Observations on contemporary wedding photography

by Mahen Bala· November 26, 2015· in Uncategorized· 0 comments tags: beauty, culture, film, identity, image, indonesia, Malaysia, observation, photography, singapore, wedding
I recently had a chat with an old friend who just got married. For most of her life, she has identified herself as ‘pretty’. She spends most of her money on make-up, nails, hair, handbags etc. I asked to see her wedding photos. “I hate the pictures. He doesn’t look handsome. The make-up artist also didn’t give me a unique look.” To me the pictures looked perfectly fine. The groom looked tad awkward in not knowing what to do in front of the camera but it was by no means ugly. It was also clear that the groom had absolutely no say in how the photographs were being shot. The bride hired the photographer with the promise of pretty shots, and failed to match up to the image that she had imagined of herself. This got me thinking about wedding photographs and how they influence our own sense of identity.
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Datuk Gong: Shifting forms

by Mahen Bala· January 17, 2014· in Datuk Gong: Spirit of the Land documentary· 9 comments tags: chinese, cult, culture, datuk gong, datuk keramat, datuk kong, documentary, essay, heritage, history, identity, idols, na tuk gong, origins, photojournalism, religion, research, spirit, worship
This essay briefly explores the evolving identity of the Datuk Gong and observations on how the worship is influenced by Islamisation and Malay nationalism in Malaysia. What’s in a name? “Black(Panglima Hitam) is the eldest, Green(Hijau) is the fiercest and White(Putih/Puteh) is blind and/or mute. We don’t  really know who they are.” Look up Datuk Gong on Google and you will see many different sites attempting to answer the question of “Who is Datuk Gong” in a multitude of forms, out of which almost none of them are even half correct, committing the cardinal sin of research by oversimplifying the subject with unfounded assumptions, biased opinions and myopic perspectives. 

The Wikipedia page conveniently summarises the names of the Datuk according to a hierarchy as follows:
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Racism in Malaysia? Get used to it.

by Mahen Bala· November 01, 2013· in Journal, Uncategorized· 145 comments tags: chinese, culture, deepavali, diwali, essay, heritage, identity, important, indian, kuala lumpur, malay, Malaysia, malaysian, race, racism, religion
Most of us have grown up having experienced some form of racism in our beloved country Malaysia. I should know; I’m ‘Indian’. It doesn’t help that I have a ‘hangus‘ skin from spending way too much time under the sun with my camera. Here, I would like say my piece with a focus on the Chinese community. Only the government had my best interest by reminding me of my roots when I filled out forms. Let’s see, I’m definitely not Melayu even though I grew up listening to quotes of the Qu’ran from my father and celebrate Hari Raya each year with my uncle. I read and loved all the Malay pantuns and folk stories. I’m not even Cina even if I understood Cantonese better than Tamil, grew up watching Chinese films and TVB dramas and looked forward to Chinese New Year. That leaves me with ‘India’ or ‘Lain-lain’. In primary school I was taught to be ashamed and offended with the word ‘keling‘. I’m not sure how it started really but children only imitate and they must have learned the usage of the word from their elders or friends.
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