By Amni Azizan
“Violence is not the answer, it doesn’t work any more. We are at the end of the worst century in which the greatest atrocities in the history of the world have occurred…The nature of human beings must change. We must cultivate love and compassion.” – Martin Scorsese
From the minds behind “Projek: Anchor SPM”, “Projek: High Council” (“High Council” for short) is the newest television series that is made in Malaysia. “High Council” has been well received and has become a hit among Malaysians, particularly youngsters.
“High Council” is set in a fictitious prestigious all-boys boarding school, Kolej Ungku Dramat (KUDRAT). The series puts a spotlight on two brothers, Naim and Fakhri, who are torn apart as a family due to their parents’ messy divorce, causing resentment and tension to build between the brothers.
From one episode to another, the series is not afraid to provide insight to what was going on within the walls of the boarding school. Layer by layer, they slowly revealed the dark side of KUDRAT. They keep the audience on their toes from the beginning until the show’s conclusion.
So, what happens when there is no adult supervision?
Enter High Council (here, the name of a gang).
The well-kept secret of KUDRAT.
Supposedly, members of the High Council appointed one of their own to maintain the school’s good name and reputation due to a bullying incident that caused the death of three students decades ago.
It seems like High Council was created with good intentions in the first place, right?
When mixed with greed and power to control the school, High Council gives the “licence” to senior students to terrorize KUDRAT juniors, unbeknownst to the teachers. Some students, who are aware of the tradition, keep their heads down and move on with their lives. They remain silent and refrain from tipping off the instructors (jibam).
After all, would you rather be ostracized by your own batchmates throughout the school year? Of course not.
To do so, the students enter the school elections (pilihan raya), equivalent to bloody fist fights between the seniors and themselves, to win the ultimate prize: be the next Kapla of KUDRAT. These fist fights are held in secret without the knowledge of their warden.
They organize the fist fights in the middle of the night, the moonlight is their only witness as they earn their blessings (restu) from their seniors and fought with other candidates to win their manifestos. The further these estranged brothers move forward, the fights unleash their inner turmoil and demons.
Without spoiling the series much, although the “High Council” is fiction, the themes they deal with are not far fetched from reality as they touch on themes like bullying, hazing culture and masculine toxicity. The director has not sugarcoated them and decided to lay them out to the audience. It is evident that we learn from the series that every challenge incites conflict. And conflicts will breed catastrophes. Then, they must face the consequences of their actions, as they are willing to take responsibility of our actions.
Ultimately, these boys grapple with an identity crisis like any teenager would go through. Naim tries hard to shed away traits and quirks of his biological father from himself to emulate his step-father, who is more masculine than his father. Fakhri wants to turn over a new leaf and wants to handle his anger issues and fight off negative tendencies. There is also Kahar, who just wants his father to see him as his son while struggling to uphold the tradition of KUDRAT.
I would recommend watching this series if you have not put this on your watchlist. “High Council” showcases new local talents on the screen like Mierul Aiman and Amir Ahnaf. Also, there are familiar young talents such as Naim Danial, Daiyan Trisha and Nadhir Nasar. Finally, heavy lifters in the entertainment industry like Azhar Sulaiman, Aida Aris and Sazzy Falak complete the cast of this series.
We should support Malaysian productions like how we would fill the movie theatres to watch movies from Hollywood or stream Netflix’s original works. The crew have worked tirelessly, day and night, hence, we should respect and appreciate the efforts they put in to give viewers the best final product.
Furthermore, the series showcases our country’s education system that differs from the education system abroad, like in the United States. Plus, the series also sheds some light on the daily lives of boarding school students in Malaysia. In a way, viewers live vicariously through the characters of the show.
P.S, there are some fighting scenes between students in “Projek: High Council” involviung them not covering their aurah properly in the scenes. Therefore, this is a gentle reminder to everyone to cover their aurah properly according to the Shari’ah.
“O ye children of Adam! We have bestowed garment upon you to cover your shame, as well as to be an adornment to you. But the garment of righteousness, that is the best. Such are among the Signs of Allah, that they may receive admonition!” (Surah Al-A’raf: verse 26)***