan Azmi’s day job is as an art and physical education teacher at Sekolah Kebangsaan Temong, a rural primary school in Serian, Sarawak.
After school hours, he makes movies with and of his students, with a focus on a unique animation technique called rotoscoping.
Cikgu Dinnie, as his students call him, recently made headlines on “BB – Batuh Bijanji”. This animated short won the “Best Popular Jury Film” award at a Brazilian film festival for student work.
She uses her projects to simultaneously pay tribute to her favorite movies and genres and also to empower her students, who would otherwise have little exposure to film.
