My father subscribed to life magazine. Life magazine in the sixtys was a really fantastic magazine. In her incredible pictures and you know its a picture magazine. There was this spread from the renaissance. Series of newts. Really grabbed you know that really grabbed me. Ill go behind the armchair a lie on my tummy and i was not popping the drawings i just. Copied and copied over and over again you know it was sensual. This excitement about felt. Hasnt changed much to be. That is something which which i think if i lose then ill probably stop painting. Just so. I thing is but honestly i think thats my favorite. Song there i think its i think i like this one best. I like the way the two been on the set off. And tangled in this other you know its like clothes spinning song all friend. But you have to know the scene to settle sit comfortably on the table. Sometimes when youre in a hurry to think youre cool so if you dont. Not very often now that both my parents are gone i dont come down very often. Its not the same family house anymore but i think hes done a great job of building the house in that kind of like seeing spirit the front doors were never close in our house except not. We used to have lots of around the country. Jumble trees and all that thats all gone but you know hes planted lots of green it looks like a jungle now from the outside. Appearing the only. One piece of being a boy in the family is you know if traditional house will get to do it. We will. But he will never climb their own with the entry and think that im going down because he was busy drawing all the time you know he just locked himself up in the bedroom and just draw you know while i was the one who had to climb the trees. You know and then sought their own wood turns out and distribute them to the neighbors there were. Hopes and aspirations of my mother that ill be engineer or im going of course at that time nobody thought you know being an artist you know you could make money from being and i and of course my mother was worried you know because he was the boy he supposed to have to support a family. I knew that when i was growing up i was extremely rebellious. My parents very religious my mother had someone come to the house to instruct me to teach me but i kept questioning him you know we had gone. Cossack im sorry but. In the end he left you know. He just didnt come like any more i think he was buying out of me. All the friends around the neighborhood. We used to run around together and so my friends had a small goal is no god. And they were running home until there were. Months it will go on and the other mother will tell me when i get a bit to get. To. Two of my favorite christmas. Chris is. Additionally some weapon theres scenes in the carvings on which dates back like a thousand years of people forging a crease so you know we usually call for this its a killing tool yeah its meant to kill it is. Something that is. Dangerous but at the same time beautiful the blade is for what we call. A blacksmith but hes not an ordinary. Blacksmith. Normally who is is a spiritual person you know he goes through various rituals its almost like a priest he strives to put the spirit into it into the metal people sometimes nowadays look down and cross you know because the thing its. Me. History history. You know the people. Very interesting when introducing children. There was a time i think. He felt it was time to draw. One of us had drawing blood and i remember. My brother picked. Me. He was not like he didnt do well in school you know who were around the house and i thought i. Was very lucky when he went. There was i to. Greet. Ok being a fine you know ill find out i did see might not make money the intention was always just you know after the Foundation Course to go into fine arts because thats what i wanted to be you know. But then again you know theres voices from my sisters and my mother saying you know youre going to. Keep going laughter is the you know. What did you think design and. I went into design. School i went into the commercial art world. I was working as a street. As a designer. And i was working on a lot of big topic lines you know Like Singapore Airlines some of the respond we shouldnt go for. Every week ill make maybe two or three trips to singapore to get briefs. Checks. But i didnt like the nine to five life you know i find it very difficult to even conform to that. Be meetings of the meeting easy enough to be changes. When you do a piece of work or. Not because you will hear over and over times are used to put up. A bit higher. Really intelligent people to say. I was doing very well but i was im happy. I just got tired of it all so i quit i think i quit i would thousand and. Ninety one. And i started going to. Probably the most critical moment was this decision to go back to your home town i just got married a year earlier my wife was expecting our first child. I wouldnt know whether i would make it as a painter. They went back to g. B. And i stayed at the back of my mothers house my mother fed me. But there was nobody mom i mean i was almost penniless. First printing didnt work the second painting didnt work either until one day i buy coincidence i met a friend who. Who knew. Where the senior artists in malaysia life if. You said do something as simple as possible dont think too much so thats still life paintings came about and i think id be more simpler than a still life. And it was a very bold statement to make because in the one thousand nine hundred who was doing still like nobody was doing school life and he was somebody who came and said look im going to stand in the shadow of the masters and work within that tradition yet with a great deal of eccentricity and a lot of cooking as and of course that he has a great deal of humor hes a humorous person himself. So. I think the whole series of still lives. Truths to me there is compromising positions. Thats where the works. Started selling. For a while it did became. My trademark. Ive always read. Through this to live on and off you know i might do tree. Two four pieces a year. Always like a. Like a long love affair you know critics will. Say. I dont know what he called it. But its a very phallic looking figure. This short of the shopping thats what it looks looks nice i was looking for a small object actually to put this big thing on the you know something feel almost invisible. The first stages of painting is always very technical at this moment. Im just getting. To get a grip of the form of the whole thing. So i might not be too concerned about. Their eyesight. You got the form you cannot get the rustle. The notion of a form in the western context and the notion of form in the eastern context. Quite different you know within the western context form is it something which is totally physical. Looks like a circle in. All those working in the still lives ago but my real interest was the figure of the human figure. I mean certainly in the context of mace it there are conservative muslims you know politicized muslims who feel that to draw a figure is against the teachings of islam. I dont. Think what interests me was not the act of smoking a small crew. The cigarette was covering the basin street. It wasnt a physical mosque but it was a psychological mosque. The works after that took on a different dimension. There was a period when shes on the meter you know i t. M. Actually did not teach a figure drawing because of the influence of the politicise on islam at the school. When i was a student one of the assignments we have. For history was to copy the painting my old master. The painting that i chose to copy was this it was christ on the cross was a fiction. Was amusing in the beginning you know because its such a foreign notion. I was always intrigued. I mean. Religiously me it doesnt matter whether its the strategy or buddhism or hinduism. His journey all these excavations have taken him into a part of both the military and Southeast Asian pop past that todays very contentious which is basically the very vibrant and still very vital please let me pass influenced by him to his. Hes painting a good case for example the millions didnt get rid of me oh please allow me to do should be rationalized them and there was a process of a metamorphosis in which such peace loving believes very nicely with more mystical trends in islam and the malays were mystics. And that has been the experience of islam for all the centuries are two very recent times in the past forty or fifty years. The challenge of. Future chemical islam has been a more recent one. The rise of wahhabi islam terrorism Al Qaeda Islam nine eleven is them you know bush reactionism all these kinds of things we understand islam within that within that prison islam has. So many dimensions. In which people can operate in gravity and it is our reductionist approach not just by non muslims but increasingly by muslims that islam is exclusively just and its this aspect of islamic law what can and cannot be done dominate everything and the term break im going. Back to school i found someone slashed the preachings. There was a group or. Quite radical muslims running around in the temple. In those things. And i think it was very. Of course it is a difficult climate to be controversial in this country because. You know that i feel that the controversies attacks are really generated for political reasons. Thats a political project in terms of wanting the country to remain. And the malays in particular and the muslims in particular to be a certain kind of family a certain kind of muslim you know conservative traditional. I think with all fundamentalists and conservatives is a is about control conformity power and the having the sole power and authority to decide this is how you should think this is how you should act this is how you should paint. Or. I first came to london and once and for me. When you live in leisure you dont go to the secret of. The office to get maher and you see books and magazines. What are you looking for when you see a piece of art. I dont look i feel you know its more a bar to murder in the piece makes you want your hobbs skips a bit remote so. Im interested in you know do i look at it and it doesnt do anything to my feelings that. You know i dont do much of. The brains in the book use of the im so. Sort of production. Well you know ive been sitting on the wall and if you have a real museum the connection has got right. Theres nothing like it. You know a lot of young up this looks like a place like this. One the success you know but behind the successes a lot of hard work a lot of disappointments and so you have to learn to handle all those you know not only out this who are who are shown to have an easy life you know if you look at. Those works or see in the last gallery you know the right to see. You know those were the early days of modernism you know and they have to struggle to find a language a new language to speak you know to get rid of representation. You know so they have to feel their way around and it was it was an easy you know to do you look at them theyre nice here in this. Nice modern. Tonight history. Theres very few we should not history even today. Question occurred to me for that history shall deletion not and no one is really writing serious stuff about subjugation of combatants youre going to approach. That Historical Perspective i think its a shame and then. If youre an artist and. You go into. Western a theory. This is. Where you put all these things that you grew up with. These are mostly in the real hindu theres a lot of mystical spiritual things that goes on. You know she she she grew up we have the rituals and all that and how do you place that when you place that because those things are not going to be acceptable. I love indian food so. Look at all shell be. Looking at. The letter some also yeah yeah you have the. Contents well sort of but im small yeah we should make it sweet make it sweet. Rebellion rebelling this to be questionable you know. But i think a lot of kids dont understand that rebellion is a process you know it has to end up. In some sort of conclusion you know you rebel against something bad. But you have. The projection in mind to make things better you know if you dont go through rubble but remember go see the special you know because. Remember this moment just. Its not the career. You remember when you want to change that and. When ducking going to beijing you see of course caused some controversy. Its a way of gauging social executes the sense you seen humans and main use as pornographic i was in my and the courage that he has you know to draw things that are not politically correct you know the blue dot paintings on the new leaf in a low and these are things that the boys in the in the good muslim in a was not doing with selfclosing the raw self you know the conservatives within society but i think its irrelevant to him these are very important ways of challenging the notion of what comprises i think. You up on and you and you die. And i dont think its. So much. An overt sexuality of the human body that duckies be occupied. You have to go on was a painting that triggered the new experience. I couldnt figure out how to make a painting with a. You. Knew it was actually a direct response to a smile involved and so it is not something that is ignored in islam in fact is contemplated a great deal in in islam the nature of sexuality which is then lead to the nature of being all of these can be fine and so if you stick traditions and at heart i think like you very much see if you see painter. The reason hes not wearing any clothes is because i want him to be in his natural state so you can i would fight him whether. Hes wearing western clothes always been closer or whether he still gets released or that greece you know who he is so universal. It was something totally against islam. But then the works with member man to be about. It off the system it has elements of that but it was never meant to be able to go or sexually explicit. Out of a new series. Responses some people think im gay he. Just tried to be you know. I dont for him find anything wrong with being gay. Some people thing. He. Very few people can connect to something religious so whats wrong with being a rock to painting. I dont see anything wrong with it and now if people one to choose to be offended by it then thats their right to be offended by it but they dont have the right to impose their values on other people who dont share those values so you know i mean one more i tease they should be totally free. You know to paint what they want to paint i always remember that some of the most erotic poetry that you have in the world today written by muslim. Sticks and people like me have peace and other and i see that in this light. Although you know the painting is this painted by me. To complete the work it has to interact with. The public and giving the audience. The minimal of clues that should be. So that you can open up your mind you know im giving you a lot of room to roll to do in the break. Religion and. For me the electrodes. I pads from various traditional subjects in the works. The body down. The sea life. Actually is the next source is that we shouldnt waltz music. Its form when there is someone sick in the house it is banned by the foss government and plum time because its seen as on this lovely. Day still practicing today but it could be this other kind of things which which. Interest me you know that. That spiritual side of all of this before me so this. Is the musicians you know there are all. The dance drama form called that which is an all female form is very much rooted in the belief that we all possess animal spirits animal spirits and then define our own personalities so we may be eagle we may be. We could be a lion you could be a tiger we could be a wolf. And sometimes you know i mean like. A dirty little animal. Like the. Small dirty animal i saw it in the singapore zoo you dont want to take it home if you. You know i was compelled to to make this bobby rush. Into something that this isnt profound even and i can only do that if i inject myself into it i give this little animal my personality for many people of course its shocking because we have been severed of that mythological tradition and today you go to large parts of Southeast Asia and particularly in malaysia not only are these kinds of myths. Not encouraged they are seriously abused and meet illegitimate. The current theories are working on. Is. Build from the primordial god and. You have that thing within you that word i mentioned is. Doing things beautifully. But then you have the other side of you you know the dark side. The more. Disturbing aspects of your personality that has to come out. In islam you know like in bali good and evil sits together. Both are creatures of god i see him within a continuum. Of artists who carry this primordial spirit that is very particular to this region when he paints he actually invokes an entire landscape of this of this place that has also very strong historical resonances you do understand you entering a landscape of color and of a sensibility of a temperament and of a kind of spiritual memory. Meldrum. Only if i got it down leave it might be where i hang out. But i have to watch people even. After i was in the studio a little and you know its nice to see a little girl to please where. Theres a crowd. And this is mike and. I. I know but im the one going to sleep with my wife is sleeping and it fits and sleeping that time for me is just an especially because im a little. I specially made it my duty to you i dont get four goals on my own so its my this is the time i have for myself actually yeah late at night after midnight when everyone is asleep and you know thats my time. Was. This particular series with the sunni and it will disappear series was a series which i wanted to do especially on one g. B. Is a topic because at least once in my career i would like to acknowledge another town where i grew up in where i was born. But disappear into the studio you started off the streets. And into their jollies behind the streets. I just recall she live. People do well in the fringes of society. Oh i dont sing i mean. I like to enjoy it was im anonymous here. Is just a pose well i was born you know i grew up here its a small town very simple life. The town is growing also i might have to move. But. You know. The way i was born and i like being here i dont like the big cities. Oh oh. This is actually a lot of studies which i did so i go on coachmen city. We were traveling we have a group of indonesian artists we ran around saigon looking for a model but we couldnt find any you know but in the hand. We found a couple of models in the in the brothel actually. Who were willing to pose for us. I dont normally do female nudes. I dont have much of a choice. When youre drawing in the nude you know naturally the officers and comes into it you know. And here i think i tried to capture. That sense rather too but very quickly. Although its a fairly conservative country and i would have. One i have is what you would call the moral police you know if youre sure everyone behaves. You know i mean ive been drawing and painting newts for years and. Have never bothered me. The female new use its not anything new isnt it obvious its been growing news the centuries its just that here in this country people get a bit a bit sensitive. I would prefer drawing a female rather than me i said to see. What my eyes to see a nude man life in front of you was always. My children. They go to school. I know what to teach in school. But you need to look at you know when you come home when the. Desire. To learn alternate you. And i still go on a study exposing them to a lot of things. To talk to the number. Of to. About susan. And especially about. Not being afraid to explore. Not to be afraid of. Religion to be able to say a muslim but still be a man of the world. Why do elephants need. Is a plastic model turned into a paving stone why do algae make it clear lose a good idea kill working anywhere and there are people developing Smart Solutions everywhere. Lets inspire each other to environmental magazine to go at africa in thirty minutes on t. W. How the germans came together in one nation from shove their money into chancellor although from bismarck. The history of the germans has been shaped by great rulers. I swell always to bring my Royal College of that to protect christendom and spread this line truth. That he thinks will learn to forget a sort. Of we took a back people the enemy. Who can stoop like courageous decisions least of the toughest tozer masters as we have received the crown of our realm from god not from his presumptuous servants not the romans just the sacraments sacu completely. We must forge peace. The germans if we would. Look. My. This is news live from berlin prince harry and Megan Marko Mary in windsor as millions around the world tune in a couple tied the knot at st georges chapel in Windsor Castle celebrity superstars were among the six hundred guests to witness the union while tens of thousands lined the streets outside well bring you all the Royal Wedding highlights