Ship and Sha’ir: Hamzah Fansuri’s House and Heart
The term bayt in Arabic basically means “house,” and the unit of poetry (shi’r) is called a bayt - the house of verse. The Arabic...
Resting Place of an Idea: The Power of Sunan Kalijaga
The blurb at the back cover of the paperback describes Java’s pilgrimage culture as a dense, batik-like pattern of contradictions: seriousness collides with laughter; curiosity...
Flying Lizards, Tigers and Moyang: Aslian Tales
Stories sustain societies. There is a galaxy of such rich narratives transcending cultures. Take the example of flying lizards. The Orang Laut believe that flying...
Religious Periodicals in Malaya: Pengasoh, The Modern Light and Similar Genres
In a few of my previous columns, I mentioned the monthly al-Imam (1906-08). Regarded as “the first radical Malay newspaper”, Al-Imam embodied the spirit of...
Textbooks, Bookstores and Malay History: Abdul Hadi Haji Hasan’s Sejarah Alam Melayu
THE teaching of history and geography with a clear “Malay-orientation” has been argued to have contributed towards students developing a Malay ethno-national consciousness. Narratives tell us...
Malay Journalism, Berita Malai and the Singapura Years: Said Zahari on A. Samad Ismail
Said Zahari first knew A. Samad Ismail in 1953, after Samad’s release from his first political detention. He rejoined Utusan Melayu. Said learnt much about...
Ali Wallace of the Malay Archipelago
News of the British naturalist’s “Malay assistant” has been around among scientific and academic circles for decades through learned journals and university bulletins. Writings on...
Riau, the Cradle of Malay Journalism: The Spirit of Syed Shaikh al-Hady
The monthly al-Imam (1906-08) has been said to be the most studied periodical in the nation’s journalism history. But few realized that it is more...
The Maria Hertogh Tragedy: Karim Ghani’s ‘moving spirit’
The Tamil newspaper, Malaya Nanban, founded in 1940, was published by the Muslim Publishing House and was supported by the Chulia Muslims. Its editor was...
Utusan Melayu: The Radical Malay Newspaper
On 21 July 1961, Utusan Melayu’s editors, journalists, administrative, printing and other staff totalling some 115 people launched a strike in Kuala Lumpur protesting political...