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 the sta PPte’s Malay history and society. I was quickly told that the only Penang Malay known to them was P. Ramlee.

In this sense, the future certainly did not look good for the Malays in Pulau Pinang. Over the decades, a small number of publications on Pulau Pinang Malay history and society have appeared. But the inherent narrative has been subdued by the state’s mainstream culture and history. The good news is, P. Ramlee survived that narrative.

P. Ramlee was an ethnographer of Malay life on the silver screen. In his movies, he captured the essence and the psyche of Malay attitudes toward society. It was sarcasm and humour in “Ali Baba Bujang Lapok” and “Tiga Abdul.” Through his films, we can see how it reflected ideas on modern politics and nations. His creative imagination resonates contemporary culture, ideals and morals as in Semerah Padi (1956) and Nujum Pak Belalang (1959).

Born Teuku Zakaria Bin Teuku Nyak Puteh in Pulau Pinang in March 1929, P. Ramlee (Puteh Ramlee) was a story-teller. He retold tales from the pristine Malay past, to modern society. He conjured orality and aurality in new forms and meaning, beyond the courts and the indigenous penglipur lara. He brought in the immediate reality and daily imaginings. He played his role in the Malaysianization process of the movies – stories, sounds, aesthetics. He instrumentalized a hikayat for the nation.

In a 2019 nation-wide study on Malaysian popular music and social cohesion, found that respondents across the focus groups mutually recognized and has affinity with Getaran Jiwa (1960), as compared many other popular and patriotic songs over the decades. Certainly, for many generations, including yours truly, Getaran Jiwa is consumed experientially, in many forms, resonating a collective past and a national space. Certainly through his production and his aesthetics, P. Ramlee moves beyond a movie icon, or the maestro composer and songwriter. He is a national hero absent in our history books.

The man thrived during the period of Japanese colonialism in Malaya. His schooling was interrupted by the Japanese invasion leading him to work at the Eastern Smelting plant at the Dato’ Keramat area, his father’s place of work. While at the plant, he learnt the Japanese language.

He then enrolled himself at the Nan Shio Koin Japanese School. There he and his good friend, Sukardi became exemplary students so much so that they were selected to join the Japanese Martime College (Kaigun). P Ramle had a penchant for drawing. But it during the Japanese period that he was exposed to music and musical instruments. Later after the war, P. Ramlee studied music under one Encik Kamaruddin.

His Azizah, together with Baidah, Abang Dollah, Mee Jawa, and Joget Malaya and Di Padang Kota were later aired through Radio Malaya Pulau Pinang accompanied by Orkes Teruna Sekampung. This was told by his friend, the Sasterawan Negara Abdullah Hussein in the biography Kisah Hidup Seniman Agung: P. Ramlee (2016).

Abdullah Hussein was intimate with P. Ramlee. The book began earlier as a slim booklet in Jawi titled Kisah Hidup P. Ramlee, published by Ahmad Latif in Pulau Pinang. In his Sekadar Salam Abdullah did not give the year of its publication. It was later published in Rumi under the title Gagak di Rimba. Both works were read by P. Ramlee himself. These were based on Abdullah serials published in Gelanggang Filem under the title “P. Ramlee yang Kukenal.” Abdullah described his serial as the only writing on a “bintang filem tempatan” (local film star) in a film magazine at that time.

Abdullah related that it was not easy to have an interview with P. Ramlee on his life and work. Over the years, he documented and accumulated whatever he can gather from P. Ramlee himself, “answers that we never asked,” quipped Abdullah. He also noted subtle expressions from the man; and certainly from those close to him.

According to Abdullah, this was between 1951 to 1961, when he worked at Penerbitan P. Ramlee, the publisher of Gelanggang Filem. P. Ramlee certainly knows the power of media and branding. Abdullah witnessed P. Ramlee’s rise and fall. Abdullah made reference to work toward developing an entity called Malaysia Film Industries (MFI) the collaboration between P. Ramlee and H.M. Shah, one of the driving forces behind the business side of Utusan Melayu in the 1950s. Also with them were Jins Shamsuddin, Jaafar Abdullah, and Abdullah himself. MFI almost dissappeared without a trace (hampir hilang tanpa kubur). According to Abdullah, it was replaced by PERFIMA.

His hikayat films narrated Malay identity and society. It has been argued that “Seniman Bujang Lapok” coincided with the reawakening of the Malays. It should be seen that P. Ramlee lived during the time of Angkatan Sasterawan 50 (ASAS 50), with their mission of arts and literature for society; propagating societal awareness, and the spirit of the bangsa under conditons of impending freedom and decolonization. These conditions certainly resonated in P. Ramlee’s works.

P. Ramlee articulated politics. Through his cinema, we see representations of Malay society. It was a discourse on the nation in the 1960s. “Natives” of Tanjong in Pulau Pinang would not find difficulty in relating to the man. It was a national narrative, cosmopolitan and vernacular at the same time. And the sounds Anglo-American jazz, Brazilian rhythms fused with Melayu Asli, Langgam and Keroncong. The aurality did not end when he left us.

Some decades back, a columnist in a national newspaper proclaimed that P. Ramlee was a man of the past. His world is the sandiwara (a play on a stage). On 29 Mei 1973, he moved to another world. Recalling a line from one of this films, “Bila aku sudah tiada nanti, aku akan hidup seribu tahun lagi” (when I am no more, will continue to live for a thousand years). Al-fatihah.

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