Phenomena Of Vandalism In Modernism
Through the transformation changes of modernism in Malaysia, we can observe that ornamentation plays an important role in order to create a sense of belonging for society. In reality, the rejection of ornamentation affecting the society to lose their emotional expression while modernism grows rapidly for years. In Malaysia, ornament act as symbolic meaning, which means the culture and way of life that are very much related to the soul of the locals. It was well adapted with our identity, not just merely an imitation comparing with the western modernism which just blindly copying tradition.
From my point of view, the existence of local ornament is different from western ornament whereas the local ornament was produced to representing Malaysian culture and belief. As a result, ornamentation became a significant heritage of Malaysia because it was related to their surrounding and used in their daily life. Besides, it can be found from royal to every layer of society at that time. The ornament motifs were designed in the form of floral, fauna, calligraphy, geometry and cosmos which purposed to appreciate nature and suit the local cultural lifestyle. For example, the motif ornament of carving which convey messages of Malay idiom such as 'bagai itik pulang petang' was to remind people about the moral lesson people should follow and be loyal to the king and leader, not arrogant and not be ahead of the people in front of you to ensure peace and safety in the society (Haron, Afian Yusof, Taha, & Abdul Mutalib, 2014). Whereas, it contains meaningful lessons to society and acts as a connection with the natural environment related to human lifestyle. So, it proved ornament should be maintained in Malaysia as the emotional expression of society.
On the contrary, loss of ornamentation lead modernism to the phenomena of vandalism. The modernist assumption of human should live like robot life has ignored the reality of human is not a robot. This is one of the reasons why vandalism can be easily found in modern housing area and building which have been abandoned and forgetting. One of the evidence in the latest built MRT transit station shows on the topic vandalism in Malaysia occurs in less than 150 days of operation (The Straits Times, 2017). This situation tried to let us understand that people need an emotional expression which modernism could not achieve. Therefore, people should understand that ornamentation in Malaysia should be maintained in the form of art to express our emotion in society.
