New Malaysian Essays 2

Bigger and maybe more badass than the first, New Malaysian Essays 2 has ten non-fiction pieces. Shanon Shah squarely faces the politics of religion and Mohammad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi critiques ‘power architecture’, a subject Ridhwan Saidi also handles with witty immediacy. We then take in Amir Sharipuddin’s journal of National Service, Yusuf Martin’s amusing rant on the Americanisation (or is that Americanization?) of popular culture, Amir Muhammad’s views on royalty, Ann Lee’s secret history of leprosy, and Danny Lim’s photo-essay on our newly-regained love for public demonstrations. As night falls, Andrew Ng and Jac sm Kee play twin tributes to the female undead that not only scare us but help define us.