MALAY(SI)AN HISTORY &

ITS PRE-CINEMATIC CULTURE

Yow Chong Lee
Faculty of Applied and Creative Arts
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

This OpenCourseWare@UNIMAS and its related course materials are licensed under
a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Learning Objectives:
To be able to:
Make the connection of the cultural interaction of
the past (pre-colonial and colonial Malaysia) with the
film culture established in the 20th century.
Capture the features of pre-cinematic culture.
Explain the influences of socio-cultural past to the
present filmmaking scene in Malaysia.

PRE-COLONIAL MALAYSIA:
THE GOLDEN AGE OF MELAKA

Cultural Interaction
The dominant cultural flow was from India.
The adoption of Hinduism/ Buddhism as religious
practices and as models for the conceptualization of
kingship and the relation of the ruler to the ruled.

RAMAYANA STORY TIME!

The Arrival of Islam

The arrival of Islam changed the region
profoundly and its impact started to be felt from
about 11th and 12th century.
Melaka became the regions most powerful trading
and cultural center at a time when Islam was
making a major impact in the region also contributes
to its pivotal role in Malay consciousness.

Inclusion of Narrative in the Cultures

Those narrative (stories) were reworked, performed
and written for a long period of time.
Shadow-play/
wayang version

Examples
Written version:
Hikayat Seri Rama
(The Story of
Rama)

Professional
story-teller
version

Wayang
The Tuah/Jebat story was performed by storytellers
and also by dalang in the Wayang.
Its primary stories were derived from local
versions of the Indian epics.
The Wayang technology screen, leather puppets,
light source, commentary, music arrived in the
Archipelago from South India.

Interaction of Cultures
The elements employed in Wayang indicate
the intense localisation of Rama stories.
Two distinct audiences:
Visible audience
Real audience the inhabitant of the spiritual
world

Dalang = director?

COLONIAL MALAYSIA

Cultural Development during

Pre-Colonial Malaya
Pre-colonial Malaya is a complex history of
economic, social, political, and cultural interactions,
strongly influenced by a number of waves of
temporary and permanent migration.

Colonial Malaysia:
The influx of Migrant Workers
Malaysia (previously known as Malaya) was the colony of the
Portuguese, Dutch and British.

It was the British that had brought substantial change to

Malaya which includes socio-political and economics aspects.
Malaysia is the name granted to Malaya upon its combination
with Singapore and two other Northern Borneo states namely
Sabah and Sarawak in 1963.

Singapore dispatched from Malaysia and formed its selfgoverned state two years later.

Divide and Rule!

Malay
Indian
Chinese

Tap rubber in the Estates

Work in the Britishs tin mines
Involve in paddy plantation

What Was The Highest Paid Job?

The disparity in the economy was perceived mainly
along the ethnic line, particularly between the poor
indigenous Malay and the affluent immigrant Chinese.

The Optical Illusion

It is an optical illusion, argues James Puthucheary
(1959: p. 122) by seeing the Chinese as the exploitative
capitalists who dominated the economy of Malaya. In
fact, it is really European capital that dominates
Malayas economy.

Nationalist Movement?
For those then permanent migrants, nationalism
and national culture were concerns that related
solely to their mother countries and not to the
place they were living.
Malay nationalist interests were inhabited by the
kerajaan political system in which loyalties were
localised and enforced.

Historical Events
1941

Japanese invasion

Return of the British with the

proposal of Malayan Union
1946

1948

Formation of Federation of Malaya

Invasion of the Japanese

Slogan such as Asia for Asian was instilled among
the Malays; the Indians were supported for their
independent movement; while they were hostile
towards the Chinese.
The Japanese divide and conquer policy served only
to increase the tensions between the Malays and
the Chinese.

The Return of the British

British returned with the proposal of Malayan
Union which tried to form a centralised government
that required the Sultans sovereignty to be
transferred to the British crown.
An inclusive citizenship will be given to the nonMalays who were born in this country on jus soli
basis.

Malayan Union
and Malays Opposition
The Malays under the leadership of Malay
nationalists like Datuk Onn Jaafar were mobilized
under the United Malays National Organisation
(UMNO) with the aim of bringing the plan down.
As a result, the Malayan Union plan was never
implemented and was replaced with Federation of
Malaya on 1 February 1948.

Federation of Malaya
The position of the Malay rulers was restored and
the special position of the Malay was guaranteed.
The immigrants had to undergo stringent citizenship
provision:
be competent in Malay and English
to reside in the peninsula for at least 15 years and
willing to declare his/her permanent settlement

The Untold History

The coalition of PUTERA-AMCJA was the first
collaboration that reached across ethnic or
communal lines to demand for a self-govern state.

People Constitution
The PUTERA-AMCJA coalition urged for
Peoples Constitution which comprises of
issues such as:
nationality and citizenship,
the provision of a system of parliamentary
democracy
the agreement that the new state would be
symbolically identified with Malay culture

Sorry, We Cant Accept People

Constitution: British

Why?

CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
DURING COLONIAL
MALAYSIA

Parsee Theater and Bangsawan

Parsee Theater

Bangsawan

The Parsees were of

Bangsawan is the
Persian origin, which was
dominant pre-cinematic
brought to Mumbai, India cultural form that became
and performed in the
very popular in Malaya at
middle of the 19th century. the end of the 19th century.

Parsee Theater Came to Malaya

Parsee theater troupes traveled through India and
to the Malay Archipelago. It was called Wayang
Parsee.
The first performance was in the 1870s in Penang.
Why?

However, the popularity of Wayang Parsee

eventually waned because of the absence of new
materials and the local company collapsed.

The Beginning of Bangsawan

A Penang businessman bought the theatrical
materials and thus began the first Bangsawan
group.
Bangsawan literally means of noble birth and
referred to the fact that the plays dealt almost
totally with royalty.

How the Bangsawan Became Popular?

During Hari
Raya,
Deepavali and
Chinese New
Year

Amusement parks
offered Bangsawan,
opera, Parsee &
European theater,
gambling halls &
dance parlour
A centralised
venue for
entertainment
Owned by Shaw
Brothers

Accessible
to most
people
Urban
substitute
for
Festivities

The use
of Malay
language

The
introduction
of
amusement
park

Commodification of
Bangsawan
Its songs were
available on
records and
played on
radio

The Influence of Bangsawan

on Early Malay Films
Stylised
acting

Influences
on Early
Films

Inclusion of
song-anddance

Colourful
costume

Conclusion

The influx of millions of migrant-workers altered the

demographics of the region and led to major changes in the society.

It inevitably created sudden interaction culturally (socially)

between communities of different backgrounds.

It is the time when those stories/histories of the past (e.g. HHT,

Golden Age of Melaka) to be written and performed in the narrative
of nation.

The example of Bangsawan highlights the consequences of cultural

interaction in the construction of a localised hybrid cultural form.

References
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Cheah, B. K. (2002). Malaysia: The Making of A Nation. Singapore: ISEAS.
Puthucheary, J. (1959). Who Owns Malaya? in Dominic Puthucheary and Jomo K. S. (eds.) (2010).
No Cowardly Past: James Puthucheary Writings, Poems, Commentaries (Second edition).
Selangor: SIRD.
___________ (1977). Significant Changes in Ownership and Control in the Malaysian Economy in
Dominic Puthucheary and Jomo K. S. (eds.) (2010). No Cowardly Past: James Puthucheary
Writings, Poems, Commentaries (Second edition). Selangor: SIRD.
Syed, H. A. (2008). The Malays: Their Problems and Future. Selangor: The Other Press.
Heide, W. v. d. (2002). Malaysian Cinema, Asian Film: Borders Crossings and National Cultures.
Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.