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...
Hikayat Nakhoda Muda: The Story of Pepper, Loyalty and Betrayal in the 1700s
Not many have studied on the earliest Malay biography ever written. I found a copy of the first publication of Hikayat Nakhoda Muda at the...
Dusun Nyior and Haji Sulong: The Thai Construct of a Separatist Narrative
The “Haji Sulong Rebellion” was constructed as the master narrative by the Thai state. The arrest of the modernist scholar and intellectual, on 16th January...
Bukit Melaka, Malay Lane and Jalan Yahudi: Certainly Not Altering the Past
IN July 2020, I responded to a newspaper column through the social media on the initiative by the Malacca Museums Corporation (PERZIM) to revert the name...
Semut, Raya and Sumatera
The word Samudra is not the origin for the name Sumatra, the second largest (after Borneo) of the Greater Sunda Islands in the Malay Archipelago....
Batak Newspapers in Colonial Sumatra: Tiger Sightings, bangso Batak and Narrating the ‘Modern’
Batak newspaper writing before World War II had deep, intertextual relationship with versions of the European novel. The newspapers inform us on modes of writing...
Of Nusantara and Nusantaria: Palapa and Other Names
Nusantara as the new capital of Indonesia was received with mixed feelings amongst the Malay intelligentsia in Malaysia. They suggested ‘Kota Nusantara’. There is apprehension...
Japan’s Orient: Tōyō and the Belief on Malay Origins
THE Japanese narrative sees itself as intellectually and culturally competing with Europe. It seeks to be recognized as culturally and technology Western. Japanese historians and...