Precious two hours spent with Mr. Kee Thuan Chye

My course mates together with different batch mates had an evening with Kee Thuan Chye for an hour and forty-five minutes. Dr. Edwin briefed about him for about five minutes. The first thing I can say about him is that he is a funny person. He is 55 years old but not seen through his face though. He started by talking about his family background where they are not highly literate people and he is from Penang. He started to write when he was in primary school and used to show his writings to his uncle when the uncle will be busy playing poker or mahjong. The uncle does give him some words of appreciation towards his writings. He shows him because he is a literate and a secretary to a judge. It is a pity that he died of a young age.
"I've been in journalism since 1977, beginning with The National Echo," he says. Kee Thuan Chye is more than a journalist. He is a playwright and several of his plays, such as 1984 Here and Now, We could **** You, Mr Birch and The Big Purge, are political commentaries on the country. Not surprisingly, a few been considered has too risky to stage in Malaysia. I did not know he writes poems as well. He mentioned about a poem, ‘A figure of forgotten hours’. Well that is what I heard but when I google it, it was actually ‘A figure of forgotten in hours not of need’. He enjoys watching James Bond’s movies starting from the first one, Dr. No when he was just 10 years old in 1964. That is when I knew how old he was. He also mentioned that what he understands best is the sex part.

He is also interested in William Shakespeare. He watched ‘As You Like It’ and fell in love with the actress Rosalind when he was eleven and she was seventeen. Then, he watched Hamlet and that is when he realises in William Shakespeare’s plays there are full of tragedy and revenge. Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter thought him the theatre of absurd. Theatre is a passion for him. At first, he wanted to be a lawyer but his family could not afford it. His first job was at MAS at Subang airport where he worked as a traffic clerk but after two days, he got bored and quit the job. He then worked as a temporary teacher in his old school, Francis Light and after finishing studies, he applied for USM, which was the nearest University for him. He majored in journalism. He even broadcast in RTM where he got RM75. That was a big money last time. ‘It was enough for me to buy beer, cigarette and buy petrol for my Honda cup.’ That is how he used up the RM75.

In 1976, he graduated from USM. He did his Masters in Essex, UK. When he was in UK, there was ‘Operation Lalang’ in Malaysia in 1987. Hundred over people arrested under ISA and the book, ‘The Big Purge’ dedicated to them. The book is about how the Prime Minister manipulates event leading to a racial riot and he comes to the rescue. He mentions about Datuk Anwar Ibrahim and concludes that truth is always an illusion thing. He spoke for thirty-five minutes and for another one hour, it became as seminar where students asked him questions. He wanted students to ask questions concerning The Swordfish, Then the Concubine. It seems he has revised the play once again. He is been doing it for the past ten years. After many question and answer session, I became aware that the play is about modern Malaysia. Dr. Edwin asked a question which I wanted to ask Mr. Kee Thuan Chye, which is, why not make the play, The Swordfish, Then The Concubine a final play and then when new issues rises, why don’t make another new play? For that, Mr. Kee answered that he wants it to be the best product.
There is a movie called ‘Sell Out’ releasing in May is acted by him where he will be singing and that’s when he came to know that he sucks in singing. Not forgetting my favourite sitcom, Mind Your Language alike titled ‘Nee How Ma’ airing April 15. I will make sure to watch it! This is all the notes I took down about Mr. Kee Thuan Chye. I liked he ended his talk by giving us ‘possible exam questions’.
1) Identify the satiric, ironic, enimic…blah…blah…in The Swordfish, Then the Concubine.
2) Is The Swordfish, Then the Concubine is pack of lies or should it be recommended?
3) We could **** the author of The Swordfish, Then the Concubine. Explain.
There you go! What a funny person he is and I am glad I had the chance to meet him in person. I wish him the best in his writing, acting and sharing his thought with all of us!