Inspection Of The House

Another great short film this time directed by Linus Chung, I don’t really know who he is, but apparently he is quite well known in the Malaysian film industry. This short film, also part of the 15 Malaysia short clips is about a little Indian boy and an art project. He was required to build a dream house and bring it to school for a class presentation.



The more obvious message carried by the film is the socio economic problems and the huge gap between the rich and the poor in Malaysia. I mean, why bother watching slumdog when we have our own slums here in Malaysia… This huge gap between the ‘have its’ and ‘have nots’ have huge implications for any country, because the rich will only keep getting richer and the poor will keep getting poorer.

I believe the truth in the statement when I say that. Because money makes money, if you have money, you can start a business, and if that business is successful, then you’ll have the opportunity to make more money, but if that business fails… then too bad I suppose. However if you are poor, you won’t even have the money to start a business, let alone fail in a business.



Another good example that money makes money is the bank. If you have more money, money that you don’t desperately need immediately, than you can put it in a fix deposit, often simply called FD. The thing about this fixed deposit is that there has to be a minimum sum of money you must deposit in it, usually 10,000 or more, and the interest rate is also much higher than normal deposit accounts. So, if you stop to think about it, isn’t this unfair? The rich person with more money gets to have his money kept in the bank with a higher interest, whereas the poor guy which only has a little money in the bank earns a lower interest rate… Though unfair, that’s the reality of it I suppose.



And why else do I say rich people gets richer and the poor only gets poorer? Because who makes the policy and the rules in a country… no prizes for guessing the answer to that question. Yup that’s right, the rich people. So unless the people making the policy are some benevolent bunch of people, they would surely make policies that benefit themselves, am I not right? Think of it from the rich policy makers’ point of view. If I am in control because I am rich and everyone else is poor, shouldn’t I try to maintain my rich position so that I will continue to be in power? Better yet, I might only approve policies that will make me richer, and hopefully make the poor poorer so that they would never have the chance to surpass me and I will always be in control. Sigh… talk about self destruction…



In economic studies, one of the best ways to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor is a good education system. And I think this is the more subtle message being delivered in the short clip. Notice how the teacher was so motivational to the Chinese and the Malay boy when they were presenting their Ultimate Super Rich dream house. He even encouraged the class to clap a few times when the helicopter and the Ferrari was mentioned. And when it was Rama’s turn to present his dream house, he actually helped the class jeer, laugh and boo at Rama, by saying “class this is Rama’s dream house”.

I was freaking appalled at that teacher’s actions. That teacher clearly did not fully understand what teaching is about. By helping make Rama the laughing stock of the class, it showed that the teacher was clueless in terms of child care development. How on earth can you, as a teacher, laugh at one of your students like that. I think this somewhat reflects a lot of the teachers in our current education system, they maybe experts in the subject that they are teaching, but they are certainly no experts in teaching and child development. Like that teacher in the clip may be a very good artist (since it was an art class), but when it comes to teaching, maybe some of my pets can do better.

And the way the Chinese and Malay boy bullied Rama at the end really puts the failure of the education system in focus. I suppose the two boys cannot take full responsibility for their actions of bullying Rama, because the teacher had a hand in it. The teacher helped breed hatred into the classes’ thoughts towards Rama’s supposedly dream house. And maybe in the mind of the two boys, they were thinking, even Cikgu (teacher in malay) will approve of our actions since he was also laughing at Rama. If this is what we teach our children, to laugh at their school mates, then I guess we deserve the fruits that we bear. Disgusting.

Teachers, especially primary school teachers need to not only have the urge to impart knowledge onto their students, but also to nurture the children to become a good person in society. Blindly memorising moral definitions is just literally a waste of time. If the teacher cannot lead by action, and show the students what it means to be a proper human being in life, then what can we expect from the student that are taught by these ‘Fail’ teachers.

I think there is a real irony at the very end of the movie, because what the writer is really trying to say, is that the education system is not all lost. There are still good teachers in the system, like the teacher that sat down and waited with Rama when his mother didn’t show up. The irony is that the teacher was played by Yasmin Ahmad, someone who has already left us to be in a better place. So I guess in some weird twist of fate, Yasmin’s departure could imply that even fate is saying that our education system is spiralling down the gutter. Once again this is only my personal interpretation, and my own 2 cents.

Signing out.