Selubung, 1992 is a feminist and Islamic context based movie written and self-directed by Malaysian film director, Suhaimi Baba, which won the best film title in Malaysian Film Awards and the famous filmmaker in showing the reflection of modern Malaysian's identity through a unique yet artistic filming concept in Malaysian cinema. The story started with a group of young Muslims who pursue their studies in overseas and the difficulties they were facing later on due to their different perspective of belief among each other.
In this film, I would like to discuss about the issue of women representation focusing on Islam and modernity which can be found between both main and supportive female casts, Mastura and her best friend, E.J. Mastura is an independent and assertive person who managed to balance her ethnic identity between the practice of Islamic teaching and modernity while E.J is a subservience and reliance Muslim who has went too extreme in the traditional teaching of Islam.
This can found in a part where Mastura and E.J are still college students at Perth and E.J suddenly told Mastura that she is going to drop out from her last year of college and married to Brother Musa, a member of Tabligh, a worldwide Islamic fundamentalist missionary group, because she believes that in order to enter the heavens, one must marry a holy man like Brother Musa and serve their husband for the rest of their life. Mastura however believes that women too can have a job and be independent rather than just to wait for their husband to feed them. Mastura also tried to stop her from her action by explaining that a person can still having peace after death by doing good to other people ( proved by joining RESCAID, a charity organization in helping women and children around the world) and not necessary to marry a holy man. Sadly, Mastura failed and E.J married to Brother Musa.
There is also a part showing that Mastura has the positive thinking on the women's level of education while E.J is the other way round. For example, E.J mentioned about a women should not be too educated or has a higher level of education than man or her husband for it is a sin and bound to suffer in hell according to her beliefs in Islamic teaching while Mastura on the other hand, believes that a women's level of education has nothing to do with the life after death or even considered as disobeying to their husband. Mastura convinced that everyone is equal in gaining knowledges and women should not be put into blames just because they has higher level of education than man.
Next, Mastura has a modern way of thinking and wearing while E.J is more to traditional thinking and wearing. For example, E.J is wearing a proper head scarf or hijab with a traditional Malay dressing and accepted the practice of polygamy to become the second wife of Brother Musa. Meanwhile, Mastura is wearing a modern dressing such as office attire without putting on any head scarf. Mastura also chooses her own path and decided to end her relationship with Kamal after knowing that he is a married man. However after a deep thought and considering Kamal marriage with his wife has come to an end, Mastura is getting back to Kamal which shows that she is a smart and critical thinker in making every decision compared to E.J who follows the rule everywhere.
In my opinion, it is good to obey the teaching of one's religion for the sake of harmony. However, it is also a must to well understanding the teaching before over blindly obeying the rules and become an extremist without the ability to differentiate the right and the wrong.
References:
Malaysian Cinema, Asian Film, Border Crossings and National Cultures, William Van Der Heide, Amsterdam University Press.
http://books.google.com.my/books?id=bxO38D-I1UoC&pg=PA238&lpg=PA238&dq=selubung+1992+analysis&source=bl&ots=J8tnztay8Y&sig=G_F8wCRGnnqf4leE34ElGgHWVE4&hl=en&ei=qQ3BTqq-Lsa4rAfu4YXiAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=selubung%201992%20analysis&f=false
http://books.google.com.my/books?id=qWklvbDlYc4C&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141&dq=RESCAID&source=bl&ots=yiwL5B949q&sig=rbYnRc7gw0eI0vJpc553EKDgM8g&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_CneU433N4q-uATfi4HIDg&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=RESCAID&f=false
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