Life and Times, NST, July 17, 2010
A film proposal to unearth the real story behind last year’s protests over a temple’s relocation in Shah Alam has won two journalists top honours, writes DENNIS CHUA
JOURNALISTS Sheridan Mahavera Shakir and Siti Nurbaiyah Nadzmi have come out tops in the Freedom Film Festival 2010 for Kuil, their proposal to unearth the real story behind the protests over a temple’s relocation in Shah Alam last year.
The annual film-making competition, themed Dare To Document, is organised by Komas (Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat), a human rights and media organisation.
It’s now in its seventh year.
Former student activist Loo Que Lin and Semai Orang Asli activist Abri Chupil are also winners.
Loo’s Campus Elections takes a closer look at student council elections in universities while Abri’s Hak Dinafikan documents the Semai battle to preserve customary land rights in Bidor, Perak.
The winners were selected from more than 30 entries by a panel of four judges, including Universiti Sains Malaysia Department of Communication Associate Professor Dr Mustafa Anuar, Sunway University College Department of Performance and Media head Leow Puay Tin and Komas board member Anna Har.
The winners get a grant of RM6,000 each to turn their proposals into film. Komas will assist in the production. The film screenings will be held in the Klang Valley, Penang, Johor and Sarawak throughout October.
For details, visit freedomfilmfest.komas.org.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
A day out with Malek Abdullah
Today is our third day of filming. Malek Abdullah, an award winning cameraman, helps us film under more challenging conditions including night shots of the temple, Friday prayers and the general shot of Shah Alam. As I do not have to do filming I took this 'break' to take a series of stills on the making of our documentary.
9am Call time: Malek arrives in a pair of shorts, which he termed as 'seluar pendek tapi menutup aurat'. Yeah, but since we will be filming mosques and temples and religious rituals, he has to be 'properly' attired. Here is the briefing session after Malek got himself a pair of long pants...
10am Shah Alam MP office: Malek expertly sets up the tripod, slid the foot and lock the camera in position. Push some buttons, adjust dials, switch this and that, clips and attaches cables and finally puts on the headphones. Like clockwork, his action is mechanical and precise. Malek waits for directions from two first-time directors. I was in awe.
10am Shah Alam MP office: While Malek sets up the camera, Director One briefs MP Khalid Samad on the questions that we are going to ask, and how he should pause between answers and what the director will do to him next...
10am Shah Alam MP office: .... Director One gracefulling swirling and dusting beige compact on Khalid Samad. An essential filming process.
1.30pm State Mosque: After filming Khalid we followed him to a mosque at Section 17, before rushing to set up the camera at Masjid Negeri Shah Alam, the iconic mosque of the city. It is here that the cow's head protesters started their demonstration before marching to the State government building toting the severed cow head.
4pm MBSA: Filming aerial shot of Shah Alam from the tallest building in the city. Malek in action.
4pm MBSA: Director One holding the window for Malek, at the same time peering at what Malek is picking up.
4pm MBSA: And this is what Malek took.
5pm from inside a moving car: We are taking pick-up shots for the film and here we are re-tracing the route taken by the cow's head protesters from the State Mosque to the State Government Building. Of course Malek continues to amaze us with his steady hold of the camera.
6pm outdoor: At the public area between the MBSA building and State Museum. Malek is getting the best shot of MBSA building while Director One strikes a pose.
At 9.30pm: Before calling it a day, it is terribly important to keep tabs of the days' filming. I will log and mark the footage, remarking on what we have or missed. While waiting for dinner, Malek takes this picture of me labelling the tapes. Shortly after dinner, Sheridan and I sit to prepared the following day's schedule.
9am Call time: Malek arrives in a pair of shorts, which he termed as 'seluar pendek tapi menutup aurat'. Yeah, but since we will be filming mosques and temples and religious rituals, he has to be 'properly' attired. Here is the briefing session after Malek got himself a pair of long pants...
10am Shah Alam MP office: Malek expertly sets up the tripod, slid the foot and lock the camera in position. Push some buttons, adjust dials, switch this and that, clips and attaches cables and finally puts on the headphones. Like clockwork, his action is mechanical and precise. Malek waits for directions from two first-time directors. I was in awe.
10am Shah Alam MP office: While Malek sets up the camera, Director One briefs MP Khalid Samad on the questions that we are going to ask, and how he should pause between answers and what the director will do to him next...
10am Shah Alam MP office: .... Director One gracefulling swirling and dusting beige compact on Khalid Samad. An essential filming process.
1.30pm State Mosque: After filming Khalid we followed him to a mosque at Section 17, before rushing to set up the camera at Masjid Negeri Shah Alam, the iconic mosque of the city. It is here that the cow's head protesters started their demonstration before marching to the State government building toting the severed cow head.
4pm MBSA: Filming aerial shot of Shah Alam from the tallest building in the city. Malek in action.
4pm MBSA: Director One holding the window for Malek, at the same time peering at what Malek is picking up.
4pm MBSA: And this is what Malek took.
5pm from inside a moving car: We are taking pick-up shots for the film and here we are re-tracing the route taken by the cow's head protesters from the State Mosque to the State Government Building. Of course Malek continues to amaze us with his steady hold of the camera.
6pm outdoor: At the public area between the MBSA building and State Museum. Malek is getting the best shot of MBSA building while Director One strikes a pose.
About 6.30pm: We are already losing light. Moving on to the next location, Kuil Sri Maha Mariamman Section 19. At the next location we manage to film devotees praying at the temple and interview them. Malek again takes some really beautiful shots of the religious rituals, the mingling of the bells and the azan from a nearby mosque, and makes excellent pick-up shots for the film, even under low light. I didn't take any pictures at the temple.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Getting the opening scene
Second day of filming and just before we started, one of our contacts pulled out from the interview. He had asked for payment to appear on the film.
"You do not have budget? Impossible," he said, after I explained that our were independent filmmakers and we were on a shoe string budget.
I felt cheated. Wasn't it two days ago we sat on his posh and lush sofa listening to him bragging about the family trip to South Africa catching the momentous Germany vs England match? He had agreed to do this interview then, but changed his mind just hours before the shoot.
We dropped him like a rock. Biar terbenam.
"You do not have budget? Impossible," he said, after I explained that our were independent filmmakers and we were on a shoe string budget.
I felt cheated. Wasn't it two days ago we sat on his posh and lush sofa listening to him bragging about the family trip to South Africa catching the momentous Germany vs England match? He had agreed to do this interview then, but changed his mind just hours before the shoot.
We dropped him like a rock. Biar terbenam.
 |
| Near Masjid Ubudiah Section 19, while waiting for Maghrib. We recorded the muezzin call for the opening scene of the film. |
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Call time, what?
Elena Dardir was one of the first few people I called to ask for advice on film-making. She used to work at a production company and was the one who handled some of my television drama scripts when I began writing for TV in 2003.
You wrote the book, remember? she asked. The one about Shah Alam as a bandaraya and Datuk Abu Sujak was the first mayor. You wrote the book for us.
Seven years ago, the production house had hired me to write a coffee book on Shah Alam but I never got to see the published book. It was more of a copywriting job, my name was not included as an author of the book, so I couldn't really make a claim on it. Very much like writing a slogan for an advertisement.
Elena had declined our offer to be part of the production crew but was more than willing to impart knowledge and experience to us. She stressed over and again on the importance of planning.
You must have a schedule and keep to it. Kena ikut, kalau tak memang susah, she said.
Work schedule: Plan according to the time frame given. In our case from the moment we were awarded the grant to the project's deadline, September 15. The work schedule includes, pre-production (hiring crew, recce, research, interviews, logistics and equipment rental), production (filming, gathering file-footage, stills, graphics, sound recording, music score and more logistics), and post-production (editing, adding graphics, post-audio production, and subtitling).
Production schedule: Elena asked what was our call time. What? Call time is the crew assembly time at least an hour before filming starts. It is to brief the crew on the day's programme or update on changes. Production schedule covers the filming duration from the first to the last day of shooting. It is also a good idea to have an extra day on schedule for contingency. Be realistic when planning. Allow enough time to travel, set-up equipment, weather, traffic, late interviews and any unexpected turn of events.
Footage list: This is very important, she stressed. Before you start filming, you have to list out all the visuals that you need based on the storyboard/treatment. Check the visual on the list. At the end of each filming day compare what footage is not filmed and re-scheduled it on another day. In that way, it is almost impossible to miss footage when you wrap the production.
Logging the timecode: Log the tapes and what's filmed on it or risk having stacks of tapes with unknown footage or worse, the tragedy of shooting over important visuals.
View the tape: Elena strongly suggested that we view the tapes at the end of the first day of shoot. You must view the tape and make sure that the footage is ok. Anything can happen, off white balance, under exposed, burnt images, too bright, too dark, suddenly green or blue, not enough head room, wrong sound channel, noise in the background, and etc, etc. Learning the mistakes on the first day will give you time to make the corrections later.
The make-up kit: The basic kit comprise compact powder and applicator, wet wipes, tissue, oil blotter. Don't leave home without it, she said.
So who's the crew? She asked. Sheridan and I gestured to each other. Elena laughed. Don't worry. You all boleh buat punya. Good luck.
You wrote the book, remember? she asked. The one about Shah Alam as a bandaraya and Datuk Abu Sujak was the first mayor. You wrote the book for us.
Seven years ago, the production house had hired me to write a coffee book on Shah Alam but I never got to see the published book. It was more of a copywriting job, my name was not included as an author of the book, so I couldn't really make a claim on it. Very much like writing a slogan for an advertisement.
Elena had declined our offer to be part of the production crew but was more than willing to impart knowledge and experience to us. She stressed over and again on the importance of planning.
You must have a schedule and keep to it. Kena ikut, kalau tak memang susah, she said.
Work schedule: Plan according to the time frame given. In our case from the moment we were awarded the grant to the project's deadline, September 15. The work schedule includes, pre-production (hiring crew, recce, research, interviews, logistics and equipment rental), production (filming, gathering file-footage, stills, graphics, sound recording, music score and more logistics), and post-production (editing, adding graphics, post-audio production, and subtitling).
Production schedule: Elena asked what was our call time. What? Call time is the crew assembly time at least an hour before filming starts. It is to brief the crew on the day's programme or update on changes. Production schedule covers the filming duration from the first to the last day of shooting. It is also a good idea to have an extra day on schedule for contingency. Be realistic when planning. Allow enough time to travel, set-up equipment, weather, traffic, late interviews and any unexpected turn of events.
Footage list: This is very important, she stressed. Before you start filming, you have to list out all the visuals that you need based on the storyboard/treatment. Check the visual on the list. At the end of each filming day compare what footage is not filmed and re-scheduled it on another day. In that way, it is almost impossible to miss footage when you wrap the production.
Logging the timecode: Log the tapes and what's filmed on it or risk having stacks of tapes with unknown footage or worse, the tragedy of shooting over important visuals.
View the tape: Elena strongly suggested that we view the tapes at the end of the first day of shoot. You must view the tape and make sure that the footage is ok. Anything can happen, off white balance, under exposed, burnt images, too bright, too dark, suddenly green or blue, not enough head room, wrong sound channel, noise in the background, and etc, etc. Learning the mistakes on the first day will give you time to make the corrections later.
The make-up kit: The basic kit comprise compact powder and applicator, wet wipes, tissue, oil blotter. Don't leave home without it, she said.
So who's the crew? She asked. Sheridan and I gestured to each other. Elena laughed. Don't worry. You all boleh buat punya. Good luck.
Friday, June 25, 2010
The Fanged King: Part 4
WHILE many believe some ruined forts in Kedah belonged to Raja Bersiong, and that an altar at Sungai Batu Pahat in Merbok was where his victims were killed, there is no archaeological evidence for any of it.
The Bujang Valley, a sprawling 224sq km area stretching from Merbok to Sungai Muda, is filled with hundreds of Hindu and Buddhist candi (temples), signifying a vibrant entrepot spanning more than a millennium between the third and 14th centuries before the Malaccan Sultanate emerged.
Merchants from China, India and Arabia traded ceramics, glass beads, spices, and aromatic woods for the locals’ repair services and forest products.
These temples are built using imported materials and technology -- terracotta, laterite and granite bricks cemented together using a mixture of eggs and honey (though the merchants soon found more cost-effective material in sugarcane molasses instead).
The area forms a historical complex at the Lembah Bujang Archeological Museum. These candis were unearthed from various areas in the Merbok area and reconstructed at the museum.
One archaeologist, who wishes to remain anonymous, suggests that Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa was contemporaneous with that period in Lembah Bujang, but archaeology has not so far corroborated the stories in that document.
He says the locals were experts in timber structures, which would not stand the test of time as long as the terracotta, granite, and laterite temples of Lembah Bujang.
"It is difficult to prove the existence of the kings mentioned in Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa based on Lembah Bujang archeological find," he said.
The lack of written evidence also suggests that Lembah Bujang was not so much a city as an international trading hub.
Kedah and Perlis National Archive director Shafie Awang says there was no known correspondence between the ancient Kedah kingdom with others before the 17th century.
“Papers, unless kept in a controlled humidity and temperature, naturally decay,” he said.
At present, the oldest documents archived in Malaysia are letters by Sultan Abdul Hamid from 1882 to 1943, recognised by Unesco on its Memory of World Register.
“We are continuously looking for ancient documents on ancient Kedah history,” Shafie said.
The historians have made a firm stand that Raja Besiong is but a character from an epic and a story adored by romantics, but many Kedahans believed the king’s blood runs in its people.
At her food stall tucked away in a village between Bukit Selambau and Jeniang, Mak Chu (not her real name) wipes her hands on her apron and bends down behind her counter to extract out a tightly rolled piece of paper.
It is a genealogy chart filling the breadth of ten sheets of A4 paper taped together.
“I am the seventh generation of Raja Bersiong,” said Mak Chu proudly.
Raja Besiong had at least two wives, she explains: a Malay and a Pattani. Mak Chu’s father was descended from the Malay lineage, and had travelled to Pattani as a trader.
There he had married another descendant of Raja Bersiong, of the Pattani lineage. Years later, they moved back to Kedah and raised the Fanged King’s seventh generation.
When war broke out between Kedah and Siam in 1821, the princes of various lineages fought over the throne. Those not favoured were hunted down, and their families retreated deep into the hinterlnd of Kedah, discarding their titles to live as commoners.
Mak Chu said they still feared repercussions if the truth be told. “It is not true that Raja Bersiong is a myth,” she said. “He was once the ruler of Kedah.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the final of a four-part series.
NST pictures by Syaharim Abidin and Shahrizal Md Noor
The Bujang Valley, a sprawling 224sq km area stretching from Merbok to Sungai Muda, is filled with hundreds of Hindu and Buddhist candi (temples), signifying a vibrant entrepot spanning more than a millennium between the third and 14th centuries before the Malaccan Sultanate emerged.
Merchants from China, India and Arabia traded ceramics, glass beads, spices, and aromatic woods for the locals’ repair services and forest products.
These temples are built using imported materials and technology -- terracotta, laterite and granite bricks cemented together using a mixture of eggs and honey (though the merchants soon found more cost-effective material in sugarcane molasses instead).
The area forms a historical complex at the Lembah Bujang Archeological Museum. These candis were unearthed from various areas in the Merbok area and reconstructed at the museum.
One archaeologist, who wishes to remain anonymous, suggests that Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa was contemporaneous with that period in Lembah Bujang, but archaeology has not so far corroborated the stories in that document.
He says the locals were experts in timber structures, which would not stand the test of time as long as the terracotta, granite, and laterite temples of Lembah Bujang.
"It is difficult to prove the existence of the kings mentioned in Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa based on Lembah Bujang archeological find," he said.
The lack of written evidence also suggests that Lembah Bujang was not so much a city as an international trading hub.
Kedah and Perlis National Archive director Shafie Awang says there was no known correspondence between the ancient Kedah kingdom with others before the 17th century.
“Papers, unless kept in a controlled humidity and temperature, naturally decay,” he said.
At present, the oldest documents archived in Malaysia are letters by Sultan Abdul Hamid from 1882 to 1943, recognised by Unesco on its Memory of World Register.
“We are continuously looking for ancient documents on ancient Kedah history,” Shafie said.
The historians have made a firm stand that Raja Besiong is but a character from an epic and a story adored by romantics, but many Kedahans believed the king’s blood runs in its people.
At her food stall tucked away in a village between Bukit Selambau and Jeniang, Mak Chu (not her real name) wipes her hands on her apron and bends down behind her counter to extract out a tightly rolled piece of paper.
It is a genealogy chart filling the breadth of ten sheets of A4 paper taped together.
“I am the seventh generation of Raja Bersiong,” said Mak Chu proudly.
Raja Besiong had at least two wives, she explains: a Malay and a Pattani. Mak Chu’s father was descended from the Malay lineage, and had travelled to Pattani as a trader.
There he had married another descendant of Raja Bersiong, of the Pattani lineage. Years later, they moved back to Kedah and raised the Fanged King’s seventh generation.
When war broke out between Kedah and Siam in 1821, the princes of various lineages fought over the throne. Those not favoured were hunted down, and their families retreated deep into the hinterlnd of Kedah, discarding their titles to live as commoners.
Mak Chu said they still feared repercussions if the truth be told. “It is not true that Raja Bersiong is a myth,” she said. “He was once the ruler of Kedah.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the final of a four-part series.
NST pictures by Syaharim Abidin and Shahrizal Md Noor
Making cold calls
The dreaded Q popped up again: what do we do now? Followed by the strange feeling of watching the second hand move past the face of a clock just before the alarm goes off.
The organiser has set a meeting on July 3 to discuss on work schedule but both of us felt like we needed to start soon.
We talked about the process, again. I told Sheridan that whatever we wrote in the treatment and our storyboard was just a guide and they would inevitably change depending on the interviews and the footage we filmed later. I had no idea how many times we would re-write the script but at this point of time, I could only imagine this:
How do you shoot a film?
1. Recce ----- 2. treatment ----- 3. storyboard ---- 4.amend script --- 5. view rushes--- 6. amend script ---- 6. post production
All that in mind, the most important thing that we have to do right now is to plan our time, so that we could meet the deadline on Sept 15. We have to fit in film-making in our already mad lives as journalists, in other words we have to be accomplished jugglers.
Set interviews? I asked.
Yeah, he said. We drafted all the possible contacts, block dates on the calender for filming and started making cold calls. Most of the contacts had never known us, we were banking on their generosity to give us filmed interviews.
And the mad rush began.
The organiser has set a meeting on July 3 to discuss on work schedule but both of us felt like we needed to start soon.
We talked about the process, again. I told Sheridan that whatever we wrote in the treatment and our storyboard was just a guide and they would inevitably change depending on the interviews and the footage we filmed later. I had no idea how many times we would re-write the script but at this point of time, I could only imagine this:
How do you shoot a film?
1. Recce ----- 2. treatment ----- 3. storyboard ---- 4.amend script --- 5. view rushes--- 6. amend script ---- 6. post production
All that in mind, the most important thing that we have to do right now is to plan our time, so that we could meet the deadline on Sept 15. We have to fit in film-making in our already mad lives as journalists, in other words we have to be accomplished jugglers.
Set interviews? I asked.
Yeah, he said. We drafted all the possible contacts, block dates on the calender for filming and started making cold calls. Most of the contacts had never known us, we were banking on their generosity to give us filmed interviews.
And the mad rush began.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Fanged King: Part 3
HIKAYAT Merong Mahawangsa, a historical epic of the Kedah rulers commissioned during the reign of Sultan Rijaluddin Muhammad Shah (1625-1651), has a chapter on Raja Besiong.
According to the epic, Merong Mahawangsa, the first ruler of Kedah, sent his four children to open new kingdoms. The eldest was crowned Raja Siam; the second prince shot a silver arrow and became Raja Perak; the third, a princess, became Raja Pattani; the youngest, Raja Seri Inderawangsa, lived with Merong Mahawangsa in Kedah.
When Raja Seri Inderawangsa ascended the throne he married a “gergasi” or “ogre” princess, against his father’s wishes. The Kedah History Association’s Datuk Dr Wan Shamsuddin Yusof speculates that she might have been an aboriginal woman.
They bore a son, Raja Ong Maha Perita Deria, who is named in the epic as “Raja Besiong” (translated from Jawi script without the “r”). “The book described him from young as ‘kahar’ (a rogue) and he never outgrew that even when he became the ruler and took a Malay wife,” Wan Shamsuddin said.
“When he was asked to quit killing people for their blood, he shrugged them off saying that the spinach broth was simply too delicious to quit.”
The Al-Tarikh Salasilah Negeri Kedah by Muhammad Hassan bin Dato' Kerani Muhammad Arshad, published in 1927, is more “historical” than the magical realism of Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa (which, in Chapter Two, describes Raja Kampar transforming himself into a tusked wild boar, a venomous black cobra, and a ferocious tiger).
The Salasilah names the first ruler of Kedah as Maharaja Durbar Raja I, but concerns itself with nothing earlier than the ninth ruler, Maharaja Durbar Raja II, who embraced Islam and called himself Sultan Muzaffar Shah I (1136-1179).
Philologist Datuk Dr Professor Siti Hawa Salleh, who has done a comparative study on Kedah history and Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, said it was almost impossible to prove or disprove the existence of Raja Besiong.
“Can anyone prove Raja Besiong did not exist? On the other hand, can anyone prove he existed? I doubt it.”
Although Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa was written in an epic style and filled with romance, magic and adventure, the writing is based on ancient Kedah history as far back as the second century.
“There are many things that we do not know about the Kedah ancient history,” Siti Hawa said. “Even the al-Tarikh cannot date the first Kedah king.”
Siti Hawa said much remained unknown of ancient Kedah history, especially on the lifestyle and culture of the people. “Perhaps the killings were influenced by an ancient sect where human sacrifice was an important holy ritual.”
Such rituals, she explained, are described in an old text, Maha Sutasoma. A young person would be sacrificed on an altar. A monk would stab the heart with a dagger, and the blood was collected and drunk. The heart was cut out and eaten by the person who wished to be purified.
Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, although an important text, is not readily available in bookstores. The copies available at Yayasan Karyawan are leather-bound collectors’ editions.
The Kedah Public Library Council has a collection of rare editions of Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa by Pustaka Antara 1965 with a preface by Arenawati. There is also the University Malaysa Press 1968 edition compiled by Siti Hawa Salleh, and a 1898 stone imprint photocopy of R.J. Wilkinson’s compilation of the handwritten Jawi by Muhammad Yusuf Nasru’l-din.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the third of a four-part series. Watch out for Part Four tomorrow.
NST pictures by Syaharim Abidin and Shahrizal Md Noor
According to the epic, Merong Mahawangsa, the first ruler of Kedah, sent his four children to open new kingdoms. The eldest was crowned Raja Siam; the second prince shot a silver arrow and became Raja Perak; the third, a princess, became Raja Pattani; the youngest, Raja Seri Inderawangsa, lived with Merong Mahawangsa in Kedah.
When Raja Seri Inderawangsa ascended the throne he married a “gergasi” or “ogre” princess, against his father’s wishes. The Kedah History Association’s Datuk Dr Wan Shamsuddin Yusof speculates that she might have been an aboriginal woman.
They bore a son, Raja Ong Maha Perita Deria, who is named in the epic as “Raja Besiong” (translated from Jawi script without the “r”). “The book described him from young as ‘kahar’ (a rogue) and he never outgrew that even when he became the ruler and took a Malay wife,” Wan Shamsuddin said.
“When he was asked to quit killing people for their blood, he shrugged them off saying that the spinach broth was simply too delicious to quit.”
The Al-Tarikh Salasilah Negeri Kedah by Muhammad Hassan bin Dato' Kerani Muhammad Arshad, published in 1927, is more “historical” than the magical realism of Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa (which, in Chapter Two, describes Raja Kampar transforming himself into a tusked wild boar, a venomous black cobra, and a ferocious tiger).
The Salasilah names the first ruler of Kedah as Maharaja Durbar Raja I, but concerns itself with nothing earlier than the ninth ruler, Maharaja Durbar Raja II, who embraced Islam and called himself Sultan Muzaffar Shah I (1136-1179).
Philologist Datuk Dr Professor Siti Hawa Salleh, who has done a comparative study on Kedah history and Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, said it was almost impossible to prove or disprove the existence of Raja Besiong.
“Can anyone prove Raja Besiong did not exist? On the other hand, can anyone prove he existed? I doubt it.”
Although Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa was written in an epic style and filled with romance, magic and adventure, the writing is based on ancient Kedah history as far back as the second century.
“There are many things that we do not know about the Kedah ancient history,” Siti Hawa said. “Even the al-Tarikh cannot date the first Kedah king.”
Siti Hawa said much remained unknown of ancient Kedah history, especially on the lifestyle and culture of the people. “Perhaps the killings were influenced by an ancient sect where human sacrifice was an important holy ritual.”
Such rituals, she explained, are described in an old text, Maha Sutasoma. A young person would be sacrificed on an altar. A monk would stab the heart with a dagger, and the blood was collected and drunk. The heart was cut out and eaten by the person who wished to be purified.
Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, although an important text, is not readily available in bookstores. The copies available at Yayasan Karyawan are leather-bound collectors’ editions.
The Kedah Public Library Council has a collection of rare editions of Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa by Pustaka Antara 1965 with a preface by Arenawati. There is also the University Malaysa Press 1968 edition compiled by Siti Hawa Salleh, and a 1898 stone imprint photocopy of R.J. Wilkinson’s compilation of the handwritten Jawi by Muhammad Yusuf Nasru’l-din.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the third of a four-part series. Watch out for Part Four tomorrow.
NST pictures by Syaharim Abidin and Shahrizal Md Noor
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