On 30 May 2015, I came across
a silent film produced in 1902 by Georges Mieles while browsing through Youtube
(on the topic of aliens possibly). It was fairly short film that lasted barely
13 minutes titled ‘Le Voyage dans La Lune’ or ‘Trip to the Moon’. As the name
suggests, it is indeed a short film quite literally depicting a trip to the
moon. However the narrative of the story that triggered me to view the film
almost as a summary of some of the historical events in the archipelago,
perhaps that perspective was also partly driven by my recent read of ‘Prince of
Pirates’ by Carl A. Trocki.
The film opens with a scene
of European men dressed in robes, they looked more like wizards than astronomers
and scientists. To begin with, they were all gathered in a room with a large
blackboard with an illustration of the earth and the moon. A gesture of drawing
an arrow from the illustration of the
earth to the moon by one of the men caused a commotion, finally it was resolved
and a handful (of about 5 men) removed their wizard-looking robes revealing
their European outfit underneath. They later made a trip down to visit the
‘construction site’ of the shuttle that will transport them to the moon, and
soon after, they were ushered into the shuttle by a trail of women wearing what
resembles a swimming costume. The shuttle was shot through a massive telescope
looking cannon and landed on the left ‘eye’ of the moon, which apparently had a
face of a man.
The group of men immediately
exited the shuttle in their neat European costume complete with a brolly each,
and the first thing they did was to get their night’s rest. The day after, they
continued with their expedition leading them to an area where mushrooms grew up
to the size of a man, however their bewilderment was short lived when an
‘alien’ approached them. One of the European man decided to hit the ‘alien’
with his brolly which reduced it to dust. Soon, a group of ‘aliens’ came to
capture and present them to the ‘alien king’. Upon arrival the group of men was
greeted quite politely by the ‘alien king’ only to be hit by one of the men
(again) with his brolly reducing the king to dust, they managed to escape and
ran back to their shuttle to leave for earth.
Upon arrival, there was an
elaborate ceremony complete with a marching band waiting to greet them. Each of
the men was awarded with a crown and a ridiculously large medallion in a shape
of a moon pinned onto their coat. The adventure was summarized with a joyous
dance with a few maiden.
Although the film is quite an
admirable reflection of the scientific goals of man in that era, I can’t help
to feel that it is also reflective of some of the events in our colonial
history. How the British came to Singapore, surveyed our land, made a couple of
contacts, established some agreements with the natives and eventually, managed
to rule out the local administrative power to gain control of this maritime
state, bringing glory and recognition back home in Great Britain. With that
being said, we cannot generalize the colonizing powers due to some of the
traumas inflicted upon us, however, we also should not deny the events that has
occurred, voluntarily or involuntarily as to justify the history that has
shaped us.
As we celebrate our jubilee
year since our independence in 1965, reflecting on our past has become an
important nostalgic element to add onto our celebratory notes. The humble
beginnings of Singapore as a fishing village before the arrival of the British
have been overly romanticized. Important historical events which happened
between the sighting of the ‘singa’ by Sang Nila Utama until the arrival of Sir
Thomas Stamford Raffles have mostly been erased out from our national
narratives. So what happens between all these years? Singapore, together with
many other islands of the archipelago such as Lingga belonged to the maritime
state of Johor-Riau, an empire which history traces back to the beginnings of
the Srivijayan Empire of the 7th century. One (of the many) turn of
events that has happened in Singapore which I feel had been ousted from our
local history is the expulsion of Temenggong Abdul Rahman from his ruling
epicenter located at Singapore river which ultimately stripped him off any
power in Singapore. Although this might seem like a small gesture resulting
from a disagreement between the ruling Temenggong and the British, it has led
to many more profound events in Singapore’s history. Temenggong Abdul Rahman also
known as Temenggong Sri Maharaja of Johor was regarded as a sea lord in the
bustling maritime state of Johor-Riau, whose control spans across the islands
of northwestern part of Riau archipelago and included Singapore and Johor
coastline.
The year 1819 witnessed the
receiving of the island of Singapore by Raffles from Temenggong Abdul Rahman,
whom at that period was channeling his focus on the building of Johor. Regardless,
Temenggong Abdul Rahman still maintains his administrative residence at the
Singapore River. With an extensive tradition and methods of ruling that has been applied for hundreds of years
by the ruling Malays, Temenggong’s intention in welcoming the British to
Singapore was to work hand in hand while still maintaining as the head of the
empire. An intention which did not sit very well with the British, many
conflicts later erupted which ended in the rearrangement in favour of the East
India Company in 1824. The Temenggong was dispossessed, forced to relocate his
site from Singapore River to Telok Belangah and to add to that, he has lost all
his legal authority in Singapore.
I would like to rule out my
study in comparing a French silent film with a local history on colonization as
a thought from a perspective of (at this moment) an amateur thinker. In the
case that the moon is Singapore, the aliens are the natives, the ‘alien king’
is Sri Maharaja Temenggong Abdul Rahman, and the European men are, well still European
men. Could this perhaps be a representation of the failure to understand and
accommodate with the unknown natives whose land has been kindly welcoming?
Instead, what was archived is the glorification of the victory in discovery (or
colonization in this case) that has been summarized romantically in favor
of ‘men who knew better’?
To be continued…
Wardah Mohamad
May 31st 2015.
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