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Jul–Sep 2017 Vol. 13 Issue biblioasia02 2017 JUL–SEP 02 / The Truth Behind Fake News 04 / A History of Horror 16 / Malicious Murders 24 / Modernist Architecture 32 / Singapore-style Sci-fi 40 / Early Hollywood Films Fact Fiction& EAST of SUEZ p. 10 BiblioAsia Director’s Note Editorial & CONTENTS Vol. 13 / Issue 02 JUL–SEP 2017 Production We explore the parallel worlds of reality and make-believe – and the spaces in between – Managing Editor as we take a trip into our not-so-distant past in this issue of BiblioAsia. Ng Yi-Sheng mulls Francis Dorai over the fine line between fact and fiction – the theme of this issue – in his essay on the OPINION FEATURE culture of horror that has existed in Singapore since pre-colonial days. From spine-chilling Editor tales of the pontianak, the female vampire from Malay folklore, to The Black Isle, Sandi Veronica Chee “Fake News”: Since A History of Singapore Tan’s 21st-century supernatural novel set in Singapore, the essay taps into our morbid 02 When Was It News? 04 Horror Editorial Support fascination with all things creepy. Masamah Ahmad Likewise, the suspension of reality is what Nadia Arianna Bte Ismail explores in Stephanie Pee East of Suez: The her essay on the rise of local sci-fi publications between the 1970s and 1990s. Besides Yong Shu Chiang 10 Mystique of Travel the supernatural, it is violent and graphic murder cases (naturally) that seem to rivet the Design and Print public’s attention: Sharon Teng recounts four of the bloodiest murders in Singapore’s crime Oxygen Studio Designs Pte Ltd Murder Most history, some of which have spawned bestselling books in their wake. 04 10 16 Malevolent Singapore was hailed as the “equatorial Hollywood” when Western filmmakers dis- Contributors covered this exotic Asian port city in the early 1900s. Fact and fiction blurred as fabricated Bonny Tan Swan & Maclaren: scenes of Singapore were stitched together from stock footage and studio sets – never Chua Ai Lin mind that these filmmakers never set foot in Singapore. One of the early exceptions was Farish A. Noor 24 Pioneers of Modernist Juffri Bin Supa’at Architecture Clyde E. Elliott, the first Hollywood director who made three films here in the 1930s, as Julian Davison Chua Ai Lin reveals. Kennie Ting Sci-fi in Singapore: The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, says Kennie Ting, changed the face of Makeswary Periasamy Nadia Arianna Bte Ramli 1970s to 1990s maritime history forever and led to the advent of leisure travel to distant lands. On their 32 journeys east, perhaps some of these Western travellers were able to separate fact from Ng Yi-Sheng Sharen Chua fiction; to see the exotic lands “East of Suez” through their own eyes, instead of relying Sharon Teng Alam Puisi Melayu on apocryphal tales of the Orient. Singapura Selepas Sundari Balasubramaniam 36 With all the fake news circulating these days – presented in ways that seem so real Tan Huism Merdeka – one never knows what is the truth anymore. While the volume and speed at which news 16 24 is disseminated in the modern world is unprecedented, lying (or whatever euphemism Please direct all correspondence to: Reel Life Singapore: one might use), according to Farish A. Noor, is as old as history. The Films of National Library Board 40 On the subject of history − built history, specifically − Swan & Maclaren, the oldest 100 Victoria Street #14-01 Clyde E. Elliott architectural practice in Singapore celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. Started in National Library Building 1892 by two Scotsmen, Swan & Maclaren was responsible for many of the city’s heritage Singapore 188064 An Unusual Ambition: buildings. What is a fact for certain is that the architectural firm was among the first to Email: [email protected] 46 The Early Librarians pioneer the Modernist architectural movement in Singapore, as Julian Davison tells us. Website: www.nlb.gov.sg More echoes of the past can be found in the following features: Bonny Tan traces the On the cover: lives of little-known female librarians in pre-war Singapore; Juffri Bin Supa’at and Sundari A European lady, dressed in a Balasubramaniam take a look at the post-1965 Malay publishing scene and Tamil short neck-to-ankle blouse and skirt 50 story writers between 1936 and 1960, respectively; Makeswary Periasamy highlights the ensemble, being lowered from a luxury liner onto a small boat National Library’s collection of early books and documents on Chinese secret societies; bound for shore. This lithograph 02 32 36 and Sharen Chua previews books on National Service from our Legal Deposit Collection titled “For the Shore” was − this being the year that marks 50 Years of National Service in Singapore. first published in The Graphic, Finally, don’t miss our latest exhibition, “Tales of the Malay World; Manuscripts and London, in 1883. All rights Early Books”, on level 10 of the National Library Building from 18 August 2017 to 25 Feb- reserved, Liu, G. (2006). Raffles ruary 2018. Curated by Tan Huism, the exhibition is a rare opportunity to see a selection Hotel (p. 39). Singapore: Editions Didier Millet. (Call no.: RSING of rare Malay manuscripts and printed books from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. 915.9570613 LIU-[TRA]) On display are items from the National Library’s Rare Materials Collection as well as The British Library and Netherlands’ Leiden University Library, among other institutions. We hope you enjoy reading this edition of BiblioAsia. Mrs Wai Yin Pryke Director 40 46 50 National Library All rights reserved. National Library Board, Singapore, 2017. ISSN 0219-8126 (print) NL NOTES ISSN 1793-9968 (online) The views of writers and contribu- Heaven, Earth and tors do not reflect the views of the Brotherhood Publisher. No part of this publica- 54 BiblioAsia is a free quarterly publication produced by the National Library Board. tion may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior writ- It features articles on the history, culture and heritage of Singapore within the larger ten permission from the Publisher 50 Years of National Asian context, and has a strong focus on the collections and services of the National and copyright owner(s). 58 Service Library. BiblioAsia is distributed to local and international libraries, academic institutions, Whilst reasonable care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of Tales of the Malay World: government ministries and agencies, as well as members of the public. The online the information in this publica- Manuscripts & Early Books edition of BiblioAsia is available at: http://www.nlb.gov.sg/biblioasia/ tion, the Publisher accepts no 60 54 58 60 legal liabilities whatsoever for the contents of this magazine. 01 BIBLIOASIA JUL – SEP 2017 Vol. 13 / Issue 02 / Opinion sights on Burma, the Kingdom of Burma Nineteenth-century imperialism was was seen and cast in a decidedly negative couched in terms of a “civilising mission” light by colonial scholars and reporters. to bring enlightenment and modernity to News reports emerged and were Africa and Asia, but what it delivered – in circulated across the empire, about the real terms – were roads, telegraph lines, alleged wrongdoings of the Burmese printing presses and schools. In time, the towards their own people and their neigh- very same colonial subjects would use the bours. The popular theme at the time was very same communicative technologies to the idea that Burma was a “belligerent fight back, and it is not a surprise that by power”, bent on becoming a dangerous the turn of the 20th century, native ver- “Asiatic empire”. Burma was referred nacular printing presses were emerging to as “the Burman Empire” in maps and all over the colonies, from India to South- news reports, though the fact was that east Asia. (Singapore was, in fact, one of the real empire was Britain, and it was the major centres of native vernacular Britain that posed an existential threat printing by then, and local intellectuals to Burma, as it spread its power across and activists were at the forefront of the much of northern India. intellectual resistance to colonial rule.) Similar examples of colonial-era Powerful though the European “fake news” can be found elsewhere: empires were, there was a limit to their The invasion of Brunei was justified on capacity to deliver “fake news” and mis- the spurious grounds that Brunei was information: The point was reached when a “den of pirates” and that the pirates colonial subjects no longer believed what S IT NEWS? of Borneo were a threat to freedom of they read in the colonial press, and called movement at sea. for “alternative” (read: “Asia-centric”) WA Elsewhere across Asia – from China news instead. to Japan – Asian nations were portrayed At a glance, it would seem that we as the enemies of free trade and economic are back to that historical moment when liberalism, for the simple reason that “facts” are no longer seen as facts. WHEN they did not wish to open their ports to Those who lament the current phe- foreign commerce. nomenon of “fake news” may be a tad too If one were to read news reports cynical for their own good, for they seem and popular fiction of the 19th century to assume the public believes whatever it SINCE through the lens of a historian, one sees and reads blindly. Since when was can see that the logic of “fake news” this the case? And since when was “fake hasn’t changed very much since the news” news in the first place? 19th century. Some of the vocabulary A century ago, millions of Asians may have evolved since then, and terms came to the simple and mundane reali- like “Asiatic despot”, “piratical kingdom” sation that the colonial powers had no Lying, as it appears, is as old as history.
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