Both contemporary and traditional arts in Malaysia face various challenges to their continued existence and sustainability.
But the contemporary arts, dance, music and theatre fare better than their traditional counterparts in their currency and audience support.
Their performances are consonant with modern artistic tastes and easily identified by the audience exposed to quality contemporary Western performances.
All contemporary arts in Malaysia are Western-oriented, and a sizable segment is mere copies of Western genres.
The artists are the most vulnerable and neglected lot in our community. The authorities exploit and pay them a pittance to perform official functions.
In the PAS-controlled states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, and Perlis, they are shunned and regarded with disdain, anathema to the precepts of politicians who misuse Islam to serve their political agenda.
Nobody cares about their welfare. There have been many cases of artists – dancers, musicians, actors – having to depend on handouts in their old age.
Except for the few top performers, most have no insurance or pension scheme when they cannot perform due to old age or health reasons.
The traditional artists, however, suffer a far worse fate than their contemporary Western-oriented performers as they are rural/kampung/ interior based, unlike Western-oriented musicians, dancers and actors in urban areas serving a cosmopolitan urban audience that has acquired a taste of Western art forms.
They are not professional but community-based musicians in Sabah and Sarawak who serve mainly tribal religious rituals. It is more of a religious and communal obligation of their respective tribes without consideration of any monetary remunerations.
In Peninsula Malaysia, the traditional art forms, dance, music, and theatre forms, are secular and performed during various festivities, except for the Manora of the Thai community in Kedah and Perlis, which is for religious occasions. In addition, Main Puteri, Makyong, Manora, Wayang Kulit and Main Bageh are for ritualistic healing.
But every so often, such traditional tribal performing groups of musicians and dancers are engaged and brought to town to celebrate festivals like Gawai, Kemaatan, Merdeka celebrations, and other official occasions to welcome dignitaries or to showcase the rich and varied cultures of the land for tourist consumption.
That is the situation of the traditional tribal performers who are at the beck and call of government officials to serve their agenda.
There is no sustainable strategy to sustain these traditional art forms. They must fend for themselves.
It would be difficult to develop a second echelon of practitioners to sustain and develop these tribal, religious, and secular arts.
New and successive generations may not have the same tribal and religious affinity and passion towards their heritage as the old practitioners. Only those passionate about the arts would continue with the tradition, but for most, they would seek other professions and vocations that could ensure a better quality future.
As an initial step towards addressing the matter of a sustainable future for modern contemporary artists, the Arts Dialogue 2023, on June 13 and 14 in Kuching, organised by The Arts Council Sarawak (Majlis Seni Sarawak), helmed by its chief executive officer, Dayang Mariana Abang Bolhassan, addressed the question of intellectual property and welfare of the artists, specifically musicians, composers, and singers.
Top singers like Datuk M. Nasir, the late Pak Ngah (Datuk Suhaimi Mohd Zain) and Siti Nurhaliza have registered their creative efforts with the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) and earned substantial royalty.
Most, especially amateur performers, are either unaware of MYIPO or not bothered to register their works. To safeguard their creative works and earn royalty, composers and singers should register with MyIPO.
Unlike contemporary artists, the works of traditional artists are not amenable to registration with MYIPO.
There is no commercial appeal for traditional performances, with the exception of the sporadic festival, ritualistic, and tourist performances, in contrast to the significant commercial demand for contemporary performers that generate monetary income and royalty.
Composers, vocalists, arrangers, and other creators are clearly identifiable as intellectual property owners in contemporary creative works, while traditional dances and music are a communal tradition.
Nevertheless, the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry has provided financial and infrastructural support for the Western-oriented contemporary and traditional arts.
It offers financial support and performance chances for traditional performance groups like makyong and wayang kulit in their state and the nation’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, as well as grants for innovative works or commissioning such works.
There is a scheme specifically for Bangsawan performances held in Kuala Lumpur.
This financial and logistic support are part of the ministry’s programme on preservation and conservation and fulfils the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) requirement for declaring Makyong as a masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage of humanity.
But these government supports are not comprehensive, only to fulfil the ministry’s agenda of KPI arts activities.
There is a need to plan for a truly sustainable strategy to ensure a vibrant contemporary and traditional arts scene that would help secure the welfare of the artists not merely through subsidies but through helping the artists generate their economic turnover.
Thus, the dialogue on the arts initiated by the Arts Council of Sarawak provides the opportunity to revisit these issues dealing with intellectual property, the commercial viability of artistic performances, the plight of traditional performances, and the government’s role in the sustainability of the traditional arts and the promoting of a vibrant arts scene of both the contemporary and traditional arts in the urban enclaves associated with the cosmopolitan audience in a metropolitan setting.
The authorities should strategise policies that sustain these various art forms as economic activity of tourism products and preserve and conserve the traditional arts.
Much more so, there must be established schemes that look after the welfare of the artists by providing financial subsidies and logistic support to enable them to be financially independent to continue and develop their creative efforts and uphold the artistic tradition.
This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13.
