Abstract
Malaysian playwright Kee Thuan Chye's plays such as 1984 Here and Now, The Big Purge and We Could **** You, Mr. Birch have always placed Malaysian politics as their centre stage discourse. Through his plays, Kee provides an intimate glimpse of Malaysian politics and the individual who struggles to make meaning out of the drudgery of the power struggle between the state and the individual. While Kee's focus, as Gilbert and Lo suggest in their 'Introduction to 1984 Here and Now', has been on how 'existing hegemonic power structures perpetuate gross inequalities in the Malaysian society', he has also touched on the social relations between communal groups that were discriminated against by race-based policies of the National Economic Policy (NEP). This paper takes a deeper look at the meaning of cultural/traditional recreational activities depicted in three of Kee's political plays, arguing that activities are not mere social activities but a manifestation of a deeper network of symbolisms and the politics of representation and dissent against the hegemony of the political state.
Highlights
Seen from a multi-layered angle, while Kee stages his original play, the storyline depicts the dalang who “directs” another group of performers and they in turn manipulate the events in. This play-within-a play, with the live audience watching it and the dalang controlling the events at Equaland is Kee’s way of subverting the traditional concept of a puppet show that “deliberately transgresses and subverts the usual protocols that observe the boundary between the genre of play as textual production and commentary as interventionist socio-political production” (Lim, 2003: 10)
The traditional and cultural representations of such games portray the complex structure of meaning and symbolism associated with such recreational pastimes common in Malaysia
From the use of such cultural and traditional arts/games, from Malay traditional instruments, the “wayang kulit”, the role of the “dalang”, mahjong, the lion dance, the pantun and the congkak, Kee’s infusion of such cultural elements is his way of asserting his identity as a Malaysian playwright who has a deep and intimate interest in the Malaysian way of life. Such traditional/cultural games enable Kee to contest the political state through representations of people, society, and culture
Summary
Malaysian playwright Kee Thuan Chye’s plays such as 1984 Here and The Big Purge and We Could **** You, Mr Birch have always placed Malaysian politics as their centre stage discourse. i Through his plays, Kee provides an intimate glimpse of Malaysian politics and the individual who struggles to make meaning out of the drudgery of the power struggle between the state and the individual. Seen from a multi-layered angle, while Kee stages his original play, the storyline depicts the dalang who “directs” another group of performers (the puppets or politicians like the Chief Minister, Minister Without Portfolio, Minister of Information, Minister of Education and the Minister of Home Affairs) and they in turn manipulate the events in Equaland This play-within-a play, with the live audience watching it and the dalang controlling the events at Equaland is Kee’s way of subverting (and juxtaposing) the traditional concept of a puppet show that “deliberately transgresses and subverts the usual protocols that observe the boundary between the genre of play as textual production and commentary as interventionist socio-political production” (Lim, 2003: 10). The play Birch becomes a social statement and critical commentary by the dramatist on social issues affecting the Malaysian psyche from a socio-political and a socio-economic perspective
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