By Gabriel Lihan
KUCHING: A multi-racial film crew made up of Sarawakians has invested heart and soul into producing the first Iban situational comedy television show.
It isn’t every day that the Ibans, or Sarawakians for that matter, have their stories magnified on Malaysian TV screens, and so it comes as no surprise that the first-ever Iban TV sitcom series, Tembawai Kanyuk, is already generating much anticipation ahead of its Gawai premiere.
The show deals with lingual, racial and ethnic differences in Sarawak to hopefully highlight the fact that unity in diversity is possible through understanding, teamwork and effective communication. Tembawai Kanyuk is produced by a local film company ‘The Scope’ with support from Asa Esa Films.
It is directed by two Sarawakians, Rashid Salleh and Chai Koh Khai. Chai is part of a new generation of filmmakers making his mark in the Malaysian movie industry.
On producing the sitcom — his biggest project so far — Chai said it all started with the show’s writers, Stonton James and Ken Micheal, who had been producing and performing a radio show about a fictional village called Tembawai Kanyuk since 2012.
Chai had worked with Stonton and Ken on other smaller projects before and thought the idea of turning Tembawai Kanyuk into a TV sitcom series extremely exciting. “I give credits to Stonton and Ken who came up with the idea and characters.
It is a very good idea.” “The characters already existed on the radio show for 10 years and we just had to visualise them.” Chai’s co-director, Rashid, was also thrilled by the concept when he first learned about it. The force of Tembawai Kanyuk lies in what it has to say and portray about rural Ibans through a comical lens.
The stories are valuable because they can help others appreciate Sarawak and its people. Despite several hiccups caused by the movement control order (MCO) during the pandemic, Chai and Rashid planned and arranged for work to begin on the sitcom.
Thankfully, the production was completed within a week before the last Chinese New Year this year. Chai, being Chinese, does not speak nor understand Iban, but still finds Tembawai Kanyuk amusing and meaningful.
And it amazes him that the production team members, a blend of Melanaus, Dayaks, Malays and Chinese, love the series and believe in its potential. “The filming was a very stressful period. It seemed impossible at first but we recorded 13 episodes in a week. It felt so surreal when we wrapped up the entire thing. Still the whole crew had a lot to laugh about.
We enjoyed the experience a lot,” he recalled. “I worked a lot on the behind-the-scenes action, especially on what happen behind the camera. Rashid contributed a lot by guiding the tempo of the series and the acting part.”
Audiences might recognise the voices in this sitcom because these are the same actors who re-did the roles that they played since the show went on radio waves. Chai hopes that by watching the series, more people would appreciate previously unseen talents and realise that there are many more to be uncovered in Sarawak.
Without giving away too much, Chai briefly talked about the characters of Tembawai Kanyuk. There are seven main characters and his favourite is Jaboh – played by Jed Mallin – who is the father of Bunyau and Mujap — played by Ken and Stonton respectively.
“I am also impressed by Apak (played by Giddell Ginsit), the villain in the series. Every character is lovable and every character has a unique style, strength and weaknesses.” Due to the pandemic, filming got postponed several times but was finally completed last January.
He said even Rashid’s seasoned friends and counterparts in the film industry were in disbelief when they heard that the 13 episodes were filmed in a week. He thinks that this attested to his team’s extremely hard work, creativity and great ability to work together.
“We made it possible because of everyone’s understanding of their roles,” he said. He hopes that all Sarawakians would watch this sitcom series and love them just like the production crew does. “Tembawai Kanyuk is not your typical comedy series; it’s a little bit like ‘Modern Family’ and a bit of a reality-style show. This project is for them (the Ibans); very meaningful, but it’s not just a Gawai series.
Gawai or no Gawai, it is for all Sarawakians to enjoy.” When asked if there will be a second season, Chai said it would depend on response of the audience. In the meantime, he looks forward to see the effect of the show on Sarawakians, particularly the Ibans.
“It is very appropriate and timely that the show will feature during Gawai although we did not initially plan for it that way,” he said. Fix your eyes on the screen as we’re up for a fun time of laughter while celebrating Gawai. As scheduled, Tembawai Kanyuk’s debut is at 6:30 pm today (June 1) on TVS (Astro channel 122) and MyTV.
