IT was a tragic day for art lovers when Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) demolished the sculpture Puncak Purnama (Lunar Peaks) by national laureate Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal.
This action by a government agency is tantamount to desecrating the memory of an art icon.
Syed Ahmad Jamal was not just an artist, but he was also a philosopher, art administrator, activist, profound writer, thinker and critic.
He created theatre set designs for Tok Perak, Alang Rentak Seribu and other plays by Syed Alwi, another national laureate and artiste.
His writings, paintings and sculptures feature prominently in the art history and appreciation curriculum in universities.
This is the artist who inspired a generation of scholars, teachers and practitioners.
Together with his contemporaries Ismail Zain, Reza Piyadasa, Mazli Matsom, Idris Salam, Ismail Hashim, Eric Peris, Leong Thien Shih, Chung Kan Kow, Latif Mohideen, Krishen Jit and Sulaiman Isa, they created a vibrant art scene that challenged and informed the public.
Therefore, to demolish his seminal sculpture is an atrocity and akin to a criminal act, the mutilation of not only the physical work but also the soul of the artist and is an affront and insult to the art community.
It is an act of blasphemy that can be likened to the destruction of the statues of Buddha in Bamya, Afghanistan, by the Taliban.
Who sanctioned this act?
It is obvious that the perpetrators did not have the slightest inkling of the importance of art works as a form of non-verbal expression that not only records the phenomena of existence for posterity, but challenges the perception of existence itself.
They have scant knowledge of the visual and performing arts as the pride and heritage of the nation.
There is therefore a need to educate these bureaucrats to the importance of the arts in town and country planning, not only as architectural monuments but also as an economic product with turnover and multiplier effects.
At the same time, this situation begs the question of the role of the National Arts Gallery, the Department of Heritage and the National Department for Culture and Arts (JKKN) of the Tourism and Culture Ministry.
Have they been negligent in discharging their duties as the custodian of arts and heritage by way of preservation, conservation and transformation?
One gets the impression that their modus operandi is only to house art works (National Art Gallery), to undertake event management (JKKN) and to identify works having heritage value.
They have missed one of the most important aspects of their tasks, that is, to educate and reeducate the public, especially students and administrative officers, about the importance of art in the physical and intellectual environments.
Also, our education system is responsible to this lack of knowledge of the arts.
Arts subjects in schools and universities are relegated to the lowest possible priority, with the emphasis on science and technology.
As a result, our graduates, who later become administrators, bureaucrats and politicians, do not have the slightest inkling of the role and function of the visual and performing arts in the architectonic structure of our lives.
The demolition of Puncak Purnama is the consequence of ignorance of arts appreciation and creation.
The arts community mourns the demise of the physical structure and the desecration of the memory of Syed Ahmad Jamal as well as the affront and indifference to the intrinsic moral, religious and ethical
values of art.
MOHAMED GHOUSE NASURUDDIN,
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Penang