Gender, Modernity and the Nation in Malaysian
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GENDER, MODERNITY AND THE NATION IN MALAYSIAN LITERATURE AND FILM (1980s and 1990s) by GAIK CHENG KHOO B.A., The University of Texas, 1993 M.A., The University of British Columbia, 1995 A THESIS SUBMITTED DM PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Individual Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THrf UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA July 1999 © Gaik Cheng Khoo, 1999 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of )nkxdl^C{^^^^ ^VcJaQ^. C The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date M&rth 3>7) QjQGQ DE-6 (2/88) Abstract This dissertation examines the impact of modernity, in the form of modernization, rapid industrialization and the introduction of Western ideas about nationalism and female emancipation, on gender and gender relations in contemporary Malaysian film and literature. Drawing upon theories ranging from Lacanian psychoanalysis, feminism, postcolonialism, nationalism, existentialism to theories about fascism, I examine and critique the representations of gender from the predominantly middle-class writers and the works of the new wave Malay filmmakers. I make the case that these films and literary works reflect the outcome of the National Economic Policy (1971-1990) and, in my analyses, show that these modernizing imperatives, though received positively, are sometimes greeted with a cautionary ambivalence, depending on one's class, gender, ethnicity, and political and religious beliefs. Such ambivalence towards feminism, for example, appears in K.S. Maniam's portrayal of independent female characters, whom I call "fascist 'feminists'," or in the representations of hypermasculinity or male violence in current Malay cinema. Films and literature by some Malays reflect a desire to recover Malay custom, adat, while forging a unique, modern, postcolonial identity that distinguishes itself from the West, other former British colonies and other Muslim nations. However, this subversive postcolonial move must be treated with caution to ensure that it does not replicate prevalent negative stereotypes of women as sexualised beings. A key distinction in this dissertation is that the representations of the modern Malay woman vary according to the gender of the cultural producer: male writers and filmmakers portray the negative impact of modernity on women, whereas their female counterparts portray women at ease with modernity. Ill Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgments v Introduction 1 1 Malay Myth and Changing Attitudes Towards Nationalism: the Hang Tuah/Hang Jebat Debate 28-74 Introduction 28 Nationalism and feudalism 38 The hegemony of Malay cultural identity 41 Followership 44 Islam—Malaysian style 48 Asian values, Asian-style nationalism 50 The Malay psyche 55 Nationalism and homoeroticism: a feminist intervention 57 Conclusion 69 2 DissemiNation of Malay/sia 75-97 3 Malaysian Films: Cinema of Denial 98-151 Introduction 98 A brief history of Malay cinema 106 National cinema in the Malaysian context 112 Malay or Malaysian Cinema? 121 Censorship 126 Reviving interest in female sexuality 135 Layar Lara 141 Conclusion 145 4 Shuhaimi Baba. Karim Raslan. Dina Zaman and Shahnon Ahmad: Representations of the Modern 1990s' Malay Woman 152-196 Introduction 152 Modernity 157 Background of global/local tensions: IslamAVesternization and adat 167 Selubung: resurgent Islam, modernity and the Malay woman 170 Malay sexuality/sensuality in the writings of Karim Raslan, Shahnon Ahmad and Dina Zaman 179 Conclusion 190 5 Mad Women/"Fascist 'Feminism'": Representations of Independent Female Characters in K.S. Maniam's Short Stories 197-243 Introduction 197 Defining fascist "feminism" 205 i. Fascist "feminists": Mary Lim, Mary Ling and Yin Fah 208 ii. Female subjectivity and feminist longings: Sammantha de Silva and Jothi 220 Conclusion 239 iv 6 What Is It To Be A Man? Violence in the Time of Modernity 244-301 Introduction to "authentic masculinity" 244 Hard bodies 250 Other masculine types: teen heartthrobs and pop singers 253 Authentic masculinity case study #1: Eman Manan 255 Individual and state hypermasculinity disavowing lack: OPS.Belantara 258 Authentic masculinity gone soft: Lenjan 265 Authentic masculinity case study #2: Nasir Bilal Khan 271 Authentic masculinity versus female libidinal desire: Perempuan, Isteri Dan... 272 Authentic masculinity lashes back: Amok 280 Domesticating the authentic male: Erma Fatima's Ku Kejar Kau Lari 291 Conclusion 294 Epilogue 302-307 Bibliography 308 Filmography 320 Appendix 326 Acknowledgments I would like to thank the following people who have supported me throughout my academic endeavours: my parents for not forcing me into the Sciences when young and for always being there for me in one way or another; my committee members, Sneja Gunew, Margery Fee, Jacqueline Levitin and Tineke Hellwig; Matilda Gabrielpillai for her invaluable friendship and intellectual guidance (Zizek forever!); fellow travellers on the dissertation trail, Marian Gracias, Diane Stiles and Larissa Petrillo for diligently maintaining human contact with me in the past two years; and my sister, Beng. A crucial part of this thesis stems from the research I conducted last summer funded by a Ford grant from the Northwest Regional Consortium for Southeast Asian Studies. My utmost gratitude goes out to Mr. Poh Gark Kim, Ms. Chew Siew Bee and family for their kind generosity and hospitality during my stay in Petaling Jaya. Lastly, this dissertation would not be complete without the goodwill, friendliness, warmth and support from my fellow Malaysians: academics at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and University of Malaya who generously shared their knowledge and interests with me; Nor Faridah Manaf who took me under her wing; Pak Hamzah at FIN AS for his bountiful experience and enthusiasm about film; K.S. Maniam for being a gracious and patient interviewee; Gordon Gray and Amir Muhamad for stimulating e-mail discussions on Malay cinema, and the Malaysian and ex-Malaysian writers I have had the good fortune of meeting and knowing. Introduction This thesis examines the meanings, manifestations and effects of modernity on gender and nationalism in Malaysia during the economic boom time which ran from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. It intersects with Maila Stivens' feminist anthropological work on women and modernity in Malaysia as well as other current research being undertaken on the new Malay middle-class (Kahn and Stivens). However, my thesis diverges from the work of Kahn and Stivens in that my cultural objects of study are film and fictional and non-fictional writings, prompting a different methodology: that of socio-political literary analyses which includes psychoanalytical theory. A critical reading of the films and texts through psychoanalytical structures yields an understanding of the workings of ideology with respect to social desires and fantasies. For example, the current nationalist ideology prescribes a particular ethnicity and class of (be)longing that includes some people while excluding others, and the ideology of accelerated capitalism functions to define new ways of self-identification and culture. What is it about being Malaysian in the 1980s and 1990s that preoccupies writers and filmmakers? What are the issues they choose and what is at stake? How do these writers and filmmakers speak through their works (as agents of discourse) and how do their works speak them as part of a larger epistemological framework? Second, while my analysis of the impact of modernity on gender entails a primary focus on literary and cinematic representations of women, I also include a study of hypermasculinity. After all, gender includes at least two dialectical categories. Finally, most anthropological research on gender and development in Malaysia has focused on Malay women; mine is really no exception, though in the representations of women I discuss, other ethnicities—Chinese, Peranakan, Eurasian, Indian and, very briefly, the Filipina and Indonesian migrant worker—cursorily appear in the fictions of K.S. Maniam, Karim Raslan and Dina Zaman. In representing women of ethnicities other than their own, these writers attempt to portray Malaysia's multiraciality and/or the gradual de-segregation of the races in the aftermath of the race riots of May 13, 1969 and the National Economic Policy (NEP, launched in 1971). As for my methodology, I have no specific loyalties to any particular theory. Neither do I have qualms about applying any "Western" theory to my subject of Malaysian film/literature especially if I find it to be workable and productive; hence, my rather eclectic use of theories ranging from Lacanian psychoanalysis, feminism, postcolonialism and nationalism, to existentialism and theories about fascism. Only too conscious of the wisdom of employing "universalist" psychoanalytical paradigms, I have discriminately selected parts of Lacanian psychoanalytical theory that are appropriate