Abdullah Munsyi and the missionaries

Abstract

Father of Modern Malay Literature is an epithet often ascribed to Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi, a Malay author who lived in Melaka and Singapore during the first half of the nineteenth century. Two of his works, Hikayat Abdullah (Tale of Abdullah) and Kisah pelayaran Abdullah ke Kelantan (Account of Abdullah’s voyage to Kelantan) are the stories most often ingled out as those that form the bridge between traditional and modern Malay writing. Characteristics of these writings viewed by critics as modern elements are the foregrounding of the authorial self through the use of the first-person pronoun, realistic descriptions of historical events and persons, and harsh criticism of the culture, socio-political structure, and practices of the Malay community (Milner 1995).