Bumper Issue Vol. 1 No.1

"Yasmin"

If I could ever be the director of an autobiographical movie on the late Malaysian producer/director Yasmin Ahmad, my movie title would simply be named,"Ibu", because that's how I portray her in my mind- the mother who gently reminds her children about the simply yet fundamental things in life, using words and vivid images-literally.

I was only fortunate enough to have sat through a lecture given by Yasmin during my first year undergrad studies in media comm at Taylors last year. Though it was only a one hour lecture, it was condensed with a lot of simple, down-to-earth messages, mostly about coming back to the fundamentals of humanity and culturalism. A friend of mine recently posted a comment on my facebook status saying, "She is a simple lady who has a simple vision to unite all Malaysians in Malaysia." I think simplicity is beyond her vision, it's in her aura too. The way she dressed, the way she talked and the way she carries herself was so unfrivolous, so real.

One of the things that I remember Yasmin saying in the lecture was that advertisements should not be all about hard selling a product or misleading consumers. She pointed out that advertisements can make a bigger impact if they found a connection with consumers - and these connections could be about everyday things in life that people take granted for. One of the examples she gave that I would remember for life is this: A client who sold batteries wanted her to promote the fact that the new batteries had 'higher' capacity when in reality they had lowered the old batch and raised this new batch of batteries to their original capacity. The client said, 'nevermind la, the consumers won't know...' Yasmin was annoyed and said, 'the consumers include my father, my mother, my sister and the rest of my friends and family members, are you telling me to lie to them as well?'
Not many practitioners would have taken such a brave stand in the face of profit and revenue.

Yasmin's early demise does leave a void in the local film and advertising industry, but i think, as much as we grieve, we should also rejoice over the fact that in the brief moment that this angel has managed to spend on our land, she has helped open many new doors for us.

p/s: Ho Yu Hang, the rest of us are looking towards you.