‘WOMEN AS COPS’ A WINNER
KK High School instils patriotism
“MY ambition is to be a policewoman. I want to serve our community and bring justice to our homeland,” sai Celeste.
The 13-year-old girl’s statement drew laughter from her classmates, and, in the coming days, they taunted her to “arrest them”. Five minutes later, it was shown that Celeste did indeed become a police officer as she intended.
KK High School’s short film entry to break stereotypes of lack of females in the police force won first place in Programme Cinta Negaraku — Bikin Filem Pendek 2017 here yesterday.
The sketch managed to cover the issue of bullying and instil the patriotic spirit, while addressing the mindset that police took in more Bumiputeras and fewer Chinese.
The short-film competition, held in conjunction with a fourday filming workshop from July 18 to 21, was co-organised by the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and
the Sabah Education Department through its office here. It saw the participation of 10 secondary schools from the Kota Kinabalu division chosen by Finas in translating the Communications and Multimedia Ministry’s initia-tive to ensure patriotism and unity.
Each school had a 10-member team, including a supervising teacher, as they recorded their short films at the UMS campus, the location of the programme.
“We came up with the idea since our participants were mostly girls (seven girls and two boys), and we thought that would be the best way to instil the
‘love for the country’ element. “Some think women should not join the police force. We want to dispel this idea and have a ‘never give up on your dream’ attitude,” said Form Four student Liew Zi Yew, the film’s co-director.
The actress who played Celeste, Cassandra Sinua Yamposong, was the youngest in the group being a Form One student. She also took the directorial position.
While her Form Two and Form Four teammates were novices in acting and filming, Cassandra had been taking part in an annual two-week broadcasting programme for children organised by Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) since she was in Year Four.
While she was not interested in becoming a police officer, she hopes to become a scientist.
Supervising teacher Trini Phillips said: “Our school has never participated in filming activities, so this was a good exposure, besides learning the technicalities and promoting leadership skills. We hope to join more of such programmes.”
KK High school received RM1,000, second prize went to SMK Likas (RM750) and third place went to SM All Saints (RM500).
Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak, during the closing and prize presentation ceremony at UMS, said the huge potential of youngsters here could bring back the glory days of the state as a creative industry hub for Borneo and the country.
He said there were young filmmakers from Sabah who had made the country proud regionally and internationally, bringing focus to local issues and cultures.
“Last year, via the 11th Malaysian Plan, RM400,000 was spent on training, workshops and masterclasses with 5,000 participants statewide to boost the industry. This year, I will ensure the allocation via Finas is continued.”
In conjunction with the upcoming National Day, he urged Malaysians to celebrate Merdeka with a patriotic spirit and not be influenced by people out to divide the people or threaten the country’s sovereignty.