By Yasmin Latif
GOMBAK, 25 February 2016: What does a home mean to you? Home can be a place where you grow up, a place where you start your life, a place where you sleep and a place that you call a shelter. But what happened when a home is taken away from you? Taken by the people who want to destroy it for the sake of their interest. Will there be someone who is willing to help you?
Theatre Akar 2016 presented by the Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Law (AIKOL) has given me a deep understanding of what home is all about.
The story was based on a true case of Kajing Tubek Sarawak that unfolded the emotion of someone whose land has been snatched away.
Akar tells a story about Tegar, Urai and Terence living in a village in Sarawak called Kampung Thelaga, a village surrounded by greenery and natural treasures still kept by their people.
There is no technology or any kind of modern living there. It all depends on the nature where the forest is the place for them to earn their living, and finding the joy of nature has been a part of their life.
Entered Lana, the daughter of one developer. She wanted to use Kampung Belaga as a site project for the construction of a dam. Lana met up with Tegar and his friends when she knew how they valued their land and what it relly meant to them.
Conflict happened when the construction has been legally approved. But Tegar and other villagers never considered their homeland would be taken way, so they had to fight for their land.
Lana tried to help them by sending a lawyer to represent them but they cannot defeat what have been written as laws. In reluctance they need to abide the decision of the court that their home will no longer be their home and that they have been chased out as they have no dignity.
From that story, I found out that home is not just a shelter, but a place that is worthy to fight for. Our home may not be like others’ home who have everything in there. However, our home may have happiness in there that only we who know how to appreciate it.
There have been various elements in the staging of the theatre that tried to capture the audience’s emotion: the element of love, the element of friendship, the element of betrayer, and the sense of humour.
The performance was quite impressive; all the actors managed to act very well and they really got into their characters. Thumbs up to the producer, the stage manager and the costume designer who were able to bring up the elements of nature in Sarawak.
Throughout the performance the connection between the actors and the audience was really felt. There was lively response from the audience for every character that appeared on stage.***