Rockbund Art Museum 上海外滩美术馆

“My dear father... your death... will no longer be a taboo for our family or the people of our nation...”

Director LAU Kek Huat grew up alienated from his father, and after having left Malaysia to study film in Taiwan, he returns, video camera in hand, to his native town to search for answers. In the search for his absentee father, Lau learns of his grandfather whose name had been taboo in the family, and discovers that behind this familial history is an entire generation of Malaysians who are unwilling to face the past, as well as a group of individuals who had once sacrificed their life and blood, only to seemingly vanish into the world after their deaths.

LAU’s grandfather had joined the Malayan Communist Party, and died at the young age of 29. Since then, LAU’s grandmother had never once mentioned his grandfather, and except for a single drawing there was no photograph of him in the house. But was the Malayan Communist Party truly as described in Malaysian textbooks — a group of terrorists? What kind of conviction was it, that made LAU’s grandfather leave so resolutely his family and children, and later sacrifice his life? In order to find answers, LAU must step out of Malaysia, to go to Guangzhou, Hong Kong as well as the Thai border to meet the group of people who had, like his grandfather, devoted their youth to the cause of revolution.

After Japan’s invasion of China and the Pearl Harbour incident of World War 2, Japanese troops, defeated in China, decided to set their sights on Malaysia in the south. People of different nationalities, including Malaysians, Chinese and Indians, came together to form the Malayan Peoples’ Anti-Japanese Army, and LAU’s grandfather was one of them. Following the end of the war, the Malayan Communist Party, inspired by social idealism, transformed into an armed guerilla force to resist the oppression and injustices of the Malaysian British government, only to be arrested as terrorists. Those who were lucky enough to escape death were sentenced to exile, never to set foot on Malaysian soil again.

As the elderly Malayan Communist Party members reminisce on the passion of revolution of those years, their eyes shine with brilliance, having never once regretted spending their lives in pursuit of their ideals. They have a Malayan dream, for which they would be willing to sacrifice everything, but as for the next generation — do they have the courage to dream, to investigate, to question, to challenge injustices? In Absent Without Leave, director LAU Kek Huat dedicates the memories unearthed in his dusty familial records to those individuals who had resisted, who had loved, and who had lived courageously.

“亲爱的祖父 你的死亡 不再是家族和国族的禁忌...”

导演廖克发从小与父亲疏离，从马来西亚来到台湾学电影后，带著摄影机回到家乡追寻答案。他从生命中缺席的父亲，一路追溯到在家族中被视为禁忌话题的祖父，却发现个人家族历史的背后，隐藏的竟是马来西亚一整个世代不愿面对的过去，以及一群曾经付出热血、却仿彿消失于世间的人们。

廖克发的祖父当年加入马来亚共产党，年仅29岁就英年早逝。祖母从此绝口不提丈夫，家中连一张祖父的照片都没有，仅存一张画像。祖父所加入的马共，真如课本所说是群恐怖分子吗？是怎样的信念，让祖父毅然决然抛家弃子甚至牺牲生命？为了寻找答案，廖克发却得踏出马来西亚，远赴广州、香港与泰国边境，才能找到那群与祖父一样曾为革命挥洒青春的马共。

二次世战时日本侵华，珍珠港事变后，在中国受挫的日军大举南下大马，马来人、华人、印度人等不同族群组成了马共抗日军，廖克发的祖父正是其中一员。战争结束后，这群对社会公义心怀理想的马共，转而以武装游击队对抗英国殖民政府的压迫不公，从此成了被逮捕的恐怖份子，侥倖没死的被遣送出境，一生未再踏上马国土地。

谈起当年革命的热情，这群迟暮之年的马共双眼散发光芒，从不后悔曾为理想飘盪一生。他们有一个可以牺牲一切去追寻的马来亚梦，但下一代还敢去梦想、去追问、去质疑、去挑战不公吗？廖克发以《不即不离》中从尘封中发掘出的家族记忆，献给那块土地上曾经勇敢活过、爱过、抗争过的人们。