Last Saturday, the final episode of Projek High Council (High Council) aired on Astro. The
10-episode television series took the small screen by storm; an emotional roller coaster of a
journey with plenty of lessons to be learnt.
Inspired by real events, High Council tells the story of a group of boarding students who
have preserved a tradition that is frequently associated with boarding school students for
generations. Here, the boys will frequently be put to the test in the name of preparing them
for the outside world. They will, in other words, learn how to become a man through this
tradition.
“Adat itu ada yang bagus, ada yang bodoh. Yang bagus itu okey, simpanlah. Tapi yang
bodoh tu, tinggalkan sajalah.” – Mia (Episod 5)
Translations:
“Traditions – there are good ones, and then there are the stupid ones. You can keep the
good ones but leave the other one alone.” – Mia (Episode 5)
High Council strives to tell a story through the characterization of its characters in addition to
focusing on the issues at hand. If we look closely, we can see that Mia and Fakhri, the two
outsiders with rebellious attitudes, were the ones who were criticising the “stupid tradition.”
Mia was a dining hall worker at the school, while Fakhri was a newly registered Form 4
student at the same school. As an outsider, it’s only natural that both perceive this long-
standing tradition as silly and ridiculous.
Throughout the series, the director and the writer gave us a glimpse of the dark reality that
lies within this boarding school by highlighting the issues such as bullying, vandalism,
smoking, same-sex relationships, and other forms of misconduct that serve as cautionary
lessons.
All these serve as valuable lessons for those who aspire to join these boarding schools or
any other form of secondary education. With these in mind, they should know what to expect
and how to avoid it, if they somehow are unfortunate enough to come across these
“traditions”.
Watch My Review for Episode 1 till 3
The reason why I think High Council was such a hit was that it gives the teenagers a
voice and helps them to be acknowledged rather than disregarded. All those frustrations and
the rebellion they exhibit are a product of the adversity they encounter. These are the
cumulative results of the lack of attention, a flawed system, the toxic environment as well as
being viewed as pushovers by their peers, among many others.
Hence, High Council is not only a very well-crafted work in terms of its storyline and the
technical aspects of it, but it also serves as a bridge for teenagers to express themselves to
their parents and peers, ensuring that the ills of their lives do not recur in others.
You can stream all 10 episodes on Astro Go now !
