DOCUMENTARY

additional images THAT WERE NOT SHOWN IN THE DOCUMENTARY (2016-2017)

Pssst... If you've noticed, some of our food originates from different parts of the world like China, India, Thailand and Indonesia. It ties back to our roots, our history and where we're from and it's definitely part of our identity! Malaysian food however is a very interesting combination as a result of the intermingling of our taste buds. Most of our food in Malaysia is not the same. We have unique flavours and we believe our food takes it to the next level. Despite our differences, Malaysians are often seen together eating food from each others cultures. It's truly and uniquely something that unites us all!

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IF YOU LIKE TO SHARE AND SHOWCASE THESE ARTWORKS
EMAIL US AT

Our Final Chapter (2018)
We're recording down our last leg till Malaysia Day (16th September)

12th August, Sunday, 5:00 pm @ KLCC

"DEAR MALAYSIA,
 

My girlfriend, Deanna, and I are coming to K.L. for 3 days from Aug 11-14 (this Sat - Tues), and have decided to do a meet up to talk about travel, take selfies and make a fun video together!" - Drew Binsky's facebook

Faye Lim and Jagjeet Singh 'gung-ho' their way to KLCC in hopes to get The Rojak Projek's unity message featured in Drew Binsky's video. We tried to share our concept with him our but... someone cut us off... Damn-it! After trying to be 'thick-skin' for a second round, we managed to get a little of his attention to set a meeting. Thank God we knew Pixie Cigar (from his video) to remind him that we were going to meet up the next day. We also had the help of Max Junior from Sabah who 'thick skin' his way, offering to help drive him to our location as we were being interviewed by Astro Awani that day! Yeap, we got his attention through the crowd and as shown in the video below, he already has a strong sense of what The Rojak Projek has been talking about all this time... even before meeting him.

OMG... We got Drew Binsky's interview on the same day as Astro Awani!

13th August, Monday, @ Pickle & Fig, TTDI

2pm - 3pm

with Drew Binsky

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3pm - 6:30pm

with Astro Awani

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It wasn't easy! Drew was busy and he thought we were interviewing him! Oh nooo! At 10:30am, Faye had to call and clarify hoping to still get the chance to be interviewed by him as there's an important message about diversity we were hoping to share! He gave us 20 seconds to convince him, and we managed to through sharing our story and our journey!

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Special thanks to both Drew Binsky and our new Sabah friend, Max Junior who took the initiative to help drive him to us!

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By 3:00pm, as mentioned earlier, we had a pre-arranged interview with Astro Awani. They were so kind to give us the opportunity to allow younger Borneons to share their stories (Terence Tapah, Emily Elizabeth, Niney Chong and Kendrick Ng), while also speaking to those we met along our journey as to why they decided to help us with this project around Malaysia (Arnold Louis, Jacq Hannah, Jagjeet Singh and Joselyn Chong). Faye and Rachel were the last to share their experiences, unfortunately not joined by Jon Cool, who was stuck editing the final documentary.

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Let's just say that this marks a special day, brave hearts spoke and fiercely, The Rojak Projek chooses to stay steadfast in our purpose and hopeful in our vision. We look to our fellow Malaysians with joy and pride, speaking their minds. To find out more on what our fellow Sabahans and Sarawakians shared, click here. To find out what Co-Founders Rachel Lee and Faye Lim had to share, click here.

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Special thanks to Nuradilla Noorazam and Rizal Rahim from Astro Awani for the interview.

Hey, Drew!
See you at our finish line, online ;)

16th August, Thursday

"In this world, there are people with national pride... And then there's Faye and Rachel, who take it to the next level.

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Do you remember the Malaysia Airline Flight 370, which went missing back in 2014? Well, after that incidence, these two ladies were fed up from all the negativity & hate that their beloved country (Malaysia) was getting... So, in effort to better unify their diverse nation, they created a movement called The Rojak Projek, where they traveled to every region in Malaysia to make colorful portraits of people by using FOOD as the ART.

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Over the last 3 years, they have already made 540 food portraits, and they are wrapping up on their 550th to honor Malaysia's 55th birthday coming up in a few weeks.
 

Faye and Rachel's story is one of the most innovative and impactful I've witnessed. They are opening so many doors for the togetherness of Malaysian people, as well as sending a positive message to the outside world -- and I'm happy that I got to experience it first hand.

To end this script on an unrelated note... I LOVE MALAYSIA!!!" - Drew Binsky's facebook

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Hey Drew, thanks for the sharing our story! It's not just us, it's Jon Cool and many others around Malaysia who brought our journey forward! PS: We will see you at our finish line, on this webpage. We were meant to keep this website private until 30th, but since Drew Binsky shared that he wants to showcase it today... hey, we're going to go with the flow.

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30th & 31st August

Selamat Hari Merdeka in collaboration with Lot 10 & CENDANA 
(Our last 10 at Lot 10)

@ Lot 10,

3rd Floor,

Basketball Court

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(Private Event)

30th August, Thursday,

10:15am-12pm

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(Open to Public)
31st August,

Friday, 2pm-4pm

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​On the 30th of August, during our private event, we captured the last of our portraits. TRP shared that we will be showcasing an exhibition of 550 artworks (another 10 additional artworks will be created in conjunction with Malaysia’s 55th birthday) in collaboration with Perdana Fellows Alumni Association's, “Youth Festival of Ideas 2018” at Sunway University on 15th September 2018. This was our first time showcasing our documentary in a mall for both 30th and 31st August. 

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The Rojak Projek believes the next stage should be a nation building journey.

“The ultimate aim is to break ignorance and allow our nation to know each other better. We cannot do it alone and this has to be a nationwide project.” - Faye Lim, Co-Founder of The Rojak Projek

We would like to give a big shout out and thanks to Lot 10 for opening up the space for us and CENDANA for linking us to Lot 10. We would also like to thank Alexa Ho Loo Yan, Dr. Muhammad Daniel Azlan Mahadzir, Arleena Lim, Jagjeet Singh Toor, Joselyn Chong Foong Jose, Khor Chii Hoong (Travis), Tabitha Xavier and Emily Elizabeth Beard for volunteering in this event. 

Sunday, Funday
Creating our final 10 artworks together.

2nd September, Sunday

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This was an emotional day for Co-Founder Faye Lim as she readied the house for creating the final 10 artworks with the invited rojak family. Those who came were the first few people who experimented together in Phase 1 including Co-Founder Jon Cool, Edmond Chua Vui Chuan, Wening Cheah and Tabitha Xavier leading to the batch from Phase 2, Joselyn Chong, Jagjeet Singh, Gloria Chieng and Kimberly Yong. We welcomed Nor Atiqah Mohd Zaini (who was helping behind the scenes translating our documentary script from English to Malay) and Emily Elizabeth Beard who helped us during our event on 30th & 31st August at Lot 10. She had to prepare the drawings after Jon captured the portraits on 30th August at Lot 10. 

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We taught them the process of how to create a simple version of the artwork and we had so much fun just chatting, learning, creating and tasting. We shared intimate moments of what happened behind the scenes on our journey and we laughed about the silliest things during this last session. 

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Edmond and Faye had to move aside to construct Drew Binsky's artwork since it felt like a surgical operation because he was made with 'Ice-Kacang'. The ingredients were bought by Joselyn Chong and Wening and we had to handle it delicately because there was ice involved. Drew Binskys artwork was the last to be created. All together it took 3 people to construct that piece. 

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It was a fun time for us and we had a great time laughing and eating all the works we'd created during this session. In a way, there was a calm, zen feeling at the end of it. When we were done, we packed and cleared up the place as respect to the household. Faye then gave a few words of blessing and thanks to everybody and Jon ended it with a group photo :)

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We have to give a special shout out to Andrew Wong who bought the final materials from Sabah and Debra Leong from Charlie's Cafe for making and cooking the traditional 'Bambangan' and 'Sayur Tarap' dish .

Our final chapter for Phase 2! It's a wrap!

#550 for Malaysia's 55th Birthday!

@ Youth Festival of Ideas 2018 by PFAA (15th September)

15th September, Saturday,

9am - 5pm@ Sunway University (court)

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TRP's highlight is at 1pm-1:45pm

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15th & 16th September,

11am-9pm @

Sentul Depot, Sentul West, Kuala Lumpur.

The Rojak Projek showcased an exhibition of 550 artworks with conjunction to Malaysia’s 55th birthday in collaboration with Perdana Fellows Alumni Association's, “Youth Festival of Ideas 2018” at Sunway University on 15th September 2018. Many thanks to Photobook Malaysia and Perdana Fellows, SAY Community and  for sponsoring the prints and creating the display panels.

We would like to firstly thank our sponsors and supporters; Raja Muda Selangor Tengku Amir Shah, SAY Community (Selangor Youth Community)​, Photobook Worldwide​, Charlie's Cafe for their UFO tarts, Perdana Fellows Alumni Association​; Nurul Azwa, Syafiq Md Daud, Nazatul Natasha Omar Shah and their Perdana Fellow team, Nation Building School​; Nafis Naqiyudeen Nazri, Dzulhilmy Mohd, Yasmin Ghazali, Kamil Izzat Hazmi Mahmud and the Rojak Projek's family Arleena Lim, Hannah Jeyaraj, Ahmad Faliq Fauzi, Jacqueline Hannah, Rhonwyn Hagedorn, Rachel Lee and Faye Lim.
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We would like to thank our VIP guest, Tunku Khadijah Abdul Rahman (Our first Prime Minister's daughter), Puan Sri Christine and YB Lim Yi Wei for joining our 'Rojak Nation' session where we involved the crowd with cultural curiosity and express and share how together, we as a nation can bridge the gap.
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Let's not forget to all those who joined us in Malaysian Spirit. These artworks are more than just creating 550 "food art", it is a reflection of the kindness we receive around Malaysia who helped us in our journey to focus on our message of unity which is, 'Malaysia tak sama, kalau kita tak bersama (Malaysia is never the same if we are not together). This was a journey we transform the idea of colour-blindness to colour-embracing. Phase 2 has reached its end and we would like to prepare to collaborate with our nation as we prepare a Rojak Nation journey, together.

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The purpose of the 'Rojak Nation' session was to pave a way to inspire younger Malaysians to begin their own journey of being problem solvers, carrying the responsibilities of bridging gaps together. Our hope is that this will become a larger Malaysian nation building movement.
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The Rojak Projek ended the session with amazing singing and sape performances by Anderson Kalang, Rosemary Colony Joel and Saufi Aiman from Sarawak and an exciting POP-Confetti group photo with everybody :)
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We had such a great blast and we hope you guys did too!

PS: Thanks, Adhadi Mohd for the great shots! 
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#55 displayed in RIUH x Grab Malaysia Day Weekend at Sentul Depot, Sunway West  (15th & 16th September)

Right after our event at Youth Festival of Ideas at Sunway University, The Rojak Projek went to check out the next exhibition which showcased 55 artworks in RIUH x Grab Malaysia Day Weekend on 15th & 16th September at Sentul Depot @ Sentul West. Over 18,000 people from all walks of life, age and background celebrated Malaysia Day with us! 
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Special thanks to Melissa Low & Marrissa Wambeck from RIUH, CENDANA, GRAB, Bandar Aktiviti Seni, YTL & many of those who came to witness our efforts and journey.
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The event was incredible as the space, people and initiatives came together, we were honoured to be part of it. People were amazed, laughing and pointing away at the 55 art pieces as they talked and learn from each other about the different cultures and food found around Malaysia. There were some who brought their Malaysian flag to pose with the artworks while bringing in others from different countries to join in on the exchange. It was truly beautiful to see the interactions from others and to see the pride (and hunger) glistening from their eyes as Malaysians.
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It was beautifully displayed to give honour to our Malaysia and our people well, together. 

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Truly, we matter together.

Till then, stay tuned!
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Happy 55th Birthday Malaysia!
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Sincerely,
The Rojak Projek (16th September 2018)

#therojakprojek

CASE STUDY

(Phase 1 x Phase 2)

2014 - 2015

VISION FOR MALAYSIA

Idea

The idea was born at the end of 2014, a year every Malaysian remembers to be particularly trying (MH370, MH17, etc). Racial unity was rift following a host of unfortunate events, something every Malaysian doesn't miss. ​

“There was a point in time when negativity grew like cancer. In the quiet, I prayed and I asked myself, what is the one thing that all of us Malaysians can unite behind --  it was food. Our Malaysian food!  It hit me that our food is exactly like our diversity. All different and colourful yet so unique! Our Malaysian food is a common emotional attachment we all share together." – Faye Lim, Co-Founder of The Rojak Projek.

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Materials

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        Malaysian food around our residential area.

When we started, we used what we had. We sketched the portraits on A3 paper (We failed 5 times) and we slowly got better, some were created in A2 paper, we had packed food and a camera. Other materials we used were scissors, plates, plastic spoons, tooth picks, condensed milk (the best edible glue), a board that holds the artworks and chopsticks.

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Numbers of Artworks Made

60 types of Malaysian food created around our neighbourhood with the help of friends who brought back snacks from Sabah and Sarawak for us. Created in 2015 and shared on 1st January 2016.

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Time of completion

1 year

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Location

We created our artworks in our own homes.
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Event (The Rojak Party)

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We created our first event called, 'The Rojak Party' which started in March 2015. Working together with Co-Founder and photographer Jon Cool, we found 30 Malaysians who participated in the first Rojak Party where participants were photographed by Jonathan while being treated to – what else – rojak.
 

“It started out with just our friends. But the further we developed the project, the more friends we made and the bigger it grew. We strived to feature as many ethnicities – Malays, Indians, Chinese, Punjabis, Portuguese and Indian Muslims. A stroke of luck brought others into the project and we now have Orang Asli's (indigenous people) in the project as well as other ethnicities from East Malaysia.” – Faye Lim, Co-Founder
 

We mentioned to participants that we would be creating colourful artworks despite capturing their photographs in Black and White which symbolises the idea of unity being  'colour-blind'. Secretly behind the scenes, we were creating the concept of 'colour-embracing' through food which symbolises our range of cultures to be embraced!

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Questions we asked during our event

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1) 'What is your favourite food that you can't live without?

Based on this question, we noticed our participants kept writing about each other's ethnic food.  We concluded a majority of young Malaysians deeply valued each other’s food!

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When we met new people from East Malaysia, they gave us food names that we'd never heard of. It slowly dawned upon us that we didn't know anything about their background and culture.

2) What is your vision for Malaysia?

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Towards the end of 2015, we decided to give meaningful context by asking, 'What is your vision for Malaysia?'. Each participant had the freedom of expressing their personal perspective. By 1st January 2016, we posted each artwork on Facebook along with their description of their vision for Malaysia, and it went viral! 

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Funding

We started with a small budget since it was a side project to experiment on.

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Travel / Accomodation

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We travelled only in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor since we live in those states.
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Message

​‘Hungry for a Better Malaysia’

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"Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate. But Malaysian food takes it to the next level and we Malaysians know it! Our food has always been the gesture of peace which allows us to sit, eat and enjoy each other's company despite our differences. It is our differences that makes us unique. These artworks are about showcasing not only the beauty in variety of Malaysian food but the message that our diversity is equally beautiful."

2016 - 2017

REDISCOVERING EACH OTHER

Idea

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The idea was derived from the realization that after creating 60 artworks during Phase 1 (Vision for Malaysia), we weren't fully aware of all our food, which also meant that we didn't know about all our diverse people and their cultures. The beginning stages were focused on food, kuih and drinks. Then as we grew, we had sweets and snacks. Now it’s come to the point of discovering what else is out there and can we reach a target that big on our own? The answer is yes! We went on a quest to search for more Malaysian food which naturally led us to the people and culture. Hence the title, ‘Rediscovering Each Other’.

Based on what we created, we knew what we did could not represent the whole of Malaysia. So we decided to carry on with the experiment around Malaysia and only create 540 pieces of artwork, an amount we weren't sure we could reach. This was for Malaysia's 54th birthday on 16th September 2017.

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Materials

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Malaysian food around Malaysia.

We had to pack light and be smart with how we would create our artwork. Everything we found that was dry and longer lasting was packed in our bags and anything we found that was perishable was bought, created within a day or two then eaten. We only needed to acquire condensed milk as we already had plastic spoons, boards to hold our artworks, a Gopro and a camera.

We focused mainly on two things, creating 540 pieces of artwork and filming a documentary of every element we could find that represents unity or rojak (mixes) around Malaysia.

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Numbers of Artworks Made

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540 types of Malaysian food altogether for Malaysia’s 54th birthday on 16th September 1963. (60+480 = 540)

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Time of completion

1 very intense year and 6 months later, we set up TRP Creatives, an enterprise for the purpose of funding our journey.

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Location

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We created our artworks in other homes around Malaysia. Seriously.. hahaha!

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Event (The Rojak Party)

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The Rojak Party became a public event and was held consistently on the 16th of every month leading up to Malaysia Day to reinforce the idea of Malaysia, for all Malaysians. We wanted to quietly plant the idea that we were taking Malaysians ‘with us on a journey’ around Malaysia.

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This was the moment we embarked on an eye-opening / awakening of our ignorance based on the questions we asked in our forms. Note that many of us had not known about the existence of Malaysia Day, formation of federation between Malaya, North Borneo (Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore on 16th September 1963 as many of us here in Peninsular / Semenanjung or West Malaysia mostly celebrate Merdeka Day (31st August 1957). 

This was the moment when we had no idea that due to our lack of acknowledgement to Malaysia Day, it was a sign of not acknowledging the existence of others in Sabah and Sarawak.

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Questions we asked during our event

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The information we gathered this time was interesting. We had forms to ask about their personal information (names, email, mobile) to asking questions like what is your ‘culture/ heritages’ instead of ‘race’.

When we looked at the names or faces, we were astonished that it did not match

their perceived race.

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For example, when one looks and is thought to be Malay, we found that they are actually Chindian or Eurasian. A persons look really doesn’t reflect the identity of a person’s heritage or culture. 

We assumed that because we have a Muslim friend, he’s just Malay in Malaysia.

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This was an important and surprising discovery we learnt through the Rojak Party!

Then when we assumed that this person is Malay obviously due to his name, nope! We were wrong again! They had a mix of heritages we’d never thought we'd notice!

When we met someone in Miri who was wearing a cross and had the name ‘bin’ and we thought ‘bin’ only represents Muslim. Nope. Wrong again.

Secondly, we noticed that there were cultures and heritages (Races) that we'd never heard of that were listed in our forms.

“Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit, Lumbawang, Lundayeh, Kadazandusun, etc..”

We’re like, what’s that?!

That became our slow process of realizing that, gosh, there are so many cultures out there that we have obviously not noticed in our country.

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Funding

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We funded our journey through our ‘Rojak Party events’ and selling our ‘Hungry Mail’, a set of kuih postcards with a concept that as we travel around Malaysia, these postcards would travel around the world to promote unity. These postcards have been to Europe, parts of Greater Asia and Australia.

Note that we tried to approach many companies who believe in unity but many ignored us with disbelief and a poor mentality that ‘unity’ relates to politics and we don’t want to be included in that, but in reality, we were focusing on the people. We pushed forward nonetheless.

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Travel / Accomodation

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Despite to our lack of funding, we continued and came out of our comfort zones to travel all around Malaysia. We didn't cover the entirety due to our time and budget but through the help of old and new friends and family, strangers and the kindness of the public, we managed to make it to every State. We stayed in their respective homes / kampungs in our short time to film our documentary and to create our artworks. It was truly a beautiful and blessed feeling to know how many people on grassroot level helped us throughout our journey.

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Message
 

'Malaysia tak sama, kalau kita tak bersama'
(Malaysia is never the same if we are not together).
 

"This is not about food art. This is conceptual work, portraying the story of a few young Malaysians who went on a journey around Malaysia to rediscover our diverse people and culture. A journey that aims to transform the idea of being colour-blind to colour-embracing, in a time where the call for unity has never been more profound. In their travels they found that we are all 'Rojak' (mixed) that speaks about the beauty and diversity of our country and identity. They realized that after almost 60 years since Malaysia was formed, Malaysians are still ignorant about the many other people and cultures in their own land."

2018 & BEYOND...

OUR CONCLUSION:
 IT's TIME TO BRIDGE THE GAP

1) IT’S OKAY TO QUESTION THE INCLUSIVENESS OF THE GOVERNING SYSTEM

Being the first in Malaysia and in the world to do something strangely new in order to understand other cultures better, we never thought we could finally open our eyes to say, “We want to know our people better!”

For those who are unfamiliar with Malaysian governing system,
We have four categories to fit our identity:

* Malay
* Chinese
* Indian
* Lain-lain (Others)

So what is ‘lain-lain’ (others)?
Who are the ‘lain-lain’ in our country?
 
This segregation system is an outdated British tactic that has caused us to be very self-centered and ignorant despite still being able to be integrated as a nation. It can be said that it has been one of the leading factors from preventing us to be a united country.

Not to mention, in the earlier days, unity was advertised by showing 3 races (Malay, Chinese, Indian) sitting or standing together. After many years, they added two more (Iban and Kadazan)… For us, we decided to show as many races as possible in our artworks and put them together. We have colours beyond all measure and a uniqueness like no other and together, we are strong and beautiful.

For the longest time we have never taken effort into caring that much and we believe that this journey belongs to all Malaysians. We believe it's time to just be, Malaysians’.

If one observes all the artworks, we are sure that it'd be hard for you to determine all the races portrayed because many Malaysians are of mixed heritage. In the end, we hope many will see that this Malaysian food represents Malaysian people. That’s the true identity of a Malaysian.


2) IT’S TIME TO TRULY REDISCOVER EACH OTHER

People say it's normal to not know your country but we, The Rojak Projek believe that we should know our people and country like the back of our hands. The more we learn, the more we understand and grow in bond.

This journey has been the most challenging one for us but it requires effort as this is truly the next step for a nation building project. We need to make an effort to better integrate everyone together because we cannot follow the 'old ways' of the segregating 'divide and conquer' concept. 

We hope that this case study and journey, though imperfect, is able to pave a way and inspire others to do better than us and to take on and carry the responsibility of bridging the gap moving forward. 

This was our first step in trying to bring awareness and to bridge that gap.

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3) REDEFINE WHAT MALAYSIA IS ALL ABOUT (BACK TO Q1)

What is our identity as Malaysians?
Are we really just a 'Malay, Chinese, Indian' society? What is 'lain-lain' (others)? 

What about those who are of 'rojak' (mixed) heritage? Being Malaysians, we have such a 'rojak' culture with such diverse backgrounds.

Why is it for many years we (from West Malaysia) do not know much about East Malaysia? Why was there no bridge to have information like news and reports about them? 

Are they (East Malaysia) not our brothers and sisters too? 
 

BEING MALAYSIAN to us now means it is a privilege to know more than our own culture and to defend others around us as a family.

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 MALAYSIA means ALL OF US, together.
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The ultimate aim is to break ignorance and allow our nation to know each other better. 

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So, is food the only cultural gateway? No. For Malaysia, it’s the best lah!

Ask yourself in areas like our Malaysian diversity, people, culture, language, music, arts... What are they? 

MUSIC |  What is the true sound or music of Malaysia? Instruments like ‘Sape’ is mostly from Borneo. That has it’s own identity. What is our Malaysian instrument and identity?

LANGUAGE | Is 'Bahasa Malaysia' about really learning about, 'Malay and English? What about Sign language? Why not be a nation that encourages many languages? Woah! Our children will be excellent in communication and business in the future. Well, are we not like not like any other country in this world? At that rate, no one can ‘bad mouth’ anybody! Hahaha!

It must be easy access as we know many Malaysians don't have all the chance in the world to travel too.

The most important thing is to bridge that gap in our country NEVER allowing others to stop our friendship and love for one another and know that there is SO MUCH STRENGTH in being Malaysian when we work together.
 

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Sincerely,

The Rojak Projek (2018)