I AM still processing the past week of my tour and conference up north.

Aside from the excitement of touring and the networking between fellow artists and academics at conferences, it also gets me “in the zone”, as it is popularly known to creative types and psychologists.

While being in the zone is often associated with being intensely focused and fulfilled in one activity at a time, I also feel you can so for days or even weeks, if the conditions are right.

As I was in the zone for more than a week – even the days leading up to the trip involved a lot of preparation for the tour (with merchandise and social media hyping/updating) and conference (to prepare slides or not to prepare slides, that is the question) – I missed local news breaking events in that week in the process.

Ok, not really “news breaking” but two “viral” cinematic events on social media that eventually made the news: the supposed “controversy” around the film “Mentega Terbang” and the success of “Imaginur” at the box office.

However, prior these events was the good news of former National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) director-general Kamil Othman’s appointment as Finas chairman in February.

Also, Malaysian auteur filmmaker Dain Said’s “Harum Sundal” hit the big screen, his own unique take on the horror genre with equally impressive box office returns.

Oh yes, we have to also take into account the supposed controversy over the trailer of the film “Pulau” – over the brief sensual representation of a woman’s body by our local demagogues naturally – which is out now.

I have only seen “Mentega Terbang” and “Harum Malam”, which are two different films to be mentioned in the same breath but still cultural products of ours of which we should be proud.

This pride should not be determined by the office returns they garner but the dialogue and conversations they elicit.

I am one of the individual signatories of the public statement to stop the witch hunt of the makers of “Mentega Terbang”.

Aside from stating what has already been said in other news stories, columns, and the statement itself, I feel encouraged, contrary to how many might feel, by all these news or “viral” (the lines are getting blurred day-by-day) events.

Effective art creates dialogue, no matter how heated or ridiculous those dialogues may be, be it in articulate columns or anonymous trolling comments on social media (and comments sections of news sites).

The noise that emerges is the best we got, folks. Let’s deal with it.

Public statements will not solve the matter but they do galvanise disparate groups (creatives in this case) into a collective voice that will naturally be countered by non-creative, politicking, bankrupt of ideas, fear mongering, religion-riding supporters and newsmakers alike.

While we used to look to the West for articulate and coherent dialogue, this is not the case anymore in the post-Trump and Johnson world.

In spite of our shortcomings as a nation, I feel proud that we all are passionate about fighting the good fight, especially among my fellow creatives, whom I consider compatriots regardless of their industry or practice.

Since these fearmongering diatribes want to bring up race, let me state one thing along this thread: Malays (in all their diversity and Nusantara spectrum) have always been creative. Always have and always will be.

For us creatives, going to Indonesia is the closest empirical evidence of art and resilience.

I consider my Indonesian contemporaries family. We did not partition ourselves into these present nation states, colonialism did.

We should admire our brothers and sisters across the straits because let us not forget the trials and tribulations they too – the creatives notably – had to endure during their long march post-independence.

To my fellow Malaysian creatives, let us lock arms proverbially and stand up against this tyranny, especially in the wake of the plunder and corruption of our national institutions by the same self-righteous people.

In the process, let us create an empathetic citizenry that counters and triumphs over such didactic moralising and witch hunting. – March 10, 2023.

* Azmyl Yunor is a touring underground recording artiste, and an academic in media and cultural studies. He has published articles on pop culture, subcultures and Malaysian cultural politics. He adheres to the three-chords-and-the-truth school of songwriting, and Woody Guthrie’s maxim “All you can write is what you see”. He is @azmyl on Twitter.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.