EXCLUSIVE: Sculptures Symbolising ASEAN Fallen into Outrageous Disrepair
By Ooi Kok Chuen
August 2020 PENANG PALETTE
UNVEILED TO GREAT fanfare as a symbol of ASEAN solidarity, peace and economic power in 1987, the six monumental sculptures, minus one which has gone missing, in KL, has seen better days.In its fifth iteration, the works were clustered below the august National Monument (Tugu Negara) at Persiaran Sultan Salahuddin, in a park appropriately christened Laman Asean. The selected artists were Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal, Dolorosa Sinaga (Indonesia), Han Sai Por (Singapore), Jerusalino V. Araos (the Philippines), Itthi Khongkhakul (Thailand)...
Ooi Kok Chuen
is an art-writer and journalist, and the author of MAHSURI: A Legend Reborn (Ooi Peeps Publishing), an adult contemporary fantasy “movel” (a novel conceived as a mock movie) spun from a local legend.
