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          Let's get straight to the point. What is 'the arts'? 'The arts' is the beauty, idea, concept, and hidden message contained in a creation, let it be visual art, dance, music, film, drama or theater et cetera. Nothing happens without a reason. Likewise, artists will never produce their very own unique creation without purpose. Often, our ways of viewing and interpreting an art vary. Understanding and 'reading' an art are very subjective. There is no right and wrong; we all perceive an art based on our own brain schema, or in other words, past experience, knowledge and  belief.

          When trying to decipher an artwork, we must pay close attention to the following elements: reason for producing the artwork, message(s) behind it, the ways (e.g. materials for sculpture) of producing the artwork. By doing so, we can bring our understanding of the artwork to the next level and thus, instead of mocking, insulting or teasing an artwork, we will appreciate the artwork.

          Being able to learn to appreciate arts is without doubt vital. Why? It is because we can earn both short and long term benefits by learning to appreciate the arts. In term of short term benefit, we can understand and thus accept and appreciate the culture and background of the artist despite the existence of racial, ethnic and even country boundaries. In term of long term benefit, we will learn to be more open-minded and even more mature. This is because by learning to appreciate the arts, we also learn to appreciate a lot of things. For example, before simply judging the culture, beliefs, rituals, arts, or even behaviors of other people (from both same and different race, skin color and nation), we will first consider, think about and understand the purpose, message and reason behind it.

          It cannot be denied that it is extremely essential for all students to learn about Malaysian arts at UTAR. This is because just like stated above, by learning to appreciate the arts, we will learn to appreciate, well, not only the arts but everything. It is safe to say that there are countless benefits for students to lean about Malaysian arts, but the primary principle they will learn to hold is - 'Don't judge before you truly understand the meaning behind it'.