The True Spirit of Merdeka

Every August 31 is Malaysia's birthday. And the media would definitely publish and air all those classic photographs of the past. But do they acknowledge the people who had worked painstakingly to capture those moments? It is sad that all the big guns in the Malaysian Press do not acknowledge the contributions of senior photographers who had documented all those old pictures of Malaya. What they only do was to post the source as theirs when in actual fact were captured by former Information Department photographers.

Long ago during the early days after Malaysia's Independence, the Information Department staffs were the most handy of all people in disseminating information about the country to rural folks. They used to put up shows on big screens in the remotest area of Malaysia informing the people about the country's development Green Book and Red Book Plans, conveying important messages pertaining to the Communists threat, or merely airing old films for free entertainment.

There were also incidents when their comrades from other department, for instance, the Filem Negara unit, were killed in accidents or murdered by bandits, in line of duty. And most of the photographs we are viewing now take no credit of these people who had sacrificed their very own life to get the job done.

I hate to see these big guns running the show without even a small credit to the Unsung Heroes. Perhap true to the phrase, 'Old photographers do not diminish, they're only out of frame.'

People like the Large Format print companies, many of them, are 'hungry' of any hint of old photographs of the Royalty or prominent leaders, and get them treated and printed for exhibitions but pay no respect to the people who caught those moments on film. They even reproduce the prints on canvas for show at their gallery or for other people to purchase at hansome prices. They are actually the cannibals. I'd like to smack their pretty faces, but the law forbid.

So come Merdeka Day, these cannibals are the real victors, bagging home big profits, out of the true spirit of the people who had dedicated their whole life documenting the historic moments of the past. And these cannibals are the same people who are contributing the many pictures at exhibitions around the country, the Merdeka Stadium, National Art Gallery, in publications and etc.