Sepet (Yasmin Ahmad, 2004)

           Sepet is a Malaysian 2004 romantic comedy drama film by the brilliant Yasmin Ahmad (who unfortunately passed on in 2009 from massive bleeding in the brain following a stroke). Sepet is the first installment of her critically acclaimed Orked trilogy that has won awards for Best Film. These films challenged racial stereotypes common to Malaysians in addition to exploring the country’s culturally diverse society while depicting the problems faced therein. However, seeing as Malaysia is primarily a Muslim nation and is among the world’s most conservative countries (Ar, 2014), her films are very controversial locally for portraying touchy events and relationships. In fact, Sepet (Yasmin Ahmad, 2004) had been banned until she agreed to make specific cuts issued by Malaysia’s Film Censorship Board.

            ‘Sepet’ roughly translates to ‘slit eyes’ which refers to the kind of eyes that a typical Chinese has. This title is relevant to the film because it follows the love story of a Chinese boy (Ah Loong, also known as Jason) and a Malay girl (Orked). They meet when Orked visits Ah Loong’s pirated VCDs stall at a market, looking for films starring her favorite Japanese-Taiwanese actor, Takeshi Kaneshiro. It is love at first sight for both parties. Orked’s best friend, Lin, realizes this and pokes fun at Jason’s ‘Chinese eyes’ to which Orked expresses that ‘Chinese eyes are the best’. They start going out and faces many social and racial pressures along the way which may very well result in their split.

            Despite the simple plot of a love story, there are numerous underlying messages concerning a multicultural society. First of all, interracial interaction is inevitable in a multiracial country such as Malaysia. One race branches out to many different ethnics, and every ethnic possesses their own cultural heritage, tradition and religious beliefs. In order for different ethnics to live together in harmony, it is important that they learn to respect, appreciate and get along with one another. Citizens have always been encouraged to handle issues of multiculturalism with care even before the release of Sepet (Yasmin Ahmad, 2004), however it seems to me that Malaysians are still confined by stereotypes and are merely tolerating one another instead of actually getting along.

            Yasmin Ahmad approached this issue by challenging her audience to overlook the dissimilarities of race as well as religion between her characters (Al Amin, 2012, p. 2). She used characters that did not just represent typical racial stereotypes of the harmonious Malaysian society. For example, Ah Loong/Jason that resembles a rebellious looking kid or may even be regarded as a gangster with his dyed hair, turns out to be a hopeless romantic that has a passion for reading and writing poetry. Whereas, Orked is seen wearing a viel and reciting the Koran at the beginning of the film but turns out to be an outspoken free spirit that has posters of Takeshi Kaneshiro all over her wardrobe door as well as a passion for Hong Kong films.

            Another underlying issue that is highlighted in the film is the acceptability of interethnic relationships in Malaysia (Ahmad, 2005, para. 4). Lin’s Eurasian-looking Boyfriend sneers at Orked for going out with a yellow-skinned, ‘slit-eyed’ Chinese simply because it goes against their Malay tradition to be involved romantically in anybody outside their race, saying that it will get her into trouble. To which Orked immediately points out that Malay men have been marrying outside their race for many years, yet they have never been questioned the way she is being questioned now. Orked has also pointed out earlier on in the film that due to having been colonized by the British, we are conditioned to believe we are the inferior race and that anything from the West is ‘good’, including their beauty standards. Thus, there will be people like Lin that will have a preference for Western guys. Aforementioned, Orked is scorned for liking a Chinese guy however it might have been more acceptable if it were a Caucasian despite that it would still mean being romantically involved with someone outside their race.

Ultimately, what seems to be the film’s biggest issue may turn out to be not that big of an issue after all. The real message of the film is that, most Malaysians will prioritize their loved ones’ happiness far above any trivial issues regarding ethnicity. In Yasmin Ahmad’s own words, “It is important to note here that the last thing I wanted was to make the central crisis in Sepet a racial one. I have never believed that race was ever a real issue when people hated one another. I have always found, without fail, that racism was just surface stuff. When I scratched that surface and went just a little deeper, I invariably found that prejudice was rooted in more basic human weaknesses like Fear or Greed” (Beh, 2006, p. 43).

Some people might have condemned the director for being too unrealistic and that her depiction of the multiethnic society in Malaysia is simply Utopianism. Even so, this film was able to start an active plane of discussion. Therefore, national identification can be a proactive process through national cinema, rather than a unidirectional myth-creating process by the dominant group (Beh, 2006, p. 44). Sepet (Yasmin Ahmad, 2004) succeeded in showing a possible Malaysia as a nation consisting of multiethnic communities living in harmony, not without problems, but are willing to understand one another and come to a compromise.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ar, Z. (2014, April 18). Malaysia among world’s most morally conservative countries, poll finds. Retrieved August 9, 2014, from http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/malaysia-among-worlds-most-morally-conservative-countries-poll-finds

Al Amin, F.A.M. (2012). CONTROVERSIES SURROUNDING MALAYSIAN INDEPENDENT FEMALE DIRECTOR YASMIN AHMAD’S FIRST FILM, SEPET. 1-12. Retrieved August 12, 2014, from http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/mai/files/2012/07/farahazaleamohamedalamin.pdf

Ahmad, Y. (2005, March 8). A review of 'Sepet' by Robert Williamson at www.filmfestivalfile.com. Retrieved from http://yasminthestoryteller.blogspot.com/2005/03/review-of-sepet-by-robert-_111033253963086072.html

Beh, C. (2006). The Portrayal of Multiculturalism in Malaysian National Cinema: A Case Study of Yasmin Ahmad’s Sepet. Asia Culture Forum 2006 – Whither the Orient. Retrieved from http://www.cct.go.kr/data/acf2006/cinema/cinema-Session%201%20-%20Beh.pdf