In what may or may not be a relief for historians and anthropologists the world over, the ancient art of wayang kulit or shadow puppetry, long thought to be eking out its last days in Malaysia, seems to be alive and well in the hands of present day politicians.

A once hallowed art form, it is shared by many cultures in Asia, specifically South and East Asia, along the trade routes that connected Turkey, India and China. Some scholars suggest that its origin, in the variations practised in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, is from Hindu culture, spread by Indians who traded along Asia's monsoon route.

world press freedom day 070507 wayang kulit Several styles exist in the areas along the geographical route this ye olde form of popular entertainment took. Here in Malaysia, we used to have four of the forms - Wayang Kulit Melayu, Wayang Kulit Gedek, Wayang Kulit Purwa and Wayang Kulit Kelantan.

However, our most famous modern shadow play styles today could well be Wayang Kulit BN or its subform, Wayang Kulit Najib, a recent evolution from the older Wayang Kulit Mahathir archetype.

A true 'fusion' art form, it embodies the vernacular, invectives and local folklore of the various cultures it touches, other then tales from the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata , which formed its core stable of performances.

The present styles of the wayang kulit , which use the shadow play of the puppets on a cloth screen, is believed to have originated when a Javanese prince wanted to see the popular form of entertainment, but could not get the agreement of the local religious leaders as it proscribed Islam's prohibition against representations of living forms.

In the end, the prince reached a compromise. The full-bodied costumed puppets once used were replaced with flat, leather-worked forms we are familiar with today, with the tok dalang or shadow puppet master weaving his story-magic from behind a cloth screen. The audience thus sees not the puppets but only the shadows.

Shadows, not substance

This became the shadow play we know today. Shadows and single dimension characters with no substance, only shadows of stories skilfully displayed by the tok dalang 's hand punctuated by flashes of light, clashes of of sound and a mesmerising storyline.

While public apathy and government restrictions against this un-Islamic art from has caused it to die a slow death in our country, the wayang kulit shadow play survives in the sleight of hand, gleaming smiles and honeyed words of our politicians.

Just last year, for example, they put on display, a shadow play of laws with honeyed names like "peaceful assembly" and many amendments with 'feel-good' intentions.

These were, with the flash-bang of publicity, pushed through Parliament by the sleight of the hand of 'democratic' practice. The truth of the matter is anything but...

Just like wayang kulit , those were flat, single dimension initiatives using the light play of publicity, hoping to lull the public with moving shadows and set them on the continuing road of a 54-year-old enchantment.

But such deceptions have a shelf life that's long expired. Luckily, just like the wayang kulit of the old, once the performance is over, its 'magic' cannot linger in the face of facts and the true sensory of things. Substance over shadows.

Poignant crunch of batons

Nothing more poignant than the alleged crunch of batons and pounding of fists and boots of the police upon the student activists at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris in Tanjung Malim, Perak. A sleepy little town once famous for pau , it is now the scene for such awakenings.

smm protest in sultan idris university 010112 student lay on floor Nothing more describes the government's 'sincerity' and its real attitude about peaceful public assembly.

The wayang kulit is over, but the bruised bodies and spilled blood still lie there.

What say you, Malaysians? Did the students beat themselves up as the tok dalang are saying? Or do we show them who is the real tok dalang of Malaysia's future?

Go ahead, make me proud Malaysia. As the new year dawns, and the 13th general election approaches, the curtains are up, the lights a-shining and the music a-sounding.

It is time for you, the rakyat, to stand upon the stage and dance to your own tidings.