Veni Vedi Vici; : Vilified Visuality of Indonesian PATls

Abstract

Much of what we know about the world is informed visually through the prosthetic lens of thephotographer. An important post-colonial and cultural studies scholarship today is aboutinvestigating visual culture, particularly on the relationship between photography and culturalidentities of 'the Other'. By way of 'imperious' and 'colonial' guises, photography may beeffectively by the ruling elite to inform the dominant polity or society about the cultural identityof its 'Other'. This study argues that certain photographic representations of Indonesian illegalmigrants or PATIs (lit. Pendatang Asing Tanpa Izin) by Malaysian print media during the periodof their amnesty from the Malaysian government and their eventual deportation by December2004, are inherently ideological and unnecessarily manipulative. However, it also argues thatvisual literacy can be employed to deconstruct and raise our awareness of such discursiveproduction which operates against a benevolent construction of the Indonesian PATIs.