by Justin Teoh
What you see in this attached thumbnail are tree “shoots” growing from one bigger maternal Japanese cedar tree in a process called coppicing, or daisugi in Japanese. Over decades, the shoots are consistently pruned until they can grow upwards and become—in an almost bizarre way—trees themselves.
Malaysian political and social justice issues from the past month remind us that if our deep-rooted prejudices would not budge, then the necessary alternative is to reclaim narratives ourselves to grow a better future. Time and time again do we see pressing concerns being dismissed as jokes, domestic support and coverage being very limited, and promises not being made. For those in power, safeguarding benefits that were retrieved unethically requires subtle, perhaps effortless, tactics. But these tactics accumulate towards a decomposition that would lead to a systemic collapse in society, one that would prove irreversible.
Getting It Strait’s April 2021 theme, “Changing Roots”, explores how artists and writers advocate against that collapse. Through ancestral tales, cultural threads, personal experiences, and prospective visions, there is much insight to behold on our forest climb towards the written summit. More than ever, it is up to us to steer nature as it should be and be the light that tends to our leaves. We hope you join in our collective daisugi.