Dr Edwin has actually kept his word and we met Kee Thuan Chye. As he walked into the hall I just wondered if he is the person who is well known for his writings, plays, journals and etc. He looked very simple and felt like meeting someone who lives next door.
He has a good sense of humour but at the same time he managed to convey the intended message to us. There is one specific part I admired in his talk to us. As a response to one of the questions asked, he said that he writes the truth in his works. It meant that the truth which he feels true. I took note on the point when he mentioned that any writings will always reflect the personality of the author and that’s what happens in his case as well. That’s definitely true as we tend to express our thoughts and reflect certain aspects of our personality through the writing. There is also another thing to be mentioned here about his talk. Our core beliefs about the Malaysian history were threatened after heard him asking ‘Is history reliable?”. It hit us hard…Isn’t he right? How far do we know the truth about history? We have been studying history till now and is it reliable? Well, I let the questions linger in my mind.
The meeting with Kee Thuan Chye was only limited to literature but in fact he discussed further about other elements about the politics and etc. His dissatisfaction towards the government policies and the current political scenario was evident through his words. I personally was interested when it came about discussing the political issues. Me opinions were similar like his and I wished talked more of it.
We got more interested when the concentration turned to The Swordfish, Then the Concubine. Hearing about in depth from the creator himself made us fascinated and helped us to get more important facts from him. One of us asked about the role of the characters Ris Kaw and Logod and also the contribution of the prologue to the whole plot. He gave us a detailed explanation about it and that helped a lot in terms of understanding the play better. I have always thought of how that would be to hear any author’s explanation about his / her writing. It first came real with Kee Thuan Chye as he explained in further about the certain aspects of the play.
I adore him as he is a good orator and has a good sense of humour. It was not mere amusement but he has actually lead us think further of certain issues in deep. We are thankful to Dr Edwin for giving us this opportunity to meet Kee Thuan Chye. This meeting has altered our perceptions to the better and we gained insight about things around us!!!
~rAnJiNi~
"is history reliable?"....how far true is the truth? i believe that it is true that stories or so called facts that we hear from the past are told from one perspective...perspective of the person who has the authority...so, i wonder how much difference would the same story be from another person's point of view? it would certainly be interesting to know because knowing would make us better thinkers and not judge without insight.i believe that meeting kee thuan chye has been an enlightening experience for you - so it has for me too. we learn from bold people like him, hopefully we can be as bold too...i believe in the truth...because, it awakens us...don't you think?
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