DOCSLIB.ORG

Representation of Malays and Malay Culture in the Fiction of Lloyd Fernando and Che Husna Azhari

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Representation of Malays and Malay Culture in the Fiction of Lloyd Fernando and Che Husna Azhari REPRESENTATION OF MALAYS AND MALAY CULTURE IN THE FICTION OF LLOYD FERNANDO AND CHE HUSNA AZHARI BY WAN NUR MADIHA BINTI RAMLAN A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Human Sciences (English Literary Studies) Kuliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences International Islamic University Malaysia JANUARY 2012 ABSTRACT In terms of demographics, Malaysia possesses such diversity with the multiple ethnic groups that make up the population of the country. Malaysia is a country that promotes its national diversity, unity, and harmony, and recently, the government has been promoting similar values within the 1Malaysia concept, a formula that aims to “foster unity” among the peoples of the country. However, the relationship between the dominant Malays and other races has always been a sensitive and taboo subject, ever since the May 13 incident in 1969, a sensitivity that far transcends the superficial image of harmony in the country. The Malays, which make up roughly around 65% of the population, and their culture would be the subject of this qualitative study. This paper investigates the representation of the Malays and Malay culture in the body of Malaysian postcolonial literature in the English language. The research will not only look at how the other ethnic groups represent the Malays in literature, but this study also aims to investigate how the Malays look at themselves. To achieve this aim, this study will examine a number of short stories by Che Husna Azhari and Green is the Colour (1993) by Lloyd Fernando. Due to the different ethnic backgrounds of these two writers, one being Malay and the other a non- Malay, a certain balance and objectivity could be reached. The work of these writers would supply sufficient evidence on the shaping of identity and representation of the Malays. The premise of this study would centre upon representation, race and ethnicity, nation and nationalism and the subaltern It is hoped that this study would allow for a better understanding of how stereotyping and national identity are shaped in Malaysia, as well as observe the aspirations and attempts, successful or otherwise, for national integration as proposed by the 1Malaysia concept. ii خﻻصة البحث تزخر ماليزيا من حيث الرتكيبة السكانية بثقافات متعددة ومجاعات عرقية متنوعة تشكل سكان البﻻد. وتعزز الدولة يف هذا التنوع العرقي إىل القومية والوحدة واﻻنسجام الثقايف. من ذلك قامت احلكومة برتويج تلك القيم يف إطار مفهوم )ماليزيا واحدة(، وهو إطار يهدف إىل "تعزيز الوحدة" بني مجيع أطياف السكان. وعلى الرغم من ذلك، فإن العﻻقة بني العرق املﻻيو واﻷعراق اﻷخرى دائما ما تشوهبا احلساسية وبعض احملرمات اﻻجتماعية، ﻻسيما يف الفرتة اليت تلت حادثة 31 مايو 3191. وقد تتجاوز هذه احلساسية الصورة السطحية اليت رمست للبﻻد لنشر الوئام واﻻنسجام. لذلك تركز هذه الدراسة النوعية على ثقافة العرق املﻻيو الذي يشكل 96 باملائة من السكان. وحتقق هذه الدراسة يف كيفية تصوير املﻻيو وثقافتهم يف الكيان املاليزي، وذلك يف أدب فرتة مابعد اﻻستعمار باللغة اﻹجنليزية. ومل يقتصر البحث على النظر يف كيفية تصور اﻷعراق اﻷخرى للمﻻيويني يف اﻷدب، بل يهدف أيضا إىل التحقيق يف كيفية تصور املﻻيويني ﻷنفسهم. ولتحقيق تلك اﻷهداف، يقوم البحث على دراسة عدد من القصص القصرية اليت كتبت بواسطة شي حسنة أزهري، وقصة "اﻷخضر لون" للكاتب لويد فرناندو. ويأيت اختيار تلك القصص للللفيات العرقية لكتاهبا، فاﻷوىل مﻻيوية واخآخر غري مﻻيوي، وذلك يساعد على عملية التوازن واملوضوعية يف الطرح. وجسدت تلك اﻷعمال بالشواهد الكافية يف تشكيل التصور واهلوية املﻻيوية. وترتكز الدراسة على فرضيات وهي التصور، والعرق، والطائفة، والقومية، والوطنية، واﻻتباع. وتتطلع الدراسة إىل تشكيل مفهوم أفضل يف كيفية تشكيل القوالب النمطية واهلوية الوطنية مباليزيا، إضافة إىل مراقبة جناح التطلعات واحملاوﻻت من عدمها يف اﻻندماج الوطين على النحو املؤطر يف مفهوم )ماليزيا واحدة(. iii APPROVAL PAGE I certify that I have supervised and read this study and that in my opinion, it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a dissertation for the degree of Master of Human Sciences (English Literary Studies). ……..…………..…………… M.A. Quayum Abdussalam Supervisor I certify that I have supervised and read this study and that in my opinion, it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a dissertation for the degree of Master of Human Sciences (English Literary Studies). …….…………..…………… Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof Examiner This dissertation was submitted to the Department of English Language and Literature and is accepted as a fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Human Sciences (English Literary Studies). …….…………..…………… Zahariah Pilus Head, Department of English Language and Literature This dissertation was submitted to the Kuliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences and is accepted as a fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Human Sciences (English Literary Studies). .………………..…………… Badri Najib Zubir Dean, Kuliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (KIRKHS) iv DECLARATION I hereby declare that this dissertation is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. I also declare that it has not been previously or concurrently submitted as a whole for any other degrees at IIUM or other institutions. Wan Nur Madiha binti Ramlan Signature: ……………………………….. Date: ……………………… v INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA DECLARATION OF COPYRIGHT AND AFFIRMATION OF FAIR USE OF UNPUBLISHED RESEARCH Copyright © 2012 by Wan Nur Madiha binti Ramlan. All rights reserved. REPRESENTATION OF MALAYS AND MALAY CULTURE IN THE FICTION OF LLOYD FERNANDO AND CHE HUSNA AZHARI I hereby affirm that The International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) hold all rights in the copyright of this Work and henceforth any reproduction or use in any form or by means whatsoever is prohibited without the written consent of IIUM. No part of this unpublished research may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Affirmed by Wan Nur Madiha binti Ramlan. …………………………… ………………. Signature Date vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The realisation of this thesis would not have been possible without the support of many people, and therefore I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you. Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Dr. M.A. Quayum whose encouragement, guidance and support enabled me to grasp a better understanding of the subject. To my parents, Ramlan Abdul Aziz and Nasibah Mohd. Ali, I am ever grateful for the unwavering love, support and wisdom they provided me throughout this trying albeit rewarding experience. Special thanks to all my friends who, over the years, have become my personal group of critics as well as cheerleaders. To my best friend, Zanirah Wahab, your friendship and infectious personality provided me with the energy and inspiration to forge ahead and complete this thesis. I am also indebted to the staff of the Department of English Language and Literature (DELL), IIUM for all the assistance they provided me during the course of my study. Lastly, my deepest gratitude is reserved for Allah S.W.T. for giving me the strength to persevere. Without His aid, I would not have been able to face and overcome the many challenges that I have experienced throughout my life. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract…………………………………………………………………………. ii Abstract in Arabic………………………………………………………………. iii Approval Page…………………………………………………………………… iv Declaration Page ………………………………………………………………... v Copyright Page …………………………………………………………………. vi Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………. vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………. 1 1.1. Background of Study………………………………………………………. 1.1.1 Introduction………………………………………………… 1 1.1.2 Malaysia’s Multiculturalism and the History of the 2 Malays…………………………………………………......... 1.2 Statement of Problem……………………………………………………….. 8 1.3. 1.3 Objectives of the Study……………………………………………………… 11 1.4 Significance of the Study……………………………………………………. 12 1.5 Scope of the Study…………………………………………………………. 13 1.6 Literature Review…………………………………………………………… 14 1.7 Theoretical Framework…………………………………………………….. 1.7.1 Theory of Representation, Signs and the Creation of Myths 17 1.8 Research Methodology……………………………………………………… 21 1.9 Organisation of Chapters……………………………………………………. 22 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ………………………….. 24 2.1 Representation ……………………………………………………………… 25 2.2 Nation and Nationalism …………….……………………………………… 34 2.3 The Issue of the Other: Edward Said’s Orientalism………………………… 38 2.4 Race and Ethnicity………….………………………………………………. 40 2.5 Concluding Comments…….………………………………………………… 43 CHAPTER 3: LLOYD FERNANDO…………………………………..……. 45 3.1 The Author and His Novel…………………………………………………... 45 3.2 Love, Acceptance and Awareness…………………………………...……… 49 3.3 Islam, Spirituality and Corruption………………………………………..…. 54 3.4 Self/Other in Malaysian Culture……….......................................................... 61 3.5 A Representation of Malay Culture………………………………………..... 70 3.5.1 The Kampung and Rural Area………………………………... 70 3.5.2 Language…………………………………………………...…. 72 3.6 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………..… 75 CHAPTER 4: CHE HUSNA AZHARI……………………………………….. 78 4.1 Che Husna Azhari and Her Fiction………………………………………….. 78 4.2 Religion and Tradition: The Malay-Muslim Dilemma…………………….. 81 4.2.2 Islam and Malays………………………………………...…… 82 4.2.3 ‘Adat and Malays…………………………………...………… 85 4.3 Sense of Community…..…………………………………………………… 91 4.4 Kelantanese-
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Interrogating Malaysian Literature in English: Its Glories, Sorrows and Thematic Trends
    Kunapipi Volume 30 Issue 1 Article 13 2008 Interrogating Malaysian literature in English: Its glories, sorrows and thematic trends Mohammad Quayum Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Quayum, Mohammad, Interrogating Malaysian literature in English: Its glories, sorrows and thematic trends, Kunapipi, 30(1), 2008. Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol30/iss1/13 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Interrogating Malaysian literature in English: Its glories, sorrows and thematic trends Abstract Malaysian literature in English has just attained its sixtieth anniversary since its modest inception in the late 1940s, initiated by a small group of college and university students in Singapore. Singapore was the academic hub of British Malaya and the only university of the colony was located there, therefore it was natural that a movement in English writing should have started from there. Nonetheless, given the current cultural and political rivalries between Singapore and Malaysia, it is rather ironic that a Malaysian tradition of writing started in a territory that now sees Malaysia as the ‘other’. This journal article is available in Kunapipi: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol30/iss1/13 149 MoHAMMAD QuayUm Interrogating Malaysian Literature in English: Its Glories, Sorrows and Thematic Trends Malaysian literature in English has just attained its sixtieth anniversary since its modest inception in the late 1940s, initiated by a small group of college and university students in Singapore.
    [Show full text]
  • Km34022016 02.Pdf
    Kajian Malaysia, Vol. 34, No. 2, 2016, 25–58 THE MARGINALISATION OF MALAYSIAN TEXTS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM AND ITS IMPACT ON SOCIAL COHESION IN MALAYSIAN CLASSROOMS Shanthini Pillai*, P. Shobha Menon and Ravichandran Vengadasamy School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, MALAYSIA *Corresponding author: [email protected]/[email protected] To cite this article: Shanthini Pillai, P. Shobha Menon and Ravichandran Vengadasamy. 2016. The marginalisation of Malaysian texts in the English language curriculum and its impact on social cohesion in Malaysian classrooms. Kajian Malaysia 34(2): 25–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.21315/ km2016.34.2.2 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.21315/ km2016.34.2.2 ABSTRACT In this paper, we seek to investigate the place that local literature has been given in Malaysian Education in the English Language Subject for Secondary Schools in Malaysia. We argue that literature engenders a space for the nation to share in the experiences and feelings of groups and situations that might never be encountered directly. It often engages with the realities of a nation through diverse constructions of its history, its realities and communal relations. As such we posit that literature can be a significant tool to study the realities of Malaysian nationhood and its constructions of inter-ethnic relationships, and ultimately, an effective tool to forge nation building. The discussion focuses on investigating the role that literature has played in Malaysian education in the context of engaging with ethnically diverse Malaysian learners and whether text selection has prioritised ethnic diversity in its Malaysian context.
    [Show full text]
  • K S Maniam: Malaysian Writer
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Southern Queensland ePrints Complete Citation: Wicks, Peter (2007). K S Maniam (1942-). The Literary Encyclopedia, 16 April 2007. ISSN 1747-678X. Accessed from USQ ePrints http://eprints.usq.edu.au K S MANIAM: MALAYSIAN WRITER Peter Wicks University of Southern Queensland K S Maniam is a prolific writer, with three novels, plays, and numerous short stories to his credit. An intense, reserved, yet courteous person, he lives with his wife and children in a modest, two-storeyed house in Subang, one of the dormitory suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. It was my privilege to visit him there, and to engage in the discussions on which this profile draws. Despite his critically-acclaimed literary achievements, Maniam is denied official recognition and public acclaim in his country of birth because he chooses to write in English, rather than the national language known as Bahasa Malaysia. Yet there are valid reasons for his choice of literary medium, reasons that are inherent in Malaysia's modern history as former British colony and now independent state to which immigrant communities have made a vital contribution. Nor does his use of English render him less authentic a Malaysian than his literary counterparts in that country. Indeed, his works are imbued with the vibrancy of the Malaysian landscape, both human and physical. ************************************* Born Subramaniam Krishnan in 1942, K S Maniam is of Hindu, Tamil and working-class background. His birthplace was Bedong, a small town in Kedah situated in the rural north of Malaysia.
    [Show full text]
  • Malaysian Literature in English
    Malaysian Literature in English Malaysian Literature in English: A Critical Companion Edited by Mohammad A. Quayum Malaysian Literature in English: A Critical Companion Edited by Mohammad A. Quayum This book first published 2020 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2020 by Mohammad A. Quayum and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-4929-1 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-4929-6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Mohammad A. Quayum Chapter One .............................................................................................. 12 Canons and Questions of Value in Literature in English from the Malayan Peninsula Rajeev S. Patke Chapter Two ............................................................................................. 29 English in Malaysia: Identity and the Market Place Shirley Geok-lin Lim Chapter Three ........................................................................................... 57 Self-Refashioning a Plural Society: Dialogism and Syncretism in Malaysian Postcolonial Literature Mohammad
    [Show full text]
  • UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Playing Along Infinite Rivers: Alternative Readings of a Malay State Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/70c383r7 Author Syed Abu Bakar, Syed Husni Bin Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Playing Along Infinite Rivers: Alternative Readings of a Malay State A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature by Syed Husni Bin Syed Abu Bakar August 2015 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Hendrik Maier, Chairperson Dr. Mariam Lam Dr. Tamara Ho Copyright by Syed Husni Bin Syed Abu Bakar 2015 The Dissertation of Syed Husni Bin Syed Abu Bakar is approved: ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgements There have been many kind souls along the way that helped, suggested, and recommended, taught and guided me along the way. I first embarked on my research on Malay literature, history and Southeast Asian studies not knowing what to focus on, given the enormous corpus of available literature on the region. Two years into my graduate studies, my graduate advisor, a dear friend and conversation partner, an expert on hikayats, Hendrik Maier brought Misa Melayu, one of the lesser read hikayat to my attention, suggesting that I read it, and write about it. If it was not for his recommendation, this dissertation would not have been written, and for that, and countless other reasons, I thank him kindly. I would like to thank the rest of my graduate committee, and fellow Southeast Asianists Mariam Lam and Tamara Ho, whose friendship, advice, support and guidance have been indispensable.
    [Show full text]
  • The Paradigm of Malayness in Literature
    THE PARADIGM OF MALAYNESS IN LITERATURE IDA BAIZURA BAHAR Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD in the Languages and Cultures of South East Asia 2010 Department of South East Asia School of Oriental and African Studies University of London ProQuest Number: 11010464 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11010464 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 | SOAP LIRDARY 2 Declaration for PhD thesis I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the School of Oriental and African Studies concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: Ida Baizura Bahar Date: 7 December 2010 3 ABSTRACT This study is a study on the paradigm of Malayness in literature, taking as its point of departure the understanding of Malayness in Malaysia.
    [Show full text]
  • Open Hor Karen Thesis.Docx.Pdf
    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
    [Show full text]
  • HALEY-DISSERTATION-2016.Pdf (3.385Mb)
    INDIAN OCEAN LITERATURE IN THE SHADE OF BANDUNG by Joseph Haley A dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Baltimore, Maryland August 12, 2016 © 2016 Joseph Haley All Rights Reserved Abstract “Indian Ocean Literature in the Shade of Bandung” examines novels, plays, and nonfiction by contemporary writers from the Indian Ocean rim and its diaspora who have a strong interest in the effects of neoliberal economic policies upon the postcolonial nation-state. Focusing upon the contemporary Anglophone literatures of India and Malaysia, I locate middle-class skepticism regarding the feasibility—or even desirability—of constructing a postcolonial national imaginary that would be founded upon the politics of decolonization. At the same time, I find that important contemporary writers–Tan Twan Eng, Huzir Sulaiman, Arundhati Roy, and Aravind Adiga—express a marked ambivalence toward the rapid globalization of their national homelands; they critique the growth of a transnational consumerism with political, material, and cultural ties to the west. Highlighting connections between the mediation of a literary marketplace and the cultural production of a comprador bourgeoisie, I argue, enables each of these authors to stage a double critique of neoliberalism and reactionary nationalism—the latter of which may feed upon discontent sown by neoliberal policies among the region’s most economically underdeveloped communities. Furthermore, each of these literary representations gestures toward a regional transnationalism that is oriented around the ideal geographies of the maritime Indian Ocean, which utopian inflection I trace to the Afro-Asian Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955.
    [Show full text]
  • Contemporary Malaysian Literature
    ASIATIC, VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1, JUNE 2010 From the Cave of Denial and Discontent, Darkly: Response to Wong Phui Nam’s Review of An Anthology of Contemporary Malaysian Literature Muhammad Haji Salleh1 Universiti Sains Malaysia Mr. Wong Phui Nam takes issue for calling my book, a collection of works written originally in the national language and later translated into English, An Anthology of Contemporary Malaysian Literature. In a recent account, Malaysia recorded one hundred languages spoken within its shores. This is indeed an astounding number of languages. However, we all need a shared language to communicate with each other, and to use in our schools so that we approach knowledge from a common perspective, i.e. a common language. This is the national language. Thus, it is usually agreed that the national literature is one written in the national language. If an Indian writes poems in Punjabi in Britain, would he be included in an anthology of British national literature? Or a descendant of the Javanese in Holland writing in Indonesian – should his work be included in an anthology of Dutch literature? Should not the national literature of Malaysia be written in Malaysia’s national language? In 1973, an anthology of poems in English, Seven Poets: Singapore and Malaysia was published. Of course, there was a corpus of poetry written in Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, Kadazan and Iban by then. They were not included. If I remember it right, Mr. Wong did not write a long paper in protest that these non-English poems by Malaysians and Singaporeans were not included.
    [Show full text]
  • Hero of Two Ages: Mohd Said Sulaiman As the First Malay Autobiography Editor
    Asian Social Science; Vol. 10, No. 7; 2014 ISSN 1911-2017 E-ISSN 1911-2025 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education Hero of Two Ages: Mohd Said Sulaiman as the First Malay Autobiography Editor Rahimah Hamdan1 & Shaiful Bahri Md. Radzi2 1 Department of Malay Language, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia 2 School of Malay Language, Literature and Culture Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Bangi, Malaysia Correspondence: Rahimah Hamdan, Department of Malay Language, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Tel: 60-3-8946-8758. E-mail: [email protected] Received: October 16, 2013 Accepted: February 18, 2014 Online Published: March 31, 2014 doi:10.5539/ass.v10n7p191 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v10n7p191 Abstract This paper discusses the role of an early 20th century Johore intellectual and early Malay autobiography editor named Mohd Said Sulaiman in linking the traditional to the modern era. Mohd Said’s prowess as a Johore Malay figure was not only due to the fact that he was an important individual in the government (being the Sultan’s private secretary) but that he was also a very prolific scholar in the field of Malay literature. He produced several Malay literary works, either in prose or poetry, culminating in the completion of the major task of introducing these works to Sultan Ibrahim of Johore, who finally decreed that Ibrahim Munsyi’s autobiography be printed and edited in a scholarly manner without altering its contents. Thus began Mohd Said Sulaiman’s journey as the link between the traditional era (the era of the manuscript) and the modern era (the printing press) until this work could continue in the form of the text as it is today.
    [Show full text]
  • Malaysian Literature in English: an Evolving Tradition
    Kunapipi Volume 25 Issue 2 Article 17 2003 Malaysian Literature in English: An Evolving Tradition Mohammad A. Quayum Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Quayum, Mohammad A., Malaysian Literature in English: An Evolving Tradition, Kunapipi, 25(2), 2003. Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol25/iss2/17 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Malaysian Literature in English: An Evolving Tradition Abstract Introduction In spite of the many early challenges and lingering difficulties facedy b writers in the English language in Malaysia — challenges and difficulties of a political, literary and social nature — literary tradition in English in this newly emergent nation has come a long way, showing considerable dynamism and resilience since its inception. Critics suggest that the literarture in English in post-colonial societies generally evolves in three stages. In The Empire Writes Back: Theoiy and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures, Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin, for example, explain these three stages as: (i) ‘[works] produced by “representatives” of the imperial power’; (ii) ‘[works] produced “under imperial license” by “natives” or “outcastes” ’; and finally, (iii) the ‘development of independent literatures’ or the ‘emergence of modem post-colonial literatures’ (5-6). This journal article is available in Kunapipi: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol25/iss2/17 178 MOHAMMAD A. QUAYUM Malaysian Literature in English: An Evolving Tradition Introduction In spite of the many early challenges and lingering difficulties faced by writers in the English language in Malaysia — challenges and difficulties of a political, literary and social nature — literary tradition in English in this newly emergent nation has come a long way, showing considerable dynamism and resilience since its inception.
    [Show full text]
  • The Islamisation Phenomenon in Malaysia: the Response of the Professional Classes
    The Islamisation Phenomenon in Malaysia: The Response of the Professional Classes Robert Henry Olivier Bachelor of Science (University of Western Australia 1968) Bachelor of Social Science (With Distinction) (Curtin University 2008) Bachelor of Arts (Honours) (Curtin University 2009) This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The University of Western Australia Social and Cultural Studies 2018 THESIS DECLARATION I, Robert Henry Olivier, certify that: This thesis has been substantially accomplished during enrolment in the degree. This thesis does not contain material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in my name, in any university or other tertiary institution. No part of this work will, in the future, be used in a submission in my name, for any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution without the prior approval of The University of Western Australia and where applicable, any partner institution responsible for the joint-award of this degree. This thesis does not contain any material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. The work(s) are not in any way a violation or infringement of any copyright, trademark, patent, or other rights whatsoever of any person. Portions of Chapter 6, Impact on Muslim Women, were included in an article I wrote which was published by Taylor & Francis in the Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations journal in 2016, with the title “The Malaysian Islamization Phenomenon: The Underlying Dynamics and Their Impact on Muslim Women”. The research involving human data reported in this thesis was assessed and approved by The University of Western Australia Human Research Ethics Committee, Approval # RA/4/1/5578, on 20th December 2012.
    [Show full text]