A Must Watch Local Film!
From the light-hearted egg-cracking banter between Abang and Adi to the heart-wrenching sign language speech by an imprisoned Abang, there is no doubt that Abang Adi has succeeded in bringing us on an emotional journey.
Abang Adik stands as an admirable piece of art. The film has managed to illuminate and amplify the voices of the marginalised. Weaved into its plot and characters are various (serious) issues affecting the Malaysian society that often evade public attention.
So, what are a few of these invisible struggles faced by a substantial yet overlooked segment of our society every day?
And of course, SPOILER ALERT! Please read at your own risk.
Citizens of No Nation
Although born in Malaysia, stateless persons are denied citizenship due to the lack of a birth certificate, being born out of wedlock, or simply because they were born overseas to a foreign father and a Malaysian mother.
Abang, Adi, and the three little girls who ran away from home to seek help are stateless, citizens of no country. Why is it such a big concern (that all of them had to seek help so desperately)?
Unlike you and me (citizens), stateless persons do not have the right to education, healthcare, employment, and mobility. They cannot even save their money in banks — as Adi frequently brings up in his arguments with Abang.
An important note — stateless children are disproportionately affected. They get sick easier but cannot be admitted into any government hospitals; they need education but cannot be enrolled into any government schools. Instead, they have to pay expensive fees to see a private doctor, and to attend alternative schools.
Officially, there are more than 10,000 stateless persons in Peninsular Malaysia, and many many more in Borneo (so many that there are no official numbers). And like Abang, a lot of them are going through the complicated process of getting citizenship.
However, it's simply too tedious and bureaucratic. The documents submitted are always insufficient one way or another, due to the lack of information surrounding application requirements. This is where the film highlights the ease in how stateless persons are exploited, through Adi's contrasting portrayal.
Desperate for work and a MyKad, Adi took on any job he could get, including underground work involving human trafficking and migrant smuggling. He constantly gets into trouble but luckily for him, he evaded the authorities.
The police chase and subsequent betrayal of Adi by his handler make good drama. Sadly, real-life experiences similar to that of Abang and Adi's are actually happening around us.
Recently, the government has proposed a sleuth of constitutional amendments, making it easier for children born overseas to Malaysian mothers to obtain citizenship. Very unfortunately, it came with other amendments that made it harder to obtain citizenship for other types of stateless persons.
Was it really impossible for Abang to obtain citizenship just because he lost his birth certificate along with his parents in a fire? Doesn't the National Registration Department keep records?
Migran Juga Manusia
Most of us go about our daily lives without realising the role migrant workers play in shaping Malaysia’s economic, social, and cultural landscape. Beyond being our "abang guard" or "kakak" — they constitute a fundamental portion of our labour force (20%) — to which without, the nation would grind to a halt.
The dark side of this all is that this community has been overlooked for far too long. As characterised by Irene Fernandez, Founder of Tenaganita, in an interview with The New York Times in 2012, the situation of migrant workers in Malaysia is akin to the “slavery days coming back”.
Corruption
As of 2022, the Malaysian Department of Statistics reported approximately 2.2 million documented migrant workers in Malaysia, while unofficial estimates of undocumented or irregular migrants range from 1.2 to 3.5 million — thus making Malaysia one of the largest migrant-receiving countries in Southeast Asia.
Corruption has plagued the livelihood of migrant workers for decades. As canvassed in the opening scene depicting Adi’s involvement in the illegal supply of Bangladeshi workers, corrupt immigration officials are often the catalysts for human trafficking as they have been reported to accept bribes from brokers and smugglers at border crossings, including airports.
Even more disturbingly, reports indicate that some government officials are directly implicated in soliciting bribes and engaging in the extortion and exploitation of the vulnerable migrant populations.
Exploitation
Employers engage in practices indicative of forced labour, perpetuating a grim reality for migrant workers in Malaysia. This exploitation takes various forms — including scams, restrictions on movement, contraction violations, wage fraud, physical assault, threats of deportation, the imposition of significant debts, and passport retention.
The brutal scene portraying Adi being beaten up by the undocumented foreign workers out of a raw manifestation of their frustration, pain and sense of betrayal for being left without any work, money, and documentation is far from fiction. It is the culmination of the abuse and exploitation faced by these people.
Many migrants may also be trafficked into Malaysia. Traffickers target vulnerable young women and girls from abroad — predominantly from Southeast Asia, but also more recently from Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. These individuals are usually lured under false pretences and promises for legal employment in legitimate Malaysian establishments such as restaurants, hotels, and beauty salons, or for brokered marriages — only to find themselves exploited and trapped in sex trafficking with no means of return. [1]
The brunt of human trafficking is significantly suffered by the estimated 1.5 million documented and an even greater number of undocumented migrant workers in Malaysia.
The key takeaway is that we should not label these migrants as "illegal". There is no such thing as an "illegal human". Labels like this only invite prejudice and discrimination, ultimately affecting how the society perceives and interacts with them.
Undocumented or not, they come with honest beliefs and hopes to do a good days’ labour — just like you and me.
The Money's of Malaysia
Money is truly a rare character in Malaysian cinema — a queer person who is not on screen merely for comic relief.
The portrayal of Money's selfless support for Abang and Adi transcends labels and prejudices. A good person is simply a good person, no matter their identity.
However, discriminatory practice against queer people, including transgenders, is very much institutionalised in law and religion in Malaysia.
In Muhammad Juzaili bin Khamis v State Government of Negeri Sembilan, three Muslim men with "gender identity disorder", who were arrested for cross-dressing, filed a judicial review for the state Syariah law which they were arrested under to be declared unconstitutional.
The Court of Appeal actually agreed that the law infringed upon their constitutional right to life and to live with dignity, and subsequently invalidated the law.
Sadly, on appeal by the State Government, the Federal Court overturned the Court of Appeal's decision on technical grounds. The apex Court held that it should not decide on the case because it was filed under the wrong procedure.
The Federal Court literally shied away from this issue. Sadly, its (non-)decision missed a valuable opportunity to extend constitutional protections to the queer community.
Simply put, although identifying as a transgender person is not illegal per se, cross-dressing is a offence which transgender persons may be arrested for. Syariah law forbids it for Muslim males, and non-Muslims may be arrested for public indecency under the Penal Code.
Mandatory Death Penalty, No Longer
Those familiar with The Hero's Journey, popularised by Joseph Campbell, would have been left in suspense waiting for the abyss – the moment that sends every movie and its protagonist into rock bottom. For Abang & Adi — it was Jia En’s sudden and untimely death.
Why Abang — in such a stoic manner — led Adi away before turning himself in is a mystery. Maybe it was to clear his conscience, or perhaps to prevent Adi from stopping him or maybe it was the only way to get Adi to truly change — we may never know. But to us viewers, it gave us a glimpse into the reality of capital punishment in Malaysia.
It is worth noting that Malaysia has undergone significant reforms in its approach to capital punishment — from the imposition of a moratorium on executions, the abolition of the mandatory death penalty, to the introduction of sentencing discretion for various offences.
Although death sentences are still being meted out by Malaysian courts, there have actually been no executions known to have taken place since the moratorium came into force.
Then finally, Malaysia took the critical step of abolishing the mandatory death penalty and introducing sentencing discretion for all applicable offences last year. Also included in this set of reforms was the repeal of natural life imprisonment, the complete abolition of the death penalty in full for seven offences, and temporary powers for the Federal Court to review death sentences previously meted out.
This leaves Malaysia with 27 offences that are still punishable by death subject to the discretion of the courts. Since 12 September 2023, a resentencing process has been underway granting those already sentenced to death or natural life imprisonment in Malaysia an opportunity to have their sentences reviewed and possibly commuted.
One cannot help but wonder — if this reform had been realised sooner might Abang might still be by Adi’s side?
Access to Justice
Just a few scenes leading up to Abang’s execution — Adi’s attempt to procure a lawyer for Abang to appeal his conviction prompts reflection on the broader issue of access to justice in Malaysia.
Article 5(3) of the Federal Constitution ensures an individual's right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of their choice promptly after arrest. Despite this constitutional guarantee, legislative challenges and practical impediments often hinder the effective exercise of this right, particularly for individuals lacking the financial means to independently engage legal representation.
This deficiency in safeguards has resulted in frequent violations of the right to a fair trial at various stages of the criminal justice process, exposing defendants to heightened vulnerability towards the imposition of the death penalty.
In reality, justice is expensive. It remains beyond reach of many — only available to those with financial means and privilege to even consider it to begin with.
Most people, like Adi, do not believe in the system, lacking faith that it genuinely looks out for them. Even in Malaysia, where we don’t have a public defender system — the real heroes are often the National Legal Aid Foundation (YBGK), Malaysian Bar Legal Aid Centres, court-assigned lawyers, and other pro bono lawyers who try and cater to as many as possible. Sadly, it is not nearly enough as the reality is that many remain unrepresented.
A Short Note on Privilege
Abang Adik is an especially sad story because the tragedy that befell all the characters are through no fault of their own.
Most of us grew up in a world where we're told we can do anything if we put our minds to it or all it takes is hard work. No. That is not the reality of life for all of us.
Abang and Adi were simply born in the wrong place, wrong time, and wrong family.
The helplessness in Abang's eyes when he poured out his frustrations is representative of every marginalised person's plight.
Try as they may, without the basic documentation, they will never be able to live and pursue their dreams freely.
This film invites all of us to reflect upon our privilege.
The next time you're cracking open a hard-boiled egg, take a moment to ponder — if we have won the birth lottery, shouldn't it be our duty to not waste our privilege, to use it for more than self gain, and to use our gift to lift others up as well?
[1] U.S. Department of State. 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report: Malaysia. Retrieved from <https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-trafficking-in-persons-report/malaysia/>. Site accessed on 19 Jan 2024.
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