THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHREYER HONORS COLLEGE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH BAHASA ROJAK IN MALAYSIAN LITERATURE AS A CRITIQUE ON POSTCOLONIAL IDENTITY AND POLITICS KAREN SIN LI HOR SPRING 2019 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a baccalaureate degree in Economics and English with honors in English Reviewed and approved* by the following: Janet Neigh Associate Professor of English, English Thesis Supervisor Craig Warren Professor of English, English Honors Adviser * Signatures are on file in the Schreyer Honors College. i ABSTRACT The intermingling of the variety of cultures and the legacy of colonialism in Malaysia has produced the Malaysian vernacular, bahasa rojak. While many Malaysians identify with this speech variation, most Malaysians stigmatize bahasa rojak as informal and use it as a measurement of intelligence, professionalism, and nationalism. Two Malaysian authors, Salleh Ben Joned and Jamal Raslan, have challenged these stigmas by producing poems in bahasa rojak, they are “Malchin Testament” by Joned and “Words” by Raslan. Their works explore the themes of language purity, linguistic identity, and the institutional enforcement of a national language in both a postcolonial and a contemporary perspective. This thesis investigates the political intentions for using bahasa rojak in Malaysian literature and its importance to Malaysian linguistic identity. By doing so, this thesis provides a Malaysian and multilingual perspective on postcolonial poetry and contributes to the scholarship on Malaysian literature, which is an underdeveloped field of study. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... iii Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Research Questions .......................................................................................................... 4 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 2 Historical and Linguistic Background ......................................................... 8 Malaysia: The Multi-Racial Postcolonial Nation ............................................................. 8 Bahasa Rojak ................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 3 Malchin Testament: What English? It’s Manglishlah! ............................... 15 Chapter 4 Words: Emancipation from Language ........................................................ 28 Chapter 5 Through the Malaysian Lens ....................................................................... 41 Appendix A .................................................................................................................. 49 Appendix B .................................................................................................................. 50 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................ 53 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been completed without the support I received from the professors at Penn State Behrend, my family, and friends. From working closely with me each step of the way, to listening attentively to my fascination with the subject matter, each person has contributed to the completion of this thesis in their own way. I would first like to express my utmost gratitude to Dr. Janet Neigh, my thesis supervisor, who put in the time and effort to meet and advise me on my thesis, all while carrying a child. I am especially grateful for the opportunity to learn from her immense knowledge in the field of postcolonial literature. My second acknowledgment goes out to Dr. Mary Connerty, who helped me navigate the complex and vague linguistic terms that are now used in the final thesis. Not to forget, I want to thank Dr. Craig Warren, my thesis advisor, who is always on hand to resolve any questions I have regarding the thesis. And lastly, I would like to thank Dr. John Champagne for dismissing my initial fears of venturing onto a path seldom ventured by stating, “Why should you repeat what has already been said?” 1 Chapter 1 Introduction we true malaysians, you no, we pree people, you no: pree to make english not english but our very own, you see – Salleh Ben Joned, “Malchin Testament” Most postcolonial societies uphold the concept of two types of English: the “correct” one and the “wrong” one. “Correct” English is the standardized English dictated by the dictionary and bound to the rigid rules of grammar; “wrong” English is accented, colloquial, and heavily influenced by the other languages used in a postcolonial nation. “Wrong” English grew out of the hybridization of the multiple linguistic identities of postcolonial individuals and is commonly affiliated with words such as “broken,” “corrupt,” and as used by Dohra Ahmad in her anthology on vernacular literature, “rotten.” While most postcolonial citizens deem these varieties of English as nothing more than colloquial and conversational language, some postcolonial writers have recognized the central role these languages play in their linguistic identity and their country’s state of independence. Salleh Ben Joned from Malaysia sees it as a marker of his country’s democracy in refashioning the language to suit the local tongue and taking ownership over the language, “to make english not english/but our very own, you see” (257). His poem, “Malchin Testament,” expresses these beliefs, all the while subtly critiquing his country’s method of decolonization that assumes British colonial governance. 2 To convey his critique of postcolonial Malaysia’s politics and linguistics, Joned decided to write this work in bahasa rojak, the Malaysian speech variation. His actions go against literary norms in Malaysia and provides a new perspective to the status of bahasa rojak. “Malchin Testament” was published in 1987, Joned addresses the issues faced by postcolonial audiences, but many of the issues he raises on the British colonial legacies that are upheld by Malaysian society and institutions remain unresolved in contemporary Malaysia. Joned’s modern counterpart, Jamal Raslan, picks up where Joned leaves off in representing modern Malaysian youths who grew up in a linguistically diverse setting that shaped their hybrid identities. Raslan, too, is aware of the significance of bahasa rojak in representing his identity and uses it in his spoken word poem, “Words.” The Malaysian speech variation adequately delivers his frustration of being criticized by the people of his own race for corrupting the national language and his mother tongue, Malay, with English. Through the recording of “Words” in 2016, Raslan paints the picture of the futile task of maintaining language purity when language itself has evolved over the centuries through contact with other languages. This thesis will look closely at the bold works of Joned and Raslan to uncover their political intentions in using bahasa rojak to illustrate their hybrid linguistic identity and critique Malaysia’s progress as a developing postcolonial nation. “Malchin Testament” and “Words” stand out in Malaysian literature because they use a stigmatized and informal oral language to shed light on serious political issues. This is highly unusual in a country that is required by law to produce all official documents and information in Standard Malay or Standard English. Malaysia’s journey towards independence involves returning completely to the native roots of the bumiputra, directly translated as “prince of the soil” in reference to the nativity of the Malay race. Joned’s and Raslan’s works point out how this method of decolonization mirrors the British 3 colonizer’s concept of building a society that centers around one culture. Additionally, this research paper will further assess both literary and oral forms of delivery as settings for speech variations, which is a major topic of discussion in postcolonial studies. The ways Joned and Raslan take advantage of their media in order to emphasize their poem’s themes will be analyzed. This thesis is informed by my personal background of being Malaysian Chinese. Like many other Malaysian Chinese, I am trilingual: English as a result of Malaysia’s colonial history and its advantages in a globalized world, Mandarin because my great-great-grandparents were immigrant laborers from China, and Malay1 because it is the national language of Malaysia. Growing up, I had difficulty identifying with only one language as I have no recollection of ever being monolingual. It was not until I took a course in globality and literature that I began to recognize the parallels between my experiences with that of other postcolonial citizens. The materials we read in class, Gloria Anzaldúa’s “Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza” (1987) in particular, accurately put into words my linguistic experience within the borderlands of multiple languages. Her experiences on being language shamed for speaking both Spanish and English, of confusing her identity as a result of internalizing the insults to her language, and of identifying most with a hybrid language evoked a sense of nostalgia within me. Aside from being one of my first experiences with a literary work that relates to my linguistic reality in Malaysia, her defiance to standard literature is inspiring and emboldening,