Writing by Amir

The full cover

2009-07-19T23:42:00.002+08:00

Cover by Alexdrina Chong of Lucid Design

Tropical tempers

2009-07-15T10:59:00.003+08:00

THE MALAYAN TRILOGY by Anthony Burgess (1956-9, reissued by Vintage Classics, 582 pages)

I would rate this as my favourite Malaysian novel, even though it was written by a mat salleh before Malaysia came into existence in 1963. But Anthony Burgess was no ordinary mat salleh: a polymath who never seemed to try too hard, he spent six years of his life here and left behind this novel; lucky us.

For starters, there’s the wide range of characters, of every possible Peninsula ethnicity. It’s the most vibrant depiction yet of our Truly Asian but multi-racist society. The jokey, pomposity-puncturing allusions to local mores and hypocrisies have not gone stale. Even the Malay names of places are often rude, which is something that the average English reader wouldn’t have possibly realised when reading it; so it’s like a gift to us.

This novel has not proved popular among humourless local academics, who find it patronising. What they willfully ignore is that the depiction of the whites here is often more scathing, with enough booze and adultery to keep any daytime soap-opera going for months.

The first book takes place in a state modeled after Perak, where Burgess did indeed teach (at the venerable MCKK); the second is in a disguised Kelantan; while the third is in a state that doesn’t even have a fictitious name. In a novel where names are often meant to be taken ironically, the protagonist Victor Crabbe doesn’t end up victorious. And the very first man we meet, an alcoholic policeman named Nabby Adams, is also ‘expelled’ from this warm Eden by the end of the first book.

Burgess represents varied Malayan voices with a musician’s ear, a humourist’s lightness of touch, and a wounded idealist’s moral rigour. Many of the jokes come from racial caricatures that we can recognise from our daily conversations and from cruder subsequent works.

When Crabbe the teacher says to his multiracial class, “Man was not born to work”, the author follows this with: “All the Malays nodded.” The throaty “A?” is described as “a noise which God gave only to the Chinese lower classes.” To round up this muhibbah triumvirate, we learn that “with Indians there is an unhealthy love of the law”, as seen in court through “wailings, rendings of shirts already rent, flashing eyes and poetry, babies exhibited theatrically at moments of crisis.”

Take just one small episode: an elderly Chinese cook is seen chasing a Malay servant girl. He’s actually after her cat (to be eaten), but a small angry mob gathers because he’s suspected of trying to molest her. So here we have comparative gastronomy, a ribald pun (she’s trying to save her puss), slapstick misunderstanding and opportunistic racial grandstanding.

I don’t mean to grant Burgess any divine mythic powers, but it’s amazing how eerily prescient the book is. For example, there‘s a deathbed controversy of the theological nature, which could have been wrenched straight from today’s headlines. But although the mood grows darker (along with Crabbe’s) as Merdeka approaches, there’s still a heedless optimism in the portrayal of how the younger generation chooses to bond.

Witness the budding friendship between Syed Hassan (who would in today’s vernacular be a mat rempit) and the music prodigy Robert Loo (who is thought by the town to be a ‘catamite’ – a word I learned from a different Burgess book). It’s inexplicable, it goes against ingrained prejudices, but it feels apposite.

And that’s why the world depicted in this novel will rumble on, almost in spite of ourselves. It’s this ‘tidak apa’ (a phrase he uses often) resilience that some of our more exasperated public intellectuals, for example, simply never ‘get’.

The Malayan Trilogy is a rambunctious and colourful performance of heat and lust, with the comic bathos of downpours always on hand to quench any potential high-mindedness. It should be made a compulsory text at school, as long as the teachers aren’t prudes who will latah at the lewd words.

(Malay Mail, 15 July)

NME2 debuts at #5

2009-07-14T16:06:00.002+08:00

MPH Local Non-Fiction Bestsellers for the Week Ending 12 July

1. Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj: His Life Journey Leading to the Declaration of Independence (1903 - 1957) by E. Yu

2. Najib Razak: Prime Minister of Malaysia by Chamil Wariya

3. Life is an Open Secret: Ramadan Special - 25 Inspirational Stories from Ordinary Life Experiences by Zabrina A. Bakar

4. Buat Duit dengan Affiliate by Azahari Abdul Rahman

5. New Malaysian Essays 2 by Amir Muhammad (Editor)

6. Murtad: Jangan Pandang Sebelah Mata by Ann Wan Seng

7. D is for Depression by Choong Khuat Hock

8. Health & Beauty From the Rainforest: Malaysian Traditions of Ramuan by Gerard Bodeker

9. 33 Food Hot Spots: Kuala Lumpur's Ultimate Food Guide by Bukit Kiara Properties Sdn Bhd

10. Aisyah Ummul Mukminin Keanggunan Sejati by Sulaiman An-Nadawi

The most sensible thing I read about PPSMI (the teaching of Math & Science in Malay, I mean English)

2009-07-10T08:23:00.004+08:00

(This essay first appeared in the Centre for Policy Initiatives and Malaysiakini.)

Maths and science: The case for BM

by Helen Ang

( 9 & 10 March 2009 )

Part 1:

Yang dikejar tak dapat, yang dikendong berciciran.

We might dream about creating a breed of Malaysian scientists and mathematicians but we’re losing hordes of children who don’t even have a decent grounding in Math and Science due to PPSMI (Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam bahasa Inggeris).

1 Prof Mohamad Tajuddin Rasdi commented that the move to teach Math and Science in English was made with “such rapidity that it boggles any management team to implement”. The public did not hear about any feasibility study nor were there any debates or concerns that built up to the radical switch.

2 PPSMI was implemented in January 2003, coming at the tail-end of Dr Mahathir Mohamed’s tenure. “Tun Mahathir sort of woke up one day and decided to change the languages of the two subjects”, Prof Tajuddin noted. Dr M’s ‘Eureka!’ moment came after Malaysian kids have been learning Math and Science in Malay for almost four decades.

3 Dr M’s executive order was given against a backdrop of massive unemployment among local graduates which he blamed on their lack of proficiency in English. At the same time, private colleges offering courses in English were burgeoning. The PPSMI directive did not originate from the Education Ministry but was instead the premier’s personal initiative.

4 The PPSMI project – it was revealed in Parliament last May – has already cost taxpayers RM3.2 billion over the last five years. A significant portion of the money was ostensibly spent on ICT equipment. Further billions have been budgeted to see through the programme. Is it an enrichment of pupils or of cronies, one may ask?

5 We have completed a cycle of PPSMI. In 2008, the pioneer batch finished their Year Six. Yet last year, only 31.1% elected to answer the UPSR Science paper fully in English, while 68.9% opted to use Malay, or vernacular (Chinese/Tamil), or a combination of languages.

This rojak language feature is unheard of anywhere else in the world. Would a 12-year-old in England submit his Science answer script in a jumble of English-French-Urdu?

6 Close to 70 percent were not confident enough to sit the exam in English. In absolute numbers, that’s 352,641 pupils. It is mother tongue instruction that’s most effective for children as countless studies have shown. Unesco endorses this formulation. The European Union similarly adopts a mother tongue education policy.

7 Is it so incomprehensible to the vocally pro-PPSMI urbanites that English is alien to the majority of rural children?

Furthermore, Math and Science teachers who are themselves deficient in English will not help improve the pupil’s language command. In fact, a likely scenario is that kids will pick up English grammar mistakes from Cikgu during Math and Science periods.

Wrong to scapegoat BM

8 A most oft-cited argument in favour of PPSMI is that the bulk of reference material is in English. But we’re talking about seven year olds and 11 year olds. They don’t need to refer to advanced textbooks and academic papers.

They’re not required to write a thesis using English jargon. Foundation level Math and Science deals with basic concepts that can be explained just as well in BM or vernacular.

Even at ages 13 to 15, schoolgoers don’t specialise in Math and Science. Not everybody aspires to be a scientist.

9 Three scientists of Japanese ethnicity shared the 2008 Nobel Prize for their work in subatomic physics. They obtained their PhDs from Nagoya University and University of Tokyo. They learned their Math and Science in Japanese…I’m sure.

10 Let’s say that a science magazine discusses the field of their Nobel prize-winning endeavour with words like ‘particle accelerator/Large Hadron Collider’, ‘CP violation’ and ‘Higgs boson’. Mastery of English doesn’t necessarily help a Form Five student comprehend the contributions of the Japanese trio.

Only by being very good in Physics will the 17-year-old Malaysian find the article illuminating. English is not a magic key to unlocking scientific aptitude.

11 The problem with Malaysians doesn’t lie with the language of delivery. It lies with the passive education system, the teachers’ dispiriting approach and the by-rote exam structure (practise, practise, practise past year test papers, spot questions). These methods fail to foster a scientific mindset.

12 Impressive Math and Science scores in domestic exams do not automatically make Malaysia a great science and technology nation. Does Malaysia have the requisite technology base (except in the automotive industry thanks to Proton), flourishing R&D sector as well as incentives to absorb those future graduates who intend to do original research?

13 What’s the real value of an ‘A’ in the Malaysian exam system? The revamped PSSMI syllabus has been dumbed down compared to the BM curriculum it replaced.

14 Not only that, the GMP (movement to abolish PPSMI) has alleged that in order to cover up the failure of the policy, the Education Ministry has resorted to lowering the passing mark to 30 percent and thus beefing up the pass rate.

National language, national identity

15 Article 152 of the Federal Constitution makes Malay our national language. It is the language for ‘official purpose’, i.e. “any purpose of the Government, whether Federal or State, and includes any purpose of a public authority”. English has no official purpose in schools.

16 The Education Act says that the national language shall be the main medium of instruction in all educational institutions except Chinese and Tamil schools. It does not provide for the existence of English school.

UPSR in national school has six subjects; the core subjects Math, Science and second language are in English. To all intents and purposes English has become the medium of instruction. If the government insists on proceeding with PPSMI, it should amend the Constitution and change the law first.

17 In national-type schools similarly, the school’s Chinese character is lost while ‘doubling’ wastes precious time when Math and Science are taught overlapping in both English and Chinese.

Chinese primary schools are feeders to the independent Chinese high schools whose students take the UEC. This exam is recognised for entry to universities in Taiwan, China, Singapore, Australia and some European countries. PPSMI will kill the UEC, and seal off alternative avenues to higher education if students are incompetent in Chinese language.

18 PPSMI benefits the ‘haves’ and disadvantages the ‘have-nots’. Poor parents lack the resources for private tuition, not that there are tuition centres anyway in the rural and remote areas.

Nor are these parents capable of giving home tutoring as they themselves are not well-educated. And in settlements and long houses, children do not have access to facilities, computers and laboratories.

English-speaking parents desire the easier path paved by English access, otherwise their kids will have to adapt to English later at college level. What is advantageous to them comes at the expense of the majority losing out in Math and Science (see results). PSSMI shifts the burden to young rural children while those exposed to an English-speaking environment cruise ahead.

19 It is not for the greater good to penalise many to advance a few. Since 1982, all first degree courses have generally been taught in Malay at our public universities. For close to three decades, these tertiary institutions have been producing graduands who obtained their qualifications in Malay. We’re a Malay-speaking polity.

20 Finally, the standard of BM has risen in inverse correlation to the decline in the standard of English. Our socio-political milieu is undeniably Malay. Unless we’re willing to alienate ourselves in ethnic enclaves, it’s untenable to continue living in Malaysia if we do not encourage our children to be adept in Malay or at the very least, keep up.

PPSMI by sidelining the national language turns the accepted notion of nationhood on its head.

Part 2:

We have completed one cycle of PPSMI. In 2008, the pioneer batch that was taught Math and Science entirely in English finished their Year Six.

Yet last year, only 31.1% of Year Six pupils elected to answer the UPSR Science paper fully in English, while 68.9% opted to use Malay, or vernacular (Chinese/Tamil) or a combination of three languages (English-Malay-vernacular). Good grief! We’ve formally brought the Malaysian rojak culture into the classroom.

An unintended consequence of PPSMI is that of turning the UPSR haywire – its rojak language feature unheard of anywhere else in the world. A parallel would be, say, a 12-year-old in England submitting his Science answer script in a jumble of English-French-Urdu.

Close to 70 percent of Malaysian Year Sixers were not confident enough to sit the exam in English. In absolute numbers, 352,641 pupils.

Taiwan and Korea topped the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)* in 2007. Taiwanese and Korean children don’t learn Math and Science in English.

Hong Kong children taught in spoken-Cantonese and written-Chinese also ace Math and Science. On the other hand, Filipinos are fine in English. Do you ever hear that the Philippines is tops in Math and Science?

Two countries usually considered technological powerhouses are Germany and Japan. Imagine if German and Japanese children were to be taught Math and Science in English in order to improve their English as well as performance in both subjects.

I should hope that a Japanese Education Minister treating his country to such flawed reasoning would have the decency to commit harakiri.

Mother tongue is best

It is mother tongue instruction that’s most effective for children as countless studies have shown. Unesco endorses this formulation. The European Union similarly adopts a mother tongue education policy.

The majority of Malaysians speak Malay at home. Malay is more familiar to the Orang Asli and other indigenous peoples even if it is not their dialect, whereas English is alien. Our teachers’ language of competency is Malay. Our pupils are most conversant in Malay. (In vernacular schools, Chinese and Tamil.)

Is it so incomprehensible to urbanites that the majority of rural children don’t speak English at home? That the people around them don’t speak English? That even their older brothers and sisters who are college-age speak little or poor English?

The poor are unfamiliar with English, period. And education is the means of upward social mobility for the poor – their lifeline.

Furthermore, Math and Science teachers who are themselves deficient in English will not help improve their pupils’ language command. In fact, a likely scenario given the reality of Malaysia is that kids will pick up English grammar mistakes from Cikgu during Math and Science periods.

The most oft-cited argument in favour of PPSMI is that the bulk of reference material is in English.

But we’re talking about 7 year olds and 11 year olds. They don’t need to refer to advanced textbooks and academic papers which admittedly are in English. They’re not required to write a thesis using English jargon. Foundation level Math and Science deals with basic concepts that can be explained just as well in BM or vernacular.

Even at ages 13 to 15, schoolgoers don’t specialise in Math and Science. Not everybody aspires to be a scientist. Some kids when they grow up want to be a pet groomer or a landscape design consultant.

Not addressing the root cause

Three Japanese scientists shared the 2008 Nobel Prize for their work in subatomic physics. Two are nationals of Japan and the third an American citizen; the Japanese duo obtained their PhDs from Nagoya University while the Japanese-American from University of Tokyo. They learned their Math and Science in Japanese … I’m sure.

Let’s say that a science magazine discusses the field of their Nobel prize-winning research and uses descriptions like ‘particle accelerator/Large Hadron Collider’, ‘weak nuclear force’, ‘CP violation’ and ‘Higgs boson’.

Even though it’s generally true that in the international arena, scientific breakthroughs and cutting edge theories are articulated to the public at large through English, mastery of English doesn’t necessarily help a Form Five student comprehend the contributions of the Japanese trio.

Only by being very good in Physics will the 17-year-old Malaysian find the article illuminating. English is not a magic key to unlocking scientific aptitude. Making BM the scapegoat is grabbing hold of the wrong end of the stick.

The language of Math and Science is technical and precise. Following are the sort of sentences you would come across in a Chemistry lesson: “Fill test tube with ethanol” or “Immerse cotton wool ball in hydrochloric acid solution”. Biology and Physics are just as replete with glossary.

Not even those enamoured with English’s utility would claim that kids doing PPSMI are acquiring communication English useful in real life situations.

Emotional quotient (EQ) which reflects maturity is expressed through the richness of thought and nuances of language. The latter aspect (e.g. vocabulary, discursive skills) is better gleaned from the nature of the humanities subjects such as History, Literature, etc., and not from the terminology and formulae of Science and Math.

One way to lift academic standards in Math and Science is by fostering methodical and rational thinking, and promoting academic rigour.

The problem with Malaysians doesn’t lie with the language of delivery. It lies with the rigid, passive education system, the teachers’ dull, dispiriting approach and the by-rote exam structure (practise, practise, practise past year test papers, spot questions). These methods do not inculcate in children such traits that are the attributes of a scientific mindset.

What’s the real issue?

What is it that we really desire out of PPSMI? Impressive Math and Science scores in domestic exams do not automatically make Malaysia a great science and technology country.

In fact, the GMP (movement to abolish PPSMI) has alleged that in order to cover up the failure of the policy, the Education Ministry has resorted to lowering the passing mark in Math and Science to 30 percent and thus beefing up the pass rate.

Not only that, the revamped syllabus for Math and Science has been dumbed down to accommodate the stragglers. Consequently, the bright students are not stretched or challenged.

Well, Malaysia produced an SPM student who scored 21As and a clutch of others with almost as many distinctions. What’s the value of Malaysia-calibrated stratospheric achievements? It’s only jaguh kampung, akin to ‘Wira Angkasawan’ but ‘Malaysian space tourist’ to the rest of the world.

Even if we self-arbitrate that our Math and Science students are prodigies par excellence, does the country have the requisite technology base (except in the automotive industry thanks to Proton), flourishing R&D sector as well as incentives to absorb those future graduates who intend to do original research?

Registered patents are one indicator of technology advancement, i.e. which countries are inventing new things. In Japan, 27,230 patents were filed in 2007. In the corresponding year, Malaysia recorded 93 (see table).

For further comparison, Singapore: 443, USA: 52,969. Singapore places an emphasis on English medium education but it’s the intellectual climate in the States that makes Americans far more inventive than Singaporeans.

So looking mistily ahead, we might dream about creating a breed of Malaysian scientists and mathematicians taught in English. In the here-and-now, we’re losing hordes of children who don’t even have a passable grounding in Math and Science due to PPSMI. Yang dikejar tak dapat, yang dikendong berciciran.

The law on this

Under the provisions of Article 152 of the Federal Constitution, Malay is the national language.

It is also the language for ‘official purpose’, i.e. “any purpose of the Government, whether Federal or State, and includes any purpose of a public authority”. Hence, English has no official purpose in schools.

The Education Act says that the national language shall be the main medium of instruction in all educational institutions except a national-type school, that is, except Chinese and Tamil schools.

Following are the UPSR subjects: Bahasa Malaysia Pemahaman (comprehension) & Penulisan (writing), Bahasa Inggeris, Kajian Tempatan, Matematik, Sains. The latter two taught in English, plus English itself as a language paper, add up to three subjects in English.

Apart from Islam and BM as language subject, there is only one other subject in Malay. In Chinese schools, Math and Science in English will sharply curtail the amount of time immersing in the mother tongue.

What then becomes of the Chinese character of national-type schools? Don’t forget that the Education Act allows for Chinese school; it does not permit the existence of English school.

These Chinese primary schools are feeders to the 60-plus independent Chinese high schools whose students take the UEC. This exam is recognised as the entrance qualification for universities in Taiwan, China, Singapore, Australia and some European countries. Math and Science in English will kill the UEC, and seal off alternative avenues to higher education if students are incompetent in Chinese language.

Also, the PPSMI format practically negates Malay as the medium of instruction gazetted in the Education Act while to all intents and purposes English has become the medium of instruction for the core subjects. This development turns the accepted notion of our cherished nationhood – which national language is the chief marker – on its head.

If the government still insists on continuing with PPSMI, it should amend the Constitution and change the law first.

So what’s my beef?

The sorts of accusation levelled against those opposed to PPSMI are ‘Malay ultra’, ‘language chauvinist’, ‘knowledge-shy’ or ‘anti-English’. These labels do not apply to me, and I was a Science student who sat Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Additional Mathematics in the SPM.

I’m against Math and Science in English because of the way it is being done. It hurts the majority of children. Pupils at national-type school ‘double’, wasting precious time on Math and Science in overlapping timetables both English and Chinese.

PPSMI is an ill-conceived policy ill-suited to Malaysia’s realpolitik conditions. Its implementation is helter-skelter. Bottomline: Simply not viable.

I see the issue in class terms: PPSMI benefits the ‘haves’ and disadvantages the ‘have-nots’. The smart ones get smarter, the ones already backward fall further behind. How else to view the RM3.2 billion worth ICT equipment purchased under the PPSMI project when some schools don’t have enough classrooms or even electricity?

With English, a small segment that might later pursue tertiary studies requiring Math and Science expertise will have an easier path. But English impedes a greater number of youngsters who find the language barrier hampering their fundamental understanding and interest in Math and Science.

The trade-off in cost is extracted from those with a poorer socio-economic background.

Their parents lack the resources for private tuition, not that there are tuition centres anyway in the rural and remote areas. Nor are these parents capable of giving home tutoring as they themselves are not well-educated. And in settlements and long houses, children do not have access to facilities, computers and laboratories.

The question, thus, is one of the greater good. With PPSMI, children whose parents are vocally pro-English will naturally do better. But PPSMI is at the expense of the majority losing out in Math and Science, in addition to their English not getting any better. Local studies have shown that PPSMI is damaging. (See box below).

If the worry is about English, then the upper middle-class and professional strata should improve their children’s English after school hours rather than inadvertently punish the majority of Malay and vernacular speakers. If the concern is about Math and Science, then privileged kids will just have to make an extra effort at matriculation and tertiary level.

Retrogressive to nationbuilding

Since 1982, all first degree courses have generally been taught in Malay at our public universities. For close to three decades, these tertiary institutions have been producing graduands who obtained their qualifications in Malay.

Under PSSMI, the burden is emphatically placed on young children, not on the late teens who may wish to specialise in Math and Science. Not only is this unfair and unconscionable, it makes no sense.

Finally, the standard of BM has risen in inverse correlation to the decline in the standard of English. Even the UPSR BM paper for 12 year olds is of a high degree of difficulty.

If we belong to the minority groups, we have to remember that we’re residing in the Malay archipelago. Our socio-political milieu is undeniably Malay. Unless we’re willing to alienate ourselves in ethnic enclaves, it’s untenable to continue living in Malaysia if we do not encourage our children to be adept in Malay or at the very least, keep up.

Malay culture steeped in the Malay language expresses the soul of our country. Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa.

GMP chairman, former director of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Dr Hassan Ahmad, sums up best: “What we know is that there is no race in the world that has shaped its culture and civilization, art, literature, philosophy of life, myth, worldview and corpus of knowledge through the language of another people”.

As Anak Bangsa Malaysia, we have no choice but to respect Article 152.

Teen spirits

2009-07-08T11:45:00.004+08:00

LETHAL LESSON AND OTHER STORIES by Adeline Lee Zhia Ern (Silverfish, 2009, 175 pages)

Adeline Lee is not the first teenager to publish a book this year. A few weeks ago we talked of Nik Nur Mahidah, also 18, who shared her spiritual and motivational tips on how we can, like her, get 20As for SPM.

(What happened to all the boys? Are they all wannabe rempit and ah long who aren’t interested in the written word? There’s just no hope for some folks, I tell ya.)

Aside from their age and the determination that these two self-possessed young women display, I wonder if there are any other resemblances? The story in Lethal Lesson that reminded me most of Nik Nur Madihah’s memoir is “A Father’s Love,” because the titular parent happens to be a fisherman as well. But Lee’s is a slightly darker vision: the father is a compulsive gambler who thinks that education is wasted on mere girls.

Lee’s book is fiction rather than fact, and since I don’t know her I can’t presume to know how much is autobiographical. But this is a wonderfully assured debut.

I was a little wary of the first story, “I love you grandma.” A 91-year old reminisces about her life, but isn’t it odd that she describes cinema buildings of the 1940s as being ‘old and dilapidated’? Surely they seem so now, but wouldn’t they have been brand-new then? Ah, but she’s on her deathbed, so maybe the medication is doing things to her.

A much more successful grandma’s-eye story is “Belonging Somewhere,” which might just be the strongest piece here. A different old woman (albeit a sprightlier 82) was born in China and came to Malaya decades ago, but still finds it hard to adapt. She’s aghast at the way her granddaughter “used to speak Hokkien, but the dialect has slowly disappeared from her vocabulary, like colour fading from a frequently washed shirt.”

Against the inflammatory and politically bankrupt rhetoric of kaum pendatang, this story brings to vivid life, with well-rounded characters, the hard choices and compromises that have been made by all of us. The story is also significant for being the only one with a supporting character who is not Chinese: the old woman’s daughter is dating someone named Kassim. (I don’t know if Lee consciously chose this name to evoke the film Ibu Mertuaku, where another Kassim didn’t get along with his mother-in-law either, but with more tragic results).

Many of the stories take place in Ipoh (where Lee lives), but this isn’t the multiracial milieu of Yasmin Ahmad’s films or Lat’s Town Boy. In that sense, it does bear a striking resemblance to the exclusive ethnic enclave of Nik Nur Madihah’s Kelantan.

Another of my favourites is “Imaginary”, an old-fashioned ghost story that evokes The Turn of the Screw. The chills and familial tensions are superbly controlled; I can see the J-horror remake right now.

Most of the stories are very much grounded in the realism of multi-generational families. Only a couple, like “Mermaid” and the title story “Lethal Lesson” push forth into more fanciful territory; the former has a scaly creature much less lovely than Maya Karin in Duyung, and the latter has girl assassins!

I think she evokes various situations pretty well, but the stories of school have a particular resonance. Her school-going protagonists don’t have much luck: she ranges from fat and dangerous (”The evil one”) to being mildly insecure at not getting straight As (“The Score”). I don’t know if reading Nik Nur Madihah’s book would help them, though.

Lee can also portray something that not many writers, of any age, can do well: happiness. A teenager being nice to a neglected man in an old folks’ home, or a young mother speaking to her infant (who chooses to “look silly” only when a snootily judgemental adult visits), a moth being set free – these are the colours we should celebrate.

The fact that she injects these little shots of happiness without too much sentimentality is already a gift. But her palette is richer than that. To use a reference from before her time: The future’s so bright, she’s gotta wear shades.

(Malay Mail, 8 July)

Tourists and other animals

2009-07-01T11:50:00.004+08:00

PEEING IN THE BUSH by Adeline Loh (MPH, 213 pages, 2009)

I never knew that hippos were the deadliest animals in the world (after you discount those nasty mosquitoes). Deadliest to humans, that is: 200 of us are killed by those beasts every year.

Luckily for us, Adeline Loh did not become a gruesome statistic. Although she does entertain many premonitions of gristly death by means of mammal, reptile and man-made vehicle, she survived her one-month adventure holiday in Southern Africa to deliver this chortling account.

I don’t read many travel books, but this has got to be one of the funniest around. The comedy comes from her cheerfully irreverent approach to life. She has a sidekick, too: Chan, a much more cautious woman (a vegetarian, to boot), whose restraint acts as counterpoint to Loh’s desire to try everything at least once.

Loh’s special gift is comic similes. Her overstuffed knapsack made her “bend over like a 90-year old with a hernia,” while Chan’s standard garb of scarf and sunglasses made her like “like she was secretly trailing her adulterous husband.” Bathos also stops the book from sliding into the kind of sonorous voice-over that you get from travel documentaries; for example, standing by the great Victoria Falls is like “being showered upon by a permanently depressed giant aerosol can.”

The descriptions of animals and their anthropomorphic peccadilloes are another highlight, although I still don’t think I can tell an impala from a puku. My favourite is the endangered white rhino who refused to develop an Oedipus complex.

It isn’t all funny ha-ha. Zambia is one of the 12 poorest nations in the world, and more than 15% of its population has HIV. (But almost everyone speaks English, so you wonder where our own government got the idea that this language is somehow a prerequisite to la dolce vita.) The tone doesn’t shift jarringly to the deadeningly solemn when she discusses the sadder side of life there, but the lingering lightness is more honest, and more indicative of the human resilience she sees around her.

Does tourism encourage empathy or distance? Are there discomforting similarities to colonialism? For example, Victoria Falls itself existed and was known to natives of the area long before Dr. Livingstone “discovered” it and named it after his queen, an irony Loh is aware of. Most of the locals she encounters are trying, in one way or another, to get some money from her, so that presents a necessarily distorted sample.

At the end of the day, this book is less ‘about’ Zambia than about an assorted menagerie that any tourist will not only encounter but become part of. The animal kingdom is varied enough; there are also the shifty guides, the would-be Lotharios, the reckless drivers, but also people from faraway countries who feel the inexplicable need to ‘find’ themselves by, well, getting lost. Perhaps the latter group is the weirdest of all, but everyone exists in mutual, and mostly agreeable, dependence.

Hence the emphasis on toilet functions, evident right in the title. At the end of the day, all of us, whether from the First, Third or ‘developing’ world, need a place to pee. And when there’s nowhere more convenient, the bushes that have served our animal cousins will do the same for us.

It’s a bawdy, democratic vision but the book stays clear of overt political correctness by broad, often nationalistic, caricatures: when they are at their most disheveled, the two women feel like “Indonesian housemaids” when lining up for food with an atypically smart urban crowd. (I winced at that, I must admit. But at least she, unlike most of us, thinks that these women deserve a day off to eat outside in the first place!)

Driving back from KLIA, her senses seem permanently changed – at least, until the next adventure. Wherever and whenever that will be, I want to be in for the ride.

(Malay Mail, 1 July)

... which isn't, of course, to say that I agree with everything Nik Aziz says

2009-06-26T17:47:00.007+08:00

Just because I wrote a nice review of his book two days ago, I am not one of those who think that any politician is ever maksum (without sin); on the contrary, politicians -- who are ever-conscious of playing to the gallery -- are, as a species, guiltier than most of us when it comes to dodgy statements.

The fact that Nik Aziz himself has 10 pages in the combined volumes of Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things proves that he is not, and should never be, exempt from the scrutiny we devote to the rest of his tribe.

I concur with the statement by Parti Sosialis Malaysia below. I should also add that PAS itself, especially in the 1960s, had 'socialist' tendencies or at least sympathies too. I recommend Chapter 2 of Islam Embedded for further reading.

With all due respect to the PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, PSM condemns his statement likening UMNO has a socialist party because it rejects Islam. The spiritual leader should know better about socialism before making such a comment. Unfortunately Nik Aziz too has fallen into the same trap of the Barisan Nasional government to demonise socialism. The ruling government has successfully condemned socialism and labelled it as anti religion for a long time.

Socialism does not propagate anti religion or violence. Socialism is the only ideology and economic model that challenges capitalism. The capitalist BN government realises this fact , and thus will go all out to bad mouth socialism in an attempt to shield away the genuine principles of socialism from the rakyat.

In brief socialism stands for a classless society where there will be no oppressor and oppresed. The resources of nation should be shared with the rakyat and not controlled by a few capitalists. Socialism stresses on workers struggle so that the production wealth of the nation benefits the rakyat .Workers should be paid decent wages, and their rights be taken care of escpecially during economic crisis.

Socialism is against privatisation of public facilities such as water, electricity, health and education. The current problems with Barisan Nasional-led neoliberal policies since the reign of Tun Mahathir has left the rakyat paying for his privatisation policies.

Enough of demonising socialism! The wise PAS spiritual leader should understand this and refrain from accusing socialism of being anti religion if he does not understand the true principles of socialism.

A. Sivarajan

National Treasurer
Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)

TAXI TALES update

2009-06-25T13:41:00.007+08:00

I am so happy that I published Taxi Tales on a Crooked Bridge. It has shifted 2,000 units and is selling 5 copies in Singapore for every 4 copies here, so I guess this counts as our first 'international book!' (Alas, 'international bestseller' would be more than a mite presumptuous).

It's the sort of thing that I set up Matahari Books to take on: creative non-fiction that is not composed of microwaved articles from a newspaper column. I am glad that a young Singaporean filmmaker was so inspired by the book that he plans to make a documentary about his own conversations with taxi drivers. If this comes to light, I hope we can share it here.

There have been suggestions to do a Malaysian version, but honestly, how can you write about Malaysian taxis without covering the whole page in unbecoming expletives? More appropriate would be a book on taking the LRT, or even hanging out in different shopping malls. Any takers?

In the meantime, heeeere's Charlene:

Tomyam and theocracy

2009-06-24T12:09:00.002+08:00

TELAGA BUDI by Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, edited by Annual Bakri Haron (Anbakri, 2009, 218 pages)

I recently attended a ‘live’ talk by Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, even though there was no by-election in sight. It was on a Kota Bahru street on a Friday morning. He spoke for almost an hour but thousands of people stayed put.

It’s a weekly ritual known as sekolah atas tembok, which in this context translates to mean ‘school on the street’ rather than ‘school on a concrete wall’. He didn’t have to raise his voice; the 78-year old is a skilled orator who makes people want to stay quieter in case they miss something. He made them laugh, make them nod and kept them keen.

I initially thought this book was a collection of speeches by the PAS Spiritual Adviser and Kelantan Chief Minister, but it’s rather different. His actual words consist mainly of 29 things that he has said. Each saying is then placed at the beginning of each chapter as an aphorism; a well of wisdom, as it were, which the editor then draws upon. Some of the homely wit then becomes dissipated in favour of literal explication.

His gift is his ability to talk about politics and religion (and he belongs firmly in the camp of those who do not ostensibly separate between the two) in images that are rooted in everyday lived experience. Take this: “When our wife cooks tomyam, she didn’t create the salt, carrot, chicken, or water; she merely arranges these existing ingredients into a pot.”

This isn’t some sexist attempt to discredit the poor woman’s cooking. It relates to how people must always be conscious that everything around us is on loan from the Creator. And so tomyam gets placed in its theocratic context.

There are few politicians who’ve had not only his staying power but enduring appeal. (Take a look at the upper echelons of, say, the MIC, to see that ‘staying power’ and ‘enduring appeal’ don’t always go together). Although he might shun such a comparison to a Shiite leader, the prevalence of his pictures in Kelantan shops and houses can only be compared to how Khomeini was once used as an emblem of resistance.

The only quote from him that doesn’t get extra explication here starts with: “I am scared of worldly titles like Yang Amat Berhormat (Most Honourable), because in the Afterlife it might become the reverse.” Another example is Yang Amat Arif (The Most Learned) becoming Yang Amat Bebal (The Most Stupid).

Speaking of ‘worldly titles’: his humble lifestyle is a big reason for his popularity, but there’s something more. Anyone who has been to a boarding school can see how Kelantan Malay guys would always band together and create almost an autonomous entity. It’s not for nothing that the only local film title of recent years to actually reference a State happens to be Budak Kelantan – and this is a state with no cinemas!

This desire to be seen as different also extends to politics. Be that as it may, an interesting creative tension emerges when you realise that, in his speeches and this book, he rejects the idea of communal separation on the basis of ethnicity or locality. Ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy), for example, is an assabiyah (tribalist) concept, and contemptible because of that.

What I mean by creative tension is that this universality is consciously articulated in a vernacular that is local (Kelantanese) and proudly so. This isn’t hypocrisy but what the sociologists among us would call ‘local genius.’ More than any other PAS leader at present (the only contender would have been the late Fadzil Noor and, further back in its illustrious past, the more towering figure of Burhanuddin al-Helmy) he has never seemed to be a mere politician, but the embodiment of a certain hope, a certain dignity.

That’s why politicians from the other side of the fence who go and promise to bless the State with ‘development’ seem hilariously off the mark. People there already feel quite blessed, thank you very much!

(Malay Mail, 24 June)

I am presenting one of my fave movies on July 6, talaga!

2009-06-22T14:51:00.007+08:00

Not that I have ever done such a thing, but if I were to compile a list of, say, my 20 favourite films of all time, I betcha at least 3 of them will be Filipino. There's Lino Brocka's Insiang. There's Lav Diaz's Batang West Side. And then (this is where you can come in), there's ...

MONDAY NIGHT MOVIE presents HIMALA

Selected and introduced by Amir Muhammad

Film Screening

Mon 6 July, 8pm

Presented by The Annexe Gallery

Admission Free, bring your own snacks

Monday Night Movie is a new series of monthly film screenings at The Annexe Gallery, with titles chosen and introduced by guest curators.

Our first title, chosen by filmmaker/writer/publisher Amir Muhammad, is Himala (“Miracle”, 1982) an award-winning Filipino film directed by the late Philippine National Artist Ishmael Bernal. Based on a 1967 incident and news report, Himala tells the story of Elsa, a barrio lass whose visions of the Virgin Mary changes her life and causes hysteria in a poor, isolated village. The film is centered on the issues of religious faith and faithlessness. The film stars Philippine superstar Nora Aunor in the leading role.

The movie premiered at the 1982 Metro Manila Film Festival, and in 1983, became the first – and so far the only – Filipino film to be included in the "Competition Section" of the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival. Since then, Himala has been exhibited in a number of film festivals around the world. In 2008, Himala won the 2008 CNN Asia Pacific Screen Awards Viewers Choice Award for Best Asia-Pacific Film of all Time.

You can confirm on Facebook :-)

New Malaysian Essays 2: details, launch, pre-order

2009-06-19T11:20:00.009+08:00

Title: New Malaysian Essays 2
Editor: Amir Muhammad
Publisher: Matahari Books
ISBN: 9789834359683
Pages: 288
Price: RM36 (Malaysia) / US$24 (Amazon)

Synopsis: NME2 is bigger and maybe more badass than the first. Shanon Shah squarely faces the politics of religion and Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi critiques 'power architecture', a subject Ridhwan Saidi also handles with witty immediacy. We then take in Amir Sharipuddin's journal of National Service, Yusuf Martin's amusing rant on the Americanisation (or is that Americanization?) of popular culture, Amir Muhammad's views on royalty, Ann Lee's secret history of leprosy, and Danny Lim's photo-essay on our newly-regained love for public demonstrations. As night falls, Andrew Ng and Jac sm Kee play twin tributes to the female undead that not only scare us but help define us.

Launch Date: The 4th of July! Those of you who will read Yusuf Martin's essay will appreciate the irony of the date.

We are having a barbecue house party to celebrate the arrival of this book. It's at 22 Lorong Rahim Kajai 13, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail. (This is the side of TTDI that is closer to the primary school than to the Pizza Hut). It starts at 8pm and ends at 11pm and the date once again is the 4th of July, which is a Saturday.

Simultaneously launching will be Elarti:ga, the latest publication by Stormkitchen. Come early to get the best cuts of meat! (If you're vegetarian, come whenever).

You can confirm on Facebook.

If you can't make it to the launch party but wanna get autographed copies, you can pre-order now! Bank in RM36 (free shipping within Malaysia) to Maybank 014105120512 (Amir Muhammad) by 3 July. Then email your name and address to matahari.books@gmail.com . The books will be signed by the writers at the launch and posted on 6 July.

It will start reaching bookshops the weekend of 18/19 July, though some will take longer.

10 pages from NME2

2009-06-18T09:53:00.004+08:00

New Malaysian Essays 2 has ten writers, up from six for the first book. Average length of each essay is 26 pages. Full kudos to Liza Manshoor of Eclectic Design for the layout!

From The Khutbah Diaries by Shanon Shah:

From The Architecture of Putrajaya by Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi:

Daripada: Hari-Hari Terakhir Seorang Flâneur oleh Ridhwan Saidi:

From Aku, Hang & Demo by Danny Lim:

From Of Jackfruit and Kings by Amir Muhammad:

From The Theme Park of Pulau Jerejak by Ann Lee:

From Blue, Black & White: How I Survived National Service by Amir Sharipuddin:

From Colourful Language by Yusuf Martin:

From A Cultural History of the Pontianak Films by Andrew Ng:

From Boundary Monsters in a Time of Magic by Jac sm Kee:

Why you so like that ah?

2009-06-17T12:12:00.000+08:00

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MALAYSIANS AND SINGAPOREANS by Ravi Veloo & Cheng Puay Koon (Media Campus, 2002, 98 pages)

Back in the late 90s, I worked for a few months in Singapore. One of the things that I remember startling me was a billboard, visible from my HDB flat, created out of the winning artwork of a kindergarten-level competition. It showed a bunch of shiny, happy people, but it came with the multicoloured crayon tagline “Low crime doesn’t mean no crime!”

Heavens! Is this what Singaporean children had on their minds? Although there was much to enjoy in the republic, I knew that I had been staying too long when, in the middle of the night, I found myself waiting patiently for the red light to change before crossing the road. There were no cars in sight, but I somehow knew I was being watched, and I so wanted to be a good resident! I never would have been so vigilant in dear, dirty KL.

But listen to me prattle on; I am sure you have your own anecdotes. In the decades since Separation, many sly digs have flown across the Causeway and Second Link. Singaporeans are supposed to be regimented, humourless, materialistic, while we are, well, I am sure you can figure those out for yourselves! We each had one now-octogenarian patriarch, and we weren’t afraid to use them.

The Difference Between Malaysians and Singaporeans, by a Singaporean man and a Malaysian woman, doesn’t offer much that’s new, but offers a few comfortable chortles. Each illustrated spread operates on the principle of juxtaposition: on the left page, we have what “Malaysians” do, and on the right side what “Singaporeans” do.

To say that it trades in stereotypes would be like tearing open a box of chocolates to complain it doesn’t contain cabbage. But the stereotypes are sometimes inverted: for example, “Singaporeans’ favourite dish” is chicken rice, while “Malaysians’ favourite dish” is ASTRO. Then the next spread returns to the expected: “What Malaysians think chicken looks like” is an actual thing with feathers, while the Singaporean equivalent is a box of chicken stock.

I wonder if that sort of competitive but grudging camaraderie is starting to break up. Each country now has more and more citizens who weren’t born on these shores – Singapore recruits foreign talent to stay cutting-edge, while we haul in new citizens, especially in Sabah, to help with election prospects. (That’s an amusing new juxtaposition right there).

So maybe the shared vocabulary (kiasu, chewing gum, ethnic quotas, water, and so on) is no longer as, well, shared as it used to be. We might start just thinking of one another as shopping destinations, without the contextual baggage of a common, and sometimes mildly acrimonious, history. (Of course it has been mild. It wasn’t Singapore, but another neighbouring country, that once sent in the troops!)

The fun is mostly slapstick but often pointed. The very last couplet contrasts the ethnic discrimination in both countries. It would have been easy (the book is printed in Singapore) to say that the republic is race-blind, but there’s instead an acknowledgment that some pigs, I mean people, are more equal than others. Which isn’t, of course, to say that two wrongs make a right.

I will end with yet another personal anecdote (I can’t get enough!) My latest documentary Malaysian Gods was passed by our own Censorship Board but with the bizarre condition that it “cannot be screened in cinemas or TV.” While the Singaporeans passed it, allowed one screening, but insisted on a police permit for me to talk there. So if I were asked, “Is the Malaysian system illogical, while the Singapore system uptight?” I would say, “Sure! Now let’s enjoy the rest of our lives.”

The book is now sadly out-of-print. Perhaps an expanded edition taking into account the changes since 2002 would be in order. For starters, the PAS that is painted here (“radical and extremist…firebrand”) isn’t really as frightening to Malaysians now. To explain why would require another book, with or without cartoons. And that’s what we will do next week.

(Malay Mail, 17 June)

Index for NME2

2009-06-16T22:07:00.005+08:00

As was the case with NME1, we had a lot of fun creating the Index for New Malaysian Essays 2. Just looking at all these names and titles, and how they rub up against one another, is enough to spark off all sorts of imaginative tangents.

2000AD (comic book) 209

Abdul Hadi Awang 52, 59

Abdul Razak Hussein 185

Abu Huraira 20, 24

Abul A’la Maududi 59

Abu Sa’id al-Khudri 26

Adam (first man) 23, 270

Adorno, Theodore 137

Adventures of Superman, The (TV series) 206

Ahmad ibn Hanbal 22

Aku Cinta Padamu (song) 118

Alice (hot babe) 173, 184, 186, 188

Allah 16, 19, 20, 21, 24, 26, 27, 29, 34, 38

Amina Wadud 37, 39

Anak Pontianak (film) 215, 218, 221, 222, 225, 228, 254

An-Nasa’i 23, 26

Anwar Ibrahim 57, 59, 127

Anwar Ridhwan 9

A. Samad Ismail 11

Barks, Carl 205

Baudelaire, Charles 9

BBC (TV channel) 275

Berita Harian (newspaper) 251

Bible, The (book) 24, 139

Bin Jidan 75

Bohsia: Jangan Pilih Jalan Hitam (film) 123

Bourgeois, Louise 151

Bukhari 21,22,23,24

Burchill, Julie 10

Bürger, Gottfried August 255

Burgess, Anthony 123

Bush, George W. 250

Cameron, Mike 209

Carroll, Lewis 9

Che Det (blog) 119

Chin Peng 124

Chow Kon Yeow 158

Cindai (song) 118

Cool Hand Luke (film) 200

Corbusier, Le 49

Dang Anum 120

Dendam Pontianak (film) 218, 254

Derrida, Jacques 202

Dewa (not the band) 75, 77

Dewi Murni (film) 120

Diana Naim 118

Discovery Science (TV Channel) 275

Disneyland 134, 135, 150, 157, 158

Dracula (book) 255, 257

Eastern Time (newspaper) 256

Economist, The (magazine) 278

Facebook (website) 38, 196

Farish A. Noor 136

Few Good Men, A (film) 199

Fountain of Youth, The (TV series) 205

Full Metal Jacket (film) 180

Gibran, Khalil 78

Gibson, Mel 205

God 8, 18, 23, 34, 120, 127, 128, 129, 148, 242, 254

Godfather, The (film) 204

Gone with the Wind (film) 211

Google (website) 128, 196, 252

Grudge, The (film) 264

Hafiz (Mat Rempit) 164, 166, 171

Hamid Bond 230, 232

Hang Jebat 125, 135

Hang Jebat (film) 125

Hang Nadim 122

Hang Tuah 135

Hansen, GA 138, 142

Hawa (first woman) 270

Hemingway, Ernest 7

Heston, Charlton 205

Horn, Roni 151

Hussein Haniff 125

Independent, The (newspaper) 129

Interview with a Vampire (book) 255

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The (film) 205

Ismail Talib 238, 239

Jalaluddin Hassan 240

Jesus Christ 34, 36

Jimmy 75, 77

Jins Shamsuddin 215, 221

Jolie, Angelina 130

Jonas Brothers 193

Joshua-Raghavar, A 150

Kang Kang (bully victim) 179, 180, 187

Kassim Ahmad 125

Khalid Abu Bakar 26

Khir Toyo 269

Khoo Gaik Cheng 237

Khoo Kay Kim 136

Kimberly (lord) 142

Kit, Sivin 34, 38

Konsep Perbandaran Islam: Suatu Gagasan Alternatif (book) 51

Ku Milikmu (song) 118

Lat 195

Layar Lara (film) 242

Lenore (book) 255

Little House on the Prairie (TV show) 31

Lloyd Wright, Frank 49, 50

Lots of Lat (book) 195

Mahathir Mohamad, Dr. 52, 56, 57, 119

Malayan Trilogy, The (book) 123

Malay Magic (book) 215, 254

Malay Mail (newspaper) 131, 282

Malaysian Book of the Undead, The (book) 10

Malik ibn Anas 21

Maltese Falcon, The (film) 207

Mandela, Nelson 155

Manohara Odelia Pinot 119

Maria Menado 232, 233, 254

Marx, Groucho 79

Mastika (magazine) 255

Matinya Seorang Pahlawan (play) 125

Mawi 118, 123

McDonald, Ronald (imperialist clown) 207

Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi 71

Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin 40

Muhammad (prophet) 20, 21, 25, 28

Muhammad Haji Salleh 196, 198, 199, 200

Munslow, Alan 137

Musa Hassan 25

Muslim 21, 22, 26

Mussolini, Benito 8

MySpace (website) 196

Najib Razak 10

National Geographic (TV channel) 255

Negaraku (song) 170

Nelson, Horatio 184

Network (film) 195

New Straits Times (NST) (newspaper) 134, 157, 281

New York Times, The (newspaper) 119

New York World (newspaper) 205

Nilam (film) 120

NTV7 (TV channel) 275

Nurul Izzah Anwar 126

Ong, Aihwa 236

Onn Jaafar 123

On the Waterfront (film) 211

Pak Lah (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) 185

Pan Jit Huan 142

Pontianak (lost1957 film) 218

Pontianak (lame 1975 film) 228

Pontianak Gua Musang (film) 218, 223, 224, 225, 226, 254

Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam (film) 216, 218, 234, 235, 236, 238, 242, 255, 261, 268

Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam II (film) 218, 242

Pontianak Kembali (film) 218, 254

Pontianak Menjerit (film) 218, 240, 241

P. Ramlee 195

Presley, Elvis 195

Prophet, The (book) 78

Pulitzer, Joseph 205

Pusaka Pontianak (film) 218, 226, 240, 254

Puteri Gunung Ledang (film) 121

Quran, Al (book) 21, 24, 28, 34, 41, 129, 233, 264

Raja Bersiong (film) 122, 128

Rajagopalan. Dr. K 150

Raja Petra Kamarudin 96

Ramdan (dog) 76, 77

Reeves, George 206

Rice, Anne 255

Ricoeur, Paul 202

Ring, The (film) 253, 264, 279

Rosdan Abdul Manan 51

Rowing Down Two Rivers (book) 198, 200

RTM 16, 254

Rustam A. Sani 11

Safwan bin Salim 24

Samy Vellu, S. 126

Santayana, George 137

Saw, Patrick 9

Schwarzenegger, Arnold 193

Sejarah Malaysia (book) 278

Selubung (film) 242

Seyyed Hossein Nasr 28

Shabery Cheek 271

Shahrum Yub 151

Sheikh Ali Gomaa 39

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Dr. 267

Shuhaimi Baba 255, 261

Shuster, Joe 206

Siegel, Jerry 206

Siti Nurhaliza 118, 119

Skeat, William Walter 215, 254

Spong, John Shelby 38, 40

Star Spangled Banner, The (song) 205

Star, The (newspaper) 163, 164, 251, 281, 283

Star Wars (film) 203

Steinbeck, John 162

Stoker, Bram 255

Suharto 126

Sumpah Pontianak (film) 218, 219, 221, 222, 254

Sun, The (newspaper) 7, 282

Susuk (film) 118

Sweet Valley High (books) 247

Syarif Abdurrahman Al-Qadri 256

Syed Hussein Alatas 203, 204

Tan Hoon Cheng 96

Taxi Driver (film) 196

Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor 252

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (film) 210

Tukar Tiub (blog) 76

Tunku Abdul Rahman 52, 54, 122

Tunku Halim 216

Twitter (website) 8

Umar al-Khattab 59

Uthayakumar, P. 111

V for Vendetta (film) 30

Viz (comic book) 208

Walrus and the Carpenter, The (poem) 9

Wazir Jahan Karim 236

Welles, Orson 205

White Heat (film) 211

Wikipedia (website) 248, 278

Wilkinson, RJ 121

Wizard of Oz, The (film) 193

Wong Chin Huat 130

Yap, Brian 7

Yeoh, Tricia 32

Youtube (website) 76, 274

Zahid Hamidi 25

Zaitun (Toni) Kasim 11, 40

Inspector Singh is in the house

2009-06-15T10:56:00.009+08:00

Regular readers of this blog (yes, both of you) might remember my review of Shamini Flint's crime novel Criminal Minds back in November. Although I didn't like the title and packaging, the murder mystery itself was very entertaining: it had wit, suspense and some colourful Malaysian characters. I ended by saying:

The UK publisher, bless them, has re-titled this book Inspector Singh Investigates – A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder, and it will be re-released next year. I look forward to reading it again, with the inevitably nicer cover.

Well, I was telling you no lie. The UK edition of the book is already out (check out this short review from The Guardian), and it has reached our shores:

Criminal Minds was published under her own company (registered in Singapore, where she lives) and now that a bigger international publisher has the rights, she can no longer sell the first version. So despite my mild knetch about its cover, I am happy that I not only own but wrote about a book that is now destined to be a collector's edition.

There will be promo activities in KL, I gather. You can join her Facebook fan-page to find out more. I wish the Inspector Singh series, as well as her various other books, all the best!

NME1 eligible for popular award

2009-06-14T11:09:00.009+08:00

The Star-Popular Readers Choice Awards is back! This is a bit like the Anugerah Bintang Popular that Siti Nurhaliza keeps winning, but it's for books, ahem!

I am mildly gobsmacked to see that New Malaysian Essays 1 was one of the ten best-selling books (in the category of local English non-fiction) for last year. This is because it sold only 2,000 copies lah.

The full list of eligible titles is here.

The final 3 winners will be decided through ballots that are available in all 62 of the Popular book outlets from now till 15 July.

Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things (Vol 1) was eligible the year before and got 3rd place. But as they say through gritted teeth in La-La Land, it's a pleasure to even be nominated, really it is.

GADOH made me understand something I've wondered about for over two decades

2009-06-13T10:43:00.008+08:00

At the film screening last night, quite a few of the cast and crew explained that they they got out from the racist mindset that they were raised and schooled in when they got involved in theatre.

Of course, you can say that this is luvvie propaganda.

But then I suddenly remembered how the Education Ministry (then headed by Anwar Ibrahim, who was also a big cheese in UMNO) ceased drama competitions in national schools in the 1980s. We all though it was due to some sanctimonious squeamishness (after, theatre sometimes involves *gasp* both boys and girls on stage, and some of them might not be wearing the purdah). But the reality might be something less silly and more sinister: The Ministry (as the representative of UMNO) didn't want kids to start understanding each other. Because once they did, there was a chance that they would stop being suspicious and fearful. Hence destroying the raison d'être for all racialist parties, no?

Two decades on, I am slapping me forehead, I am.

Do catch GADOH if there's a screening near you:

Who wouldn't want to kill him?

2009-06-10T11:57:00.005+08:00

SIX SUSPECTS by Vikas Swarup (Black Swan, 2008, 575 pages)

You can’t read Malaysian books all the time, of course; you will go bonkers! Although our publishing output is more varied than our news – microwaving the Cold War yet again? are we still wondering if theocrats can be liberal? – it’s good to take the occasional break.

Let us go to India! Just as The Book of Batik concerns us even though it was entirely about Indonesia, we also owe great debts to India. Our national language and royal customs, to pick just two obvious examples, would be very rudimentary indeed without motifs from the Motherland.

Luckily for us, Six Suspects is an absolute delight. The only Malaysian novel I know of that comes close to its madcap invention and satirical outrage is Brian Gomez’s Devil’s Place . It’s much longer and more sprawling than Vikas Swarup’s famous debut Q & A (filmed as Slumdog Millionaire, which I still haven’t seen) but it’s yet another diverting Technicolor romp through a country whose colour and contradictions make our own national dramas seem terribly pallid in comparison.

Q & A had as its hero an orphan whose origins (unlike in other novels about orphans) we never discover. He also chooses a name that is part Muslim, part Hindu and part Christian, so he can literally be anything he wants. It was tightly coiled story whose humour initially seems too cutesy, but which gripped and charmed way before its fairy-tale ending.

Six Suspects is a murder mystery but instead of following a detective around, we hang around with the five men and one woman of the title. The corpse is Vicky Rai, a young man who’s so corrupt and despicable that the question isn’t “Who killed him?” but “Who wouldn’t want to kill him?”

The cast of characters, with their various tangled motives, is delightfully improbable but we willingly surrender because Swarup knows how to keep us keen. There’s a boozy industrialist who seems to get possessed by the spirit of Gandhi; a self-absorbed but erudite Bollywood actress; a tribal man from one of the earliest civilizations on earth; a slow-witted American who was conned into coming to India; Rai’s father, the Home Minister who’s already bumped off many others; and (the character most similar to Q & A’s Ram Mohammad Thomas) a petty thief who discovers a suitcase with literally more money than he can count.

People are either on the make, on an impossible quest or hiding something, sometimes all at the same time. The template for the Western comic crime caper was perfected by Elmore Leonard, but the master’s laconic style is here wedded to a deliberately overburdened and over-determined plot that teases and twist and has not one, but three false endings.

Swarup, a career diplomat who writes in English, must be very aware of the perceptions that outsiders have of India. He deliberately crams in as many of these recognisable elements as possible – political assassins, eunuchs, religious terrorists, caste discrimination, holy pilgrimages, bomb blasts, call-centre operators, mystics, and even Bhopal victims. What saves us from a case of the dreaded ‘Delhi belly’ is his humane vision, confident mimicry and unflagging humour. The solution to the murder is more than just clever, it’s cathartic in a way the genre rarely sees.

We in Malaysia might have a narrower palette to work with, but aside from Devil’s Place I am confident we will come up with our own entertainments. All it takes is for a talented writer to peruse the news everyday … and get very, very annoyed.

(Malay Mail, 10 June)

The cover for NME2

2009-06-08T13:25:00.010+08:00

Just as was the case with NME1, the cover of New Malaysian Essays 2 features a work by a living Malaysian artist. (click to enlarge!)

The book will launch early next month, Insya-Allah, and it will be the thickest and most expensive Matahari Books title so far, but a free copy goes to the first person who can identify the artist*, name of artwork and year!

Just post your answers here (with your name) and we will get it all sorted.

* The artist is not allowed to take part.

The long march home

2009-06-03T11:18:00.003+08:00

ALIAS CHIN PENG: MY SIDE OF HISTORY as told to Ian Ward and Norma Miraflor (Media Masters, 2003, 527 pages)

An early chapter begins with a sentence as good as any Dickens opening: “Several months after my 25th birthday, I discovered that I was, in fact, only 23 years old.” If the events of the past had been very different, might Chin Peng (the nom de guerre of Ong Boon Hua, now 85) have become one of our very best writers?

Life was different then. Births weren’t registered efficiently; people made difficult life choices; some of those choices vex us until today. That is why, despite not having made any public statements lately, Chin Peng has become the second-most discussed octogenarian in the country. That’s not surprising because, for over four decades, he led the country’s very first political party.

The Communist Party of Malaya was also the first multi-racial party, although you can see the snag very early on when Chapter 2 is titled “A Chinese boyhood in colonial Malaya.” That well-known colonial strategy of stark racial demarcation also ensured that the CPM never really succeeded in expanding its reach, and this proved one of the factors that led to its marginalisation.

Chin Peng has lived in our popular imaginations as all sorts of things, and it’s with a sense of shock that we discover that he’s just a man. I also hadn’t counted on this book, whose very title is intelligently aware of narrative subjectivity, to strike the occasional droll note: recollecting his boyhood membership of a church choir, he says that he probably could still sing Christian songs now -- “if my life depended on it.”

I had looked forward to his account of the killing of the Sungai Siput planters, the event which triggered the Emergency. Although he says it was done without his knowledge, and that he regretted that the youngest planter was targetted (he was a new arrival in Malaya and couldn’t have known much), he ends the section with: “The deaths of the other two were acceptable.” No longer droll, just chilling.

Then again, these were people at war. The Emergency was merely a euphemism for the longest undeclared war in Commonwealth history, with tolls on both sides. Within the context of armed revolution, a white planter embodies precisely the type of capitalist exploitation that needed to be eliminated.

We have become subconsciously used to the idea of British rule as not only relatively benign but, given the circumstances of the time, somehow natural. Thus, the wounded and dead who fought on behalf of the colonial elite are protecting “the rest of us” while anyone else becomes, well, unnatural. It seems almost impossible now to imagine that if history had gone the other way (and in the decade after WWII, communism was seen as a global force not only by its supporters) we would have very different ideas of heroes and villains.

Among the rich cast of characters, the British soldier John Davis, who formed an alliance with the communists to get rid of the Japanese, emerges particularly vividly, as does the book’s villain, the triple-agent Lai Te. The unlikely friendship between Davis and Chin Peng points to how people could be ideologically opposed but still respect each other. This is something few of us appreciate nowadays.

No politician should stay in power so long, and the second half of the CPM’s active existence did indeed see the group unravelling through internal bickering and witch-hunts. But it’s the stubborn pride of its leaders that resisted a total surrender; after all, pride was one of the few things they had left.

The last chapters detail the long road to freedom...or at least out of the proverbial and literal jungle. He stops short of calling Mahathir our Mandela, but Chin Peng acknowledges the 1989 peace accord between the governments of Malaysia and Thailand as well as the CPM as a model of a dignified settlement.

It appeared that we could finally set aside our respective hurts and just move along. After all, nations with arguably more traumatic pasts, like South Africa, could reconcile their divisions, so why can’t we? Just as we shouldn’t forget history, we shouldn’t be strangled by it either.

Respect the promises we made two decades ago, and let the guy come home. There's a word for people who break their promises -- and that word is far dirtier than 'communist' ever will be.

(Malay Mail, 3 June)

Malaysian Gods in Berita Harian

2009-05-28T00:05:00.001+08:00

True, it's the Singaporean rather than Malaysian Berita Harian , but it's still nice, considering none of our local papers has written anything about it.

She’s gotta have it

2009-05-27T06:03:00.003+08:00

CATATAN HATI NIK NUR MADIHAH by Nik Nur Madihah with Ummu Hani Abu Hassan (Hijjaz Records Publishing, 2009, 126 pages)

Nik Nur Madihah binti Nik Mohd Kamal of Kelantan achieved national fame when she became the first student to score 20 As in her SPM. So naturally I wanted to find out what a huge nerd she is. (Yes, I’m terribly jealous, not that you can tell.)

We can already guess how hard she studied, but what immedately strikes us is how poor her family was. The only time her mother laid hands on her was when she’d spent RM1 on snacks, an unseemly luxury. Her father, a fisherman, brought home less than RM500 a month, and would get even less if the weather wasn’t kind.

Madihah decided early on to fast every Monday and Thursday; it helped her to save a few sen and also emulated what the holy prophet did. It was a good decision: academic brilliance is, as she soon finds out, right next to godliness.

In this short memoir (she’s only 18, what did you expect?), she speaks of her life and dreams. Although their dress sense could not be more dissimilar, she reminded me a bit of Xandria Ooi, whose book we discussed earlier. They are both goal-oriented young women who spend lots of time honouring their parents.

The more demure of the two, however, displays no discernible sense of humour. Can a teenager really be so serious? There are no references at all to playing, having a laugh with friends, or to cute Kelantan boys. (It’s probably not a coincidence that the only subject in which she scored an A2, rather than A1, was Biology).

She was of course a model student, although not a ‘model’ in the Xandria Ooi sense. Times have obviously changed: back in my day, someone who always sat in the front row and asked questions every five minutes (as one of her teachers says) would be just asking to get beaten up at recess. But no, everyone seems to love her, because they see her as a chance for their school to once again get in the news, like when her senior got 18As.

Similarly, a student with the creepy habit of going to the staff room every day just to ask if her teachers are doing all right (which is what she did) might get called all sorts of names, none of them particularly godly. But hey, they probably do these things differently in all-girl religious schools. (Five out of her 20 subjects are related to Islam or the Arab language.)

She’s driven and disciplined, sure, but was there a price to pay? She’d never left Kelantan until after SPM, because her father didn’t want her exposed to ‘pengaruh tidak sihat’ (unhealthy influences). He also had this habit of surreptitiously following her after school to make sure she wasn’t heading to tempat tak elok (improper places): charming! And one of the tips she gives to become successful in life is ‘selalu bersenyum sesama Muslim’ (always smile to fellow Muslims). So if she meets you and scowls, it’s nothing personal: it’s probably your religion.

She seems to exist in an entirely Islamist enclave and doesn’t seem to have met a single non-Muslim. (Even this book was sponsored by a nasyid group: nasyid seems to be the only music she digs). By analogy, I can imagine children in vernacular schools going through a similar parallel existence. Without having to resort to the 1Malaysia slogan, is this really what we want the next generation to become?

If Madihah didn’t exst, we would have invented her. She’s the logical product of not only our record-breaking desires and emphasis on paper qualifications but something even darker: our increasing communitarianism, in which each self-righteous group keeps requiring new heroes. Until we break out of these bad habits, we will remain dumb no matter what the Exam Board tells us.

(Malay Mail, 27 May)

Shah Alam fringe fun this Saturday

2009-05-25T19:15:00.002+08:00

Needless to say, Matahari Books has a booth!

Someone we met in Kota Bharu

2009-05-24T13:42:00.003+08:00

Charlene debuts at #2

2009-05-23T10:53:00.003+08:00

MPH Local Non-Fiction Bestsellers
for the week ending 17 May

1. Yakjuj & Makjuj: Bencana Di sebalik Gunung
Author : Muhammd Alexander; Wisnu Sasongko

2. Taxi Tales On a Crooked Bridge
Author : Charlene Rajendran

3. The Creation of Money Without Money
Author : Chan Chin Cheung

4. Benarkah Iskandar Bukan Zulqarnain
Author : Afareez Abd Razak Al-Hafiz

5. The Malaysian Insider: A Year in the Life of a Country
Author : Leslie Lau

6. Have a Meaningful Malaysia: Zubedy Print Ads 2001-2008
Author : Anas Zubedy

7. Buat Duit dengan Blog: Rahsia Menjana Wang Cara Mudah (Bisnes & Pengurusan)
Author : Yazid Yahaya

8. Kemilau Peribadi Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat (Seorang Ulama yang Memerintah, Pemimpin Ulung Abad Ini)
Author : Abdul Shukor Haron; Annual Bakri Haron

9. Saya Pun Melayu
Author : Zaid Ibrahim

10. Quranic Law of Attraction: Serlahkan Potensi Diri Secara Optimum dengan Kuasa Tarikan Berteraskan Quran
Author : Rusdin S. Rauf