New Books

What your teacher didn't tell you by Farish A Noor -- Matahari Books (RM40.00)

Labels: History, Society

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History of Malaysia -- A Children's Encyclopedia by Tunku Halim (RM 68.00)

Every member of the family will enjoy this engaging encyclopedia. Its richly illustrated pages not only bring Malaysian history to life, but its clear and comprehensive explanations make it an essential resource. It helps children understand the country's history and how it relates to today's news. It records a dazzling panorama of peoples, cultures and events from the Stone Age until the present day. The main sections include regional maps, an encyclopedic A to Z, beginners to advance quizzes, a historical time chart, a chronology and glossary.


Other new Malaysian titles:

Labels: History

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Penang and Its Region ( The Story of an Asian Entrepot ) edited by Khoo Salma Nasution, Loh Wei Leng, Neil Khor, Yeoh Seng Guan (RM 45.00)

From its beginnings in the late eighteenth century, the vibrant colonial port of Penang attracted a diverse range of peoples, enabled pioneering commercial enterprises, and fomented inter-ethnic collaboration and inter-cultural borrowings. The island came to be known as the "Pearl of the Orient", and for many travellers it was their first port of call in Southeast Asia. In the early nineteenth century, Singapore displaced Penang in international trade, but the island remained a major focus of regional trade. For this reason, the story of Penang's relations with the Malay Peninsula and other parts of Southeast Asia reveal a great deal about conditions within the region.

This collection discusses the personal networks that have linked prominent individuals in Penang with neighbouring areas, and then considers the position of the island as a whole within the Southeast Asian region. Specifically, the authors write about local entrepreneurs, mutual help associations, and cross border trading and political networks, and aspects of how the cosmopolitan population of the island negotiated the transition from British colony to Malaysian state.

Labels: History

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Straight Talk by Tunku Abdul Aziz (RM 40.00)

The vintage articles in the New Straits Times by Tunku Aziz have been keenly read within Malaysia and appreciated for his incisive commentary on the socio-political foibles of the nation, clearly in the throes of crony feudalism in the exercise of power. His serious, fearless and critical opinions were published at a time when radical transformations away from bad practices were being desired by the electorate and observers who wish for achievable ideals in national progress.

Other new Malaysian titles:

1. Penang and Its Region edited by Yeoh Seng Guan, Loh Wei Leng, Khoo Salma Nasution and Neil Khor (RM 45.00)

2. Tangerin&Nikotin by Mimi Morticia (RM 15.00)

Labels: History, Poetry, Politics

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Lost Times and Untold Tales from the Malay World edited by Jan van der Putten & Mary Kilcline Cody (RM 49.00)

How did the Komodo dragon influence Hollywood? What do Wanted posters reveal about the Wild Wild East? Was the hapless explorer a martyr to science or a gaseous windbag? Why were colonial officials secret pill poppers? Did bicycles really promoter Women's Lib? Who went looking for love in all the wrong places? What do you do at the Get-Rich-Quick-Tree? The answers to these and many other questions are found in the witty, useful, informative, amusing and sometimes amazing stories that make up this collection.

Inspired by the wry yet deeply scholarly perspective of Australian philologist Ian Proudfoot, the editors of Lost Times and Untold Tales from the Malay World bring together a distinguished group of international scholars who look at calendars and time, royal myths, colonial expeditions, printing, propaganda, theater, art, Islamic manuscripts, erotic literature, and many other topics from wholly unexpected angles. The book demonstrates the spectacular diversity of scholarship on the Malay World, and shows that offbeat texts can produce fascinating new insights into the past.

Also, Silverfish Books is giving away free copies of George Town, World Heritage Site Map produced by UNESCO and World Heritage to anyone interested (while stocks last). Please come early to claim your copy from the bookshop in Bangsar Baru.

Labels: History

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'You can help shoulder the responsibility of saving our country by donating your money, while our comrades in our country are sacrificing their lives'

Sun Yat Sen in the famous speech he made in Penang, 1910

The Second Guangzhou Uprising (also called the Canton March 29 Uprising), a turning point of the 1911 Chinese Revolution, was planned from a place 2,400 km away -- in Penang in present-day Malaysia.

As a young revolutionary, Dr. Sun Yat Sen traveled widely and lived amongst the Chinese Communities abroad, including Japan, North America and Southeast Asia. He mobilized the overseas Chinese with the dream of saving the Chinese nation.

In 1910, when success seemed most remote, Dr. Sun turned to his followers in Penang. The Penang Philomatic Union became the Tongmenghui party's Nanyang Headquarters, raising funds and fighters for the Second Guangzhou Uprising and acting decisively to help consolidate the Xinhai Revolution.

Labels: History

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History of the Dutch in Malaysia by Dennis De Witt -- RM 60.00.

Written in the perspective of a Malaysian Dutch Eurasian, this book divides the Dutch historical influences in Malaysia into four different eras. Each era is analysed and represented in relation to its respective social environment and political developments. Included are the historical contributions of individuals, such as the Dutch Admirals who attempted to capture Malacca, the Dutch Governors and their administrative ranks who governed the town and the contributions of the Malacca Burghers in shaping Malaysia's history.

Presented herein are the many vestiges from the Dutch that can still be found in Malaysia today. The author also sets the record straight on some misconceptions concerning historic monuments, identifies Dutch architectural influences, recounts an unusual tradition of reusing old burial tombs and proposes a theory for the legend of Malacca's secret tunnels.

Although Dutch-descended communities such as the Afrikaners of South Africa, the Ceylon Burghers of Sri Lanka and the Indo-Dutch Eurasians from Indonesia are known to exist, few are aware of the existence of the Malaysian Dutch descendants. Categorised in a broad sense as Eurasians, they exist as a minority within a minority in Malaysia. This book recounts their history, relates their ancestor's contributions towards Malaysian history and describes the development of this hidden and forgotten minority ethnic group.

Labels: History

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The Malaysian Indians: History, Problems and Future by Muzafar Desmond Tate -- RM 40.00.

The Malaysian Indians comes at an important juncture in the history of this significant minority group in Malaysia. Written several years before the Hindraf rallies of 2007, this book is a much-needed introduction to the Indians of Malaysia.

It is a balanced, scholarly yet highly readable account of the origins, economic and political contributions, and continuing divisions and problems faced by this diverse community.

The focus is on those who migrated or who were brought to work in colonial plantations and the civil service in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. Both the educated and poor labouring classes came to this nation seeking their fortunes, and became part and parcel of its growth, prosperity and political upheavals.

Readers are also reminded of the important, century-old, pre-colonial ties between India and Southeast Asia -- links that deeply influenced kingship, religion, culture and trade, including in the Malay world. This book also traces the key contributions of individuals and groups in the making of Malaya as well as Malaysia. It is hopes that this book will be the springboard for more research, rational discussion, and informal public debates and policies about the Malaysian Indians, including its poorest, most marginalized, sections.

Labels: History

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Prince of Pirates by Carl A Trocki (RM 46.00)

No country's history is so well documented yet so poorly understood as that of a former colony. Singapore and Malaysia are particular victims of this historical paradox, and Carl Trocki's account of the history of Johor and Singapore marks a decided advance in Malaysian scholarship. A study of the Temenggongs of Johor, Prince of Pirates offers an original and highly provocative reinterpretation of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Malaysian history, revealing continuities between the pre-colonial and colonial periods that have been obscured by attention given to the European intrusion.

This new edition includes a fresh introduction by the author that positions the study within subsequent literature on Malaysian history, the Chinese migration, the opium trade and history of the British Empire in Asia. It also explains the role the book played in pioneering a number of important initiatives in Malaysian studies.

Labels: History

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Penang Trams, Trolleybuses & Railways: Municipal Transport History 1880s-1963 by Ric Francis & Colin Ganley (RM 50.00)

With over 100 old photographs, maps and illustrations, this book gives an overview of the various forms of public transport used in George Town from 1880s to 1963, and the role this transport played in the development of the growth of George Town and Penang.

Penang was one of the first urban centres in Southeast Asia to operate steam trams, horse trams, electric trams and trolleybuses. When the Municipal Commission established its own electric supply, it took over the tram service and started the electric trams in George Town in 1906. This gave the local population excellent public transport around George Town, with one line going up to Ayer Itam. In the late 1920s, the Municipality replaced trams with trolley-buses, experimenting for a while with re-conditioned double-deckers from London Transport!

The Municipality also operated two railways -- firstly, the Penang Hill Railway which was considered an engineering marvel when it was first built, and secondly, the electric railway which transported supplies and tin ingots for Penang's foremost smelting works.

Labels: History

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Chronicle of Malaysia (1957-2007): Fifty Years of Headline News (RM 120.00, DVD included)

The Chronicle of Malaysia is the Story of Malaysia from January 1957 to 31st August 2007, a vivid, eyewitness account of major news events over the last 50 years. The book gives a grandstand view of events as they unfolded -- the raising of the Malayan flag, the Emergency, the formation of Malaysia, Confrontation, the 1969 riots, political upheavals, financial crisis, judicial landmarks, great sporting moments, cultural delights -- and quirky aspects of daily life
that just happened to make the news. It is history made alive.

Along with the year-by-year review of major news stories from Peninsula, Singapore (from 1963 to 1965) and the Borneo states, there is also a timeline of international events, including developments in other parts of the region.

The Chronicle of Malaysia begins with an Introduction by historian Cheah Boon Kheng who gives a short but authoritative history of the Malay lands from early times to Independence. This is proceeded by a brief Foreword by Tun Mohamed Hanif Omar, a former (and the longest-serving) Inspector General of Police, who puts the whole story into perspective.

The news is interspersed with inimitable cartoons by Lat that have appeared in books and newspapers over the past three decades as well as new drawings specially commissioned.

Research sources for this book included Malaysian newspapers from all the language streams. Foreign publications provided another angle. Photographs, too, came from a variety of archives and greatly enlivened the 'slice of life' that the book provides.

Labels: History

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East of Kinabalu by Leslie Davidson (RM 30.00)

Datuk Leslie Davidson, one of the giants of the oil palm industry in the second half of the twentieth century is the best known for his leading role in introducing to S.E. Asia the pollinating weevil. This has saved the industry millions of dollars annually in assisted pollination.

He was also responsible in the 1960's for bringing oil palm to Sabah on a commercial scale, opening up Tungud Estate for Unilever on what was then the remote east coast.

This volume relates his pioneering experiences in the development. Davidson's account contains episodes which are by turn hilarious, deeply moving, and important from both historical and literary points of view. They also attest to his leadership in creating out of a disparate range of races and religions, a stable and harmonious estate community.

The book vividly captures the atmosphere of Sabah before and immediately after it became part of Malaysia.

Labels: History, Society

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Malaysian Heritage series:

This is a new series on Malaysian history (many of them on East Malaysia). The 12-volume series comprises of:

(This is a new series by the Synergy Media (a wing of SA Majid). The first lot is a release of 12 out of print Malaysian (or Malayan titles) titles although the authenticity of the original print dates quoted in the book is rather questionable. For example J Kennedy's History of Malaya is 1963 book although the copyright page has a nineteenth century date on it. This brings up another issue: this particular book is available online from Sage Journals as PDF download for a fee. So who owns the copyright and has this been resolved before publication of the current series? (I have not checked the other titles.)

Notwithstanding the above we are glad that an attempt is being made to publish these classics. Many of them are on East malaysia and are well worth acquiring (for collecting if nothing else). The quality is not brilliant but that can be forgiven because the prices are affordable. The text and the illustrations appear to be have been reproduced in toto so that should be okay too.)

1. River of the White Lily: Life in Sarawak by Peter Goulart - RM29.90

2. Escape from Hell: The Sandakan Story by Walter Wallace (1958) - RM29.90

3. Labuan Story: Memoirs of a Small Island near the Coast of North Borneo by Maxwell Hall - RM29.90

4. Records & Recollections 1889-1934 by J.H.M. Robson (1870) - RM29.90

5. The Story of Malaysia by Harry Miller (1914) - RM39.90

6. Expedition to Borneo: The search for Proboscis monkeys and other creatures by David Macdonald - RM39.90

7. Under Chartered Company Rule: North Borneo 1881-1946 by K.G. Tregonning - RM39.90

8. History of Malaya by J. Kennedy (1919) - RM59.90

9. The White Rajahs by Steven Runciman (1903) - RM59.90

10. World Within: A Borneo Story by Tom Harrisson - RM59.90

11. A History of Sarawak under its Two White Rajahs 1839-1908 by S. Baring-Gould and C.A. Bampfylde - RM69.90

12. Rajahs and Rebels: The Ibans of Sarawak under Brooke Rule, 1841-1941 by Robert Pringle (1936) - RM69.90

Labels: History

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May 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riot of 1969 by Kua Kia Soong
(RM 20.00)

This is the first credible account of the May 13, 1969 racial riot in Malaysia using the documents recently declassified at the Public Records Office, London after the lapse of the 30-year secrecy rule. These documents provide the only available confidential observations and memoranda by British and other foreign embassy operatives based on their intelligence and contacts with local officials and politicians. They include dispatches by correspondents which were then banned in Malaysia. The local media were suspended at the time and local documents remain classified under the Official Secrets Act.

A social scientist, Kua Kia Soong provides a fresh political analysis of this "May 13 incident". In his view, the riots were by no means a spontaneous outburst of violence between Malays and Chinese but rather a planned coup d'etat by the ascendant state capitalist class against Tunku-led aristocracy. He discusses the contradictions of the post-Independence Alliance racial formula and traces the rise of this new Malay capitalist class which has ruled Malaysia since 1969.

These documents clearly show who were responsible for the violence and pose the question, why the security forces allowed the violence to go on. With this publication, it is hoped that the frequently raised "spectre of May 13" by the Barisan Nasional government will be forever put to rest.

So is the book getting banned? Read this: http://www.silverfishbooks.com/2007/05/may-13-book.html

Labels: History, Politics

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Gold in the South ... the story of an immigrant
by Shan Ru Hong (21st Century, 2007)
Price: RM20.00

(A review. The reviewer who prefers to remain anonymous)

The beginnings

SHAN RU HONG'S FAMILY, reduced to penury by lack of land and an opium smoking father, were lucky. A relative told them there was work and gold in the south seas. With what was left of their money they sailed south in the hold of a ship and landed in Singapore, and put up at Kreta Ayer, where many desperate ones from their area had also come. After the quarantine procedures the relative disappeared, leaving them to fend for themselves in the strange town. There was no work and no food. Sympathising hawkers gave them left overs like iu char koay and pak t'ong ko which helped with the hunger. Then mother and elder sister earned money carrying water for a few cents a time. They slept where they could.

As luck would have it, the missing relative did return with good news - they had relatives up North who had a tin mine. He would ask for their help. That was good news which resulted in their taking the train to Gopeng, Perak. There, father had a job in a mine and mother and elder sister were employed to clear the land of bush and other unwanted growths. The "gold" they had heard about back in the home village was in fact tin which made uncle rich, operating a profitable tin mine. The boy Ru Hong was able to go to school which he leapfrogged with double promotions; but he did not finish for he had to go out and work too.

When he was about 17, Ru Hong became a revolutionary and decided to dedicate his life to the cause of the emancipation of the working class and socialism. He turned down the job of mine manager which uncle offered him and instead went underground. He joined the illegal Malayan Communist Party in whose ranks, unknown to him, was an earlier member Rashid Maidin, a charge man in an English mine at Gopeng. Rashid Maidin was to became one of the leaders of the Communist Party taking part in the so called Baling talks and in the tripartite peace talks in Hatyai in 1989. Ru Hong was to become the commander of the 2nd Regiment of the Malayan Peoples Anti Japanese Army.

One reason why this memoir is important is its account of the transformation of these impoverished immigrants into Malayans. One witnesses it on the occasion of the triumphant celebration of the registration, i.e. recognition, of the Perak Kinta Mine Workers Union which Ru Hong and friends had successfully set up. The organisers had invited the Chinese Consul and Tan Kah Kee (who did not attend) to the opening ceremony, which Ru Hong's group came to realise was a mistake as the event, as they conceived it, was not a Chinese celebration but local event.

Piglets

Ru Hong tells us of the slump of 1929 and the slow recovery of 1937. In those days the British made sure that there were no "trouble makers" to upset the vital production of rubber and tin. Arrests and banishment of suspects were feared. When police pressure increased friends of the revolution deserted. In addition to harassment by the administration the workers, called "piglets," were forced to work for the same boss despite having paid off their passage money. Among the thugs who kept them in virtual slavery was one Lau Pak Khuan, a tough who, by a stroke of luck, struck it rich when he dug into a wealth of tin.

These memoirs explode the myth about "Moscow trained agitators." It is the history of home made revolutionaries who learnt how to organise, teach and move with secrecy from the hard and merciless school of life. They learnt how to avoid special branch surveillance, they learnt patience and flexibility in steering the pioneer groups into recognition as legal trade unions, skills
which were acquired during hard negotiations with bosses. Bitter lessons taught them how to differentiate between correct tactics and blundering orders; they learnt to avoid the errors of rigid "leftist" orders with apparent compliance but which were in fact subtly disobedient. They discovered themselves that the "closed door" policy of the leadership was wrong, that they had to go out and work among all types of people, workers in the estates as well as on the mines, small farmers, workers who were also part farmers, and take in all views. This was the solid foundation that formed a stubborn, popular and victorious obstacle to Brazier and the British TUC's vain attempts to smash the independent trade unions in 1945.

When he wrote these memoirs Ru Hong was past his 80th birthday. He displays a remarkable memory. We learn that a rubber tapper with good trees earned $20 a month . In 1937 "fat" rice (most could only afford broken rice) cost $4.50 for a 165 kati bag Mine workers earned $29 a month and women workers $12.

This account of a destitute childhood and hand to mouth existence and a struggle to survive, typical of immigrants, is a must read for all whose forefathers headed here in search of work and rice. It should remind them to be charitable to the thousands of immigrants who have today come to this country in search of work but are treated as thieves, scoundrels and prostitutes. But we are sick with meanness best illustrated by the example of the late Dr Tan Chee Khoon who claimed that immigrants were the cause of much of the crime; and this came from one of the heads of the Labour Party and a leader of the Methodist Church. Compare his heartlessness to that of Austria, a country devastated by the 2nd World War, which generously opened its doors to some 3 million homeless and starving refugees without a whisper of complaint.

******

* fat rice - whole, unbroken rice

Labels: History, Politics

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Brickfields: A Time, A Place, A Memory by Balan Moses (RM 30.00)

Brickfields: A Time, A Place, A Memory, is a first-person account of the childhood and teenage days of Balan Moses, a senior editor with the New Straits Times, in Brickfields.

He narrates the joys and sorrows of growing up between 1955 and 1970 in a middle-to-lower-middle-class neighbourhood with its pecularities, unforgettable personalities and unique ambience. He has tried to trace developments in the area over the period in question in a light, narrative manner.

His sense of humour, evident in the anecdotes and many unique experiences that he has sprinkled throughout the book, has helped bring Brickfields alive. Moses has taken readers by the hand for a stroll through Brickfields and through time so that they too can see and experience what he saw and experienced all those years ago.

This book is intended to provide the younger generation of today a glimpse of the halcyon days spent in a suburban in a newly-independent nation. It is a personal story of how a child grew into a teenager in a quaint area called Brickfields that is almost no more, except in the memories of the people who once called Brickfields home.

Labels: Biography, History

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The Reluctant Politician by Ooi Kee Beng (RM 68.00)

This is the long-awaited biography of Malaysia's powerful Home Affairs Minister and Deputry Prime Minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, who passed away of a heart attack on 2 August 1973. It is based on his provate papers and on numerous internviews with his relatives and with people who knew him well, including Ghafar Baba, Musa Hitam, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Robert Kuok, Lee Kwan Yew and Ghazalie Shafie. New perspectives are provided about the struggle for independence, Malaysia's relationship with Singapore, the origins of Southeast Asian regionalism, the internal conflicts of the ruling party UMNO, MCA-UMNO ties, the fatal illness of Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, the May 13 riots, and the New Economic Policy. This book contains not only new facts about Malaysian and Singaporean history, but also insights into the processes of decolonization and nation building.

Labels: History, Politics

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