Socio-Cultural Problems of the Malay Community in Singapore and in Penang: A Study of Kilat Senja and Aci Patmabi

Jelani Harun

doi:10.37052/ml.27(1)no9

Abstract

The way of life of the Malay community cannot be separated from its traditional kampong or rural life, which forms the earliest template of life as family, community and nation, from the earliest stages to the developments of today. Changes over time have given rise to corresponding changes in the kampong, transforming them into advanced, modern towns and cities. This phenomenon occurred in Singapore and Penang, two cosmopolitan states of the Straits Settlements with close historical links. What occurred in Singapore may be discovered in Penang as well. The phenomena or dilemma of “cultural aridity” in Singapore may have similarities with the problem of “urban sprawl” in Penang. On this premis, initially the article discusses Hadijah Rahmat’s Kilat Senja . Do the socio-cultural issues of the Malay community in Singapore also occur in Penang? The answer to this question may be explicitly and implicitly resolved in Azmi Iskandar Merican’s work, Aci Patmabi . Subsequently the article raises and explores a variety of questions on the course of socio-cultural developments of the Malay community in Singapore and Penang. Keywords: socio-cultural issues, cultural aridity, urban sprawl, Singapore, Penang

Highlights

This article is initiated by revisiting the bleak picture of life of the Malay community in Singapore painted by Lily Zubaidah Rahim in her book, Dilema Singapura: Peminggiran Politik dan Pelajaran Masyarakat Melayu (2004)
Hadijah Rahmat and Azmi Iskandar Merican both typify authors born in Singapore and Penang before 1965 who are still actively writing today
The intimate link between the socio-cultural histories of Singapore and Penang becomes apparent through a sharing of the problems that are almost the same in both regions, those connected to the crisis in the lives of the Malay community

Summary

INTRODUCTION

This article is initiated by revisiting the bleak picture of life of the Malay community in Singapore painted by Lily Zubaidah Rahim in her book, Dilema Singapura: Peminggiran Politik dan Pelajaran Masyarakat Melayu (2004). Zubaidah Rahim sees this as a direct outcome of the education system of Singapore which marginalizes the Malay community from the primary course of national development in the context of modern development. This process necessitated the sacrifice of socio-cultural values. It can destroy the culture of a community (especially the Malay community) and increase capitalism, commercialism, and the threat of political competition among various ethnicities Could it be that the problems of “urban sprawl” in Penang are long-standing and continue to destroy the life of Aci Patmabi and her family?

A PROBLEM OF CULTURAL ARIDITY IN SINGAPORE?

CONCLUSION