A Malaysian love story, Sepet

          Sepet, a film directed by Yasmin Ahmad and released in year 2004, a love story that happened between a pair of couple who have different family background, different races and different religions. The meaning of sepet stands for single-folded eyelid, which people often have stereotype on Asian, mostly Chinese people.

          Multiculturalism can be seen throughout the whole film, languages are part of them. The film uses Malay language as the main language as Orked, is a Malay, Cantonese is used for the side of Jason and when they both communicate, English is used most of the time. Sometimes the couple would talk in their lovers’ language as well, especially Orked, she can understand some Cantonese and she sometimes speaks it.

          Apart from the main characters, Jason’s family are slightly different from ordinary Chinese family. Hybridity shown where his father is an ordinary Chinese man but his mother is a nyonya. Baba-Nyonya are Chinese that practice Malay cultures. They speak Malay but with the mixture of Hokkien which origins from their ancestors. Nyonya wear Baju Kebaya, which is type of clothing for Malay woman but Baba will wear Baju Lokchuan that is from the Chinese. Although they practice Malay cultures but they remain their religion as the Chinese.

 

          Orked’s family consists of hybridity as well. They are Malay and they believe in Muslim but they sometimes speak English with each other. The Malay family are considered modern Malay family, there is one scene where Orked’s parents are dancing, most probably waltz or tango, with Siamese music as the background music. Besides that, Orked’s mother and Kak Yam love to watch Chinese drama series and they even sing a Cantonese song when they saw Jason. Orked gets influenced by them and that’s how she learns Cantonese.

          One of the important issues highlighted is the education system. The film mentioned about the scholarships, where different races get different rate of the scholarships offered. Kak Yam said Jason got 7A’s but he ended up selling pirated VCDs at the roadside. Jason also mentioned that he wanted to persuade Orked to give up her scholarship to those who really needs it. When Jason visits Keong at hospital, they talked about Chinese immigrants, Keong said that Hang Tuah, Hang Jebat and others are actually Chinese. Malaysian education system has always told that they are Malays in the schools’ history textbook. People have been saying that the government has changed the real history of Malaysia.

          The film talks about racial issues. Orked loves a Taiwanese-Japanese actor named Takeshi Kaneshiro and her best friend, Lin loves Leonardo DiCaprio. Lin once told Orked that Jason looks nothing like Takeshi and ask why would she likes so much about Chinese cultures. While Orked teased Lin back that why would she likes westerners, even get a boyfriend that looks like westerner as a substitution for Leonardo. Orked also mentioned that Malay have been marrying people out of their races. That issue was highlighted earlier when Lin ask her about the book where the French conquered Nigeria, the black people were brainwashed to believe that the whites are better, even the author of that book married a white woman. Even when Orked’s family saw Jason, Kak Yam said that Chinese are handsome. Jason also mentioned that his mother might not mind if he gets a Malay girlfriend because his mother is a nyonya.

          Religious issues are mentioned as well. Jason was told by his best friend, Keong, that he shouldn’t hang out with Malay girls, it’s going to be troubles. Furthermore, Jason has to change his religions and pork would be forbidden to him. There is another scene where Orked’s father questioned about his family members whether they have prayed but he was told that women are not allowed to pray when they are on their period. That happened to Muslim while some other religions might not share the same practice.

          Another issue is stereotype. Everyone looks at Chinese as they are all single-folded eyelid but they are actually not. People also seem to see Chinese as they would cheat a lot and Malays are always lazy. While the film shows that Keong can actually play piano and Jason loves poetry although they sell pirated VCDs and not going to universities.

          The film is worth to watch as it seems to be the first Malaysian film that touches about the issues between Chinese and Malays’ society. The film wanted to deliver a message to the people where love can buds between two different people that came from different background, in terms of religions, culture and even languages. But still, love can be formed if they willing to go through every hardships in life together.

References

Farah Azalea Mohamed Al Amin, Controversies surrounding Malaysian independent female director Yasmin Ahmad’s first film, Sepet.

Siti Zanariah Ahmad Ishak, 2011, Cultural Hybridity: Adapting and Filtering Popular Culture in Malaysian Television Programmes, Malaysian Journal of Media Studies, Vol. 13, No. 1, Pages 1–15.

Beh Chun Chee, 2006, The Portrayal of Multiculturalism in Malaysian National Cinema: A Case Study of Yasmin Ahmad’s Sepet.

Ang, Sze Wei, September 2007, Racial Hopes/Dreams/Fantasies: Negotiating Race, Class, and the Nation in Sepet.