Syed Alwi - a tribute to the tokoh seni

I was shocked when I heard on the radio as I was driving to the blood centre to donate for the 282nd time, of Syed Alwi Syed Hassan’s passing. I had seen an English newspaper earlier but missed the story.

It is ironic and indeed sad how Syed Alwi, the doyen of the local theatre in Malay and English could not get such publicity when he was producing and directing his plays but that his untimely death could create such a media frenzy.

It is all the more ironic and painful when one looks at the types and kinds of write-ups neophyte dramatists and third-rate artistes are getting in the local English newspapers, simply because they are in the good books of the writers and editors of these papers.

It is even more ironic that those who are active in Malay theatre and cultural activities are not liked by the English newspapers and publications. This is a fact. So it is no wonder that most Malays and non-Malays in the Klang Valley scorn such productions, with many unaware of the goings on in the local arts scene.

The Chinese and Tamil newspapers and publications are worse, they only write about the artistic and cultural activities in Hong Kong, India and America. I wonder how they got their publication license from the home ministry in the first place.

The English newspapers mostly write about the Actor’s Studio or Sutera and the plays at The Annexe at Central Market, despite being less superior, production wise.

In fact, even those who have been recognised as ‘Sasterawan Negara’ or ‘Tokoh Budaya’ have been sidelined by such publications despite their work being more meaningful, timely and held at more prestigious venues attended by many.

This is not the way for the media to pay their final tribute to a person like Syed Alwi who, when he was alive, had tried to improve local theatre.

I saw his body being taken away in a black plastic bag on a police truck, being followed by a horde of media representatives. What were all the cameramen and reporters thinking when they were there? That he finally deserves a bit of publicity?

Where was the media when he wanted such publicity for his plays and not for himself?

Hypocrisy of the local media

I last saw him on Nov 19, when he came to the launching of a photographic exhibition entitled ‘The Residency Years: Tunku Abdul Rahman – a tribute by Syed Abdullah Barakhbah’ at the R A Gallery in Jalan Aman, Kuala Lumpur.

Of course, as always, we did not speak because we had such a relationship. It was not cold or detached but thoughtful.

In fact, Syed Alwi was one of three people I had approached to write a letter of support for my application to study a for a Masters in Fine Arts in Film Directing at Columbia University in New York City in 1977.

That was my first direct encounter with him, although I had been an avid follower of his work, which was then mostly staged at the Experimental Theatre of Universiti Malaya.

The reason why I was able to get his letter of recommendation was because his second wife, Norhayati, was my colleague at Utusan Melayu.

I am sure what Syed Alwi had written in his letter, which he mailed directly to the Film Division of Columbia, was one of the reasons why I gained admission into the program despite the fact that I had not yet graduated with a diploma from Institut Teknologi Mara at the time.

I took two photos of Syed Alwi ( extreme left ) at the function at R A Gallery, one of which shows him sitting with some of his former colleagues at Filem Negara Malaysia.

The media did not give Syed Alwi much coverage for any of his plays, which were staged at the Experimental Theater of the National Arts Academy or Aswara, despite his stature and standing as a theater activist.

Why was the media so crude to him? They did not bother to cover his artistic activities but chose only to get excited at his untimely death.

I was also lucky that Syed Alwi and the late Krishen Jit were able to understand what I was writing and decided to accept three of the screenplays I submitted to TV3 when they were script readers there. Syed Alwi was also head of the drama production department at the then newly set-up television station.

If not for them, there wouldn’t have been any takers for my early works like ‘Basikal ku’, ‘Kadir dan Kim’ and ‘Seri Panggung’.

‘Basikal ku’ is about Sani who likes to cycle. He vows to continue to cycle after graduation, while ‘Kadir dan Kim’ revolves around a Baba and Nyonya family in Melaka, with Kadir being the family driver who receives wrong signals from his boss’ daughter.

‘Seri Panggung’ which was supposed to be produced by TV3 was put on hold when Ahmad Sebi became its chairman. The day he left the television station, TV3 called me to sign the agreement for the script to be made into a telemovie.

I also stopped contributing essays and reviews of local films when Ahmad Sebi was the editor-in-chief of Berita Harian.

The local arts scene can do without the hypocrisy of the local English media. They might as well come clean about their disdain for those who are involved in the production of Malay theatre, instead of pretending to be supporters of the local arts.