Asmara, Nun, Kenchana: Impressions of Early Malay Newspapers and Periodicals
THE dynamism of early Bahasa Melayu newspapers and periodicals have largely been ignored. In the universities, these are blatantly understudied. Students of journalism, of media,...
P Ramlee: The Getaran of the Modern Malay Hikayat Lives on
IN 2014, after moderating a talk at a heritage and conservation agency in Pulau Pinang, I was asked by the organizer on books pertaining to...
Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa: The Genesis of Kedah’s Global Consciousness
A re-reading of Rum/Rom as narrated by such texts as the Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa (HMM) is inevitable. This is to demythologise the expanse of the...
The Minangkabau Press: Expressions of Kemadjoean, Kaum Muda and Kaum Tua in the Sumatra Westkust
PADANG, the rantau of the Minangkabau heartland is an understated port, and town; and today the capital of West Sumatera. It is located in what...
Chulias and Marakayars: A Persistent Presence in the Tanah Air
MANY have become Malays, and constitutionally defined as such. Not a few maintain their Tamil identity, being Indian Muslim. At the same time, culture and...
Benua Melayu: Exploring another World View
THERE was a recent response forwarded via the social media critical of “Malay civilization.” Apparently it appeared to describe the previous Melaka Hari Ini column...
Bandung: The Voice of Afro-Asian Political Decolonialization
ON 18 April 1955, President Sukarno declared in his opening address to the Asian-African Conference in Bandung, “This is the first intercontinental conference of coloured...
Ideas on Civilization: The Homeland Basis for Malaysia’s National Culture
A new idea on Malay culture and civilization in Malaysia’s recent history was first brought to the nation’s attention by University of Malaya’s (UM) Malay...
From East to West: The flow of Taste and Spices to Europe and the World
IN the 1970s, the non-Western world complaint on the imbalance of information flow from West to East. The non-Western proponents of the New World Information...
The Company: Looting the Jewel in the Kedah Crown
WHAT follows is the story of Kedah, as much as the story of India. Visiting the Indian forts in Agra and Jaipur many years ago...