i

COLONISATION OF EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE 1950s

AND 1960s:
TOWARDS THE MALAYAN DREAM

KARTINI SAPARUDIN
(B.A.(Hons.), NUS)

A THESIS SUBMITTED

FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY SINGAPORE

2005
 ii

Acknowledgements
I wish to thank the following people and institutions that played meaningful roles in this
research in no particular order;

The National University of Singapore (NUS) for giving me this valuable opportunity
and experience through the generous Research Scholarship.

The management and librarians of Zaaba Library in University Malaya for extending
their thorough help and hospitality throughout my stay especially the abang-abang
who personally facilitated the arduous task of my research by offering me references
and politely assisting me with my queries. Their tolerance to my constant presence
and interruptions in the otherwise quiet library as well as their openness and maturity
to our political discussions and debates regarding Singapore-Malaysia ties were very
keenly appreciated.

Shi Jiao Chon and Yap-Wong Hwai Feng from National Archives Singapore who
facilitated my research by allowing me access to the restricted microfilms and oral
interviews over the stretch of months with patience.

Rachael Harrison for giving me the immediate opportunity to present an earlier draft
of this work at the memorable site of Sorbonne, Paris for the EUROSEAS. I would
like to thank those present especially Muhammad Salleh Yaapar and Zaharah Othman
for their memorable questions and companionship during the 6 days stay.

The organising committee and participants of the Graduate Symposium Gender

Studies: People, Power and Politics from Asian Research Institute (ARI). I am
particularly thankful to Brenda Yeoh, Maila Stevens as well as the promising talent
sitting with me at the roundtable for giving me constructive remarks regarding my
work.

My supervisor, Timothy Barnard who allows me to work independently and

disappears from the main scene. I appreciate the trust and space he gives me, for
not discouraging me when others would have and for making me feel bolder and
more confident than I could be. This, I could not attain, without his ultimate support
and encouragement.

Ryan Bishop who did so much by chipping in the theoretical bits and entertaining my
ceaseless questions with patience when he did not have to.

Jan Van Der Putten who is not my advisor but whose concern for my welfare and
intellectual development shows that one can never truly be lonely with people like
him around.
 iii

Ian Gordon, Peter Borschberg and especially Richard Derderian for their references,
knowledge and experience on women and consumerism in America, Germany and
France respectively. My stay in the History Department has been enriched by such
diversity in worldviews and approaches.

Saroja Dorairajoo, a friend and mentor, whose spirit and inspiration I feel in my heart.
If more women were to have courage like yours, they will move more than the world.
It must be difficult to be an intellectual who feels, thinks and deserves to do as much
when people you know are dying everyday in the south. I wish I am blessed with your
strength.

Iskander Mydin and Geraldene Lowe, long-time best friends to each other, who
introduced me to the world of Jawi magazines. Geraldene, who never lost her bubbly
vigour. Iskander, for being the silent observer to the growth and development of my
human spirit and who always looks out for me as a father would do a daughter.
Musliha, for reintroducing me to Jawi in Malacca, four years ago.

Edgar Liao and Kelvin Lawrence for their patience in reading parts of my work.

Omar Chen, Terence Hong, Fairoz Ahmad and Gloria Arlini for their very
constructive criticisms, feedback, their sincere friendship and their unwavering faith
that I can do be better.

Lim Tin Seng and Joanne Keong for their constant support, sincerity and solace. I
also appreciate Jerry Superman Lees sincerity, humour and sensitivity during our
friendship.

Huifang for being spontaneous, fun, unafraid to look to the child in her and teaching
me the art of doing so.

Nas for his genuine support. The friendship, beauty, faith, wisdom, truth, kindness
and love he offered me throughout the process of writing this thesis is unforgettable. I
appreciate his temporary presence to this thesis.

Suseela Varderajaloo and my old friend Vijyanthi Thirunavukkarasu who helped so

much in the later drafts. Without their ready support and their expertise in the English
language, this thesis would not be possible.

My youngest sister, Diana, who I love dearly and whose support have been
tremendous in this project.

Most importantly Zha, for knowing me so long and providing me the comfort of a
best friend. I cannot imagine living my life without your steady and unconditional
friendship without which, this thesis will seem lost and meaningless. This is a
dedication to your womanly strength and the obstacles we faced as women in the
course of this year. I could not have made it without your friendship.
 iv

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
iv

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
v

SUMMARY
vii

CHAPTER

1. Rethinking Malaya 1

2. Aporia of Allureness: Representing and Constructing Malay

Women 22

3. Home in the City: The Chief Target of Progress 63

4. For the Love of the Modern: The Malayan Dream 101

CONCLUSION 142

BIBLIOGRAPHY 145

APPENDICES 152
 v

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Chapter Two

Satirical cartoon on beauty contest 46

Western women and the tudung 56

Women and the tudung 57

Chapter Three

Furniture for the Home 84

Layout of the Modern Home 85

Malaya, Independence and Time 88

The Clock in the Home 89

Things for the Home 90

School of Home Economics 95

Ways of Eating 97

Ways of Cutting and Arranging 98

Chapter Four

Covers of Tunas 109

Si Dogol 110

Girl Band 116

The Council of Love 120

Women and the Woes of Polygamy 135

The Hen-pecked Husband 137

Bold Malaya Woman 138

 vi

SUMMARY

During the period of Communist insurrection in British Malaya from 1948-1960,

a State of Emergency was declared. The definition of Emergency then took its meaning
as a condition of urgent need for action or assistance within the state. The intimate
associations the Emergency has with General Sir Gerald Templers single-mindedness in
leading the psychological and economic battle against the Communist insurgents in rural
Malaya was a critical moment in the history of British Malaya and the region.
The second Emergency, which Kumar Ramakrishna points out, was a political
one in which representations of Malay and Chinese elites were created through both the
United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the Malayan Chinese Association
(MCA). Such creations were important in counterbalancing the influence of leftist parties
and movements. In addition, the colonial authorities and certain parties intervened to
ensure the survival of the political leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman of UMNO and
Lee Kuan Yew of the Peoples Action Party (PAP).
This thesis proposes a third Emergency in which a series of cultural occurrences
and concentrated efforts aided the process of the political Emergency of British Malaya.
This cultural Emergency made a poignant impact on everyday lives of ordinary
Malayans. It was shaped by British cultural policy in Singapore with definite American
inputs, and was potent in winning over the hearts and minds of ordinary Malayans from
the magnetism of Communism. Communism and Communalism became efficacious tools
used by colonial and local governments in mobilizing Malayans towards the double
process of decolonization through modernization. During that process, more than the
decolonization process had occurred.
At this juncture in time the colonisation of everyday lives towards the Malayan
dream, predicated upon the premise of the American Way, made its striking impact on
ordinary Malayans. This dream created capitalistic ideas and goals to counter communist
ideals and goals. In relating this to the Malay community in Malaya, women became
important targets and instruments in this process of making everyday lives relevant
expressions of capitalism and cultural freedom. Print media, films and television became
reference points for the socialisation of Malayans in the coming of age of the modern
nation.
 vii

Was ist bekannt ist nicht erkennt

 22

CHAPTER TWO

APORIA OF ALLURENESS: REPRESENTING AND

CONSTRUCTING MALAY WOMEN

We need to maintain these contacts more even more so now

that we are apart and separate from Malaysia. This is a very fast
changing situation. It is astonishing how friends of yesterday
became enemies of today; how enemies of today become
friends of tomorrow. And through all this, one must always
recognise who are likely to be friends for a long time and who
are likely to be friends for just a short while.
- Lee Kuan Yew 1

This does not mean, of course, that there are no friends or

enemies. Rather, what it means is that the possibility of the
friend or enemy lies in its undecidability, thought of as
possibility. An unconscious decision, rather than the act or
intention of the conscious subject, operates on the build-up -
the between friend and enemy of the surenchre - which, like
the siren, can be interrupted while keeping its possibility in
living memory
- Ryan Bishop and John Phillips 2

A press statement issued by the Singapore Anti-Yellow Cultural Council

(SAYCC), in response to the arrest of their president Linda Chen Mong Hock,

insisted that all Chen did was to oppose yellow culture. Yet, the memos that were

transmitted from the Special Branch in Singapore to the Public Relations Office

(PRO) indicated otherwise. Apparently A. E. G Blades, the director of the Special

Branch (DSB), had a copy of the translation of a Chinese article published by the

Propaganda Committee of the Singapore Chinese Middle School Student Union

1
Iain Buchanan B.A, Singapore in Southeast Asia: An Economic and Political Appraisal, (London: G.
Bells and Sons Ltd., 1972), p. 267.
2
Ryan Bishop and John Phillips, Manufacturing Emergencies, Theory, Culture and Society 2002,
(SAGE, London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi), Vol. 19 (4), p. 102. More details regarding politics
of friendship in Jacques Derridas Politics of Friendship, (translated) George Collins, (London: Verso,
1997), p. 76.
 23

(SCMSSU) Yock Eng High School Branch, less than a month before the arrests. The

lengthy article, What Does it Mean by Yellow Novel? attempted to clarify the

difference between love novels and yellow literature (thought to be the source of

yellow culture), by referring to the method of differentiation used by A. K

Vasiliyav, a famed Soviet literary theorist of the time. Leftist groups used Vasiliyavs

theories since they validated and exposed the true nature of the yellow character

behind written works which was in tandem with Soviets suspicions. 3

This specific allusion to the Soviet Union literary theorists definition of

yellow culture, with other articles that Blades sent to the PRO in accompaniment

with his memos, signalled British authorities convictions that the anti-yellow culture

movement had avid political interests in infiltrating Singapore and Malaya. On the

very day of the arrests, Utusan Zaman, on behalf of the movement, published an

article entitled, Building an Extensive Anti-Yellow Culture Movement which

claimed that in order to eradicate yellow-culture, the foremost things to do is to

oppose the over one-century old colonialism in Malaya and establish a democratic,
4
free and peaceful Malaya Merdeka. Taipo, another mouthpiece of the leftist group

highlighted:

It is not possible to uproot the yellow culture at one stroke,

because it is closely associated with the whole colonial system.
That is why an anti-yellow cultural movement should be
launched with an independence movement. Only when we have
attained full independence, can [we] completely eradicate the
yellow culture. 5

3
Attachment to memo entitled, Anti-yellow Culture from DSB to PRO dated 13.9.1956, PRO
330/56.
4
Building an extensive Anti-Yellow Culture Movement, Utusan Zaman, 19.8.56, PRO 330/56.
5
Attachment to memo from Press Liaison Officer (Chinese) of the Chief Ministers Office to PRO, 3
August 1956, PRO 330/56.
 24

Such direct expressions explained the defensive edginess of most of Bladess

memos. He was not only concerned with direct articulations in the press to obliterate

the colonial government; he was also utterly disturbed that Chinese leftist groups were

making prominent use of Malay and Indian organisations in their campaigns to

forward Communist purposes. On one occasion, Blades compelled the PRO to

persuade the English press to expose the ulterior motives of the organisers of this

campaign... [or he would] get Radio Malaya to put out talks in appropriate

languages. 6 In another instance, the PRO was to do their part by warning the Malay

and Indian organisations privately to help disillusion them. 7

Blades was not alone in this ideological battle of winning the hearts and minds

of the Malayan people. He was part of a system, pre-eminently larger than the British

colonial system that had existed for 137 years. The British were allies with America

and its own espionage arm, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The CIA

promoted a covert operation called Congress for the Cultural Freedom since 1951. At

its peak, the Congress had offices in 35 countries, employed dozens of personnel,

published over 20 prestigious magazines, held art exhibitions, owned news and

feature service, organised high-profile international conferences and rewarded

musicians and artists with prizes and public performances. Its mission was to nudge

the intelligentsia of Western Europe away from its lingering fascination with Marxism

and Communism towards a more accommodating view of the the American Way .

By drawing upon its pool of huge, highly-influential network of resources, its

role was not only to inoculate the world against the contagion of Communism but

6
Memo Anti-yellow Culture from DSB to PRO, 13 September 1956, PRO 330/56.
7
Notes from DSB to PRO, 16 August 1956, PRO 330/56.
 25

also to ease the passage of American foreign policy abroad. 8 The Congress had also

encouraged the formation of national committees with countries such as India, Great

Britain, West Germany and Italy, where leading luminaries with similar ideals

cooperated fully with the movement. 9

Meanwhile, the CIAs influence was gaining strength throughout the world.

The CIA found their greatest ally in the British. Affiliated to the CIA, the British

Society for Cultural Freedom had powerful connections in England with the likes of

intellectuals such as T. S. Eliot, Isaiah Berlin, as well as people of political and media

figures like Lord David Cecil, Richard Grossman and the heads of British Councils

and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 10 The Crown was also running an

extensive Overseas Information Service abroad in which Information Officers or

Public Relations Officers of the Colonial Government were dispatched to 66

territories and former colonies and ultimately administered by the Central Office of

Information (COI) from London by the Government Department in territories where

they operated. 11

A similar network in Asia has already been formed around the time as the

Congress for Cultural Freedom was founded in 1952, in Berlin. In Burma, the Society

for the Extension of Democratic Ideals (SEDI), upheld almost the same identical aims

and objectives as the Congress. With support from the largely American sponsored

World Congress for Cultural Freedom, whose headquarters was in Paris, the Burmese

Society and the Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom sponsored the first Asian

8
Frances Stonor Saunders, The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and The World of Arts and Letters, (New
York: The New Press, 2000), p. 2.
9
Society for the Extension of Democratic Ideals, World Congress for Cultural Freedom, PRO
657/54.
10
Saunders, The Cultural Cold War, p. 103.
11
See Overseas Information Service, PRO 433/55.
 26

Conference for Cultural Freedom in Rangoon in 20 February 1955. 12 The week-long

meeting of intellectuals from 13 Asian countries had been organised by a group of

independent Burmese who believe that such a meeting, free from any political slant

or government control can be of immense use to the free countries of Asia. 13 A

conference was held in anticipation to the two main dangers in Asia such as the

spread of Communism and the possibility that a welfare state might become all

powerful. Its purpose was to address the urgent questions which face men of

thought and culture, and that Communism was turning its face towards Asia as

poverty, illiteracy, social tensions and spiritual vacuity have been its greatest assets.

The fear that the Asian continent then was more vulnerable to the design of

Communism so as to inflict a total conformity of thought and action to a prescribed

pattern was a real and pressing one. 14

One of issues raised by the Western educated Asian intellectuals was how

Communism had been represented as a liberating force in Asia. Would

modernisation, industrialisation and Western concepts of progress, inevitably mean

the destruction of traditional concepts and values? Could these values be retained in

relation to the problems of the present? Were Western patterns of art destructive of

traditional Asia patterns? Would the acquisition of an item from Western culture

mean the loss of the corresponding Asian culture and tradition? 15

Intellectuals from SEDI were cautious of how and to whom they sent their

invitations. The report written by David Chipp of Reuters News Service mentioned

12
Cultural Freedom in Asia: The Proceedings of a Conference Held at Rangoon, Burma on February
17, 18, 19 & 20, 1955, Convened by the Congress for Cultural Freedom and the Society for the
Extension of Democratic Ideals, (Tokyo: Tuttle Co., 1956).
13
Reuters News Service, Culture, 6 February 1955, World Congress for Cultural Freedom, PRO
657/54.
14
Culture, PRO 657/54.
15
Culture, PRO 657/54.
 27

the secretive nature of the Conference, so careful [had] they been to keep clear of

any government or make the conference in any way official that two young Burmese

journalists spent several weeks touring Asian capitals to make personal contacts and

issue invitations. Apparently before their visit to Singapore, the two journalists, U

Nyo Mya and U Maung Maung had been corresponding with George G. Thomson,

the Public Relations Officer and E.N Larmour, from the Office of the Commissioner

General for the United Kingdom. Both Burmese officials who visited Singapore

preferred delegates who were non-officials, speak reasonable English and

preferably somebody prominent in intellectual life to represent the Federation and

Singapore. 16

In Singapore, the growth in size and importance of the American official

presence in the island corresponded with the increased American involvement in the

island and the region. With Britishs hand, the CIA had successfully established an

office in Singapore in 1949. This was important for Anglo-American relations. When

Dwight D. Eisenhower became President in 1953, Americas goals were no longer to

contain Communism instead, its foremost objective was to roll Communism back and

prevent its success.

The United States tapped onto Singapores network as it was Britains centre

for intelligence gathering in the Far East. Britains Secret Intelligent Service (SIS)

gave American intelligence officers access to sensitive information. Besides

information on Singapore and Malaysia, SIS also provided information on China

because no such American presence existed in China. Hong Kong would have been
16
See the series of correspondences between U Maung Maung, George G. Thomson and E.N Larmour
regarding the visit. Apparently, the two British officials had previously given them three Chinese
names months before to represent Malaya. However, the Burmese officials specifically paid a visit to
Singapore as they were anxious to issue an invitation to at least a Malay from the Federation. The
Malay delegate was not named. See Secret Memorandum from Chief Secretary, Federation of Malaya,
Kuala Lumpur, Mr. D.C Watherston World Congress, PRO 657/54.
 28

the preferred choice for the United States rather than Singapore in this case, but the

British kept the CIA at arms length because they did not want the United States to

jeopardise their own relations with the Chinese authorities. The CIA station was also

the centre of operations in the countries around Singapore. Much of the planning and

organisation of subsequent American intervention in Indonesia came out of the CIA

station in Singapore. The activities which were conducted provoked Britain more

often than not, as the two powers had promised not to conduct espionage activities on

each others territories. 17

Nevertheless, the CIAs mission and influence soon expanded with the

opening of the United States Information Service (USIS) office, which became an

important arm of Americas overt propaganda war against Communism through

movies, publications and speeches to project that the American democratic way of life

is preferable to Communism. To counteract the Communist and leftist literature which

was freely available, the USIS opened a library to provide alternative sources and

literature. 18

In Southeast Asia particularly in Malaya and Borneo, an ambitious scheme by

USIS and the British information personnel examined the possibility of developing a

Regional Publications Bureau in Singapore. With financial constraints limiting its

future operations, the bureau, which aspired to the same efficiency as the Publications

Society in Burma (a private group operating on government subsidies and had

affiliations with SEDI), saw its role as potent in frustrating Soviets success in

publishing and distributing more than 50 kinds of publications in the region. In a note

from PRO to the Colonial Secretary, it was mentioned:

17
Baker, (Eagle in the Lion City), p. 203.
18
Baker, (Eagle in the Lion City), p. 195
 29

The aim is to increase more books, not more offices and the
[current] discussion appears to have concentrated on the latter.
Singapore already has good facilities for publications and with
the new equipment now being installed, the Straits Times Press
may well move into the field of popular literature in English
and Malay. As United Kingdom (UK) publishers come to
realise, the main reason for the lack of local books is the lack of
local writers, and that is partly due to lack of encouragement.
This would appear again to derive from the lack of clear
delineation of the path along which the Malayan governments
wish them to be encouraged. 19

The British colonial authorities were aware of the double-edged tool of

promoting cultural freedom in Singapore. The goal was to shape a culture that was

free from any political inclinations by controlling the flow of information within the

territories as well as sponsoring and promoting cultural activities such as art

exhibitions, publications of magazines and productions of films. 20 The Malay activists

were also aware of the lure of Singapore as a centre of cultural and political

expression. Singapore proved to be a magnet for leftist political activists from

Indonesia and Malaya. It was in the practice of the British colonial authorities in the

Straits Settlements to ensure greater protection and freedom to writers and publishers

in Singapore than in the Federated Malay States. Freedom to print and write was

guaranteed as long as the writers and printers did not override their freedom by being

too provocative in their criticisms of the colonial authorities. 21

The group that made up the writers and journalists was diverse and

individualistic; yet, it formed different political, journalistic and artistic networks that

more often than not, intersected one another greatly. It was a real possibility that

19
See notes between the PRO and CS from Regional Publications Bureau PRO file 632/53.
Emphasis is mine.
20
World Congress, PRO 657/54.
21
Much has been written about the possibility of republican agents to operate effectively within
Singapore and Malaya as a result of a great local Malay support for the Indonesian nationalist struggles
and the tendency of some senior British officials to turn a blind eye to their clandestine activities. Refer
to Darusman Suryono, Singapore and the Indonesia Revolution 1945-1950, (Singapore: ISEAS, 1992).
 30

every journalist, fictional writer, publisher, graphic designer or cartoonist, a

playwright or director of a local amateur bangsawan group or a musician or actor in

the theatre - all of them performed their roles as public intellectuals with inclinations

to politics. 22 The attractions of Singapore as a publishing centre of the region was

outlined by Ismail Hussein and others like him such as A. Samad Ismail, Abdullah

Hussain, Keris Mas, etc. In his work, Ismail saw Singapores inclusiveness for

cultural growth as ideal for literary activities. 23 It was also home to many professional

publishing houses that bloomed during the pre-war and post-war periods.

There are three proposed reasons for the increase in the number of Malay

magazines during this period. The most important factor was the official declaration

of Emergency of Malaya in 1948. Many Malay youths in the army or the police force

were recruited to defend Malaya. Those who had basic education in Malay became

the new target and market for these magazines. Secondly, the rise in rubber prices was

a contributory factor to the growth of the publishing industry. Thirdly, the post-war

period in Malayas publishing history, witnessed a commercially-orientered shift of

interest to entertainment magazines from the social and religious orientations of

Malay publications of the pre-war period. 24

These entertainment magazines, characterised by their emphasis on films,

gossips and pornography, thrived for a decade from 1946. Buyong Adil, a literary

critic of the time, reflected that the shift at a societal level revealed a need in readers

to escape the drudgery of everyday life in post-war Malaya. However, Hamedi Mohd

Adnan notes that even the most commercially-oriented Malay entertainment

22
Barnard and Van der Putten, Art for Society, p. 1-2. Bangsawan is a performing arts troupe.
23
Hamedi Mohd Adnan, Direktori Majalah-majalah Melayu Sebelum Merdeka, (Kuala Lumpur:
University Malaya Press, 2002), p. 40. See Appendix 3 for excerpt of Ismails writing on Singapore.
24
Hamedi, Direktori, introduction.
 31

magazines was filled with incongruity, portraying sexy women on their covers,

despite the message of religion in the text. 25

The sudden rise in the number of Malay publications in the 1950s and 1960s

reflects Derridas understanding of the surenchre within the historical process. 26

Magazines are sites where acute anxieties of the geo-politics of the Cold War are

played out. They are manifestations of Derridas understanding of the undecidability

between friend and enemy in poignant socio-historical moments like these; when the

nation has to identify friend from enemy for the sake of its own immunity. 27 In

Malaya, the accessibility of these magazines coupled with their low costs, had made

them potent tools and channels for propaganda by Malayan nationalists as well as

colonialists. 28 In 1962, these magazines were integral before the advent of television

in mobilising Malays towards the nationalistic cause of modernisation.

Surenchre not only involves the raising of stakes that is inevitable within the

historical process but captures a continuum as well as a repetition of the previous

historical progression. Similarly, depictions of Malay women and Western women

within the pages of magazines reflected not just the socio-historical concerns of the

time. It was a continuum and a repetitive process that took a symbol that mystified the

Malay community, such as the Western woman, as distinctive and unobtainable from

the colonial era, to something that became both desirable and dangerous in the pre-

independence era. Such tropes have their uses as potent instruments of power.
25
Hamedi, Direktori, p. 46-49.
26
Derrida, Politics of Friendship, p. 59. The English equivalent of the French word surenchre means
the raising of the stakes but does not sufficiently explain Derridas explication of the term in his
oeuvre. It is a historical process that involves these four characteristics namely, i) a continuum; ii) a
repetition that is conditioned by socio-historical moments of time; iii) involves an inevitable process of
upping the stakes; iv) contains an understanding of the progression of History as both a cyclical and a
linear fashion. The author likes to thank Ryan Bishop for the full-explication of this term.
27
Refer to footnote 2.
28
The BBC sent materials directly to some of the magazines of the Federation and Singapore. The
Malay magazines were Hiburan, Mastika, Mutiara and Qalam. The memorandum did not define what
these materials are. See B.B.C Programmes, PRO 391/55.
 32

Particularly in the 1950s, the shaping and disciplining of Malayan women towards the

American Way was not without threats and contentions, especially when identities

of women were intrinsically linked to tradition. Women were vulnerable and

subjected to public scrutiny and as such, nationalists, traditionalists and colonialists

targeted them.

Within spaces of thought, in the discourse of these magazines, visual and

textual manifestations of white women were often portrayed in an ambivalent manner

as the nationalists attempted to determine their public friend and enemy. The

dominant discourse suggested an aporia found in the alluring nature of white women.

At times, Malay women were asked to emulate them and at other times, reject them.

Vivid projections of Malay and Western women juxtaposed the moralisations found

within written texts. This suggests strongly the contradictions and hypocritical nature

in the task of representation. It becomes clear that the task of representing women is

overtly political at many different levels. Perhaps it is the most overt despite its covert

means, taking into account the immediate dissolution of the Womens Federation

following the arrests, eliminating the possibility of an open, leftist interpretation of

femininity. 29

29
Very little is mentioned of the Womens Federation in Malayan historiography. It is believed to be a
Malayan arm of the worldwide movement called The Womens International Democratic Federation
(W.I.D.F) formed after World War Two as a front for the propaganda and penetration of the Soviet
Communist Party. A pamphlet probably written by the Congress of Cultural Freedom viewed the
WIDF as (a) the Kremlins way of trying to involve as many people as possible in activities which
advance Soviet imperialism and (b) to speak to the world in the name of women, giving the impression
that women all over the world support the policy of the USSR. This same pamphlet informed the public
regarding the movements aims and activities, and that the overall aim of the Federation is to
undermine, confuse and weaken the resistance of the free world to Soviet pressure. More
extraordinarily is the anti-colonial campaigns of the WIDF in Asia, which were reminiscent of the
Womens Federation active involvement of the SAYCC in Singapore, resulting in the arrest of their
president. One of the activities of the anti-colonial campaign was to call a conference of women from
23 Asian countries representing Middle Eastern and Asian states where they discussed the union of
women in Asia and other parts of the world in a struggle against colonialism and for national
independence, democracy and peace. A resolution was passed on the activities of the WIDF which
declared, The WIDF leads the women of all imperialist countries in their struggle against their
 33

Yet, with a growing support for the anti-yellow cultural movement, which was

against alluring images of women within urban spaces, the irony for nationalists lay in

treading the path of the American Way but still preserving the traditions they held

dear. This was a daunting process which still bears ramifications till today. Reflecting

upon Lefebvres ideas of the colonisation of everyday life within the city space, the

process of decolonisation through modernisation did not just take place for these

women. Rather, women were the first to be colonised towards the American Way,

regardless of the intentions of the nationalists.

Targeting Women through Friend and Enemy in Bodies, Beauty and

Behaviour

The way to carry out good propaganda is never to appear to be carrying it out at all.

Richard Crossman 30

The tensions and contradictions in the act of representing women by

nationalists, traditionalists, colonialists and even leftists, reflected the wider political

and namely, ideological conflicts that affected the social cause of political and non-

political activists. Their political and cultural message targeted women and made the

identity of Malay women the body of their common and political issues. During this

period of decolonisation, Malay women were mobilised to become maintainers and

sustainers of everyday life in the modern home. Women were personally implicated in

the task of modernising. Their feminine identity was affected by the allure of the

governments for the immediate termination of the colonial wars and armed interventions in Vietnam,
Indonesia, Malaya, Burma and southern part of Korea. The R.I.O, PRO 632/53.
30
Saunders, The Cultural Cold War, p. 1.
 34

American Way and the concurrent emphasis on retaining notions of Islam and

tradition.

The shaping and disciplining of Malay women through friend - through

examples of Western women in the early 1950s was a discourse undertaken with

utmost care and caution. This peculiar phenomenon in Malaya witnessed the rapid

proliferations of magazines that were dominantly nationalistic with their intense use

of images of Western women. The usage of images of Western women in spatial

reality was not a new practice, since it existed in Malaya in the early nineteenth-

century English newspapers and periodicals. However, this was the first time that

these were used in Malay periodicals. Magazines like Asmara, Fashion and Aneka

Warna are main sources for this chapter as they made extensive use of representations

of Western women to aid, shape and mould Malay women in ways that would have

been considered unthinkable a decade earlier. 31

The Malay Magazines and the Political Reading Culture

Aneka Warna, a publication by Qalam Press Ltd, fell into this genre of

entertainment magazines that were gaining popularity in Malaya. These types of

magazines were mainly produced in Singapore. As it was meant exclusively for

adults, the magazine contained soft porn stories and sexy photographs of foreign as

well as local actresses and singers. Most of the sexy images had no bearing on the

religious moral lessons in the content. Interestingly, the magazine was said to save

31
Asmara, Fashion and Aneka Warna were mainly referred to in this study as (i) they fell within the
range of popular magazines; (ii) they were widely received by mainly readers within Malay Federation
and Singapore; (iii) their full collection was available for this study; (iv) they symbolised the tensions
and contradictions that were highlighted earlier; (iv) they represented the trend towards commercial-
orientered magazines and this shift towards commercialism is manifested in the layout of the
magazines and finally; (v) they were commercially viable because of the advertisements, were
professional-looking and visually appealing to most Malays. See Hamedi, Direktor, introduction..
 35

Qalam Press from financial troubles that resulted from a political disagreement that

the editor had with Tengku Abdul Rahman, president of UMNO.

The editor, Al-Edrus, or Syed Abdullah Abdul Hamid al-Edrus was better

known by his pen-name Ahmad Lufti. He was born in Banjarmasin, Indonesia and

sent to Singapore to study at Firdaus College, to become a Muslim scholar. He also

published a magazine called Qalam and a newspaper called Warta Masyarakat. In a

December 1953 issue of Qalam, he reacted critically to Tengku who burnt copies of

Warta and Qalam in Johor Bahru and who also accused the media of being liars and

sellers of religion. Al-Edrus had to close his newspaper as a result. 32 Aneka Warna

survived five years to be a source of light reading in Malaya from October 1954 to

November 1959.

Asmara was another entertainment magazine that took an interest in issues

regarding women and love. Printed by Qalam Press and produced by Syed Omar

Alsagoff on behalf of Geliga Productions Bureau in Orchard Road, Singapore, it

prided itself for carrying stories that are interesting and frank and rejected the view

that it was only an imaginative magazine as it was able to analyse and give

constructive feedback and principles towards the Oneness of God. It contained many

pictures of men and women kissing, stories meant for adults, detective stories, rape

stories, stories of pre-marital sex, hostel stories, love stories, women, drama and

pictures of Hollywood and Bollywood artists. 33

Fashion, a production of Harmy Press and printed by Al-Ahmadiah Press, was

the first Malay Fashion weekly magazine of Malaya. It lasted for 15 years. The

concept of this magazine changed from fashion to short stories. The content ranged

32
Jan Van Der Putten, Some Preliminary Observations on Popular Malay Writing of the 1950s,
(Unpublished article; National University Singapore, 2005).
33
Hamedi, Direktori, p. 245.
 36

from news and articles on women and fashion, the kitchen, stories of local and

Western film stars and linked fashion of clothes to ways of modern living. 34 The chief

editors for this magazine are Harun Aminurrashid (1953-1956) and Abdul Jalil Haji

Nor (1957). Harun Aminurrashid was one of the most prolific writers and publishers

in the magazine business. From 1948-1958, he was involved in no less than 15

magazines, mostly as chief editor. He was also a prolific novelist and published many

of his own books.

While these magazines were accused of being propagators of yellow culture,

the editors were quick to note that their appeal to the youths and the masses in general

was their selling point, as they were able to guide readers to the path of Truth more

convincingly through lessons that that they could draw from these magazines than

sermons by religious leaders. 35 Magazines produced in Singapore had longer shelf-

life. They were also interesting. They were able to retain a larger audience as they

were professionally produced; established an efficient distribution system throughout

Malaya; created more impact; and fulfilled both educational and entertainment

functions. 36

Despite the low educational level of the Malays in the 1950s and 1960s, the

reading culture was very strong. Many in the audience consisted of Malay-educated

youths, teachers, civil servants and employees in private companies, policemen, army

officers and also those who were illiterate. It was not unusual for illiterate Malays to

request educated Malays to read for them and then openly discussed issues that were

raised in the newspaper and magazines.

34
Hamedi, Direktori, p. 233.
35
Setahun Umur Asmara, Asmara (13), August 1955, p. 3. Editorial, Asmara (24), July 1956, p. 3.
Pengalaman Kita Selama Tiga Tahun, Asmara (37), August 1957, p. 3. Fashion (54), 26 Dec 1954,
p. 19. 35 Di Antara Majalah & Wayang Gambar, Yang Mana Lebih Lucah?, Asmara (9), April 1955,
p. 30-33.
36
Hamedi, Direktori, introduction
 37

Disciplining Malay women

The discourse in these popular magazines was crafted in such a way that it

resonated with the values of Malay women. Often times, these ideas in these

magazines were seen to be an affront to Islamic worldview. This disparity was

highlighted when publications of Islamically-inclined magazines were seen as the

preferred yardstick for Muslim women. Such publications attempted to steer Malay

women away from emulating the models of white women. However, it was without

doubt that the more successful magazines were the periodicals that were ambiguous in

that they stood as a symbol of the West and yet, seemed particularly nationalistic. To

categorise their political inclinations as right-wing, pro-American, and modern

nationalists was misleading as the network of urban Malay intellectuals were defining

the Malayan route in variable ways. Perhaps the reason behind the success of such

publications lay in the publishers acumen in presenting Western women, as an entity

of ambiguity, as either friend or enemy (or neither the friend nor enemy). Such

depictions were so persuasive that Malay women were following the leads of modern

Western women even as they were being simultaneously coerced in their selections of

modernity.

(i) Bodies

Fascination with the body ideal was the most obvious way in which Malay

women imitated their white counterparts. The body of Western women was potent in

disciplining modern Malay women. This was especially so during 1950s in the

making of historical moments, when unleashing forces such as nationalism and

 38

capitalism made the female body the receptacle of their power struggles. 37 Such a

sudden consciousness of the body ideal was important, in keeping up with notions of

capitalism in order for mass-production to take place. 38

As a result, in the more popular magazines, the European body became a

reflection of Western European or American superiority. 39 What was more

compelling was how the shape of bodies, particularly womens bodies, became a key

indicator of the greatness of Western civilisation in these magazines. Some magazines

made explicit statements and connections between bodies and civilisations, claiming

that the status and position of a woman depends very much on the quality of her

body. In a free market economy, capitalism promoted womens indulgence in a

range of self-care practices so that men and more specifically, women would develop

body types that were distinctive from one another. In the said article, the writer

offered a contrasting example in Berlin, East Germany where the faces and bodies of

women from the proletariat class were distastefully likened to that of men, due to the

equal hard labour work that both men and women were required to do. 40 Since the

influence of proletariat class is seen to be at its lowest when civilisation is at its

peak, 41 the implicit message was that the Malay women should free themselves by

embracing the liberating practises of capitalism instead. By offering a negative image

of the proletariat class in Eastern Europe, the clear message to Malay women was to

steer clear from socialist and leftist ideas.

37
Michel Foucault, Docile Bodies, The Foucault Reader, Paul Rabinow (ed.), (New York: Pantheon
Books, 1984), p. 180-182.
38
Roberta Orsi Landini, Dress for the Body, Body for the Dress: When Islamic and Western Styles
Meet, (Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, 2000), p. 23.
39
Perlukah Wanita Bergantung pada Tubuh dan Rupa?, Asmara (47), June 1958, p.18-19.
40
Perlukah Wanita, p.18.
41
Perlukah Wanita, p.19.
 39

Without fail, articles instructed Malay women to care for their bodies through

exercise, which was thought to be the secret behind the beauty of Western women. 42

Malay women were generally careful about the care of their bodies through the

consumption of traditional medicine like jamu. 43 However, exercise became a new

regime. Articles sensitised Malay women to look into areas that were often ignored

such as their calves and thighs as they were not usually flaunted. It was not surprising

therefore that Fashion, Asmara and Aneka Warna included articles on beauty contests

from around the world, specifically pertaining to the beauty of the thighs and calves.

Despite this, exercising for women was universally recommended by most of the

magazines no matter what their inclinations were.

It is hard however, to ignore the derogatory tone in some of these articles,

which placed an overriding emphasis on womens need to invest time, effort and, if

need be, money on their bodies like Asmara did. In Ways of Maintaining a Beautiful

Body Asmaras in-house writer concluded that a woman must learn the power of

sexual attractions to maintain her marriage since her looks and her vital statistics

are the most important assets she could possibly have, failing which, she can be

equated to a frog. 44 In another revealing example, a beautician-cum-writer

strengthened this stance by saying that a womans worthiness lies not in her

education or her manners, but on her beautiful looks and her ability to attract men. 45

Although this example is an extreme case out of the many, the pressure for women to

learn from their western counterparts and glean from them their knowledge of female

sexuality was a pressing one. The sentiment was that Malay women needed to
42
See Wanita Barat Dengan Fesyen-fesyen Paha dan Betis, Fashion, 3 April 1955, (60), p. 9. Cara
Memelihara Badan Menjadi Cantik, Asmara (38), August 1957, p. 29-31. Langsingkan Badan
Semasa Bekerja, Asmara (50), September 1958, p. 19-21.
43
Jamu is a traditional herbal-based medicine.
44
Cara Memelihara Badan Menjadi Cantik, Asmara (38), September 1957, p. 5.
45
Hanya Wanita Sahaja yang Boleh Membaca, Asmara (40), November 1957, page unknown.
 40

emulate the body ideal of Western women, as they and their bodies had the power to

reflect Malay civilisation. This personally implicated them in the modernisation

process.

Men in particular, affirmed the value of the body beautiful as male writers

of short stories would describe women as slender of waist, fair of skin, eyes like

the lodestar of the east, legs with fine pinkish heels, a body with the silhouette of

a guitar as ideal and alluring. 46 Voluptuousness was in. During the period of the

post-war, curvaceous women were highly sought after, in comparison to women who

were slender of frame. Curvaceous Western women such as Marilyn Monroe and

Anne Haywood, or voluptuous Malayan film stars such as Saadiah or Saloma,

testified to societys fetish for curvy women. Articles such as Three Ways for A Thin

Girl to Have a More Beautiful Bust-Line convinced women that society placed a

high premium on a well-endowed woman as the beautiful ideal. For slender girls, the

curves they desired could be obtained by using beauty products like Lovely Curves,

applying hormone creams, having injections, exercising as well as consuming a

healthy diet. 47 The dominance of this type of discourse regarding the need for Malay

women to fashion their bodies along the premise of the Western ideal is very clear.

There is a strong suggestion even in the religious literature for women to take this

route even though visuals of Western women were non-existent on their pages.

Most significantly, the Cultural Cold War policy, in this context, has prepared

the ground and room for Malay intellectuals of different orientations to articulate their

views on the female body which has never been done before. Their varying

46
Perempuan Simpanan, Asmara (1), August 1954, p. 10-11. Cara Memelihara Badan Menjadi
Cantik in Asmara (38), September 1957, p. 4.
47
Jenny Speijer, Three Ways for The Thin Girl to A More Beautiful Bust-line, Her World, October
1960, p. 22.
 41

interpretations still suggest a preference for Malay women to adopt the example of

Western women in caring for their body; thus, rejecting the seemingly dismissive

attitude that women of socialist background had towards theirs.

(ii) Beauty

Whiteness was another characteristic associated with Western power. The

overt representation of white women in a sexy manner was a response to the

geopolitical reality of the time by Malay intellectuals. While it was not significantly

an American Cold War policy to portray white women in this light, the symbol of

whiteness was referred to from time to time by Malay intellectuals as an ideal that

morphed out of this period.

It was not surprising therein that international labels (Max Factor, Ponds, Lux)

as well as local products (Bedak as Cahaya Bulan, Jambangan Himalaya, Bedak

Chantek Molek and Minyak Geliga) that were advertised in magazines, promised

Malay women that they could attain clarity, purity and fairness of complexion through

the use of these products. The emblem of Western women as the epitome of beauty

was capitalised to deliver such promises. This discourse on whiteness in these

advertisements was useful in cajoling them in the direction of consumer culture.

Whiteness was desirable in Malay women, although it was unattainable for

many. Yet, women kept coming to these products, with the hope that they could attain

such beauty. Through gentle persuasions, the discourse in the articles recommended

that the modern Malay women learn the art of make-up and skin care. Articles used

photographic examples of Western beauty to instruct Malay women in the

enhancement as well as maintenance of their beauty with an easy, step-by-step

instruction. Learning to wear heels, to complement their faces with suitable, modern

hairstyles, to match accessories to their clothes; all these were routinely becoming
 42

part of modernitys lessons. Perhaps most alluring for Malay women were the

promises that came with personal transformations of modernity. Malay womens

preoccupations with beautification in this period were characteristic of this time. 48

In general, practices of beautification and health did little to invite resistance

from the Malay community in the city. There was a greater inclination for Malay

women to adopt these practices. There was, however, some resistance to the adoption

of make-up for Malay women. Based on the Koran, some interpreted the wearing of

make-up as haram or unlawful. 49 Others resisted the wearing of make-up per se since

it took advantage of economically backward Malay women as their households would

have to bear extra financial costs by the purchase of such products. As such,

intellectuals main worry was that women were adopting beautification practises

mindlessly, without any consideration of their fathers or husbands wallets.50

Beautification was highly recommended but was to be pursued guardedly. 51

Malay intellectuals referred to Islam to allay any fears and anxieties that

Malay women had concerning Western forms of beautification and the apparent

contradictions these practises have with Islam. The ease of locating Islam within the

paradigm of this American Way eased the conscience of Malay women in adopting

48
Kenapa Dia Berwajah Cantik?, Fashion, 3 April 1955, p. 20. Rahsia Kecantikan Wanita,
Fashion (9), 15 February 1954, page unknown Bersolek Sebelum Berhari Raya, Fashion (168-169),
Aidilfitri Edition 1957, p. 23.Bagaimanakah Caranya Memakai Bedak?, Fashion (53), 13 February
1955, p. 21. Jangan Biarkan Rupa Saudari Hodoh Berdandanlah, Asmara (15), ,October 1955, p.
24. Potongan Badan Wanita Dipandang Cantik, Senang Bernafas Dan Tidak Resah, Kalau Memakai
Kasut Bertumit Tinggi, Fashion (184), 18 August 1957, p. 5. Cara Membentuk Rambut, Fashion
(183), 11 August 1957, p. 7
49
Ditentukan Mekap Tidak Dibenarkan, Fashion (54), 20 February 1955, p. 3.
50
Fesyen Asmara, Asmara (49), August 1958, p. 19-21. Wanita dan Persoleken, Juita (7), April
1952, p. 29.
51
Wanita dan Persoleken, Juita (7), April 1952, p. 30. It is noteworthy that emulation of beauty
practices from the Islamic viewpoint was a grey area and was very much dependent on religious
inclinations as well as interpretations of the Koran by the Muslim individual. It was clear, however,
that existing practices of plastic surgery, carried out merely for beautifications sake, was considered
unnatural and un-Islamic.
 43

such innovative practises. This was so in spite of observations that the understanding

and practise of Islam was minimal during this period.

(iii) Modesty

The issue of dress and behaviour of Malay women proved to be most sensitive

and political. It was problematic and cumbersome for readers and those for who were

active in the task of representing. Readers (not exclusively female) often understood

that certain modern practices were harmonious with their Malay and Islamic beliefs.

Concurrently, the very same articles would be inserted with raunchy portrayals of

Western women in a very sexually-provocative manner, bringing a sense of discord to

the didactic prose, calling to attention the publishers real intentions in publishing

such photographs. The emphasis on sexuality was more overpowering in Asmara and

Aneka Warna than in Fashion because of the models seductive poses and their

titillating outfits. A lot of skin would be shown emphasising the alluring, milky

complexion of these women. What was interesting was the insertion of captions

accompanying these photographs, reflecting the avid fantasy Malay men had of these

women. In some instances, Malay women were encouraged to replicate such

seductive manner on their marital beds. 52 Any similar behaviour from Malay women

beyond the four walls of the bedroom was condemned. This interplay on the

desirability and jeopardy of white beauty was a repetitive concern in the magazines.

Through such ambivalence, Malay woman learned to see the friend and

enemy in Western women. Many times, while readers would be presented with

didactic images of white beauty, they would be equally exposed to suggestive pictures

of Marilyn Monroe, actresses or beauty queens aided by articles that equally

52
Such recommendations were accompanied in almost every photos of white women published in
the collections of Asmara.
 44

suggested the irrepressible, sexual nature of these women as dangerous.53 If this was a

form of moral dissuasion for Malay women, it was a satisfying theory but not entirely

comprehensive. The ambiguity of white beauty portrayed the deep ambivalences

Malay society had regarding Western supremacy. While the superiority of white

beauty was acknowledged and emulated, as was Western knowledge and practices,

Western culture and ways were not to be embraced wholeheartedly by Malay women.

This questioning attitude that Malay women had to adopt could not said to be

the same for men. The allure of Western women was highlighted in one particular

example when a Malay man was willing to purchase the services of a Caucasian

woman to fulfil his fantasy. This male reporter, who did an exclusive for Asmara on

the subject of the existence of high class prostitution in a terrace home in Katong,

revealed racial perceptions of women. 54 What could be purported from the coverage

was that this form of low-key, clandestine prostitution offered Caucasian women as

an expensive product even without any extra service; Chinese women followed next

in costs whereas Malay women were the cheapest because they were the most

common and would easily accommodate to special requests without extra costs

compared to their competitors. Ihsan, the reporter who happened to be the editor,

narrated how he was served a drink in the living area of the home then proceeded to

make his selection by perusing a catalogue or an album, which consisted of pictures

of service providers. Despite the heavy fee, he was somewhat thrilled at the prospect

of bedding a Western woman and anticipated her ability in pleasing him. Surprisingly,

despite the moralising tone that the magazine took on the modesty of Malay women,

the writer went about his mission with an amoral attitude. When the Caucasian lady

53
Marilyn Monroe Gadis Berahi dan Kelitah, Ibunya tak Terdaya Memeliharanya, Asmara (29),
December 1956, p. 17-19.
54
Ihsan Haji Ali, Pelachor Putih, Asmara (15), October 1955, p. 32-37.
 45

presented herself on the bed for his viewing pleasure, he reasoned logically that he

did what he came to do and finished his job without any religious or moral thoughts

of any kind - moralisations that Asmara would usually incite its male and female

readers to reflect on the issue of premarital sex. 55 Provocatively, this raised an issue

of double standards on sexual impropriety between men and women.

The Malay worldview puts equal and differential emphases on modesty for

both sexes. Differential treatments on modesty for men and women in areas regarding

dress and behaviour questioned not just the double standards that were applied, but

reinforced the prevalence of Western and existing notions on the double standards that

were already in practice. One satirical cartoon example in Asmara raised objections to

Malay women participating in a bikini contest; the three male Malay judges gawked

and jeered at Malay female participants for their imperfections.56 Criticisms were

thrown at these women in a disparaging fashion. If the first participant walked like

Marilyn Monroe, her face resembled a goat, the second would have a bopiang

(pockmarked face) and the third had hands full of varicose veins.

These male put-downs reflected the impossibility for any woman to have it all,

accentuating the ludicrousness of the whole situation when a woman chose to enter a

competition in which, she not only exposed her body but herself to such callous,

insensitive male jeering. These put-downs reiterated the reception level of the Malay

society to the importation of Western innovations like beauty contests. While the

beauty of cultural freedom allowed the free market of ideas and practises, it also

highlighted strong, defensive and reactionary conservative attitudes to these ideas.

55
Ihsan Haji Ali, Pelachor Putih, Asmara (15), October 1955, p. 37.
56
Ketawa Panjang: Peraduan Potongan Badan, Asmara (19), February 1956, p. 18.
 46

Satirical cartoon regarding the advent of beauty contests in Singapore and

Malaya in Asmara (19) February 1956.
 47

Nevertheless, beauty contests were still rampant despite the outcry, signalling that

Malaya women were certain of their choice in embracing this freedom.

In Malaya, although women were given freedom to make more choices, it

was rare indeed to find characters who disputed the boundaries of womens modesty.

This could be testified to the clear definitions of modesty that Malay women adopted.

Of course, there was always an exception and this came in the form of Nurna Ningsih

who defied the status quo of the double standards adopted by society. Seen as a

Malay body who embraced the American way, the Indonesian actress reputedly

became an overnight porn star because of the accidental circulation of nude, artistic

photographs in the mid-1950s. 57 There was other coverage that suggested it was

purely intentional and not coincidental as she made it out to be. 58 As a result, she

jump-started her career and gained much public attention.

Nurna was an Indonesian Javanese, but to the Malayans she was presented as

Malay. What she did with her body become not only a nationalistic concern in

Indonesia at that time; she embodied the very thing that Malay women in Malaya

should never strive to become because of the malu, or shame, brought upon the

Malay society. The burden of malu fell greatly on womens shoulders. The term

malu has a myriad of meanings and connotations. It could range from a positive verb

to be shy to include the negative meaning mendapat malu which is to be shamed

or ashamed. The use of malu was important in coercing both men and women to

behave decently. Women, especially, bore the higher brunt of carrying the honour of

the family or malu of the society. 59

57
Mengapa Nurna Ningsih Telanjang?, Asmara (5), December 1954, p. 4.
58
Ingin Jadi Terkenal, Fashion, 30 January 1955, p. 4. Fashion, 7 August 1955, 8-9, 21. Di Mana
Dia Pergi, Orang Bimbang, Fashion, 8 April 1956, page unknown.
59
Malay women became bolder and did not understand malu (coyness or even shame) was an issue in
Gadis-gadis Sekarang Lebih Berani Daripada Lelaki, Asmara (49), August 1958, p. 35-38.
 48

Modern experiences allowed women to be personally involved and implicated

in the nations modernisation and decolonisation project, without being consciously

trapped by the larger propaganda of the American Way. The success of the project lay

in the amount of freedom and choices that were given to Malay women mainly within

the city or town area. In the larger scheme of things, the threat of pornography was

intimately linked to the threat of colonial culture. In Malaya as well as in Indonesia,

the link between pornography and colonial culture was utilised as a potent illustration

of the corruption of colonial society, 60 enhancing the point that the accessibility of the

sexuality of Western women was the root of this corruption.

This point was no doubt used by elements of communist and religious groups

to illustrate the evils of the American Way in order to persuade members of the public

to incline to their political persuasions. Reverberations of SAYCC highlighted the

effects of yellow culture permeating the urban sub-consciousness and its spatial

landscape. It was not uncommon to see a great concern amongst the pages within

these magazines about the public performances of scantily-clad women at

entertainment sites of The Worlds - amusement parks of an otherwise wholesome,

good family fun. 61

While these magazines were doing their utmost to provoke the governments

active efforts to control the spread of yellow culture, Asmara, Aneka Warna and

Fashion ran the risk of being propagators of such yellow culture themselves.

Questions were raised regarding the intentionality behind the publishing of such

60
Harper, The End of Empire, p. 291.
61
Kerajaan Singapura Membenarkan Penari-penari Telanjang Bogel?, Asmara (34), May 1957, p.15-
16. Amerika Cuba Menghapuskan Perciuman Membuka Mulut, Tetapi Pertunjukan di Singapura
Tambah Hebat, Asmara (31), February 1957, p. 27-30. Merpati Sebagai Pipit Pekak?, Asmara (27),
October 1956, p. 3.
 49

material in these magazines. 62 The ambiguity of the political inclinations of the more

than 25 magazines as enemy or friend of the American way is worth deliberating.

This could be a study in another capacity. However, these magazines saw their role as

necessary in educating and highlighting the evils of such a culture while staying on

the path that did not reject the relevance of the American Way to their lives. Asmara,

for instance, saw itself as an effective social vehicle rather than merely sermonizing

because of its approachability, its mass appeal to the readers, and its avid concern

with the negative effects of yellow culture. It considered itself less pervasive than

films in the use of such questionable yellow images. 63 On the whole however, these

magazines were successful in offering Malay women a string of choices within this

spectrum of ideas. They also aided women in their decision-making process.

It was an irony that Malay men were publicly allowed to fantasise about

desirable Western women and manifested this fantasy in real terms while rebuking

Malay women who behaved similarly. This double standard was hardly challenged by

Malay women of the time. Moreover, the moral persuasions of modesty were

supported by a whole generation of Malay women who not only wanted to win over

their men, but perceived that exercising their modesty was similar to exercising

their prerogative to propagate constructive values in their society. Modesty was seen

as a universal quality - a quality that Malay men prized in Malay women. Articles

written by Western men were used to affirm and assure Malay women that their

modesty was the quality that men found most irresistible and pleasing. Gregory Peck,

62
Setahun Umur Asmara, Asmara (13), August 1955, p. 3. Asmara (24), Editorial, July 1956, p.
3,.Pengalaman Kita Selama Tiga Tahun, Asmara (37), August 1957, p. 3. Fashion (54), 26 Dec
1954, p. 19.
63
Di Antara Majalah & Wayang Gambar, Yang Mana Lebih Lucah?, Asmara (9), April 1955, p. 30-
33.
 50

the Hollywood heartthrob, wrote a piece, My Thoughts on Women that was later

translated in Asmara:

The only mistake that is committed by a shy woman is by trying to

hide herself by (i) talking about pretentious things and by (ii) the
wearing of clothes that are worn out of pride. Their shy character
can be overcome once they learn more from their male friends - their
wants and needs. Till then, do these women realise that men actually
prefer women who are modest than women who claim to know
better. 64

T. D. Mounier reiterated the quality of modesty and innocence and its intimate

connections to dress and behaviour in his poem entitled Dara Melayu. He

romanticised the charms of the young, sexually inexperienced Malay girl in her

beautiful songket who is unaware of the deathly captivating songs of Ulysses or the

songs of pretty Macy sitting on somebodys lap but who would instead narrate him

stories of Nenek Kebayan or the old tales of Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup. 65 The

western allusions of songs sang by sirens from Ulyssess tale and Macy, the sexy

siren, foretold the deathly songs that lured men to their own destruction. The Malay

women in Mouniers definition should be an antithesis to such allusions. The

Westerns fascination with her sexual inexperience and her innocence of the brave

new world, mirrors Pecks idea that a womans best quality is in her demureness, her

innocence, her comfort with her own culture - a quality that was seen as becoming

elusive but very much coveted in Malay women.

In contrast to the representations of demure and modest Malay women by

Western men, there were projections of Western women by Malay men in these

magazines. Analysing representations of Malay women by Western men, of course,

64
Gregory Peck, Untuk Wanita Sahaja: Pendapat Saya Terhadap Wanita, Asmara (4), November
1954, p. 6.
65
T.D Mournier, Dara Melayu, Asmara (13), August 1955, p. 30.
 51

are problematic as these representations are on the whole represented by Malay men.

On one hand, the use of Western mens oeuvre to win over Malay women was useful.

On the other hand, the oeuvre, above all, reflected the thoughts of Malay intellectuals

who were dominantly men.

(iv) Manners of Dressing on Magazine Covers

Prior to this, the provocative issue of Malay dress had never been more

colourfully portrayed and contested in print. Dressing was not viewed as separate or

different from the efforts towards independence in which women participated. It

reflects the ongoing political and social statements of time. Furthermore, women

embraced them most visibly and intimately as Asmara beheld the view that fashion

is the most indicative marker of everyday living. 66 In addition, Alison Lurie has

observed in The Language of Clothes that dress is a continual manifestation of

intimate thoughts, a language [and] a symbol and fashion too is recognised as a

language of signs, a non-verbal system of communication. 67

Despite their similar orientations, Asmara, Aneka Warna and Fashion varied

vastly in their interpretations of what was considered permissible or inappropriate

dressing for Malay women on their fashion covers. It is this disparity regarding the

topic on dress that merits discussion.

Fashion depicted Malay women in Western frocks tolerantly on their covers

but Yankee fashion was frowned upon. One could see this in the ramifying

examples of Kebaya Queens of Malaya who were interviewed and revealed that the

kebaya was the Malay dress they most identified with and that Yankee fashion was

66
Fesyen Asmara in Asmara (49), August 1958, p. 20.
67
Alison Lurie, The Language of Clothes, The New Millennium Reader, (ed.) Stuart Hirschberg,
(USA: Prentice-Hall, 2001), p. 297.
 52

too uncomfortable for their taste. 68 On the pages of Asmara however, the issue of

Western dress was not as hotly contested as it was observed in Fashion. Rather,

Malay women gracing Asmaras covers embraced this Western dress openly. They

did not perceive this desire to emulate the West as a compromise of their traditional

values as Fashion had done. Fashion portrayed Malay women who did so as

forsaking their traditions for Western ideals.

Aneka Warna, by far, was the most oblivious to social stigma attached to

Malay dress and modesty. It was adult magazine that catered more to men than

women and consisted of short stories that touched on issues like sex and morality. 69

Despite the sensuous descriptions of women given by male writers and the pictures

accompanying them, the male protagonists in these short stories either stooped to the

temptations of the voluptuous seductress or triumphed religiously over their ego and

lust. 70 Many conclusions can be drawn from the covers and stories. Unlike Asmara

which avoided portraying Malay women in similar fashion to Western women, Aneka

Warna pushed conventional boundaries of Malay dress to the limit. This was done

through depicting Malay actresses such as Latifah Omar or Saloma in stylish swim

wear. Often these images characterised both dark and fair Malay damsels as beautiful,

alluring, exotic and desirable as their Western counterparts. 71 This displeased certain

segments of the Malay community then. 72 These were varying interpretations of what

was permissible Malay or Western dress for women. The religious magazines were

however, unified in their stand not to print pictures of women. This representation of

68
Examples of this are ubiquitous in the hundreds of weeklies of Fashion.
69
Aneka Warna (1), October 1954, p. 3.
70
See samples of these writings from Aneka Warna (1) - (4), October 1954 to January 1955.
71
See Latifah Omar & Saadiah portrayed in bathing suits in Asmara (3), December 1954 or Asmara
(4), January 1955 respectively.
72
Asmara (10), May 1955, Persidangan Asmara, centrespread.
 53

womens dress reflected not just their femininity and sexuality but became symbols of

the nation.

Nona Singapura

Representations of femininity permeating through the public imagination were

differentiated through space. Elements of modernisms were most intensified within

the city spaces of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Visual, textual and audio

representations mapped the sociological imagination of women of different spaces. It

would be useful to examine such depictions of women who were determined by their

space and place.

Nona Singapura 73

Like a duck on its way home

She walks swaying
Her red lips like a ripened pomegranate
Her sarong is high on a side
The silhouette of her calves showing
That is her, the Singapore lady
That is her, the Singapore lady

Undeniably the city of Singapore was the site that Lefebvre would ideally

describe as a place of social centrality or a pre-eminent site of social interaction and

exchange for Malaya. Ideologically, it contained sites of pervasive modernism where

not only dominant ideas of the American Way permeated but also acted as a channel

for voices from different political and ideological backgrounds. It was within this

socialised centre of ideas that the creation of the Nona Singapura became inevitable.

She was a symbol of both desire and threat. The interplay of urban and rural forces

were mapped out in physical territories that defined or contained women. As

demonstrated by the covers of these magazines or through the production of films

73
Sung by R. Azmi in the 1950s. The English translation is by author. Appendix 1.
 54

within the city space of Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Kota Baru, different notions of

ideal femininity were created. More importantly, such definitions were mapped onto

the public imagination and consciousness of the Malayans.

The modern Malay woman in Singapore, in the song Nona Singapura, was an

overly made-up lady who donned a sexy version of the kebaya. She was a caricature

of a Malay woman who had been socialised in the ways of the city. She swayed her

hips in her kebaya as a result of the tight sarong which allowed only controlled and

gentle sashays. 74 Her rejection of outmodish values was exemplified by her freeing of

her rainbow scarf from her head and keeping her hair unrestrained and loose. This

Nona Singapura was the product of modern values and practises of Malay fashion

magazines.

The danger of using such a caricature was that it became a definition for many

Malay women regardless of their social and educational positions. Although

intellectuals fears were unfounded, the discriminate image of Nona Singapura was

not merely a fashion statement but was feared to be a state of being for many Malay

women. This was evident even in songs of the 1950s. In these songs, women are

derided because of their susceptibility to the influences of modernity. More

importantly, the songs reflected the hidden anxieties men had about women.

Interestingly enough, the caricature of Nona Singapura was not just a sketch

and magazines made this clear. Observations made by modern intellectuals indicated

otherwise. 75 At the same time, there were examples of Kebaya Queens who

physically could have easily fallen into the category of Nona Singapura because of

74
A Self More Refined, p. 31.
75
Masmerah, Tak Elok Berasmara Kalau, Asmara (16), November 1955, p. 25-27. D.Z.A.R,
Jangan Menuduh Wanita Yang Bersalah, Asmara (17), December 1955, p. 22-24. Masmerah,
Fesyen Yang Melampau dan Mengada-ngada, Fashion (46), 20 December 1954, page unknown.
 55

their physical characteristics. Discourses within such magazines were far from

repudiating these beauty queens. They were portrayed as beautiful women of

substance who received basic education, were regarded as intelligent, resourceful and

creative as they designed and sewed the very creations they modelled. More

importantly, these women were not only portrayed as modern but women who would

not forsake their traditional ideals as the woman in Nona Singapura had by discarding

her scarf. This claim needs further scrutinised as to whether the rejection of the scarf

(tudung) was indeed a symbolic act of rejecting traditional values? Or, is it a physical

act that had religious implications at that time? 76

In contrast to the song Nona Singapura, the very same group of musicians and

social commentators wrote about women from rural areas in songs like Gadis Desa

and Gadis Kampung. 77 Sung by the very same group of singers who frowned at the

emergence of Nona Singapuras, the songs applauded these women from the desa and

kampong for being unchanging and true to their traditions that they held dear. Their

beauty was depicted as natural for they did not like to put on make up/ what more

wear beautiful clothes/ only the sarong and the baju kurung/ and they walk with

lowered heads wrapped in tudung. 78

76
Djamour made an insertion in her footnote that Malay women wore sarongs in the streets to cover
their head and shoulders and partly conceal their faces from view several decades before the 1950s. In
1950, one would occasionally see an elderly Arab or Malay women using this dress out of doors. See
footnote 2 of Judith Djamours Malay Kinship and Marriage in Singapore, (London: The Athlone
Press University of London, 1959), p. 7. The portrayal of religiously expressive women in tudung as a
result of the Islamic resurgence movement is rare within these magazines, suggesting a different degree
of Islamic understanding at that time. Despite absences of such portrayals, articles were persuasive that
tudung should not be discarded merely because they were seen as covering a womens beauty. Rather,
the articles viewed that the tudung highlighted the face to become the focus of their beauty. To some
extent, Fashion was successful in defending the relevance of the piece of garment in the period of
modernity. It was seen as more of a fashion statement than a garment that a woman wears as a result of
her religious convictions. These assumptions, of course, needed to be examined in greater light in
another capacity. Some examples from Abby, Selendang Menambahkan Jelita in Fashion (5), 15
October 1953, p. 9-10 and Amin Jayas Tudung Kepala bagi Wanita Timur dan Barat in Fashion (2),
15 July 1953, p. 18-19.
77
See Appendix 2 for lyrics of songs.
78
Lyrics from Gadis Kampong, sung by R. Azmi in the 1950s.
 56

Western women and the tudung (headgear) in Tudung Kepala,

Fashion, 15 July 1953.
 57

Women in the tudung in Fashion (159),

24 February 1957.
 58

Notwithstanding positive descriptions of rural girls, there were also

unflattering descriptions of women from rural spaces. 79 One prime example was a

short story that pinpointed the preference that the male protagonist had for city girls

over village girls. M. S. Rindu, the writer, was raised in the village, but was

indoctrinated in the ways of the city as a result of his education and his occupation as

a teacher. His status won him a position amongst the fellow villagers especially

amongst the young maidens who thought of him as a great catch. These women made

themselves available to him when he returned to the village. Nonetheless, he brushed

them aside with an abrupt remark. The village girls asked him politely regarding the

ideal lady that he would take home as his wife. He surmised bluntly and disparagingly

that he thought village girls were selekeh, a deprecating Malay term for an unkempt

appearance. At this arrogant repudiation and clear preference for city girls, the

embarrassed village girls politely and quietly took their leave.

It was not enough to see the distinction between the urban and the rural as

either the monolithic caricatures of the Nona Singapura or the Anak Dara Melayu that

T. D. Mournier romanticised in his poem. Part of this exercise is to clarify that such a

monolithic idea of femininity was determined by place and was further complicated

by diversified ideas of femininity in many magazines of Singapore and Malaya.

In Malaya, the constructions of buildings and services helped to fulfill the

needs of modernity. The creation of amusement parks like the Worlds, movie theatres,

hotel chains and shopping areas sprung up despite the lack of day-to-day modern

facilities and amenities. Singapore, a city equipped with such constructions and

economies, attracted a large female workforce from Malaya. Times were hard during

the post-war, causing a ratio imbalance in the number of men to women. Divorce rates

79
M.S Rindu, Wanita Kampung Rupanya Selekeh, Asmara (34), May 1957, page unknown.
 59

were also high and this was especially hard on Malay women who were poorer and

uneducated than most and had to fend for themselves. Often, Malay women found

their sources of livelihood in the service industry. Low-skilled Malay women worked

as waitresses in cafes, restaurants or common coffee shops and many turned to

prostitution to finance their lifestyle. 80

Furthermore, the different historical trajectory of Singapore as a Crown

Colony, as the centre of British administration as well as the ongoing use of

Singapore as a site that practiced cultural freedom distinguished it from urban areas of

Kuala Lumpur and Kota Baru. In addition, the distinguished urban development in

Singapore often made women the target of both desire and moralising. Ironically, it

was such an image of Singapore as the epitome of urban city in Malaya that attracted

a large supply of women from the Malayan hinterlands of Kelantan to work and filled

up stigmatised positions in the service industry. 81

Of Races between Us

In spite of such varying and contesting boundaries in the political issue of

dress and behaviour of Malay women, almost all would find agreement on the use of

the kebaya, in spite of their varying renditions. The kebaya was a dress that

harmoniously bridged this concept of the modern and the traditional, allowing the

wearer from both the urban centres as well as rural areas to make alterations to it to

define their identity. Rural women of modest bearing and positions wore the kebaya

panjang in inexpensive and simple fabrics, whereas those in the towns and cities

80
Gadis-gadis Sekarang Lebih Berani Daripada Lelaki, Asmara (49), August 1958, p. 35-38. Amir
Abdurrahman 2000 Perempuan Pelacur in Asmara (9), April 1955, p. 3, Sekarang Ada Kolej
Pelacur? in Asmara (36), July 1957, p. 3.
81
Amir Abdurrahman 2000 Perempuan Pelacur, p. 3.
 60

inculcated elements of high Western fashion into the traditional kebaya, turning it into

the modern kebaya without losing its ethnic distinctiveness. The variety and flexibility

in defining femininity both in the city and the rural areas were directly proportional to

the intensity found in the political definitions of the Malay Malayans at that time.

Distinction between Malay women from different social classes and places

was clearly much wider than other cultural groups because of the greater existence of

mostly uneducated and poor, rural Malay women than other ethnic women. Asiah

Abu Samah elucidates that the public awareness of this racially differentiating fact

inspired the birth of womens organisations and movements. These galvanised them

to target women with the aim of modernising them through programmes and trainings

that were beneficial to them. 82 This economic race of race - to put Malay women on

par with women from other ethnic groups was an effective vehicle that saw greater

participation of Malay women in public spheres than ever before. The increasing

enthusiasm and awareness in women of the realities of modernity witnessed the

flowering of Schools for Home Economics all over Malaya and Singapore. Fashion

documents these with emerging schools in almost every of their hundreds of weeklies

in detailed fascination. Women entrepreneurs, their female students who eventually

become seamstresses, cooks, etc or, who later financed their own schools were largely

featured. Films portrayed these women who participated in these schools positively. 83

In addition, before the phase of industrialisation in Singapore in the 1970s, the fashion

82
Asiah Abu Samah, Emancipation of Malay Women 1947-1957, (Unpublished B.A Hons. Thesis:
University of Malaya, 1960).
83
See Timothy Barnards example of Saadiahs role as Azizah in the film Penarek Becha in Modern
Flowers, p 5-6 and the role of Manisah in Labu dan Labi (1962).
 61

and garment industry won a lot of attention from Malayan authorities as one of the

new economies of Malaya. 84

These schools for Home Economics came with many promises. Sewing

schools were a focal point for many women of different classes and places. 85 They

attempted to elevate these womens position through useful skills. It helped them

gained purchasing power and consequently, levelled out stark distinctions between the

rich and the poor. They also witnessed the birth and growth of the political

consciousness through the dressing styles which became the Malayan symbols of

different racial groups.

Without doubt, the issue of the Malay sarong kebaya as the promising national

symbol of the Malayans was an issue that was not without its debate within the

Malayan Malays as well as the Malayans of different cultural groups. The kebaya was

as versatile as any other ethnic dresses such as the sari or cheongsam but it was

indisputably, the dress of most emulation by women from other ethnic groups because

of its vivid imageries to modernity. 86 Vicki Duttons columns on the versatility of the

kebaya as the modern outfit in Her World illustrated this flexibility and the great

interest by non-Malays to adopt this dress as the Malayan dress. Recalling Michael

Walzers position that an imagined community such as the nation needs to materialise

itself through personification and symbols, 87 Malaya too, needed to project itself

84
The batik industry also wins attention from the public. See Usaha Batik Di Malaya in Fashion
(102), 22 January 1956, p. 3.
85
Asuhan Wanita was one example of a school that received support from the Federation Government
and was attended by over 200 girls from all over Malaya. The girls enrolled were either graduates from
the Malacca College, obtained their school certificates, wives and daughters of government officials or
religious teachers, village and city girls. They had to pay a fee of ten ringgit to be enrolled. Courses
offered were sciences of Home Economics, traditional or modern dressmaking, cookery, baking,
embroidery and handicrafts. Information from Asuhan Wanita in Fashion (56), 6 March 1955, p. 3.
86
A Self More Refined, p. 32. Also see Vicki Duttons columns on the kebaya in Her Worlds
magazines in the 1960s.
87
Michael Walzer, The Facsimile Fallacy, American Review of Canadian Studies 1967, 12(2), p. 82-
86.
 62

along the principles of the American Way such as the freedom of choice, capitalism

and cultural freedom in order to be accepted as an equal.

Conclusively, while there was a diversity of Malay political ideologies and

cultural affiliations on the ground, their uniformity lay in the concern for the

modernisation of the nation and their women. While womens femininity became

most political, women needed to be affected personally before they became priceless

agents of change in the modern home. Therefore, women were the first to be aimed or

colonised in the wider American Way. Being the nations personification, the Malay

woman wearing the symbol of the kebaya projected this unitary starting point of the

political thought of the Malayan.

 1

CHAPTER ONE

RETHINKING MALAYA

On 19 August 1956, at five oclock in the morning, six people were arrested in

Singapore under the Banishment Ordinance and the Public Security Ordinance in

response to the active anti-yellow culture movement organised by leftist groups.

The movement, which was able to evoke support from 444 various associations and

bodies cutting across languages and races, was primarily recognised for its public

condemnation of the sexy culture responsible for so many criminal cases against

women in Singapore. 1

Leaders of the movement insisted that its inclinations were cultural in

orientation and expressed a desire to work with the Federation government to

eradicate corruptions such as publication of pornographic advertisements and

literature like yellow fiction and stories. One of the detainees was Linda Cheng

Mong Hock, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Singapore Anti-Yellow Culture

Council (SAYCC). Her arrest came five hours earlier before she was supposed to lead

her delegation to meet the Chief Minister, Lim Yew Hock to elucidate the

Governments views on yellow culture. Her arrest, together with the immediate

dissolution of the Womens Federation, suspended the movement for the time being.

This underhanded move was seen as a calculation [on the colonial governments

part] to hamper the anti-yellow culture movement and deprive the people of their

human rights and freedom. 2

This indicative moment in post-war Malayan history - which was wrought

with changes, crises and upheavals, all haunted by colonial rule - summoned its

1
Anti-Yellow Culture Campaign, 31/7/1956, PRO/Conf/330/56.
2
Anti-Yellow Council Issues a Statement, 20/9/1956, PRO/Conf/330/56.
 2

participants to reflect and galvanise in the premeditation of a modern nation. The anti-

yellow cultural movement was seen by the British not just as a manifestation of anti-

colonialism but was also reflective of the Communist threat. The British and all things

associated with them were yellow, and those who opposed them were potentially

red. 3

The attempt to dissuade and prevent the population of Malaya from aligning

with subversives was a major concern of the British authorities in the 1950s. The anti-

yellow cultural movement, which garnered widespread support from different groups,

had to be tackled with utmost prudence and in an unyielding fashion. The flow of

differing explorations in ethnic, religious and ideological identities that was

emanating fervently within the urban networks of Malaya impeded Britishs attempt

to create a monolithic Malayan identity. Despite the frustrations of the late

colonialists project, the seeds of conflicting visions in Malaya in the 1950s and 1960s

produced an enduring legacy for the politics of independence as well as the

sensibilities that are essential in comprehending the present politics of Singapore and

Malaysia.

The British began their state-building projects in the post-war period partly to

redeem themselves after their defeat in World War II and mostly to rebuild the

economy of British Malaya as well as Great Britain. From 1945 to 1949, the British

pumped 86 million in grants and loans into Malayas economic development. They

were met with success when the demand for tin and rubber hit record heights at the

time of the Korean War. Malaya was the worlds top-producer of rubber and provider

of half the worlds supply of tin. The boom experienced through the development of

3
Memorandum to Press Liaison Officer (Chinese) from Chief Ministers Office, 3/8/1956 and Tai
Po, 1/8/1956, PRO/Conf/330/56. The American media portrayed the Communist outbreak as the red
tide while the colour yellow was used by leftist groups in Singapore to depict American and Western
culture.
 3

tin and rubber industries in Malaya paved the way for the construction of the

infrastructure and polity of a modern nation. 4 This economic boom met with a

resounding windfall in terms of revenue to finance the war against the guerrilla

insurgents. 5 Employment in Malaya increased three-fold from 48,000 to 140,000

workers in a matter of a decade.

At the same time, the Americans recognised the economic importance of

British Malaya. The years of 1947 to 1952 saw U.S trade imbalance with Malaya

bringing in more than US$2.5 billion to support the international position of the

British pound. In 1951, British Malaya exported over US$405 million in rubber alone

to the United States. This far exceeded Great Britains total exports to the United

States for that whole year. 6

Singapore, who was reaping the growth experienced by Malaya, flourished as

it made major leaps as a thriving trade and manufacturing entrepot. Yet, it remained

as a separate and autonomous colony. This was a conscious decision. In 1957, Malaya

was a country with a population of six million, while Singapore had a population of

nearly 1.5 million. Singapores population was predominantly Chinese who formed

three quarters of the total population. Given Singapores demographics, which

boasted a predominant Chinese population, it made sense to set it apart. This was to

allay suspicions of a possible yet a real threat of a Chinese takeover of Malaya.

When the British were confronted with the insurgents in 1948, their

motivation to build a unified state was kindled. They attempted to reconcile the

indigenous Malays with the Malayan Chinese. Economically, socially and

4
A.J Stockwell, Widespread and Long-concocted Plot to Overthrow Government in Malaya? The
Origins of the Malayan Emergency, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 21, September
1993.
5
Nicholas J. White, Business, Government, and the End of the Empire: Malaya, 1942-1957, (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1996). Martin Rudner, Malayan Rubber Policy: Development and
Anti-development during the 1950s, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 7, September 1976.
6
Li Dun Jen, British Malaya, Kuala Lumpur: Institut Analisa Sosial, 1982), p. 161.
 4

geographically, keeping the city separate was illogical as Singapore was an integral

aspect of the Malayan peninsula. Furthermore, nobody believed, at that point that

Singapore could survive independently. The British and the Malayan people alike

believed that despite its status as a separate colony, Singapore could not be granted

independence or it would fold under the pressure of Communism. 7

A critical event on the peninsula that affected Singapore was the Malayan

Emergency. The Malayan Communist Party (MCP) emerged as one of the greatest

vocalist of anti-British sentiments during the postwar era. At first, their protests

against the British rule were relatively peaceful but this took a turn in 1948 when they

named themselves the Malayan Races Liberation Army (MRLA). From that point on,

their conviction that the only way to achieve independence from the British was

through armed struggle, ensued in a twelve year long guerrilla battle from 1948 to

1960 in the rural areas of the peninsula.

While this was going on, urban Singapore faced different struggles during the

1950s. Pro-communists and Chinese chauvinists enjoyed widespread support and

loyalty within the Chinese community. The massive support gained by Communism

derived completely from the British colonial governments refusal to employ the

Chinese-educated in the civil service. The antipathy between the British government

and pro-Communist Chinese was a long drawn-out one in Singapore. The subsequent

events like the bus workers strikes and conscription of youths by the British

government, eventually resulted in the violent Chinese Middle High School riots of

1956. 8

7
In 1959, Singapore became self-governing but the British retained their rights to the base as well as
control over Singapores foreign affairs and internal security.
8
Jon S. T. Quah, National Values and Nation Building: Defining the Problem, Search for
Singapores National Values, ed. Jon S.T Quah, (Singapore: Times Academic Press, 1990), p. 12.
 5

The incendiary speeches of communalists fanned the existing conflict of

interests between the races. Their speeches aimed to stir up racial and religious hatred

in Singapore and Malaya. This gave further rise to several major riots in which many

people were killed and injured such as the Maria Hertogh riots of December 1950 and

the July and September unpublicised racial riots in Singapore which were believed to

have triggered the 13 May 1969 racial riots in Kuala Lumpur. 9 The unified plural

society of British Malaya was seen to be divided by primordial ethnic, religious,

cultural, sectoral issues and differences. This period before independence, particularly

the Malayan Emergency, saw the struggles of left-wing trade unions and political

opponents throughout the first years of independence. This had not only moulded the

emerging social and political landscape of Singapore, but had also provided the basis

for myths which was drawn upon to mobilise public responses to unfolding events. 10

Official definitions of Communalism and Communism were played upon by the state

from time to time throughout the period and after, as possible sources of ethnic

conflict and conspiracy by certain elements to subvert the state.

American policy towards Singapore, Malaya and the region shifted greatly

since the Malayan emergency. Prior to the war, American interests in the straits had

been primarily economic. The United States hardly intervened in the politics of

European colonies unless it affected the status of trade. However, the years after

World War II saw the relationship between United States and Singapore undergoing

fundamental changes. American governmental ties with Singapore and its political

and economic involvement in Singapore increased. There were two reasons for this.

9
Quah, Search for Singapores National Values, p. 58.
10
Michael Hill, Conversion and Subversion: Religion and the Management of Moral Panics in
Singapore,www.singapore-window.org/sw01/01307mh.htm (accessed 19 December 2005)
 6

Firstly, the beginnings of the Cold War in 1947 increased the fear of

communist subversion while drawing American involvement in the political affairs of

Singapore. Undoubtedly, the communist insurrection in Malaya was the first outbreak

to place Singapore and Malaya in the larger context but more fundamentally, it was

crucial in spearheading American policy in Southeast Asia. Events such as the 1949

victory of the communists in the Chinese civil war, North Korean communist invasion

of South Korean in 1950 and the persistent French battles against the pro-communist

Viet Minh highlighted the local politics of Singapore and Malaya a target of the

United States larger policy to contain Communism. This was responsible for

subsequent American policies in the island and towards the region. Geopolitically,

Singapores strategic position and key port facilities were important assets for

Americas Cold War policy in the region.

Secondly, the increase in Americas political ties with Singapore is

inextricably linked to Britains determination to re-establish Singapore as the centre

of its military and economic power in Southeast Asia. The strategic area was

important to Britains economic recovery and Britain needed to be powerful to be an

important ally. The British bases in Singapore would play a crucial role in American

planning and policy in the first two decades of the Cold War. Henceforth, the British

were not alone in their Emergency efforts.

When a State of Emergency was declared during the period of Communist

insurrection in British Malaya from 1948-1960, the definition of Emergency took

its meaning as a condition of urgent need for action or assistance within the state. The

intimate associations the Emergency had with General Sir Gerald Templers single-

mindedness in leading the psychological and economic battle against the Communist
 7

insurgents in rural Malaya was a defining moment in the history of British Malaya

and the region.

The second Emergency was of a political nature, in which representations of

Malay and Chinese elites were created through both the United Malays National

Organisation (UMNO) and the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA). Such creations

were important in counterbalancing the influence of leftist parties and movements. In

addition, the colonial authorities and certain parties intervened to ensure the survival

of the political leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman of UMNO and Lee Kuan Yew of

the Peoples Action Party (PAP).

This thesis proposes a third and covert Emergency in which a series of cultural

occurrences and concentrated efforts aided the process of the political Emergency of

British Malaya. This cultural Emergency made a poignant impact on the everyday

lives of ordinary Malayans. It was shaped by the British cultural policy in Singapore

with definite American inputs, and was potent in winning over the hearts and minds

of ordinary Malayans from the magnetism of Communism. The impetus of

Communism and Communalism were made to work in the favour of the government.

While Communism and Communalism became efficacious tools used by colonial and

local governments in mobilising Malayans towards the double process of

decolonisation through modernisation, more than just decolonisation occurred.

This emergency was persuasive in leading the hearts and minds of ordinary

Malayans away from Communism by leading them to the principles of democracy

and cultural freedom that America was concurrently espousing in Western Europe.

Frances Stonor Saunders coins the phrase the American Way to project such

principles of democracy and cultural freedom that United States was resolute

to persuade the intelligentsia of Western Europe to adopt and do away with the
 8

lingering fascination with Marxism and Communism that had taken Eastern Europe

by storm. 11

The fine line between politics and culture, however, was blurred during the

Cold War. It was an open yet restricted struggle that developed after World War II

between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. The

struggle was named the Cold War because it was not a direct armed conflict between

the superpowers on a wide scale. Instead, it was waged by means of economic

pressure, selective aid, intimidation, diplomatic manoeuvring, propaganda,

assassination, low-intensity military operations and full-scale proxy war from 1947

until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Hence, despite restricted deployment

of arms in this war, the conflict could be fought openly using these alternative

tactics. As the cold war was not driven by armed conflict, the use of culture was

persuasive, pervasive, permissive and potent in swaying public opinion in Europe and

in Asia, in favour of capitalism.

The covert operation Congress of Cultural Freedom ran by the Central

Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States, was fast gaining a foothold in Asia in

countries like India and Burma other than Eastern Europe. The Mayor of Rangoon,

His Worship U Ba Nyunt highlighted that, culture and freedom are identical. In his

inaugural address to his carefully and secretively chosen Asian delegates who

attended his largely American sponsored Rangoon Conference on Cultural Freedom

in Asia, the mayor expanded further that, There is no culture without freedom, and

freedom is meaningless without culture. He quoted Gandhi who said, I want the

winds of all cultures to blow freely about my house, but not to be swept off by any.

11
Frances Stonor Saunders, The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters, (New
York: The New Press, 2000), p. 2.
 9

In view that it was tragic that many dividing walls made the free flow of cultural

winds impossible, he went on to caution against some of our governments who lean

towards the principles of our modern Welfare State. 12

In Southeast Asia, particularly in Singapore and Malaya, the 21st century term

of the American Way, was not used by intellectuals. However, its main principles

of cultural freedom and democracy were recognised and exploited by the network of

political and cultural activists in Singapore. The British colonials seemingly granted

Singapore more freedom of expression compared to the Malay Federation for fear of

insurgencies in the Malay Federation. The British were conscious of this glaring irony

in this so-called freedom of expression. Singapore was not only the regions financial

hub and entrepot; it had also attained a reputation for being the mecca of political and

intellectual activities of Malay and Chinese scholars, intellectuals, artists, writers and

political exiles. Its colonial laws, in comparison to the Federated Malay States, were

less harsh and hence more conducive for cultural growth.

It was only natural that Singapore was selected as the hotbed for the politics of

cultural Cold War policy in the region. It was played out and determined by the

British with some degree of involvement of the United States. On the ground, this

game was wittingly and unwittingly led by nationalist Chinese and Malay cultural

activists. These activists claimed their activities were purely in the interest of art and

were non-political in orientation when set against the wider network of leftist

activists who were mainly motivated by movements in Russia, China and Indonesia. 13

12
The Congress for Cultural Freedom, Cultural Freedom in Asia, (Rutland, Vermont: Charles E.
Tuttle Company, 1956), p. 4.
13
For portion of non-political Malay cultural activities see Timothy P. Barnard and Jan Van Der
Puttens working paper Art for Society: Language, Literature and Film in the Singaporean Malay
Community, Symposium on Paths Not Taken: Political Pluralism in Postwar Singapore, organised by
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore; and Centre for Social Change Research,
Queensland University of Technology, on 14-15 July 2005 in Singapore. Anti-yellow Cultural
 10

This reinforced Britains support for nationalist forces which were committed

to suppressing communists, left-leaning nationalists, social democrats and socialists

who constituted a major threat to the political ambitions of the incumbent

governments of Singapore and Malaya. As such, the colonial authorities and certain

political parties intervened repeatedly to make sure those right-leaning leaders such as

Lee Kuan Yew and Tunku Abdul Rahman survived. In some respects, the colonial

authorities viewed the popularity of the radical Malay nationalist movements and

parties such as the Malayan Nationalist Party (MNP) amongst urban and rural Malays

as more or less equal to the serious threat of the Chinese-based Malayan Communist

Party. The MCP was generally believed by most Malays to be an alien political

force. 14

Literature Review

A lot of writings were devoted to the study of the Malayan Emergency from

1948-1960. The conventional approach taken by scholars was to study the Emergency

from either the military perspective of the British or the insurgents, or the political

developments surrounding this phase. Furthermore, the American presence in the

region and the island on one hand had been overlooked in historical writings because

of the inability to access these materials in earlier years.

Few writings acknowledged the collaboration and competition between Britain

and the United States in their fight against Communism in Singapore and Malaya as

Jim Bakers Eagle in the Lion City: America, Americans and Singapore. Baker, who

Movement was a Chinese-organised movement that claimed to be non-political and solely cultural
in orientation.
14
Lily Zubaidah Rahims working paper, Winning and Losing The Malay Support: The Capricious
Course of PAP - Malay Community Relations 1950s and 1960s, Symposium on Paths Not Taken:
Political Pluralism in Postwar Singapore, organised by Asia Research Institute, National University of
Singapore; and Centre for Social Change Research, Queensland University of Technology, on 14-15
July 2005 in Singapore.
 11

provides an essential chronology of the presence of the Americans in the area since

the early 19th century, highlights the problematic collaboration between the

Americans and the British during the Emergency. This, he expands, was complicated

further by the American move to set up a CIA office in Singapore. This was

ultimately used as a base for their Cold War efforts in the region and Asia. Their

interventionist policy in the regions politics, particularly Indonesias, was not

appreciated by the British who were not keen that Singapore was to be embroiled in

American politics. 15 It is recommended that more research should be directed towards

examining the collaboration and competition between the British and Americans in

their emergency efforts in the region since it is beyond the capacity of this thesis to do

so.

Kumar Ramakrishnas Emergency Propaganda: The Winning of Malayan

Hearts and Minds 1948-1958 gives a significant psychological analysis of the

propaganda during the Malayan Emergency in winning over rural Chinese in the

Malay Peninsula. Ramakrishna asserts that the success of the propaganda lay within

the Britishs ability to give the rural Chinese space to shape their political destinies

and more potently, to meet the basic requirements of rural Chineses physical and

socio-economic securities. 16 However, this construction of propaganda is rarely

connected to the issue of identity formation, which was a central issue in the modern

Malayan state. Ramakrishna did not treat identity as a key bulwark against the

Communist and leftist tendencies in the region because of his different focus.

On one hand, T.N Harper, an eminent historian, postulates that although the

capacity of the state to create identity was a central issue in modern Malaysian

15
Baker, Jim, The Eagle in the Lion City: America, Americans and Singapore, (Singapore : Landmark
Books, 2005), p. 192.
16
Ramakrishna, Kumar, Emergency Propaganda: The Winning of Malayan Hearts and Minds 1948-
1958, (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2002).
 12

history, the Britishs quest to create an Anglicised version of the Malayan identity

was disrupted prematurely or even superseded by sudden explorations in ethnic,

religious and ideological identities in the urban networks of Malaya. His chapter The

Politics of Culture posits this failure on the part of the British to create a monolithic
17
Malayan identity. However, it ignores the fact that the very creation of different

identities was possible because of British cultural policy. Secondly, the British had

greater tolerance for such explorations in Singapore than the Federated Malay States

which Harper does not distinguish. Thirdly, the role played by American information

service officers in directing British cultural policy in Singapore and Malaya was left

out. Harpers chapter overlooks the point that it was in the interest of the British and

the Americans to allow such explorations in an urban network like Singapore as they

aimed to promote and demonstrate principles of cultural freedom and democracy, as a

defence against Communism in the region.

Ramakrishnas work identifies two Emergencies. According to him, one of

these emergencies was associated with General Templers efforts. This was

elaborated at length by a corpus of works including Ramakrishnas own work. The

other, which he coins as political Emergency, has been dealt with extensively and

consisted of a series of efforts made by the British to create an anti-communist,

friendly, united Malayan nation governed by a multi-racial government. 18 Baker

adds to existing knowledge by stating that the involvement of the United States

complicated and reinforced the surety in the British efforts in ensuring that political

leaders like Tengku Abdul Rahman and Lee Kuan Yew did not slant towards

17
Harper, Timothy Norman, The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya, (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1998), p. 274-296.
18
Ramakrishna, Emergency Propaganda, p. 2.
 13

Communism. 19 The role played by the United States in the region as a result of the

Cold War was undeniable and, there is a need to examine the impact of cultural

politics on ordinary Malayans in everyday life as part of the larger efforts of the State

of Emergency.

Cultural Emergency, which can be seen as a series of attempts to override the

efforts made by communist and leftist groups to affect the culture of everyday life,

needs to be postulated and examined in greater light. Ryan Bishops and John

Philipss examination of the difference between the state of emergency and the

normal state, in their thoughtful and provocative piece Manufacturing Emergencies,

would locate cultural Emergency as one of the states of emergency which the

sovereign power provokes. They stress that states of emergency arise from strategic

sovereign decisions to divide visible from invisible, enemy from ally, underground

economy from above-ground, illegitimate war from legitimate war. 20 In this respect,

the use of culture and technology in this emergency disguises this intrinsic division

between the two domains. Cultural Emergency is thus a pervasive force that serves to

mystify and perpetuate the state of emergency.

The dissolution of the Womens Federation and the arrests of Linda Chen and

her associates could be seen as part of the larger active efforts in cultural Emergency.

Her radical protests against the yellow culture and worse, the wide support given to

her by most bodies and associations from different political inclinations, were seen as

seditious by the colonial authorities.

The main anxiety of the anti-yellow cultural movement - that a new nation

needed to replace yellow material with non-yellow ones - found a common voice in

19
Baker, The Eagle, p. 192.
20
Ryan Bishop and John Phillips, Manufacturing Emergencies, Theory, Culture & Society, 19: 91-
102 (Nottingham Trent University, UK: Sage, 2002).
 14

the pursuit of the modern. This stage of the modern nation needed the proliferation of

periodicals and novels, emanating from urban networks located in towns and cities.

Benedict Anderson concisely attributes this phenomenon in the impetus of national

consciousness to the convergence and influence of capitalism with print technology

on human languages and experiences.

In Malaya, the dawning realisation of the nation coupled with the Cold War

consciousness of the American Way made the issue of identity one of the most

turbulent, exciting and racially motivated discussions. The sudden plethora of modern

consciousness in the nation and the self was reflected in the periodicals. The prime

motivations for the modernisation of the Malays were means of particular social and

racial differentiations. 21 Malay periodicals along with Malay films played a pivotal

role, in Henri Lefebvres own words for France, [in the] application of the most

modern of the techniques to the way everyday life is organised, that is to say, to a

sector which up to now has been paid scant attention. 22 Inevitably, the self-appointed

role played by the United States in the media - in films, television and print media in

reordering and realising everyday life not just for Americans, but for the rest of the

world was inexorable.

Examining one such media, namely Malay popular magazines during the

1950s, allows us to appreciate and underpin Henri Lefebvres famous catchphrase the

21
Ross refers to French intense experience (particularly after the closing of Algeria to France in 1962)
as a form of internal colonization as well modernisation motivated by social and particularly racial
differentiations within the city space of Paris. Such racial differentiations are both different and similar
to the one in Malaya and especially Singapore. In France, the motivation for such a distinction between
the French and the immigrants from the colonies is rather different from the racially-motivated
modernisation plans in Malaya. For the Malays who were economically behind, they desire to get
ahead of their other racial counterparts. For further elaboration, refer to Kristin Rosss Fast Cars, Clean
Bodies: Decolonisation and the Reordering of the French Culture (Cambridge: MIT University Press,
1995), p. 11. Asiah Abu Samah, Emancipation of Malay Women 1947-1957, (Unpublished B.A Hons.
dissertation, University of Malaya 1960) confirms this racially differentiating fact of many Malay
women as being rural, uneducated and therefore more backward than their racial counterparts. Hence,
this motivated the birth of womens organizations and movements in that period.
22
Henri Lefebvre, Critique of Everyday Life Volume 1, (London: Verso, 1991), p. 7.
 15

colonisation of everyday life. Lefebvre, a liberal leftist French thinker, in his chilly

response to Americanism, invented the term to encapsulate the capitalist invasion of

the totality of life in France in the 1950s. This also took place within the outer and the

inner most intimate core of a Malayans life. Employing this term to reflect the

sudden changes of the new routine, allows us to understand how the movement

towards urbanism caused life in Malaya in the 1950s to fall into this new routine of

the everyday. 23

Popular magazines shaped readers consciousness of urbanism, which

highlighted new situations and ways of dealing with these unfamiliar situations. The

city Lefebvre understood to be the pre-eminent site of social interaction and

exchange, referred to as social centrality, was in danger of being reduced to

commodified spectacles or into simply shopping through mechanisms such as

magazines. In his view such mechanisms of the city should instead, increase

individuals self-presence by which they enjoy the right of association into collectives

and self-determination.

Employing Lefebvres general principles of the colonisation of everyday life

from the American Way to the intense decolonisation experience of Malaya, provides

us with interesting insights as seen from the various source materials from the period.

Periodicals from the period such as Asmara, Aneka Warna, Mastika, Fashion, Arena,

Pengasoh and Qalam, were mainly consulted in this study. A spread of different

magazines was consulted because of their varied strengths. In macrocosm, they record

the changes in the worldview of the Malays and promoted the changes in their

mentality. Almost all articles within the columns of these magazines were of interest.

23
Lefebvre, Critique, p. xiv.
 16

Even the visual illustrations and advertisements provided fascinating discoveries,

especially when coupled with other popular media such as films and songs.

Works by Malayan scholars paid much attention to the formation of the nation

but gave very scant regard to how the nation was manifested in everyday life. Virginia

Matheson Hookers Writing New Society is a pioneer in attempting to analyse the

nation in everyday terms through the discriminate selections of 26 fictional works

written in a span of 60 years. As a historical study however, Hookers work is

problematic. Although it is helpful in tracing the development of thoughts on

bangsa, 24 it does not address the active and problematic period of the 1950s and

1960s. Malay periodicals are an indisputable source of information which she

overlooked as historical sources. 25 Furthermore, they shed much light on the issue of

cultural Emergency.

There is a need for Malayan historical writings to look into the role of women

in sustaining the interdependence of the public and the private spheres in the city. 26

According to Brenda Yeoh, the topic of womens role in Singapores history is a

neglected field of inquiry. In conjunction to that, there is little acknowledgement that

the public and the private need to be equally treated as interpenetrative and

interdependent spheres which are crucial to the sustenance of the city. She adds

24
Race, nation.
25
According to Abdul Aziz Hussain, Singapore Gazette reported that Malay publications of 213 fiction
books, 166 non-fiction books, 74 school textbooks, 44 religious books and 28 magazines were
published in Singapore from Sept 1955 to Sept 1958. These did not include materials published in
Malaya. The study also revealed that 75 per cent of the market came from Federation of Malaya, 20 per
cent from Singapore and the other 5 per cent from Sarawak, Brunei and British North Borneo. Abdul
Aziz Hussain, Penerbitan Buku-buku dan Majalah-majalah Melayu di Singapura di antara Bulan Sept
1945 dengan Bulan Sept 1959, (Unpublished B.A Hons dissertation, University of Malaya, 1959).
Harper, End of Empire, p. 285 In this respect, I am answering Harpers call that little has been done on
the network of womens, students and vocational magazines emanating from both Singapore and small
provincial towns like Kuala Pilah and Johor Bahru. Khoo Kay Kim, Malay Papers and Periodicals as
Historical Sources, (Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya, 1984), p. 29.
26
Brenda S.A Yeoh, Changing Conceptions of Space in History Writing: A Selective Mapping of
Writings on Singapore, New Terrains in Southeast Asian History, Abu Talib Ahmad and Tan Liok Ee
(eds.), (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2003), p. 30-55.
 17

further, It is by treating the colonial enterprise and the colonised world as different

but overlapping and curiously interdependent that one can seek to faithfully mirror the

complex weave of competition, struggle and cooperation within the shifting physical

and social landscape. 27 Without periodicals that document and recommend changes

taking place in the private and public spheres, the main targets of the colonisation of

everyday life - the city, the home and women as its main agents - would be easily

overlooked. 28

In relation to theoretical developments outside Southeast Asia however, there

has been little research that attempts to address the perennial concerns and

constructions of everyday life as Stephanie Coontz did in her scrutiny of the ideal

American traditional family in the 1950s in The Way We Never Were. Her work

reveals that what seems to be the traditional in the 1950s was not just a product of

historical processes or coincidences but a political agenda of that time. The portrayal

of suburban families in the United States was potent in stemming the tide of the

Communist threat. She quotes the revealing example of the famous kitchen debate

between Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev in 1959, when Nixon asserted that the

superiority of capitalism over communism was embodied not in ideology over

military might but in the comforts of the urban home designed to make things easier

for our women. 29

27
Yeoh, Changing Conceptions of Space, New Terrains, p. 40-41.
28
Attention is another word for targeting. The idea of the city as a target probably had its Cold War
origins and in its similitude, women and the home receives this much attention as part of the Cold War
efforts. For more recent ideas on the global city as a target see Ryan Bishop and Gregory Clancey,
City as Target or Perpetuation and Death in Steve Graham (ed.) Cities, War and Terrorism, (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2004), pp. 61-83. This connects well with Kristin Rosss theory in the reverberating
example of modernizing French women in the 1950s to 1960s, lets win over the women and the rest
will follow [was] to target the innermost structure of society, p. 77.
29 29
Stephanie Coontz, The Way We Never Were: American Families and The Nostalgia Trap, (New
York: BasicBooks, 1992), p. 28.
 18

Womens presence, however, has not been overlooked in the history of

Malaya and Singapore of the 1950s and 1960s. The oeuvre of Lenore H. Manderson

in Women, Politics & Change: The Kaum Ibu UMNO Malaysia 1945-1972 and

Virginia H. Danczs Women and Party Politics in Peninsular Malaysia are

illuminating with respect to the role of womens political auxiliaries in Malaya. 30

Perhaps a publication entitled Antara Gaun dan Kebaya: Pengalaman dan

Citra Wanita Melayu Zaman Pra-Merdeka comes close to the thrust of this

investigation. It has its merits, being a rich source of interdisciplinary articles written

by mostly female scholars in Malaysia who refer to themselves as KeKWA or short

for Kelompok Kajian Wanita (Group for Research on Women). 31 This attempt to

highlight and promote womens scholarship deserves commendation since it is able to

open up new areas of enquiry into gender studies. However, there is a lack of an

overarching theoretical framework to bind these essays in an interpretive rather than a

didactic manner. Furthermore, it would be equally fascinating to include analysis on

other representations on women, men and children, etc. Despite such limitations, it is

only fair to recognise this collection as laudable in its different approaches and

concepts, its use of a variety of sources, and for giving a sense of direction and

inspiration to this study.

This thesis is an extension of an honours thesis that was written three years

ago. 32 It began as an attempt to study the representations of women in dozens of

different Jawi periodicals, by focusing on one particular magazine Fashion. The

30
Lenore H. Manderson, Women, Politics & Change: The Kaum Ibu UMNO Malaysia 1945-1972,
(Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1980), Virginia H. Danczs Women and Party Politics in
Peninsular Malaysia, (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1987).
31
Antara Kebaya dan Gaun: Pengalaman dan Citra Wanita Melayu Zaman Pra-Merdeka, Fauziah
Kartini Hassan Basri, Zaharah Hassan and Bahiyah Abdul Hamid (eds.), (Bangi: Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia, 2000), p. v-vii.
32
Kartini Saparudin, A Self More Refined: Representations of Women in Malay Magazines of the 1950s
and 1960s, (Unpublished Honours Thesis, National University of Singapore, 2002). A more refined
version of this paper was presented in the EUROSEAS conference in Paris in September 2004.
 19

magazine represents the diversity of thoughts on issues of femininity and the modern

home in the 1950s and 1960s. 33 The traditional/modern and religious/secular

paradigm of thought which was employed on issues of women in Malaya at that time

is useful in some ways. On the other hand, it appears binaristic, without taking into

account the diversity and complexity of ideas that existed within this period.

Moreover, space and time constraints limited the research from including other

aspects of gender studies. Decoding the economics behind these representations is the

aim of this thesis.

While this thesis is least reflective of much needed groundwork based on the

cultural history of modern Malaya (a project of highly demanding nature and of great

potential contribution to scholarship), it gives some insights. Chapter 2, The Aporia

of Allureness, investigates the ubiquitous representations of Western women and

Malay women in the magazines of the early 1950s. Set against the loud hues and

protests of the anti-yellow cultural movement, both representations of alluring

Caucasian women and sensuous Malay women were manipulative. It inevitably

geared and prepared women on a process towards the modern nation but the process

was not without its obstacles, ambiguity and contentions. The use of representations

of Western women in some magazines speaks volumes of not just anti-colonialist and

modernist efforts in the nationalists agenda; however, such motivations were

confused, commended or condemned in these tumultuous times. Far from becoming a

monolithic concept, the ideal, modern Malay woman was given varied interpretations

and discussions in these periodicals.

After looking at the deportment of women in public spheres, Chapter 3 Home

in the City: The Chief Target of Progress scrutinises another important target of

33
Jawi is Malay language in Arabic script.
 20

modernism, which is the home. The arena of everyday life and relations between the

household and society is an extension of a full-blown analysis of urban life. Home in

the City: The Chief Target of Progress examines two concerns. Firstly, it is

interested in how the construction of modern housing estates played a potent role in

the containment of publics discontentment in the form of Communist and

Communalist insurgencies within the city space of Singapore. Through the

instrumental use of re-housing and de-housing policies, modernism is effectively

deployed throughout the modern home. Secondly, through analysing Jawi periodicals,

this thesis seeks to explicate how this process of modernism could be further deployed

to transform modest homes into modern residences. This portion of the chapter

highlights how women, as both embodiments and managers of everyday lives, played

a key role in the maintenance of the private; a core of profound importance to the

overall sustenance of the city.

Chapter 4 For the Love of the Modern: The Malayan Dream looks into the

construction of childrens world and the coming of age in Malayan households. How

was awareness of the Malayan dream lucid though engagement of texts such as

stories, radio programmes and even movies? What was growing up like in this period?

What kind of values were being promoted and inculcated in them implicitly and

explicitly in this period of Malayanisation? What was their main identity marker?

This chapter also seeks to understand and record changes and continuities in the

dynamics of male-female relationships in the home. Especially of interest is how

modern manifestations and understanding of love, which is a product of capitalism,

consumerism and modernisation, prepares men and women for new rules of conduct

and manners in and out of the home. Although these posed contradictions to Islam as

their identity marker, the captivating manner in which these forces worked within the
 21

core of the Malay Malayan identity is of fascination. In conclusion, the final chapter

reiterates and highlights the findings from preceding chapters and suggests new areas

of study.

The politics of representing Malayan women was an ongoing process that was

conducted in the most controversial and overt manner. Women were the first to be

disciplined because they were most vulnerable and receptive to the economics of

representation and their value to the modernisation project was indispensable. In the

next chapter, we see how Malay women were caught between the American Way and

the mobilisation efforts of the Communists, even as they grappled with their Muslim

and Malay identity.

 63

CHAPTER THREE

HOME IN THE CITY: THE CHIEF TARGET OF PROGRESS

Put briefly it means this - that the pace of the social revolution
in Malaya is as fast or as slow as the Malays in the kampongs
want it, not as the Chinese in towns desire it. The towns can act
as a catalyst on the kampongs, but it is the kampongs that
decide the pace..

Constitutionally the Chinese are in the minority, for not all

have citizenship. And so it is that it is the Malay peasants in the
kampongs who decide and set the pace. For this reason I
believe that the immediate danger to Malaya is not
Communism but Communalism. There can be no Communist
Malaya until there is a Malay-led Malayan Communist Party.
That follows from the hypothesis that it is the Malay peasantry
and not the Chinese urban proletariat who can and will decide
the pace

There need never be a discontented Malay peasantry so long as

the Federation Government keeps up social advance and
progress in the kampongs. But in the meantime the Communal
tensions can easily increase. The Chinese urban population may
chafe at what they consider slow pace determined by a Malay-
weighted Government.
Lee Kuan Yew 1

Lee Kuan Yews speech to a group of foreign correspondents, just months

after winning the Singapore General Elections of 1959, was significant. He not only

highlighted the problem of the slow social progress made by Malays in the kampongs

and in the Federation, he pinpointed that this was the reason behind the growing

impatience of the urban Chinese in Singapore. In the same breath, Mr Lee diverted the

attention of these foreign observers away from the issue of Communism (which was

thought to be a Chinese problem) to focus on Communalism (which was portrayed as

a Malay issue) as the greater threat to Singapore and Malaya.

1
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew for Foreign Correspondents Association on 16 September 1959,
Source: Ministry of Culture.
 64

Amidst the escalating racial tensions, Mr Lees perceptions that the home

should be an important centre for social progress, foretold the governments move

towards housing as part of the larger key efforts of Emergency. The construction of

the home in the city in these unpredictable times was potent as a government wielded

tool of political discipline. 2 Lee Kuan Yews assertion that the immediate threat to

Malaya was Communalism and not Communism contained part of the main

motivation behind the governments establishment of the Housing Development

Board (HDB) in the following year on 1 February 1960. Its publication, First Decades

in Public Housing 1960-1969, described that intention to construct public housing as

an explicitly precautionary as well as a reactionary measure to the sole threat of

Communism within the slums. HDBs initial frustrations to keep up in the demand to

provide more than 100,000 units of flats to 30 per cent of the population in a space of

less than a decade, revealed its motivations:

About a quarter of this population lived on the city fringes in

the most unimaginable squalor; another 250,000 crammed into
the crumbling shophouses in the oldest part of the city. In such
houses and hovels, criminal elements bred and thrived;
Communism found new adherents.

This was the magnitude of the problem which confronted the

Peoples Action Party in June, 1959 when it swept to power to
become the first fully-elected administration of a self-
governing British Colony. The new Government had boldly set
for itself the challenging task of providing decent homes
equipped with the basic modern convenience to all those who
needed them. 3

The HDBs position towards Communism within the slums and squatters was

evident in its attribution of the final measure of Singapores low-cost housing

success, [to] the total failure of Communist and communalist appeals to people in the

2
Iain Buchanan, Singapore in Southeast Asia, (London: G. Bell and Sons Ltd., 1972), p. 245.
3
HDB, First Decade of Public Housing in Singapore 1960-1969, (Singapore: HDB, 1970), p. 8.
 65

Boards estates and the drop in crime. 4 The PAP claimed these rare achievements

through the inheritance of the British colonial project of rehousing through the

Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT). In addition to the speed and determined

continuance of the rehousing project under HDB, these achievements were seen as the

PAPs or more importantly, Mr Lees personal feat of attaining what was thought

impossible. 5

Emphasising the emotive appeal of Communalism within the kampongs, the

Singapore government chose to distract foreign political observers of Malaya of the

turmoil of Communism taking centrestage in Malaya. 6 Although the urban housing

project had yet to affect the total population on a wider scale, the majority of Chinese

living in squalors and slums in the city centre were portrayed by Lee as Chinese

urban proletariats living in towns. In contrast, the Malays living in kampongs were

4
HDB, First Decade, p. 8.
5
By the time Singapore attained self-rule in 1959, 10 percent of the population had already been
rehoused by the colonial administration, a figure uniquely larger than the rest in Asia or the colonised
world. At the same time, the success of the rehousing project under the HDB becomes Lees biggest
credentials as Harold Wilson used this point to delay the withdrawal of British troops from Singapore.
He was quoted as saying, his social record, in his housing programme for example, defies challenge in
anything that has been done in the most advanced social democratic communities. Lee Kuan Yew,
From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-200, (Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings,
2000), p. 50. Both information quoted from Gregory Clanceys Toward a Spatial History of
Emergency: Notes from Singapore in Beyond Description: Singapore Space Historicity, (London:
Routledge, 2004), p. 41. Some critics however, questioned the equating of HDBs success to
necessarily mean a superior quality of life in Singapore. Iain Buchanans provocative findings highlight
the questionable assumptions that the material home elevated the standards of living of the poor. He
claims that it had instead, masked the poverty of the poor and subjected them to a regulated pattern of
lifestyle. Gregory Clancey observes that the historical treatment of housing (de-housing and re-
housing) in the larger history of mobilisation in the context of the Emergency is disturbing as it cloaked
them as a normality of everyday life. Despite HDBs astonishing achievements, Clancey emphasises
Buchanans observations that the records left by social scientists of the 1960s and 1970s on the
descriptions of life in Singapores high rise flats were abundant compared to the records written on the
kampongs and squatter camps which were displaced. Clancey, like Buchanan, recognises that
kampong-dwellers were better-placed to avoid participation in social science surveys than those living
in government managed flats (especially door-to-door surveys administered with the cooperation of
estate managers). See Footnote 77 of Gregory Clanceys Toward a Spatial History of Emergency,
Beyond Description, p. 57.
6
The influence of radical Indonesian intellectuals on Malay men and women of letters in Malaya and
Singapore were often considered to be a potential Communist threat. See papers from Symposium
Paths Not Taken: Political Pluralism in Postwar Singapore, Lily Zubaidah Rahims Winning and
Losing Malay Support: The Capricious Course of PAP Malay Community Relations 1950s and
1960s. Timothy P. Barnard and Jan Van Der Putten, Art for Society: Language, Literature and Film
in the Singaporean Malay Community, (Unpublished Symposium Papers: National University of
Singapore, 2005).
 66

termed as peasantry. This highlights Lees views of the material and social

differences of the Malays as the source of Malayas sluggish progress.

While it is not the aim of this paper to underpin which of the two forces

(Communism or Communalism) fuelled the governments pressing need to contain

the discontentment through re-housing, it exemplifies the recognition of homes as one

of the first chief targets in the governments policy. In addition, it brings to light the

governments anxiety over the functions of the home and how the government

overcame this anxiety through the provision of modern conveniences within modern

homes.

The lack of official comparative data on Malay resettlement, in its peak in the

1960s, triggered many questions especially since both the Chinese communities of the

slums of Chinatown and the Malay communities of the kampongs were clearly

targeted. 7 This leads us to the governments policy of multiculturalism, a core

integrative aspect of its re-housing policy through which members of different ethnic

groups, by living in close quarters, learn to deal with one another on the basis of

mutual understanding and mutual tolerance. Fears of Communalism within the Malay

kampongs caused the government to promulgate a policy of multiculturalism as part

of HDBs resettlement scheme. Like the Chinese, the Malays were also clear targets

of such a policy. Other ethnic groups, in the wider context, were also no exceptions to

the governments de-housing and re-housing policies. The policy, however, seemed to

be designed to create more impact on the Malays. Stanley Bedlington posits:

7
Stanley Sanders Bedlintons thesis provides an interesting study of urban Malay kampongs as part of
the policy of state integration in the 1970s. However, as surveys were carried out in the beginning of
the 1970s, Malay opinions towards estates were less reticent and resistant as their kampongs inevitably
made way for estates. It will be far more revealing to capture initial sentiments and resistance by
Malays in the 1960s when the policy was first formulated and publicised. Stanley Sanders Bedlington,
The Singapore Malay Community: The Politics of State Integration, (Unpublished Doctorate Thesis:
Cornell University, 1974).
 67

The thrust of the governments policy in this regard, I was told

over and over again by leading PAP and governmental figures,
was aimed at transferring the Malays out of their traditional
environment, in order to replace the solitary motifs of the
Malay urban kampong or ghetto replete with mutually-
reinforcing value structures, with new residential
configurations in which Malays no longer have to glance
backwards over their shoulders, as it were, fearful of the
approbation of their peers and neighbours in the kampong. 8

The government was convinced that targeting Malay homes would culminate in

changing the backwardness of the Malay psyche to a proactive one. This could be

achieved without the backlash of the larger kinship networks of the kampong. Apart

from suspicions from Malays in their ghettoes, it was clear that both the Chinese and

the Malays become the main targets of the governments anti-communists and anti-

communalist project through resettlement, prior to the provocation of the 1964 racial

riots.

On the other hand, the policy of de-housing and re-housing on Malay

strongholds by the PAP leaders was of suspect. Critics of the PAP viewed that PAPs

future electoral successes could not be secured in Malay electoral strongholds, as

Malays were seen to be suspicious of the PAPs intentions. Even before the eruptions

of the 1964 racial riots on the island, the panacea for the Singapore government at that

time laid in the ambitious urban resettlement programmes and public housing policies.

This dispersed the traditional Malay strongholds to newly established housing estates

throughout the island. Viewed from this perspective, it appears that Mr Lee, under the

guise of predicting potential problems of Communalism within the kampongs in 1959,

was also wary of the formidable threat of Malay electoral strongholds in Geylang

Serai, Kampong Kembangan and the Southern Islands before the pre-merger elections

of 1963. This purposeful erosion of more Malay stronghold through urban

8
Bedlington, The Singapore Malay Community, p. 379.
 68

resettlement and public housing efforts in the 1960s and later in 1970s was

acknowledged later by James Fu, the Prime Ministers Press Secretary, in a letter to

the Straits Times Forum page, Today with resettlement, every constituency is

racially integrated. Pertubohan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (PKMS) can no longer

win anywhere in Singapore. 9 More than scattering Malays throughout the island, the

appropriation of lands from Malay landowners by the governments drew criticisms

from Malays whose lands were sequestered for urban renewal and who were

compensated poorly. 10

Apart from inflicting a heavy financial burden, the resettlement made

residents experienced the psychological strain of being uprooted from a strong

support network. Differentiated needs of different communities, least of all Malays,

were often ignored in the rigid pursuit of multiculturalism. Due to the rapid speed in

re-housing, it appeared that the governments lack of sensitivity to the varying needs

of different ethnic groups resulted in frustrations and resentment of the

governments efforts to mobilise and scatter racial groups like them into different

estates. 11

9
Straits Times, 4 March 1988. In the 1980s, the Malays were found gravitating towards the trend of
buying homes in the traditional Malay areas around Geylang Serai, Bedok and other East Coast
districts. Many Malays were buying flats from non-Malays. Such trends promoted the rekindling of
kampong networks in the housing estates. If such trends were allowed to persist, the PAP was acutely
conscious that the Malays will re-emerge as a potent electoral force in certain constituencies.
Determined to circumvent this trend, the ethnic residential quota was imposed in 1989 with a
rationale to encourage a balanced ethnic mix. Quoting Tremewan, Lily Rahim posits that, By this
logic, a block which has 87 per cent Chinese residents is not a racial enclave but a block which has 26
per cent Malay residents is a racial enclave. See Lily Zubaidah Rahims The Singapore Dilemma: The
Political and Economic Marginality of the Malay Community, (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University
Press, 1998), p. 76.
10
Bedlington, The Singapore Malay Community, p. 404. Such complaints were directed at the
government in the early 1970s especially by residents of Kampong Radin Mas. These complainants
were unhappy that the government actually made a profit out of the resale of land appropriated through
the provisions of the Land Acquisitions Act, 1966. Critics within the PAP were said to have confirmed
such practices by the government through the act which gave it means to appropriate land from private
owners at arbitrary prices which often bore no relation to the market price and in certain instances,
resold the land at five to ten times higher than the price paid by the government.
11
Bedlington, The Singapore Malay Community, p. 398.
 69

Malays living in the city in Singapore of the 1960s were seen as models for

Malays in the Federation. Even Malayan leaders from across the Causeway claimed

that living in flats was the way to go. As early as 1964, Malay Alliance Leader as well

as leading Malaysian minister, Khir Johari urged Singapore Malays to embrace living

in flats, as the new Singapore housing estates were the pride of Malaysia. 12 In

another instance, a Minister from Kuala Lumpur, Mohammed Ghazali, on his visit to

Singapore, stated that it was sheer nonsense to say that Malays disliked flats or that

it was high rentals that prevented Malays from moving into the estates. 13

This model of modern living in the estates in Singapore parallels the

phenomenon of creation of suburban homes in America. These policies were designed

not only to make life easier for the women but were seen as key forces in stemming

the red tide as pointed by Richard Nixon in the first chapter. It is important to add that

while there are explicit references in the literature that portrayed Malays as most

resistant to re-housing and therefore were regressive, other references in the literature

also portrayed the keenness of Malays in adopting modernisms in the home.

Governmental measures to regulate everyday lives through the containment of

the poor through re-housing; to transforming the Malay kampongs into modern

Malayan homes, could be seen as deliberate efforts by the literati to dictate the pace

and arrangement (or poesis) of the daily lives of ordinary Malays. The government

and the urban intellectuals realised the potency of the home in constructing and

12
Straits Times, 7 October 1964.
13
Straits Times, 21 May 1965. There were rental subsidies that were offered to the Malays, in spite of,
or as a result of Mohammed Ghazalis claims. This is revealed in Lee Kuan Yews speech to the press
in 14 June 1965. He promised the Singapore Malays who were forced to resettle in HDB flats that
those who earned less than $200 per month were entitled to a 20 percent rental subsidy. Straits Times,
June 14, 1965. Othman Wok was to reiterate this promise later that year and raised the level of
eligibility for the subsidies by stating that those who earned $300 and less were also qualified.
However, Bedlington had confirmed with a leading Singapore non-Malay intellectual with ties to PAP
that the party had purposely underplayed this scheme as they were afraid of inciting jealousies amongst
other groups. As a result, few Malays living in the estates at that time were aware of the scheme.
Bedlington, The Singapore Malay Community, p. 409.
 70

rearranging the rhythms of everyday life as well as thwarting undesirable forces

such as the Communist or communalist insurgencies within the squatter settlements

and kampongs. However, what constituted as home for the majority of Malays

within the city space of Singapore and landscape of Malaya in the 1960s were still the

wooden kampong and suburban house. 14 Modern high-rise homes had limited impact

on the larger Malay community at this time.

In spite of this, modernisms were already changing human relationships in and

outside the home. Despite the fact that most Malays occupied the kampong, a social

revolution did take place within the homes. This was ignited partly by the emergence

of print technology that interrupted as well as reinforced the operations of everyday

lives into lived and almost poetic experiences for Malays. Michel de Certeau

explained the emergence of print technology as no longer a referential [source], but

summed up the experience of this emergence as a whole society becoming this

source. 15

Role of Women in the New Homes

[Both men entered the kitchen in the American exhibit.]

Richard Nixon: I want to show you this kitchen. It is like those

of our houses in California.
[Nixon points to dishwasher.]

Nikita Khrushchev: We have such things.

Nixon: This is our newest model. This is the kind which is built
in thousands of units for direct installations in the houses. In
America, we like to make life easier for women...

Khrushchev: Your capitalistic attitude towards women does not

occur under Communism.
14
There are different types of housing in this category of kampong. See Buchanan, Singapore in
Southeast Asia, p. 33.
15
Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, (Berkeley: University of California, 1984), p. xxii.
 71

Nixon: I think that this attitude towards women is universal.

What we want to do is to make life easier for our
housewives.....
The Kitchen Debate 16

Linda Chen believed that in order for a woman to have creative

pursuits, she needs to be freed from the kitchen.

Michael Fernandez 17

The sustenance of the city is interdependent on the maintenance of the private

and public spheres. These efforts needed the support of agents of change who were

ready and obedient to the discourse. In addition, the construction of the public through

public housing policies had a reverberating impact on the private. Furthermore, there

were changes to the private through the formation of nuclear families in the estate.

Sociological studies done in the period of the early 1960s highlighted the changing

kinship patterns of community life as well as on human relationships in the home.

Such changes were said to be done in favour of women because they gave women

more freedom, choices and space for women, away from their extended family, in

their new homes. These changes were noted to take place for both Malay and Chinese

women.

One of the interesting conclusive findings from the report New Life in New

Homes suggests that most Chinese women had the most say or upper hand in new

homes. According to the report, living in new homes elevated women to be the centre

of her household as a result of the new Housing Provision requirements of small

16
The Kitchen Debate between Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
at The American National Exhibit in Moscow, Documented speech taken from,
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/coldwar/episodes/14/documents/debate/, 24 July 1959. Audio speech
can be taken from http:www.thisdayinhistory.com/speeches/archive/speech_166.html.
17
This is taken from an interview with Michael Fernandez in early March 2006. He is a friend of Linda
Chen Meng Hock (who was the president of SAYCC) and also an ex-political detainee. Linda Chen
passed away three years ago. Fernandez who knew her well, mentioned that she was an ardent reader of
Friedrich Engels.
 72

families. The departure from an extended family, which consisted of large numbers of

family members with three or more generations under a roof, had important

consequences for Chinese women in the household, which had previously been

dominated by her parents or her in-laws.

Her husband, on the other hand, had to accept new responsibilities which had

been foisted on him. He must confer with her directly in matters regarding the home

when he was used to relying on his extended family. Previously, all he had to do was

to put part of his salary into the central pool and the old folks would do all the

planning and attend to the needs of the family. Inevitably, the survey viewed that the

husband helps the wife run the home and hence the wife depends on the husband to

make decisions on important matters and solve problems as they arise. The survey

also revealed that small family units allowed young families the space to establish a

pattern of life that was in line with their present generation as opposed to that of the

older generation. 18

In extending this argument to Malay women in modern homes of the 1960s,

similar questions could be raised. The survey on New Life in New Homes was

comprehensive. Its findings mostly reflected Chinese families that moved from city

slums. 19 While it showed that their new lives in new homes were designed to make

life comfortable for Chinese women from the lower middle class, it is a question as to

how far this could be extended to Malay women who were used to the kampong

lifestyle. More importantly, within Malay families, Malay men were married into the

18
Seow Peck Leng, Report on New Life in New Homes, (Singapore: Persatuan Wanita Negara
Singapura, 1965), p. 38.
19
One of the questions in this survey was whether tenants were ex-Chinatown dwellers. The findings
were slanted towards a reading of a particular dominant ethnic group. See full listing of the basis of
selections in Seow, New Life, p. 14.
 73

womens family and lived amongst her relatives in her kampong. 20 Thus, did the new

home contribute to the breaking down of matrilocal ties and subsequently introduced

the patriarchal system within the nuclear family? Or, did the new home also

symbolise freedom, independence and individualised choices for Malay women in

their new homes?

The results are ambiguous. The results suggest that nuclear family formations

were favoured by those who were better educated and received regular sources of

income. Zahrah Munir postulates from her study that small Malay families with a

regular source of income were happy to move into the flats. Like their Chinese

counterparts, many young Malay couples lived with their in-laws; the matrilocal

residence being the dwelling of the Malay couples. This was a prominent difference

between the Malay and Chinese ethnic groups. Small family units were keener to be

self-reliant than to be dependent on their extended kinship ties. She posits that, they

are families who seem to be prepared to follow the modern trend and mode of life in

the present social evolution. 21

Relating to women in particular, Zahrahs findings emphasised that modern

educated (especially English educated) Malay women are happy to move out of the

kampongs, when there was too much gossip as it seemed that the standard of

conduct laid down by public opinion in a Malay neighbourhood (in the kampong)

may weigh heavily on the modern, educated wife. Class played a role in the

perception of womens increased and individualised roles in these new homes. She

asserts further that the role of women as a whole in the new housing estates is of

large significance [with respect to] their increased individual responsibilities when

20
The men marry into the womens family and thus, marry into the kampong. Judith Djamour, Malay
Kinship and Marriage in Singapore, (London: The Athlone Press, 1958), p. 25.
21
Zahrah Munir, The Experience of being Rehoused: Malay Families in Singapore, (Unpublished
thesis, University of Singapore, 1965), page unknown.
 74

dislocated from the extended family. In order for this new life to reap positive

results, she concludes that the husband and wife must be able to appreciate as well as

recognise their own responsibilities as well as each others . 22

When juxtaposed against poorer Malay families which had more dependents

with irregular sources of income, there was a suggestion that the Malay woman in a

kampong, despite her proximity to her matriarchal ties, had larger responsibilities not

only to her immediate family but to her support network as well. Although this meant

that she would be subjected to public decorum and public opinions, the subsistence of

her family depended on the existence of such a network. As it was in her interest to

sustain such a network since this network consisted of mostly her family members, it

is conclusive to point out that her role was centralised. Unlike women in the estates or

houses, women in kampongs shared these roles with their kinswomen like their

mother, siblings or daughters.

From the 1960s onwards, as larger and poorer families were also compelled to

reside in estates, Zahrahs study reinforces Buchanans findings of unhappiness

amongst poorer, lower class Malay families who were relocated from their urban

kampong ghettoes to estates. Relocation, on one hand, imposed constraints on both

husband and wife with their larger families in their new one-room HDB flats. On the

other hand, modern conveniences like the availability of electricity and water in the

home, made estate living favourable. The articulation of womens centralised roles in

the homes, regardless of racial/cultural boundaries and class positions in this period,

proposes that this new routine of everydayness would not successfully come into

being without women as its managers. 23

22
Zahrah, The Experience of being Rehoused, page unknown.
23
Kristin Ross, Fast Cars, p. 77
 75

Thus, it is far from surprising that to target the home implies targeting the

women as well, and in turn, targeting the women is to get to the innermost core of

society. Consequently, modern and everyday practices were formulated tactically or

strategically within the home. 24 More importantly, the purpose of this portion of the

thesis is to make explicit the combined systems of operations which Certeau termed

les combinatoires dopration which made up a culture in this light of Emergency

as part of the normality of everyday lives. In turn, it hopes to reveal the agents who

were the women, whose status as a dominated but active element in the society

were concealed by the euphemistic label termed consumers . 25 In addition, the

pursuit of modern living subjected women to the kitchen in their new homes as Linda

Chen had fearfully envisaged.

Everyday Practices

On the uses of space, on the ways of frequenting or dwelling

in a place, on the complex processes of the art of cooking and
on the many ways of establishing a kind of reliability within the
situations imposed on an individual, that is of making it
possible to live in them by reintroducing into them the plural
mobility of goals and desires an art of manipulating and
enjoying. 26

Modern ways of operations (art of making) were integrated into the traditional

patterns of life thus, increased the appeal of traditional life. This composed a

composite culture which de Certeau would term combinatoires dopration. By

24
Certeau distinguishes tactics and strategies. Tactics show the extent to which intelligence is
inseparable from everyday struggles and the pleasures it articulates. Strategies, by contrast, conceal
beneath objective calculations their connection with the power that sustains them from within the
stronghold of its own proper place or institution. See more definitions in Certeau, Everyday Lives, p.
xix and xx.
25
Certeau, Everyday Lives, p. xii.
26
Certeau, Everyday Lives, p. xxii.
 76

making the signs of these operations explicit, we can understand how culture plays

a role in making the home the embodiment of modernity. Thirdly, the acquiring of

objects or things in the home as symbols or expressions of social aspirations in the

context of Emergency as well as modernisation through decolonisation highlights the

role of material culture or more particularly, objects as instruments as well as

symptoms of social change. 27

For the purpose of this discussion, the three aspects mentioned above namely,

the tactical use of private spaces within the home; making explicit the integration of

traditional forms of Malay culture with ways of operating the modern home; and the

social meanings invested in things acquired or purchased would be discussed briefly.

These elements are interrelated. It can be noted that while these changes were

superficial in their concern with the appearance of being modern, it was the simplest

and most exciting methods of emulating the modern for the Malays.

The relationship between the media - magazines, movies and self-help radio

programmes - and women in the forefront of their homes in the context of Emergency

was a reciprocal relationship. Michel de Certeaus definitive statement that reading

introduces an art which is anything but passive supports the rapid impact of media on

the psyche of the Malay community. 28 He further expands his argument by stating

that the media no longer becomes a referential source, but is representative of society.

The media targets its audience and the audience becomes a reference for the media as

well.

Through reading texts like magazines or instruction booklets of Home School

Economics or being receptive to the representations of modern homes in films,

27
For more information on post-Marxist theories on material culture, see Arjun Appadurai (ed.), The
Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1986).
28
Certeau, Everyday Lives, p. xxii.
 77

women transformed the art of reading into possible, plural experiences. As a result,

despite the backwardness in urban Malay ghettoes, Malay women played a key role in

the realisation of sparks of social revolution in these poorer homes. Organisations like

PWS, were not only concerned with the role women played in elevating their

standards of living in their homes in high-rise estates, but included poor or middle-

class women in kampongs or in cities of Kuala Lumpur and other major cities in Asia

in their outreach programmes. Through such programmes, PWS acknowledged that

despite the structural and social differences between estate living and kampong

habitation, the role of women essentially encompassed similar tasks and

responsibilities.

As stressed before, village women transplanted the concept of the modern

while using the spaces within their kampong houses as one of their focal points in the

1960s. By analysing spaces within the kampong home and the modern home, the

changes that took place within the spaces can be better appreciated.

Ways of Dwelling in Spaces

In her study, Zahrah described the typical Malayan home as physically

small, always has two doors, one is at the back and the other is in front with a

verandah and railings at the front. She elaborated further:

Some of the Malay houses have the front partition beyond the
verandah for receiving, particularly men guests. The middle
portion is used for rooms and the hall and the back part is the
kitchen. Very few houses have only one bedroom, usually two,
this however depends on the size of the family in the house.
The empty space (the hall) would be easily turned into a
sleeping room at night whenever there are relatives or friends
coming to stay Usually the owner of the house would sleep
in this hall while the guests would be invited to occupy the
room. Sometimes as an alternative for the kitchen, the hall
would be used for receiving women visitors. They would be
expected to sit on the well laid mat or carpet. Thus, they will be
 78

sitting with their legs folded to the sides, as Malay decorum

requires. 29

The spaces within the Malay home were fluid in its functions. While the

Malay home was very small, the hall was used not only for receiving female guests, it

easily converted into a sleeping area should extended members of the family stay for

the night. In spite of its size, social decorum such as segregation between male and

female guests was still emphasised.

Giving prominence to the role that cultural requirements play within small

spaces in kampong dwellings, Bedlington viewed that the following items were

considered important in the functional evolution of Malay homes: (a) adequate space

inside the home and in the compound to fulfil social customs related to Malay

hospitality, (b) the seclusion of women, (c) an attractive appearance, (d) cleanliness,

(e) an ability to enlarge without too much difficulty to accommodate extended family

and finally, (f) a utilisation of compound space to rear small livestock and to plant

fruits and vegetables that contributed to the homes source essentials. 30 Such cultural

elements were either re-integrated into the home in the city or were lost as a result of

resettlement.

Other than kampongs, Malays mostly occupied one or two-room HDB flats or

similar sized apartments then. The one-room HDB flat had only one entrance. This

entrance led directly to the living area. For most Malay homes, with the exception of

bigger houses and two-room HDB flats, this living area, which measured 190 squares

meters, was also the only bedroom for the entire family. Therefore, for economically

deprived and/or larger families, the arrangement of homes in the estate tended to be

oppressive and overcrowded. The view of the kitchen was also unobstructed from the

29
Zahrah, The Experience of Being Rehoused, p. 23.
30
Bedlington, The Singapore Malay Community, p. 382.
 79

entrance, which differed from kitchens in kampongs, where it was concealed from

view by the entrance. This was important as it upheld the requirements of propriety in

the segregation of the sexes, since the kitchen was where female visitors were usually

received and where female members of the family did their work. The kitchen in the

flat would further lead to the bath and toilet areas. This was different from the

common toilets or washing areas in the village which were situated further apart from

the kitchens. Furthermore, the lack of space and land outside the home to cultivate

plants and more importantly, to rear poultry, confined the estate home to a structured

and limited area.

Differences in the arrangement of spaces between the kampong and that of

estates were telling. The spaces within the estates were self-contained as amenities

such as the kitchen and the toilet were located conveniently within the premises of the

home. Firstly, the availability of essentials such as fresh water and electricity (or fuel

in the kampong) in the estates or the suburban house was an improvement compared

to the previous need to move from one area of the village to another in search of such

essentials. Secondly, the division of spaces within the estates suggested that

modernity favours the structural and functional aspects of the home compared to the

flexibility and fluidity of the functions and structures of spaces within the kampong.

The middle portions of an average kampong house, which comprised a living area and

two or three bedrooms were, in the case of a one-room HDB flat, reduced to a living

room which doubled up as a bedroom. This meant that any attempts to accommodate

any members of their extended families or other guests were met with further

constraints. Thirdly, the idea of self-contained spaces in estate-living meant that

reasons for movements outside of the residential units were limited to economic

purposes such as for work beyond the estate or the purchasing of essential items
 80

within the estate. Social interactions within the Malay community, in the initial stages

of town planning was kept to a minimum as a result of the racial quota in the HDB

estates, which saw the dispersal of Malays to different estates. Fourthly, social

decorum, which formed the core basis of Malay interactions in kampong life, faced

major transformations as spaces underwent structural and functional changes. The

emphasis of male-female segregation which lies at the core of Malay social decorum

began to be diluted as men and women learnt to deal with one another in public and

private spaces unlike before. This would be further elaborated later in the chapter.

Fascination with Things

It was noted that the concept of cleanliness and a pleasant appearance

influenced the outlook of even the poorest Malay homes. Judith Djamour, in her study

of Malay homes in the Municipal area as well as in Tanjong Rhu in the late 1940s to

1950s, observes that the poorest homes were bare with no furniture with the

exception of some rudimentary form of bedding made up of pandanus mats and

kapok pillows. Clothes were piled up neatly in a small basket. She stresses that in

both urban and rural areas, a large bed was considered of extreme importance and a

must-have in Malay homes. It was not used to sleep in but displayed as an item of

pride. Malays slept on mats or kapok mattresses, and in the morning, the bedding was

rolled up and stacked against a wall. Items that were common in the homes were

small dressing tables and crude wooden tables and chairs. The interior component of

the average Malay home was kept neat and tidy despite its destitute appearance. 31 In

the Jawi periodicals, there was a similar emphasis on the bed to be the focal point of

the room. This fascination with the appearance of a large bed even in Malay

31
Djamour, Malay Kinship, p. 52.
 81

kampongs reinforced Djamours point of the Malays consciousness in matters of

appearance.

Matters concerning the interior fashion of homes were addressed in the

magazines. While the Jawi periodicals were careful to downplay sensitive issues such

as resettlement, the Malays candid involvement in the aesthetic qualities of the

kampong or the home in the city was evident. 32 In the beginning, Fashion began a

series of columns entitled, Chara Menghias Rumah Kampong (Ways to Decorate a

Kampong Home) in the late 1950s. Through this column, Fashion addressed a series

of issues pertaining to kampong home furnishing with an aim of giving it a modern

facelift. It progressively included similar articles under another title, Chara Menghias

Rumah Bandar (Ways to Decorate a Home in the City) dealing with furnishings in

urban housing estates or even suburban houses.

An interesting column on decoration of the city home acquainted readers with

general Malay sentiments on Malay resettlement from kampongs. In general, our

[Malay] people prefer living in kampongs although they are not made of stone,

their hearts are happier and more at ease. The writer instructed readers on techniques

in making a city home as conducive as the lush, green environment of the kampong.

The writer mentioned, Since there are many high-rise flats that are being built, the

Malays are beginning to move into the flats that are made of stone. For Malays who

love greenery, a way to add to the beauty of living [in flats] will be to have potted

plants. 33 The uninviting, cold nature of concrete slabs of the estate could, according

to the column, be spruced up with different types of flora.

Another such column illustrated, with a detailed layout, of how spaces within

rooms in the home could be utilised well. In the example of the living area, the
32
In the 1950s, the issue of housing was regarded as pantang or a taboo. Refer to Perumahan
Sederhana, Fashion, 19 February 1956, p. 3.
33
Cara Menghias Rumah Bandar (8), Fashion, 31 January 1960, p. 6.
 82

arrangement of furnishings like tables, chairs, book shelves and cabinets or even

lampshades would fill up the room at every strategic corner. This new-found

fascination with things departed from the simple kampong life with usually bare or

uncluttered living space. Before, guests in the kampong had to sit on floor mats

compared to guests in the estates. Afterwards, the sofa chair was essential in the

home. 34 In addition, Fashion included tips on how readers could make their selections

of furniture for their home and shared ideas on how readers could turn old furniture

into modern, trendy ones through do-it-yourself embellishments. 35

Malays tendencies to adopt what is aesthetically pleasing aided in

transforming the traditional ghetto to a modern urban kampong/ house/ flat. As

stressed before, the accumulation of items within the confined spaces of the home

symbolised social aspirations. Furthermore, things were no longer instruments of

change, they were its symptoms. In an instance in Fashion, the trend of purchasing

double single beds rather than queen-sized beds amongst young couples for their

bedroom in their house or flat was understood as a sign of upward social mobility and

wealth. 36 Fashion highlighted:

It is rare for us Malays to use small beds which are referred as

single beds. Usually, bigger beds are preferred in view of the
dimensions of the bedroom. But at this time, it can be observed
that more and more of our Malays from big homes used two of
these single beds. 37

As mentioned earlier, Djamour highlights that the bed was a focal point in the

kampong house. This new trend, as noted by Fashion, pointed to couples preference

to purchase double single beds instead of queen-sized beds for their bedrooms. In

comparison to the large bed which was hardly used in the kampong home, the trend of

34
Cara Menghias Rumah Bandar (6), Fashion, 17 January 1960, p. 7.
35
Perkakas Lama akan Cantik Kalau Dihiasi, Fashion (266), 15 March, p. 4-5.
36
Cara Menghias Rumah Bandar, Fashion, 24 January 1960, p. 7.
37
Cara Menghias , p. 7.
 83

buying and using two compact, single beds as a large bed in estate homes could

symbolise different aspirations of younger, modern couples. More functionally, small

beds were compact and could be moved should the family anticipates a guest for the

night. Thirdly, small beds were seen as forms of investment for couples planning to

have a family. 38

However, a column on home furnishing recommended that lower income

families used furniture which was mobile and multi-purpose such as an armchair that

could easily be converted into a chaise lounge, or a sofa-bed. Despite the high prices

that this type of furniture fetched, the writer anticipated that readers from the lower

income groups needed them as it benefited them the most.

For consumers who are facing shortage of rooms but who have
many children and only one bedroom, it is difficult to buy
many beds due to a lack of space. The purchase of such sofa
beds will however, ease the space constraints as well as meet
different needs. 39

It is revealing how expensive, inventive furniture was portrayed as essential items for

low-income and large families in smaller homes. In a kampong home, such items

were considered unnecessary and wasteful, as the sleeping mats with kapok pillows

and the crude wooden tables and chairs sufficed.

Another item that was of revolutionary change in Malay homes was the use of

time pieces. Clocks became centrepiece items along with other wall decorations such

as picture frames. 40 In some wealthier Malay homes, the adoption of the European-

styled grandfather clock was not just a sign of social or capital distinction but served

as a form of aspiration as well. In poorer homes, while clocks remained the simplest

decorative item on their walls, its inclusion in Malay homes was noteworthy. A writer

38
Panduan Membeli Perabot, Fashion, 11 December 1960, p. 14.
39
Satu Barang Yang Digunakan Untuk Dua Masa, Fashion (164), 31 March 1957, page unknown.
40
Mengenal dan Membeli Jam Hiasan Rumah dan Chara Mengaturnya, Fashion, 26 June 1960, p. 7.
 84

Furniture that was recommended for the home in Fashion, 31 March 1957.
 85

Layout of the modern home

Fashion, 10 January 1960.

Fashion, 17 January 1960.

 86

portrayed this lack of Malay consciousness in the linear concept of Time in a tongue-

in-cheek manner as he chides his readers,

The Malay Clock had been ticking for some time now but its
rhythm is exclusively appreciated by this same race called
Malays. The stirrings of this Malay clock are well-known
now because of the increase in the rate of Malays empty
promises. There is no longer need for us to remind these
Malays with Malay, Arabic or English proverbs [on the concept
of time]. For those Malays who appreciate the value of their
independence and freedom, they would take pains to maintain
the honour of our bangsa and our homeland from any flaws and
ill repute. 41

The intimate connections between Time, Malay backwardness, Malayan

independence and acknowledgment of timely achievements of other ethnic groups

came to a point in an editorial piece in Fashion:

In order for us to reconstruct our homeland which has achieved

independence, other than the work which we should multiply,
there is also a need for us to keep track of time and fulfil our
timely duties to prove that we are a race of men who have
achieved independence and who can work just like the other
races of men in this world. 42

It was evident that the clock was the most symbolic and symptomatic of items found

in the modern home. The social aspirations contained in the mechanism of the clock

were strong, revolutionary as well as meaningful for Malays. While it is far from the

intention of this discussion to ascertain the extent to which Malays adopted this

aspiration, the direct symbolism of the Hour and Malays inability to value time,

revealed the renewed connections between Time, Independence and the Malay

economy. The linear conception of time began to take centrestage in the psyche of

41
Menjaga Waktu Di Tanahair Merdeka, Fashion (189), 22 September 1957, p. 7.
42
Masa dan Waktu Pada Orang-Orang Melayu, Fashion (189), 22 September 1957, p. 3. For more
references on Malay conceptions of time, see Asmah Haji Omars Malay Perception of Time, (Kuala
Lumpur: Universiti Malaya, 2000) and Syed Hussein Alatass The Myth of the Lazy Native: A Study of
the Image of the Malays, Filipinos and Javanese from the 16th to the 20th Century and Its Function in
the Ideology of Colonial Capitalism, (London : F. Cass, 1977).
 87

modern Malays as they moved away from the traditional emphasis of the cyclical

notions of time.

Things, in the modern home, served functional, aesthetic, as well as, social

purposes. For poorer Malays, a newfound materialistic mindset was beginning to

permeate their consciousness as modern selves. Malay women, for example, were

enticed to enter a kebaya competition organised by Cathay Keris Films as it

advertised a stereo set, a radio and an electric fan as potential prizes. 43 Many

conclusions can be derived from such an advertisement. Firstly, although the use of

items to entice women into entering competitions was not a new strategy, it was

compelling to note that the most successful modern-looking women from the flock of

women deserved the most modern things. Secondly, these modern items were not

cosmetic beauty items but were household goods such as a stereo set, a radio and an

electric fan. The great value of these items in creating a modern home became a

selling point of this beauty competition. Thirdly, it is also worth noting that the fan

was viewed as the least valuable of the three prizes offered. The stereo set, considered

the most valuable item in the competition, was the most desirable choice of the three.

Hence, the prizes were categorised according to how much they are worth rather than

the needs they were served. The creation of new desires and needs through the

projection of such goods saw the impact of strategic advertisements on the Malays of

the time.

Operation of Manners outside the Home

Heretofore, Malays concern for social decorum took centrestage within

spaces in the Malay kampong. As Bedlington posits, the cultural emphasis on

43
Hadiah-hadiah Utama Boleh Dimenangi Sanyo, Fashion (455), 28 October 1962, page unknown.
 88

Malaya, Independence and Time in Fashion (189), 22 September 1957.

 89

The Clock in the Home in Fashion, 26 June 1960.

 90

Things for the Home in Fashion, 28 October 1962.

 91

womens seclusion was one of the central aspects that underscored Malay social

decorum in Malay kampongs. As traditional Malay homes transformed into modern

homes, Malay social decorum went through a metamorphosis as smaller spaces within

the private and public sphere began to accommodate womens increasing,

conspicuous presence. Malays continued to visit family, friends and relatives despite

the increased distance between their homes. Traditional etiquettes were adapted to

modern living.

Other than educating men on chivalrous ways of treating a woman, Fashion

composed an etiquette column entitled, Tata Tertib dan Budi Bahasa to instruct

readers, especially women, on proper manners and behaviour. Some examples dealt

with how a man, or more particularly, a woman should behave in the presence of her

neighbours, guests and even the home of her hostess. Of particular interest was the

riveting example of how Malay women, who possibly as a result of living in military

or police quarters or due to the rehousing policy, had to live amongst non-Malay

neighbours. Fashion guided these women who were used to kampong living:

Waiting at the doorsteps for a chance to hold [empty]

conversations, is a habit that has been started by some Malays
to. Please do not begin this habit with non-Malays as they have
different customs. For them, visiting peoples homes or their
neighbours are done only when an invitation extended. So we
must not waste the precious time of our neighbours who are
non-Malays. 44

Malay women learnt to exercise restrain in modern living. Previously, Malay

women had the comfort of having her kinswomen to ease her day-to-day living. This

met with changes as they began to adjust living with female neighbours from different

cultures. They learnt not to expect the support as well as the same nonchalant attitude

towards Time (that Malay women in kampong had) from these other women.

44
Jagalah Adat Resam Kalau Berjiran Dengan Berbagai Bangsa, Fashion, 7 May 1961, p. 14.
 92

Another practise that was frowned upon was the occasional, informal visits to

a neighbours home. This implied a blatant disregard for the value of the neighbours

time. It also reflected a backward, kampong habit that was incongruent to modern

living. Malay women were advised further that neighbourly gestures such as

exchanging of foods and thrifts could be practiced especially amongst non-Malay

neighbours who had lived in Malaya for a long time and as such, were used to

peculiar Malay habits. The act of sharing such small gifts could foster neighbourly

ties, build rapport and facilitate discussions in other areas. Since Malays regarded a

good and close neighbour as better than a relative or a family member that lived far

away, they hoped that, through such sharing and discussion of sensitive topics such as

customs as well as taboos of their different cultures, they would develop closer ties.

Also, as a result of the close proximity between two modern homes, a Malay

home owner was advised that he should be dressed appropriately in his home in case

his neighbours caught a glimpse of him. Fashion cheekily added in another column:

When spare parts we have been concealing suddenly attract

peoples attention if we have beautifully sculpted bodies as if
we are members of a weight-lifting club, then perhaps our
bodies are pleasing to the eyesbut what of he who is not
dressed and suddenly his great tummy or his scrawny body
receive such undesirable attention . It is not just the men and
the young lads who must be reminded but the women must take
note of this too. A woman should dressed properly first when
she receives a guest, even if she has just finished bathing. [To
women] Please do not greet your guests or go out to buy
something in the state of half-dressed (berkemban). 45

While both men and women had to learn and re-learn the rules of interactions

with one another as a result of changes to spaces in modern living, it must be

reasserted that women were most visibly affected by this change in the operations of

45
Pakaian-Pakaian di Dalam Rumah Jangan Dibawa di Keluar Rumah, Fashion, 21 May 1961, p. 14.
 93

everyday lives. Furthermore, they were agents of other changes such as ways of doing

or making things.

Ways of Making

The flourishing of Home Economics schools and publications of manuals on

the art of making (cooking, baking, and sewing) equipped Malay women with what

Pierre Bourdieu would term cultural capital. This important knowledge is shaped by

educational level, economic capital (purchasing power) and tastes. Fashion has

allocated at least a page in its weeklies termed Dapur Fashion (Fashion in the

Kitchen), to instruct women on modern methods of preparing food. Many Malay

women were bent on taking instructional courses from formal schools to improve

their knowledge of Home Economics apart from learning informally from their

mothers or older sisters. It appeared that informal lessons from mothers were

insufficient to prepare women for modern living. While the curricula of these

instructional courses placed more emphasis on the Western method of food

preparation, latent knowledge of traditional Malay dishes were also reinforced.

Responses to recipes published by Dapur Fashion were overwhelming.

Many Malay women requested that Fashion compiled the hundreds of these recipes

into a book. 46 Fashion anticipated that it would face a problem in acceding to such a

request, given its shortage of manpower. In spite of this, the demand by Malay

women to learn modern methods of food preparation indicated their fervent efforts

towards modernism. This fervour was echoed in other Jawi periodicals of Malaya.

There were three differences between the Western method of cooking and the

Malay traditional forms that were both adopted by Malay women. The new emphasis

46
Dapur Fashion Minta Dibukukan, Fashion (165), 7 April 1957, p. 3.
 94

on Western methods reflected the shift towards modern living. They were (a) the use

of exotic or foreign ingredients such as macaroni, cheese, apple, etc; (b) the use of

ingredients that were normally used for Malay cooking but were prepared differently

(e.g. in the case of ginger which was usually consumed in savoury dishes but was also

a core ingredient in Western desserts such as Ginger Biscuits), and (c) the different

quantitative methods in the measurement of food ingredients.

Out of the three differences, the adoption of precise units of Western

measurement such as ounces, pounds, grams and kilograms is noteworthy. When

compared to Malay standards of measurements in cooking or baking by cups,

Malay measurements are less precise but focused on relative proportions and often

depended on intuition. 47 The act of calculation or quantification in Western food

preparations inculcated values such as precision, accuracy and bred reliance on

modern methods of operations. In a Malay societys rush to embrace modernity,

Western methods were considered superior. On top of that, like the clock, such

precision in quantification caused Malay women to adopt and purchase measuring

apparatuses that were needed in such operations. This impacted the psyche of modern

Malay women as they recognised values inculcated in the kitchen, are relevant to

other aspects of life in this period of decolonisation through modernisation. 48

Claiming a modern identity was also possible through the appreciation of

Western dining etiquette. Fashion was particularly interested in this as its weekly

etiquette column elaborated in detail the correct ways of Western dining. Fashion

noted:

47
Even till today, famous chefs testify that popular traditional Malay cookies are best created not out
of precise measurements but out of feeling that is developed from experience as well as observation.
There was an exceptions as the kathi was also used. This is equitable to Western standard of
measurement.
48
Ginger Biscuits, Fashion (1), June 1953, p. 12, Apple Toffee, Fashion (472-473), Hari Raya
Edition, page unknown.
 95

School of Home Economics in Fashion, Hari Raya Edition 1953.

 96

Actually, we do not intend to imitate Western culture when we

instill proper ways of eating with cutlery. But since many of us
[especially Malay youths] have visited other countries [for
several reasons] and are invited to functions, it is best that we
are informed on the proper use of cutlery. Some of us may
prefer to use our hands in such situations, but despite that the
knowledge is valuable to us. 49

The ritualistic aspect of Western dining differed markedly from Malay ways

of eating. In short, the Malay method of eating with fingers was simple in contrast to

the Western method of dining which involved many intricacies and instruments.

Comparatively, Malay meals were simpler and shorter involving few dishes in

contrast to the basic three course Western meal.

The serving etiquette of the Malays also differed from the Westerners, who

served the women first, especially when she is the hostess of the party or when she is

older than the other women, and then followed by men. Another key difference was

that for the Westerners, the host would begin the meal. For Malays, the host did not

begin eating until the guest did so.

Men and women in larger Malay homes ate their meals in different rooms of

the house and at different times. If space allowed it and if the meal was shared by

intimate members of the family, men and women did not often have their meals

together. When they did, the women would serve the men in the house before they

served themselves. The men would usually leave the dining area after the meal for the

women to clear the table.

Malays were comfortable with eating with their fingers but in many

representations in Malay films, the use of cutlery suggested a superior, modern and

also Western exterior especially in public functions. The periodicals depicted Malays

49
Memakan Menggunakan Sudu Garpu, Fashion (262), 15 February 1959, p. 6.
 97

Ways of Eating

Fashion (263), 22 February 1959.

Fashion (266), 15 March 1956.

 98

Both pictures from Fashion 270-271, 12-19 April 1959.

 99

embracing this intricate, Western etiquette with joy. Women were told to play their

role in this light. An article noted:

I believe that not all of our Malay women are skilled in the art
of arranging food servings in a Western fashion, so here we are
going to show how this is done and where cutlery such as the
spoons, forks, knives and serviette should be placed. 50

In a different instance, the same author reinforced the method of food

arrangement and the cutting of traditional food items. The writer asserted:

My reason for giving these examples for our daughters to

follow so that they would not be derided or mocked at as young
women who do not know how to do housework. Alas! The
older women like to criticise if they observe them as
unskilled. 51

In general, there was a strong emulation of Western habits in eating and food

preparation. Much attention was paid, and pressure applied, to how women should

perfect their skills as modern housewives by learning Western method of preparing

food or doing other household chores. Reminders signalled strong tendencies by

younger generation of Malays to follow and embrace the West to the point that

Western culture was preferred over their own. In another column for manners in tea

and cocktail parties, the grounds for learning such Western etiquette was established.

This does not mean we would like to sing godly praises to or,
magnify Western culture, but since buffet meals [and cocktail
and tea parties] are fast becoming the preference of Malays and
thus are not alien to us Malays, it is best we inform the readers
[regarding their intricacies]. 52

Modern household items such as the refrigerator, iron, washing machines and

toasters had yet to make an impact on Malay homes in the early 1960s. The modern

home saw its fruition in the 1970s. However, modernisation had already made

50
Makanan Menggunakan Sudu Garpu, Fashion (263), p. 7.
51
Memotong Ketupat dan Kuih-kuih Hari Raya, Fashion (270-271), p. 18.
52
Jamuan Cara Buffet dan Cocktail, Fashion (264), p. 6.
 100

significant impact on everydayness with the de-housing and re-housing policies.

Through the further separation of the private from the public; the deployment of

modern strategies in private spaces through the construction of separate spaces within

home; the learning of modern methods in the kitchen; the heavy reliance of women as

agents of everydayness and dominating them as result; as well as the accumulation of

things to serve functional, aesthetic and more importantly, social needs in the home;

all these symbolised a radical change in the culture of everyday life to thwart

Communism and Communalism in the city.

While this colonisation of everyday life took centrestage in the midst of

strong Western emulation as well as anti-colonial expressions, the operations of

everyday life began to supersede attempts in making homes a channel of democratic

expressions. As homes became more regulated and subjected to the everyday routine

in Singapore, the multiple political expressions experienced during the colonial

government began to made way for a dominant ideology under the rule of a single

party. With the advent of television in 1962 and the impact of the American Way, the

democratic appeal of Malayan dream found its course.

 101

CHAPTER FOUR

FOR THE LOVE OF THE MODERN: THE MALAYAN DREAM

Ours is an age of revolution. Revolution means change and change is

necessary if we are to survive and prosper in the modern world. That is
why in Asia and Africa, leaders talk of the need to have a social
revolution. But what is a social revolution, what do we mean by it?

In some countries, like Indonesia, revolution means violence, oppression

and misery for the people. For example, President Soekarno has told us
what he means by revolution. For him revolution means, as he recently
boasted, having the largest army, the largest air force and the largest navy
in Asia Revolution for him means military glory; crushing Malaysia
Contrast this with the Malaysian social revolution. We have been
independent for less than a decade. Nature has not endowed us with the
vast natural resources that Indonesia has.

But through hard work and discipline we have given greater prosperity to
our people. For us revolution means more homes, schools, roads,
electricity, industries, hospitals and food for our people. Ours is the
revolution of a peaceful and constructive people.

We do not teach our children to find pleasure in violent revolution, or in

crushing other nations or in military glory. We do not teach our children
that the only true wisdom is to repeat the ravings of a great leader. We
teach our children to learn to think for themselves and to disagree with our
leaders if they feel our leaders are wrong.

We want our young people to make life more beautiful, to find satisfaction
not in destruction but in construction; not in crushing other people but in
working together with other people.

Unlike the aggressors revolution, our revolution is worth preserving and

defending. The biggest army, navy and air force when manned by
impoverished slaves must crumble before the united resistance of a free
people. The Japanese militarists discovered the truth of this. So did the
mighty army of Hitler. And so will Soekarno who fancies himself as a new
Hitler.
- Mr S. Rajaratnam 1

President Sukarno, the Indonesian leader, had views which did not fit well with

the worldviews of Secretary of State John Dulles and the CIA director Allen Dulles of

1
Minister of Culture, Mr S. Rajaratnam at the Childrens Show and Party at Kampong Glam Community
Centre on 29 September 1964, Source: Ministry of Culture.
 102

Washington in the 1950s. It was also because he was known to have friendly relations

with the Russians and the Chinese. Furthermore, he was calling for a non-alignment and a

greater unity amongst the neutral states. As he was not an anti-communist, he was seen

as an impediment to Americans drive to win the Cold War and a target of their Cold War

espionage efforts. To deteriorate his relations with the United States further, Sukarno

favoured the Indonesias communist party, Party Kommunis Indonesia (PKI) with the

hopes of using it as a buffer against the military power growing in his own backyard.

A lot of planning and intervention in Indonesians politics by the Americans was

done in Singapore, much to the irritation of the newly appointed PAP government at that

time. Singapore had to continue the relations with the American intelligence unit where

the British had left off. 2 This was further complicated by Singapores own relations with

Indonesia in the 1960s. When the Federation of Malaysia was formally established on 16

September 1963, Singapore was part of this territory. Indonesia did not wish to be part of

Malaysia and saw it as Britishs attempts to take away Indonesias sovereignty.

Furthermore, Malaysia and Indonesia were already at loggerheads with each other

before the federation took place. Sukarnos Foreign Minister, Subandrio had made an

announcement of the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation in 1962. This started an

intermittent war with British-backed Malaysia over the future of the island of Borneo.

This lasted for four years till 1966. Indonesia wanted Borneo as part of its territory. But

the British wanted Borneo to be part of Malaysia. Relations between Singapore and

Malaysia became cold as a result.

Consequently, Singapore and also Malaysia had particular problems with the

charisma and influence that Sukarno exerted over the Malays in their communities.

Despite the fact that Sukarno has expressed interest in war with Malaysia, the Malays in

2
Baker, The Eagle in the City, p. 202-204.
 103

Singapore and Malaya revered the Indonesia leader very much. They also looked up to

the Indonesias anti-colonial struggles against the Dutch, its politics of violent self-

determination and its unsurpassed culture. As an illustration of this reverence, Sukarno

had appeared on the covers of Jawi periodicals more often than any other Malay leaders

as if he was a national hero.

The late S. Rajaratnam who was the Ministry of Culture, realised this. Unlike

Sukarno, he saw a need to create a Malayan culture as part of practical politics. 3 He

emphasised that the revolution he wished to achieve for Singapore and Malaya should be

done on a peaceful basis. Revolution, according to him, meant more homes, schools,

roads, electricity, industries, hospitals and food for the people. This was contrasted

strikingly to Sukarnos selfish aims of gaining revolution by means of violence,

oppression and misery in spite of amassing Indonesias wealth of natural resources at his

own disposal. The Malays then must choose for themselves whether their age of

revolution should be determined by progress or by oppression, regardless of their

affections for Sukarno.

The State of Emergency roused Malaya from 1948-1960. However, the larger

efforts of Cultural Emergency which went beyond that period had wider implications for

the Malay communities in Singapore and Malaysia. While Communism was popularly

represented as a Chinese problem in Singapore and Malaya, Sukarnos flirtatiousness

with Communism was provocative for Malay communities in Malaysia and Singapore.

3
S. Rajaratnam, The Prophetic and the Political: Selected Speeches and Writings of S. Rajaratnam, Chan
Heng Chee and Obaid ul Haq (eds.), Singapore: Graham Brash, 1987, p. 119. The creation of the Malayan
culture was not without its problems. Foreign observers to the efforts made by S. Rajaratnam and his
compatriots were skeptical of their preoccupation to construct a wholesome Malayan culture as it was
deprived of long periods of historical evolution. Statements and government actions against yellow
culture during the early days of PAP rule provoked expatriates like D.J Enright who was the Johor
Professor of English. In his inaugural lecture at the University of Malaya in Singapore, he commented
critically on government-sponsored attempts to create culture which triggered the Enright Affair.
National leaders warned expatriates not to interfere in their affairs since that episode. See S. Rajaratnam,
The Prophetic, p. 119
 104

Rajaratnam and his comrades recognised the contradiction in their policy towards

the Malayan culture. While they wanted to protect the Malayan culture from the effects

of yellow culture, the urgency to inoculate Malay communities from being inflicted by

the ideas of Indonesias radical left was even greater. Thus, before the Malayan culture

could be widely articulated, the psychological battle in winning the hearts and minds of

young Malayans had to take centrestage. The deployment of effective psychological

warfare through the use of technological innovations such as films, television, radio and

print media had to be maintained and unceasing in targeting young Malay minds.

The emergence of the Malayan dream, which morphed out of this period, was

helpful in provoking the peaceful revolution that Rajaratnam intended for the young

Malaysian Malays and later Singaporean Malays. The portrayal of bread and butter issues

and social scenes of everyday life were successful deterrence for Malays from taking the

same path the Indonesians were treading. The Malays were already very tired of war and

so the communist infection that was taking hold of Indonesia did not interest them to take

the same political actions.

This chapter investigates the coming of age, love and marriage in the Malayan

imagination. As these elements were very much influenced and affected by the American

way, they were receptively welcomed by the youths. As much as the Malayan dream was

inspired by yellow culture, the yellow culture was an effective counterbalance to the

radical leftist ideas imported from Indonesia before the creation of a proper Malayan

culture.

Throughout these sections, themes of time, love, the modern as well as Malayan

independence elucidate the Malayan dream. This section of the thesis looks into how

everyday practices were heightened by the use of urban legends and tales that prepared

the home and ultimately the nation for its realisation. Through the reliance on tales and
 105

stories, we see the construction of the modern in the childrens world and its articulation

in the symbols of dreams in the coming of age, in love and in marriage. The articulation

of the Malayan dream in this spirit of independence examines how everyday collisions of

dreams and History provide a mythic dimension to the Malayan and its promises.

As Michel de Certeau posits, the role of tales and legends protected the Malays

against the reality of the established power and ensured their victory in a fabulous,

utopian space. At the same time, the stylistic effects in tales allowed the audience to

discern this art of speaking. It was as if through the language or medium of these tales

and legends, the Malayan audience could perceive gods, heroes, models of good or bad

ruses for their everyday living. It did not matter at all whether these models within these

spaces provided truths; what mattered was whether these models and dreams were able

to take the Malays out of the drudgery of everyday lives and allowed them to return to

Malaya and its promises. 4

Children were made aware of these urban legends and tales and began to be

acquainted with the Malayan dream. In this section, we survey how dreams in the

childrens world and the coming of age make this modern consciousness explicit.

Coming of Age in the Malayan Imagination

Children

Despite the apparent poverty amongst Malays, children held a special position in

the Malay community. They were perceived as a form of social security in times of old

age; they provided help and labour around the home as they grew older; and were seen as

comforters and treasures of the soul. Malays favoured neither the male nor the female

child and as a result, showed a healthy disposition towards the adoption of children

4
Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, Steven Randall (translated), (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1984), p. 23-24.
 106

within the wider society. These acts of adoption were truly labours of love and not

fulfilled out of economic pressure as the presence of children was essential in a Malay

home. 5

Modern enforcement of good ethics on Malay children was also done through

childrens publications such as comic books and magazines. Such medium contained

folklore and legends which propagated important values in assisting children in learning

how to cope with and survive in that modern period. Apart from modern values such as

efficiency, planning and preparation, children were taught that it was important to have

an equal sense of self and quick wits.

As a contrast, we examine Djamours observations on Malay children in the

1940s. She elaborates:

The whole process of socialisation of the child was based on a

deliberate attempt by parents to make their offspring grow into
peaceful and well-behaved human beings. The primary aim of
Singapore Malay parents with few exceptions was not to have
successful children in the sense of wealthy and socially
prominent adults, but to have children who derive happiness from
personal relationships. They hoped that their sons would be
contented in their job and happy in their home life, and that their
daughters would become good housekeepers and loving mothers. 6

The whole process of socialisation of the child in this era was based on deliberate

attempts made by parents to nurture their offspring into peaceful and well-behaved

human beings. The primary aim of Singapore Malay parents with few exceptions was

not to have successful children in the sense of wealthy and socially prominent adults,

but to have children who derived happiness from personal relationships. They hoped that

5
Judith Djamour, Malay Kinship and Marriage, p. 93.
6
Djamour, Malay Kinships, p. 108-109.
 107

their sons would be contented in their jobs and happy in their home life, and that their

daughters would become good housekeepers and loving mothers. 7

As a contrast to that, we provide illustration of the modern values that children

were exposed to during the 1950s through an interesting example obtained from a comic

series entitled Si Dogol from Tunas magazine, a childrens periodical. 8 As the first

magazine for Malay children, Tunas saw its role as a dispenser of wisdom and guidance

to children. It consisted of short stories, cartoons, pen-friends, riddles and pictures. 9 This

series illustrate a story of a young boy who was about to enjoy his first day in school. His

name was Dogol. Dogol means bald and puns for stupid, which describes aptly the

smooth-headed and slow-witted boy who entered a world so different from his safe haven

at home. The school stood as a metaphor for the politics of the wider, modern world.

On his first day of school, his new classmates who were in their new uniforms

mocked at Dogols strange appearance. Upset by their ridicule, Dogol cried on his way

home with the hope to gain sympathy from his mother. He was less than successful

however, because his mother was rather unhappy at this request. She was perceptive that

Dogols new classmates were beginning to have an impact on poor Dogol. Whether this

foretold a negative or positive effect, she did not say. Seeing her dim and slow-witted son

faced the real world, she discerned that this could be the beginning of his antics. She

7
Djamour, Malay Kinships, p. 108-109.
8
In total, there were 21 magazines that were interested in children and education. However, they did not
have a shelf-life longer than a year. The reason being that most of these educational and children magazines
were official publications of schools and institutions and hence were not interested in capturing the wider
Malayan audience. Out of the eleven magazines that were meant specifically for children, only Tunas
survived longer than the average childrens magazines. It stayed in business for more than four years.
Although children readership was large in; the numbers were not significant as children lacked the
purchasing power necessary to support the productions of these magazines. Unless efforts were directed at
a certain group of people that would buy these magazines for these children such as parents and teachers,
the magazines could not survive. Secondly, advertisers were unwilling to put their money to childrens
magazines. This made it difficult for publishers to reduce the costs of producing these magazines. Hamedi,
Direktori, p. 52-53.
9
Hamedi, Diektori, p. 221.
 108

was right of course, as Dogols navet was periodically exploited by quick and

manipulative friends later in the series.

Dogols naive and weak personality served as a negative example for young

readers and also adults who sought to advance socially in the modern world. In this

series, good qualities such as honesty, truthfulness and sincerity were inadequate. Rather,

Malay children needed to include other principles that were important to their coming of

age as adults. Children, unlike children of the 1940s, identified that social harmony in

social relationships did not suffice. Dogol must realised it was not alright for the other

children to jeer at him. He must fight back to stay relevant even if this meant that he had

to lose his naivet. Fighting for himself and regaining his sense of self-worth were

relevant values which Malay children like Dogol needed to learn to be independent

during that modern age.

Secondly, this period witnessed children having aspiration towards social

prominence and making it big. Children were not spared from having such reveries.

Contrary to what Djamour concludes for the period of the 1940s, the 1950s was an era

when it was neither satisfying for a boy to grow into a man with just a job and a family;

nor was it adequate for a girl to be a good housekeeper and a loving mother. 10 Children,

influenced by Malayan urban tales and legends, began to conjure dreams that allowed

them to go beyond themselves and societys fixed roles of them.

Undeniably, dreams haunted the Malayan popular imagination in the 1950s and

1960s. This was attributed to the emergence of technological innovations peculiar to that

period. Most intellectuals were wary of the influence of the media and sought ways to

educate parents, the public as well as the media on their responsibilities towards children

in crafting and airing their programmes. Apart from the widening popularity of radio

10
Djamour, Malay Kinships, p. 109.
 109

Covers of Tunas, dates unknown.

 110

Si Dogol, Tunas 1, date unknown.

 111

programmes, films and popular magazines for children, television was also beginning to

make an impression on childrens minds.

Television was fast gaining childrens attention like no other medium. A report

noted that 3,000 television sets, rather than the estimated 1,000 sets, were sold out in

Singapore in anticipation of the first day of public broadcasting on 15th February 1963.

Fashion observed that homes with televisions attracted children from the neighbourhood.

Home owners could not watch television from the comforts of their home without the

bantering and interruptions of children who came early in the day. 11

Even before the advent of public television broadcast, movies and radio

programmes had acknowledged children as part of their audience. Urban intellectuals

were rather discontented that these movies and radio programs were not suitable enough

for children. The Malay unit of Radio Singapura, for example, was complimented for

its attempt to showcase childrens talents that were constructive, modern and positive to

the development of children. However, Fashion viewed that this program faltered

because two children involved in one of the talent showcases were loquacious to the point

that they sounded mak nenek - very mature, animated and too vulgar for the refinement of

children. 12 Warung Jins Shamsuddin, another radio show which attracted many

children for its comic content, was likewise criticised. Although humorous, the language

and tone that the child employed in his conversation with his mother was seen to be

detrimental to the development of Malayan children and caused much uneasiness

amongst the older generation. 13 There were fears that children of the television age grew

up too fast, and were prone to imitate the adults they saw or heard on the different media.

11
Televisyen dan Anak-anak Kita: Ibu Bapa Perlu Adakan Jadual Waktu, Fashion (476), 24 March 1963,
p. 4.
12
Kanak-kanak Tidak Sesuai Berkelitah Seperti Orang Dewasa, Fashion (478), 7 April 1963, p. 4.
13
Kanak-kanak dalam Rancangan Lawak, Fashion (455), 28 October 1962.
 112

The world of the movies was not excluded from such criticisms either. The

Bujang Lapok series, regarding three never-to-do-well bachelors, were popular with

children. (They were reportedly fascinated by the camera trick employed in a scene in

Pendekar Bujang Lapok whereby Ibrahim Pendek jumped out of a picture frame to

rescue his lover.) However, the language used in the movies was considered uncouth and

unrefined for children. 14 The editor of Fashion suggested that more children-friendly

movies be produced for the specific viewing of children and that more children were to

be included in such productions. 15 Apparently, parents became aware of the impact of

yellow culture on their children. Fashion asserted, in one instance, that as much as

authorities such as the Ministry of Culture had been successful in eliminating the yellow

culture contained in books and magazines, the editorial felt that the Ministry must

represent the views of all Malay parents regarding the inappropriateness of a given

medium. Fashion hoped that more could be done in locating children as the main

audience of such films and programmes. 16

Despite the fears of yellow culture permeating the childrens consciousness,

childrens minds were entrenched with a deep-seated belief in the Malayan dream. This

was rather explicit in the realm of movies. The Malayan dream symbolised the social

aspirations of any Malayan. Children were able to relate to child characters in movies

such as Belalang in the comic satire of Nujum Pak Belalang, Hassan and Sazali in the

awakening tale of Anakku Sazali or even young Rahimi in the tragic tale of Ibu. These

childrens poor and humble backgrounds were akin to the lives of many children of

modest backgrounds in Malaya. The magic of the screen took these children out of the

harsh meanness of everyday life to propel them into the belief of the Malayan dream, a

14
Adakanlah Filem Jenaka Untuk Kanak-Kanak, Fashion (264), 1 March 1959, p. 3.
15
Filem Untuk Kanak-Kanak, Fashion, 24 April 1960, p. 3.
16
Menyiram Air Dalam Keladi, Fashion, 17 July 1960, p. 3.
 113

dream that was rather inspired by the American dream but yet distinctive in its cultural

manifestations.

In these urban tales, stories of Hassan and Rahimi, for example, showed children

the power of the Malayan dream - dreams of rising to social prominence and wealth

through ones passion. Hassans and Rahimis childlike curiosity and passion for music

taught children that it was necessary to go beyond their own poor meandering lifestyle by

doing something they really loved despite societal pressures and parental expectations.

This was reinforced by the true tale of the actor behind Hassan and Rahimis roles - P.

Ramlee, who himself was the personification of the Malayan dream. He was a major

movie star, director, producer, composer and a well-rounded musician of the 1950s and

1960s. He directed and produced many films for the Malay Films Production in Shaw

Brothers Studios. Relatively unknown at first, P. Ramlee served as an example that it

was possible to advance in the world socially through his passion and dedication to his

work. Moreover, he made the impossible seem possible. It became credible for children

then that the dreams that films conjured were attainable. Children of that era believed that

the Malayan dream of owning a big house, a beautiful wife to come home to, as well as a

career that they could feel passionate about, was achievable, and this departed starkly

from childrens mentalities of previous decades. In these dreams, aspirations could

remain pure and good if the children put their minds to it.

Concurrently, certain traditional Malay values such as integrity, honour and

justice were seen to be compatible with modernity and were reinforced and promoted. It

was not unusual that legends were promoted to drive this consciousness of the modern

apart from urban folklore. The emergence of comic book heroes such as Hang Tuah and

Badang and similar film depictions by Cathay Keris Film Productions testified to this

particular need or fetish to transform archaic figures into relevant modern icons for
 114

children. From these depictions, children identified themselves as future heroes of the

nation. This trend was similar to the creation of multiple comic book heroes in America

that morphed during the period of the Cold War. There is a difference in that the Malay

comic writers used archaic figures in Malay legends and history and made them relevant

to the children.

Children in Malaya and Singapore who did heroic acts were awarded with the

Star of Hang Tuah. Hang Tuah was the epitome of the great Malay hero of 15th century

Melaka. The Sultan conferred this prestigious medal to a boy who had saved two siblings

from drowning in Kuala Lumpur. Although these honours had been presented to other

children before, the award ceremony which was held on Childrens Day was avowedly

political. For the first time in the history of Malaysia (inclusive of Malaya, Singapore and

Borneo territories), Childrens Day was celebrated on 7th October 1963 to commemorate

childrens contributions to the homeland. The recognition of children as future men and

women of the country for men are hopes of the nation (bangsa) and women are pillars

of society highlighted the role of children in the contribution towards nation building. 17

It also served to distinguish that the route Malaysia took was moderate and favourable

that the route taken by Indonesia.

The Malayan dream also challenged conventional roles that were foisted upon

girls to be good wives and good mothers. Young teenage girls in the magazines wished to

exceed such conventions. The female equivalent of Hang Tuah, Tun Fatimah is a heroic,

Mulan archetype from the 17th century. Tun Fatimah, disguised herself as man to assist

her countrymen in their war against the Portuguese because of the lack of strong and

courageous men. This exemplifies her masculine attributes of physical strength,

assertiveness and an unwavering sense of self, which became key attributes of modern

17
Hari Kanak-kanak Malaysia, Fashion (505), 13 October 1963, p. 28.
 115

girls apart from feminine qualities of sensitivity, compassion and perceptiveness. The

implicit message was that young ladies should not wait for strong lads to take their place

in their defence of the nation. Girls should take this initiative. Thus, the challenges faced

by Tun Fatimah in Malaccas battle for freedom against the Portuguese were not entirely

dissimilar to the challenges they faced in this independence era.18 Tun Fatimah

challenged such gender roles to persuade young girls to listen to their hearts and of their

own yearnings.

The Malayan dream has also increased the meaning of job aspirations for Malay

youths. Previously, jobs in the medical, law, nursing, administrative and teaching lines

were acceptable and desirable. The Malayan dream, as a result of the media, has

expanded the social aspirations of the young and to include what was traditionally

considered taboo jobs. In the likes of P. Ramlee, many young men and women aspired

to develop their artistic and musical talents. Music, as a profession, was still a taboo for

the Malays because of vivid Western associations to it. It was even worse for young girls

to be associated with music. However, the Malayan dream gave young women the license

to debunk old taboos in pursuit of dreams as being true to oneself and ones talents.

However, such pursuits were not without its challenges. An example of an

innovation of that age was the creation of female bands. An article, quipped with its

headline in Malay, Our Princesses: They Used to Learn How to Blow Fire in the Stoves

of Their Kitchen, Now They Learn to Blow the Saxophone, described the obstacles that

the band leader, Shariat Haji Sirah, went through to set up a female band. Shariats

intentions were portrayed as noble and inventive in the awakening of modern girls

aspirations. The band Pancaragam Wanita Ria Batu Belah (Womens Band of Ria Batu

Belah), comprised of Shariats own female family members, who had spent three years

18
Tun Fatimah, Cathay Keris Film Productions, 1962.
 116

A Girl-band in Fashion, 13 October 1963

 117

polishing up their skills and giving live performances for weddings as well as for radio

and television programmes. The recognition of womens abilities to add value to society,

apart from conventional roles, served as a positive reinforcement for other aspiring

women. 19

It is useful to note the differences in socialisations between the male and female

child in this phase of Malayan Independence. In Malay/Islamic society, clear lines that

demarcate the role of men and women were blurred by the American-inspired Malayan

dream. The exhilaration of the 1950s and 1960s gave rise to a prominent youth culture

that challenged cultural as well as religious boundaries while expanding the possibilities

of being modern to the fullest.

Socialisation during the Coming of Age

The escalation of the American dream with the rise of technological

developments peculiar to this period converged with the rise of consciousness of Malayan

identity. This unprecedented marriage between Malay culture and Western values and

technology, in the history of Malaya, precipitated a revolution in the Malay sense of self.

Particular social conditions such as the rise of a formidable youth culture and

technological developments painted a colourful social history with scenes of

adolescences and of unrequited love.

Heightened by their awareness of American youth culture and conscious of their

own Malay identity, this period saw the strong emulation of the Western by Malay

youths. Many Malay youths were breaking away from the bonds of traditions and society

to exude a stronger sense of self. As youths looked to the media for models to emulate in

this period of technological disenfranchisement of self, nationalists and conservatives

19
Puteri Kita: Dahulu Meniup Api di Dapur, Sekarang Meniup Saxophone!, Fashion (505), 13 October
1963, p. 18.
 118

sought ways to salvage tradition. Often, Malay youths uncritical emulation of Western

values and symbolisms highlighted their overriding emphasis on modern appearances

rather than the true spirit of Western inquiry.

Entertainment in the period of Malayanisation was a commodity that necessitated

the engagement as well as the deadening of sensory experiences. This reality perturbed

both conservative and liberal Malay intellectuals alike, as Malay youths imitated the

American Way without giving due consideration to their ethnic and religious boundaries.

As a result of the discourse, Western culture took the blame for the degeneration of

Malay youths. Other than criticising Malay youths for adopting Western clothes, fashion,

mannerisms and lifestyle, traditionalists and secular intellectuals were most disapproving

of the liberal interactions between men and women in Malay society, as it was an

enormous departure from the conservative ethos of Malay culture.

The emergence of a separate social sphere of youth culture was one of the ways in

which Malaya was greatly influenced by the West. This separate social sphere of youth

culture led to other repercussions. Notably, it progressively legitimised intimacy with the

opposite sex as an intrinsic feature of socialisation into adulthood. Within the Malay

community, this disturbed the inner fabric of their everyday lives, as throughout the

traditional core of Malay life, male-female interactions were kept to a minimum. Even

throughout their childhood, Malays adopted distinctive differences in the nurturing of

boys and girls.

This discrimination was seen as necessary as boys were seen to be carefree,

independent and wild in nature whereas girls were taught to be reliable and dependent on

the family. Care-givers paid closer attention to the movement of sons and the friends they

kept company with. Parents tended to have similar anxieties for their daughters only

when they reached the age of puberty. Their daughters movements out of the house were
 119

20
then carefully monitored. She was a guarded treasure that parents kept in the home for

fear that her youth and chastity could be despoiled.

Traditional Malay etiquette was spurned and ignored as Malay youths celebrated

their newfound independence. Dating began to be openly practised by certain Malay

youths partly due to womens increased presence in public spaces. Even the English verb

to socialise became a jargon that inspired much fear amongst the Malay intellectuals.

This was captured by Persidangan Asmara (a regular column called Council of Love in

Asmara). Malay intellectuals had differences regarding this matter. Their different

opinions were represented by different archetypes in Malay community. When the

column decided to discuss on youths who socialise, three caricatures were presented:

the modernised Malay man in a Western suit; the Pak Haji (a man who went on a

pilgrimage to Mecca); and the ordinary conservative Malay man. The Malay man garbed

in the modern suit was a stereotype of Western-educated Malay man. He saw the

modern attempts to socialise between men and women as opportunities for men and

women to learn about one another through activities such as dancing, picnic trips, etc.

This argument was too facile and did not do much to win the favour of the Malay

community.

Pak Haji, the mouthpiece of the editor, who was seen here as moderate and wise,

reasoned that socialising has its merits. To prohibit it, he felt, would be detrimental as it

was a key to attain knowledge (ilmu) and to learn from the experiences of others. His

views were of course vehemently opposed by most of the other caricatures in the column.

Such oppositions represented the opinions of the larger society made up of traditional

conservatives, represented in the cartoon by their dress of baju kurung and songkok (skull

caps). These conservatives were rather staunch in their perspective that men and women

20
Ibu Bapa Harus Menguasasi Gerak-geri Anak Di Masa Cuti, Fashion (495), 4 August 1963, p. 4.
 120

The Council of Love on the theme Socialisation in Asmara, February 1955.

 121

were not allowed to socialise with one another at all because it would lead to the

damnation of the community. 21

Budiayati was a regular columnist on Malay etiquette (and later editor) of

Fashion. He attributed these differences to generation gap. He cited his experience of a

recent Hari Raya Festival in a kampong; in which he noticed that the gay atmosphere was

infused with the intensity of traditional Malay music and dance. He described the

villagers happily dancing to their traditional tarian Melayu asli, a performative range of

Malay dance which respected the physical boundaries between the male and the female.

In the middle of the dance, there was a song request for the twist and other medley of

Western pop songs. The atmosphere changed suddenly with the new music and dance.

Some of the villagers were upset by this interruption and many returned home

immediately at the sight of this spectacle. Budiayati recollected:

Even by imitating a style of clothing or a particular style of

interaction, young men and women who declare themselves as the
modern generation are similar to these cheap foreign imports or
imitations they follow. Whether they are conscious of it, they do
not realise that these cheap goods they consume are the food to the
soul They are like living corpses which are useless to our
society.

We live with the need to be entertained. But entertainment through

films such as romantic films is cheapening as they contain foreign
culture incompatible to the essence of Malay life. 22

As seen, the motivation to emulate all things Western was strongest within youths

as part of self-aggrandizement. The Malay mens adoption of Western habits,

mannerisms and lifestyle such as smoking, drinking and sexual freedom was not

questioned as much and not seen to be as threatening compared to the Malay womens

emulation of the Western. In addition, the adoption of Western or English names by

21
Persidangan Asmara, Asmara (7), February 1955, p. 6.
22
Anasir Kebudayaan Liar, Fashion (480), 21 April 1963, p. 4.
 122

Malay youths was also fashionable. 23 Intellectuals viewed this emphasis on Western

forms to be detrimental to the Malay spirit, individual and institutions.

Intellectuals were also wary of the mushrooming of youth organisations and

associations, which confirmed the need for the expansion of social spaces for youths.

Many organisations appeared overnight but like mushrooms, their existence was just as

transient and fleeting. 24 The editor was sceptical of the existence of such organisations as

they died shortly after getting the media attention they were clamouring for.

Undeniably, the intellectuals were upset that the younger generation did little to thwart

the negative influences of foreign culture. The Persatuan Pemuda Pemudi Sosial Melayu

(an association for Malay youths) received much attention from the media for its

publicity stunts, its questionable un-Islamic activities as well as its internal power

struggles. Its critics, made up of mostly older generation intellectuals, regarded it

somewhat harshly as a spectre (momok) that condemned the Malay community to

damnation. 25

Critics disparaged social engagements organised by these youth organisations, as

these organisers paid little attention to Islamic and Malay guidelines even when activities

were carried out in the very name of Islam or the Malay community. The Association of

Muslim Students of the University of Malaya, for instance, provoked this generation of

older intellectuals, when they organised midnight picnics on the beaches of Changi as

these encouraged the dispersal of groups into couples. 26 As Western practises of dating

become more prevalent among Malay youths, intimate sexual practises such as kissing,

caressing, petting and intercourse were feared to be inevitable. Kissing was thought to be

23
Ada Apa Pada Nama?, Fashion (35), 10 October 1955, p. 22.
24
Sebab-sebab Kelumpuhan Pemuda Pemudi, Fashion (416), 28 January 1962, p. 30.
25
Rebut Kuasa di Sosial Melayu, Asmara (35), January 1957, p. 3.
26
Perkelahan Dalam Bulan Terang, Asmara (41), December 1951, p. 3.
 123

the most dangerous as it brought danger to those who witnessed the act of kissing as

well as those who engaged in it. Asman Hassan ruminated:

Hopefully the culture of kissing in the open would not infect our
bangsa (nation or race), especially amongst our young men and
women. As mentioned previously, who can hold back his or her
lust when desires become uncontrollable? But as we belong to a
race of men who are cultured and refined, we need to defend
ourselves from such acts of public displays of affections in order to
preserve the integrity of our nation, race as well as our posterity.

We have worn most revealing swimming suits, we danced, we

picnic-ed and if we were to embrace this act of kissing, what shall I
say! 27

The issue of khalwa also enjoyed heated discussions in the local press. 28 The

response towards the uncontrolled socialisation between men and women was

provocative. The intention of the press, it seems, was to humiliate those who were

involved in khalwa. If these parties found guilty, they would be fined by the Syariah

Court and details of their act would be published in the papers. The editor of Fashion

chastised:

Other than news, there are photographic insertions in newspapers

of beautiful young women and strapping young men who received
such punishment. What has been discussed [in the court sessions]
would no longer be a secret, as it would become the very materials
in the newspapers and discussed as extensively as possible. Some
of these guilty parties would have their details furnished in full
(such as their names with their bin or binti), and the addresses
of their homes and workplace would even be mentioned. 29

The editor assumed that this policing measure was fair compared to suggestions

made by the public regarding the offence of khalwa. The suggestions offered capital

punishments such as flogging of the offenders with 100 strokes of the cane to even

stoning them to death, even when the act of khalwa did not necessarily constitute the act
27
Bercium di Khalayak Ramai, Asmara (7), February 1955, p.4
28
Khalwa means to be in close proximity with. In this context, it can mean to be physically close to
someone of the opposite sex who is not a muhrim (a muhrim being someones kin to whom one is not
allowed to marry legally according to the Islamic Law).
29
Pemuda Pemudi dan Pergaulannya, Fashion (439), 8 July 1962, p. 3.
 124

of zina (adultery). It also highlighted an ignorance of Islamic laws and applications as

well as their perceptions of religiosity in society. However, the editor applied his social

sophistication of the times to these harsh perceptions:

We might think these punishments are suitable at a time when this

world is going through a lot of changes; when there are no limits to
social interactions between men and women. However, if there are
no social measures in place, how can we implement capital
measures such as these? Especially when the punishment meted
out do not reflect the offence done? 30

In the midst of these chaotic changes, people were told that girls needed sex

education in schools for their own protection. 31 Sex was no longer a taboo subject among

Malay youths. Some intellectuals surmised that the teaching of sex educations to girls

should be an essential subject. The stress on sexual propriety, as elaborated in the second

chapter, rested very much on the womens shoulders. As a result, there were avid

discussions on scientific definitions of female chastity and virginity for readers. 32

Many women took their increased freedom as a license to lie to their parents,

using school or work as their aliases. 33 The public observed that even role models like

teachers were infected by love. Society complained that teachers were inclined to

publicly express their physical affections like their students did in public. 34 As a result of

the yellow culture and social tensions regarding the socialisations of Malay youths,

social imagination in novels and short stories depicted young women as victims of love

whose chastity was violated. 35 Romantic love was as a larger social force that youths and

adults alike reckoned with.

30
Pemuda, p. 3.
31
Anak-anak perempuan Haruslah Mempelajari Seks, Asmara (40), November 1957, p. 9.
32
Si Anak Dara, Fashion (17), December 1955, p. 4.
33
Gadis-gadis Jangan Tipu Ibu Bapa, Pergaulan Harus Ada Batasan, Fashion (439), 8 July 1962, p. 7.
34
Apa Salahnya Kalau Guru Berasmara?, Asmara (23), June 1956, p. 3.
35
Akibat Dari Suka Sama Suka, Asmara (29), December 1956, p. 29.
 125

Notes on Love and Marriage

Eva Illouz, in her sociological study of romantic love in America, asserts that the

emergence of romantic love and its economic practices in the mid-twentieth century gave

rise to, and also supported the American dream. She expounds that the merging of

romance and commodities became an obsessive theme of American capitalist culture

and of advertising in particular [as] it intertwines and puts at the centrestage of collective

imagination two powerful motives, a euphoric vision of harmonious human relationships

and the American dream. 36 Unlike Illouzs thesis however, this hypothesis is not

concerned with what constitutes the economic practises in love and romance that drive

these national dreams forward. Rather, it captures how love (as an economic or social

force) resisted and reinforced traditions in its course of attaining the Malayan dream.

Love as a social force, supports and elucidates the compelling spectacle of the

American way, but poses as a threat to the Malayan identity. The prominence of romantic

love began to haunt the Malayan imagination and threatened its identity to the extent that

love provided a map for the Malayan to re-orient himself or herself in intricate meanings

and ideals. By doing so, love resisted traditional ethnic and religious boundaries to

negotiate meanings between the old and the new, which, in turn, developed into an

abbreviated lexicon of the Malayan dream. Romantic love that was either the cause or the

effect of the American dream began to be of paramount importance in the construction of

the Malayan. How did Malay Malayans understand notions of romantic love? How did

love resist these traditional patterns in the articulation of the Malayan?

Compellingly, philosophical and theoretical treatments of love were vigorous

within almost all of the magazines, even within the more religious-oriented periodicals.

The religious magazines gave a theological as well as political discussion of love to

36
Eva Illouz, Consuming the Romantic Utopia: Love and the Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism,
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), p. 82.
 126

counterbalance ideas on passionate and romantic love. For this section, we would

extrapolate our answers mostly from Asmara and Fashion as commentaries on the rise of

romantic love and other types of love were most pronounced and comprehensive within

these two magazines.

Definitions of love were central to the discourse in the magazine apart from

thoughts on modernisation and on the nation. Readers applied their own meanings to love

and examined its impact on the Malay community. Many readers advertised themselves

as pen friends, sent in their photographs and invited other readers to a discussion on love

and the modern nation at a very personal level. On a higher ground, Malay leaders and

members of the literati class noted this phenomenon with interest. Leaders, in general,

were anxious with this growing obsession with the theme of love as part of the yellow

culture. Writers took it as their responsibility to articulate this genuine interest in love as

a social force that threatened Malay identity and channelled it to constructive means.

Masmerah, one of the greater literary writers of this period, observed that there

seems to be greater appreciations of the different conceptions of love such as kasih and

sayang in this atomic age. He was hence surprised that public discussions and portrayals

of love provoked much defensiveness within the Malay community as if it was a filthy

(jijik) existence or a spectre (momok) that haunted Malaya. In his ideal view, love is a

natural co-existence between men as well as between God and Man. True love then is

manifested by actualising Allahs commands and avoiding His prohibitions. Love is the

foundation of human existence and thus, he advised that one should not be apprehensive

about discussing it openly and frankly. 37

There was a popular tendency by right-wing and moderate intellectuals to

distinguish passionate love (asmara) from romantic love (cinta). Readers would

37
Masmerah, Perhubungan Kasih Mesra, Asmara (24), July 1956, p. 35.
 127

extrapolate their own meanings from these inspirations and contributed their thoughts on

love in the pen-pal columns, short stories, poetry and critical reviews. As such

discussions grew more intense in the 1950s, it became apparent that romantic and

passionate love shared between a man and a woman touched the core of human relations

and mystified the relations between men and women everyday.

Asmara, an expert treatise on passion and love, viewed passionate love as the

guiding impulses to life. 38 In general, there was a greater inclination for these moderate,

urban intellectuals to think of romantic and passionate love as selfish and hence, they felt

that love should have a patriotic sway in order for it to co-exist with the nation. As

another writer posited, passionate love (asmara) and romantic love (cinta) superseded

love for the nation (bangsa) or country (negara or tanahair) because passion alone left

ineradicable impressions on the self (more than Benedict Andersons sociological

imagination of the nation could). The thought that love was bigger than the Malayan

nation resonated with the fears and judgements made by the intellectuals on its over-

emphasis. The writer nevertheless clarified that love was not all passion and passion was

not purely love. He encapsulated his wisdom on the cleavage between love for a nation

and romantic love:

Not everyone has the chance to experience [true] love, but passion
is a natural instinct in every human. Humans place more
importance in passionate love or attach more importance to their
love for themselves rather than their love for their homeland. 39

He commented further that it was because of lack of faith in love that the world

produced world dictators such as Stalin and Hitler. The writer wanted to assure leaders of

Malaya who were distrustful of the innovations produced by love during that period.

38
Apakah yang Dikatakan Perjuangan Asmara? Asmara Lebih Besar dari Negara, Asmara (28),
Novermber 1956, p. 39-42.
39
Apakah yang dikatakan Perjuangan Asmara? Asmara lebih besar dari Negara, Asmara (28),
Novermber 1956, p. 42.
 128

Here, he soothed them by advising that leaders must recognised that their followers

needed to fulfil their instinctual love for themselves first, before love for an abstract

entity like the nation could exist. In his views, romantic love could pose greater

challenges to the individual rather than the nation which meant that love has more

personal implications for the individual than the nation would. Therein lay the emergence

of romantic love as a greater social threat to the nation as a social imagination.

It is within the scenes of adolescences and of unrequited love that we can have at

least glimpses of dreams and illusions of the growing and distinct youth culture in

Malaya. Deciphering such dreams can be instructive as they point towards structures of

meanings, feelings, and personal identity within which, the cultural standards of love and

romance were formulated. More importantly, they tell us how romantic love and perhaps

love for the American way resisted traditional patterns of life in the 1950s and early

1960s.

With increased social interactions between the opposite sexes in everyday life

coinciding with love as an important emerging social force, love marriages were the signs

of the times. This disturbed the traditional institution of arranged marriages. Youths of

marriageable age began to question the role of the family in making marital decisions for

their children. Those who found themselves within a wider social network felt that they

were more streetwise and therefore more capable of making their own choices. Often,

those who had their own marital choices opposed arranged marriages more readily.

Intellectuals in Singapore, in general, were ambivalent towards love marriages.

There were fears that the Malay youths who pursued love marriages were courting their

destruction because of their immaturity and their lack of experience. Parents were

anxious that if they failed to intervene, their children would err in this major life-

transforming decision. There seems, however, to be more sympathy towards love

 129

marriages in the Jawi literature. Public opinion expressed that arranged marriage was the

root of failed marriages and disillusionment towards marriage as an institution. Some

offered the reason that parents married their children off without their tacit approval and

at such an early age. Parents were also blamed for their lack of guidance on marriage and

its demands.

However, there were also sympathies towards love as a unifying element in

human relations despite the chasms of class and social distinctions within Malay society.

Intellectuals observed that these distinctions remained despite the fact that Islam is an

egalitarian religion. During these rapidly changing times, social status was an influential

pre-requisite of a young mans eligibility for marriage especially if the woman he

proposed came from a better social position. (Social status also affected a womans

eligibility, albeit to a lesser degree). Factors such as wealth, social position, occupation,

education level and types of education (an English-educated person was superior to a

Malay educated person) were decisive determinants for a suitors eligibility. 40

Moderate, traditionalists and also secularist writers in Singapore advised parents

with daughters of marriageable age to concede to their daughters request to marry the

man of their choice as long as he was decent man, abided by the adab (custom) and

honest in his intentions towards her. Such a concession accompanied by blindness

towards the suitors station and position in life was commendable. However, it is

uncertain to what extent such concessions were heeded. Despite a daughters humble

background, parents often wished that their daughter would marry a man of their choice

and who also possessed all of the desirable qualities. Many Malay men, however, failed

to live up to prevailing social expectations, and did not come close to meeting such a

40
Taat Isteri Kepada Suami, Asmara (51), October 1958, p. 13-14.
 130

criterion. Fewer Malay men were as inspired as Malay women to be active in their

pursuits of their dreams. And fewer still could be considered eligible in this respect.

To further deepen the chasm of social confidence between Malay men and

women, women from the humblest homes were depicted as more dynamic, perceptive

and economically productive. This was proof of the social effectiveness of womens

movements on the grassroots level. Mens social confidence was not as articulately

expressed in the media. Parents, on the whole, had little confidence in the abilities of

Malay men in general. Malay intellectuals recommended that mens social incompetence

was excusable on the grounds of the love the couple shared. This, according to these

intellectuals, was preferable to avoid greater evils.

Stories of elopement, protests by youths towards the institution of arranged

marriages, and the belief that love reigned supreme despite the outcomes, dominated

Malay popular literature of the period. Despite these greater problems that arose out of

the freedom to choose love, an Asmara writer strongly recommended that youths actively

seek a life partner rather than have a mate selected for them. Choice marriages, in his

view, were better options than arranged marriages as they were more satisfying

emotionally, physically and sexually and they also produced healthier children. 41

The tendency for intellectuals in Singapore in general was to portray choice

marriages positively. Many writers, on the other hand, were anxious of the rise of

romantic love as it caused the youths to view marriage through rose tinted glasses. 42 This

worried conservative Malay intellectuals who, out of concern for these impressionable

youths, began to promote the idea of suspended marriage contract (nikah gantung) and

engagement (pertunangan) to parents in order to preserve sexual abstinence in pre-

marital relations. These measures sought to anticipate and treat early problems such as

41
Dikahwinkan atau Pilihan Sendiri Yang Mana Lebih Seronok?, Asmara (10), May 1955, p. 31-34.
42
Dikahwinkan atau Pilihan Sendiri, p. 34.
 131

the undesirable intermingling between the sexes and unwanted pregnancies that came

with increased social, physical and sexual freedom of the youth culture.

Unlike nikah gantung, pertunangan was widely practised within Malay culture.

Pertunangan (engagement) is defined as an agreement between two people and their

families towards the promise of solemnisation (nikah). Engagement was, and still is,

widely practised among Malay families as it provided an opportunity for two young

adults to know each other and each others families well enough before any marital

contract is sealed. However, engagement, unlike solemnisation, in the opinion of

Asmaras editor, was not compulsory and was not an important precursor to marriage.

More importantly, the editor argued that engagement was not legally recognised in Islam

and henceforth, it did not legalise free interactions between the sexes like solemnisation

did. In the context of his editorial piece, the editor was concerned that young people

mistook pertunangan as a passport to certain privileges that came with marriage such

dating and physical intimacy. He ruminated that, Engagement does not make physical

contact between the two sexes permissible.

To overcome this problem, he recommended that nikah gantung should be

practised instead of, or along with engagement. It was not clear what constituted nikah

gantung from his piece. Nonetheless, it could be ascertained that nikah gantung was an

early nuptial contract for a couple but whose actual wedding ceremony was deferred until

an appropriate time when the couple became financially steady and emotionally prepared.

In the eyes of the public, they were legally recognised as husband and wife. Whether

their consummation is deferred is unclear, since Islam makes it compulsory for a legally

wedded couple to consummate within three months. However, it is implicit from the
 132

piece that Malay culture deemed non-consummation for nikah gantung preferable. 43 He

stated:

Whether engaged couples date or otherwise, it is best to let them

continue with solemnisation straight away to prevent them from
episodes of accursed fate (celaka); from what is prohibited
(haram) and from what is adultery (zina). This is best for them as it
removes them from sin (maksiat). This is one way in which it
could be done. A long time ago, many Malays think that this
(nikah gantung) is a regressive idea but, it actually hinders them
from committing the act of fornication (perzinaan) and having
physical contact (persentuhan kulit). .With this, we hope that we
can stay away from actions that go against the sacred laws of
religion and the commandments of God. 44

Within Singapore, egalitarian notions of romantic love did have an impact on

local Malays perceptions of polygamous unions. However this was not a direct

relationship as preferred ideas of monogamy were already prevalent among Singapore

Malays in the 1940s. Unlike their Malay counterparts in certain parts of Malay Peninsula

which regard polygamous unions as generally a tolerable, desirable practise, 45 opinions

held by Singapore Malays differed markedly. Djamour purports that there was no serious

clash in attitudes towards polygamy between the older and younger generations in the

1940s in Singapore. Generally, polygamy was regarded as reprehensible by educated men

and women who read the Koranic text in a different light from their counterparts in

Malay Peninsula. In Singapore, polygamous unions were only marginally practised by

Malay or Arab men who were usually middle-aged and who belonged to middle-class

backgrounds. 46 Moreover, with rising sentiments on romantic love, which promoted an

egalitarian relationship between a man and a woman, monogamy was the norm.

However, most Singapore-produced Jawi periodicals were still ambivalent on

how to approach the matter. Opinions in the periodicals from traditional circles in the
43
Nikah gantung is not consummated till the bride has reached puberty. The only way to annul nikah
gantung was through divorce.
44
Bernikah Gantung dan Adat Pertunangan, Asmara (30), January 1957, p. 3.
45
Rosemary Firth, Housekeeping Among Malay Peasants, (London: Lund, Humphries, 1943), p. 42.
46
Djamour, Malay Kinship, p. 87.
 133

Peninsula tended to differ greatly from the literati of Singapore on this point. While

Qalam (a mouthpiece of Kelantans religious authority) asserted that a mans prerogative

to polygamy was an unquestioned right, most opinions from Singapores diversified

literati tended to be rather ambivalent. They recognised its permissibility within Islamic

boundaries as a reflection of the religions flexibility to the needs of its community. At

the same time, these moderate thinkers were attuned to the sensitivities of modern Malay

women.

As an illustration of this ambivalence, discussions were centred on President

Sukarnos decision to take on a second wife. Malay thinkers, who revered the president

and did not wish to question his right to such a union, claimed that President Sukarno had

fulfilled Islamic pre-requisites for polygamy and was not the only Muslim leader to be

polygamous. In addition, Asmara thought that such bad press was motivated to cripple

the strong and popular support for his leadership and quipped that it looks like at this

atomic age, taking on more than a wife is becoming an Islamic culture. 47

Nevertheless, attempts to dissuade ordinary Malay men from entering into

polygamous unions were strong in the city. Scientific rationales for the discouragement

of polygamous unions were provided, on top of the sheer mockery of those who entered

into those unions. One such medical view hypothesised that children resulting from

those unions were physically and intellectually inferior as the quality of the fathers

sperm was lower than the average man who is involved in a monogamous relationship. 48

Another view presented social statements regarding the male-dominated

traditional religious authority and their callousness towards female sensitivities. A

cartoon depicts a Malay woman who was in tears because she discovered that her

47
Poligami, Asmara (3), October 1954, p. 4.
48
Asmara (35), June 1957, p. 4.
 134

husband had three wives. She felt betrayed that he concealed the truth from her. 49 As she

lodged a complaint to the kathi (a Muslim judge), the kathi appeared indifferent to the

gravity of her situation. He wondered why she made such a fuss since religion bestowed

man the right to polygamy; hence there was nothing unusual with the husbands actions.

The woman wailed even louder at this when she realised that the kathi was not better than

her husband. He was just as hypocritical and presumptuous about his righteousness. This

insinuates that even if a woman questions mens prerogatives, she was still at the losing

end as she was against the status-quo, the patriarchal system. Seen in another light, it was

perhaps an attack on Islam as an unchanging institution which imposed its patriarchal

system on the matriarchal Malay communities.

Furthermore, romantic love which emphasised equal partnerships within marriage

seems not to square with mens expectations of femininity. Malay women knew this and

played their cards properly. Even within the confines of marriage, social forces such as

love, equality and modernity were making their presence felt within marriages.

Theoretically, Malay women, when compared to women from other cultural groups,

enjoyed a higher status due to combination of the tenets of Islam and the adat law (Malay

customary laws). 50 Hence, romantic love may only reinforce status quo. Despite that,

pages in Fashion depicted wives of married stars of Jalan Ampas (Malay film studio in

Singapore) as obedient, submissive and who placed her husband and family before

herself. Because of that, women learned to juggle the freedom and choices given to them

with the private bliss conjured by their men in their version of the Malayan dream. 51

However, not all women were doing as well. The lower-class women according to

this periodical were to be pitied because of their lack of education, lack of knowledge of
49
Menangis Kerana Apa?, Asmara (5), December 1954, p. 28.
50
Lim Seow Yoke, Women in Singapore Politics 1945-1970, (Unpublished Honours Thesis: National
University of Singapore, 1984-1985), p. 5.
51
Persidangan Asmara, Asmara (5), December 1954, p. 23-34. Catitan dari Majalah: Wanita Melayu
Hanya Tahu Menerima?, Asmara (7), February 1955, p. 24-27.
 135

Women and the Woes of Polygamy

Asmara, December 1954.

Asmara, February 1955

 136

their legal rights and their lack of self-esteem. The literati classs sympathies towards the

plight of lower-class women in marriages caused the Jawi press to enlighten young

Malay men not to think of their wives as mere chattels. 52 And women, in turn, must free

themselves from unkind and harsh treatment given to them by their men.

In addition, confident Malay women wanted to be recognised beyond their role as

queen of the kitchen and were likely to forge an identity beyond being mothers and

wives. 53 Male anxieties of womens emboldened and confident selves were avid in the

caricatures that depicted male-female relationships in Asmara. In these cartoons, the men

were portrayed as being overwhelmed by their female counterparts who were bolder

while they were bashful (malu) as well as women who were domineering while the men

were subservient.

One of these cartoons was titled When Time Changes, The Husband Must

Change. It portrayed a man who was pre-occupied with holding the hand of his son

while carrying his toddler in his other arm. His eyes however, were transfixed in

admiration for his wife who was walking ahead of them in her sexy kebaya, unperturbed

by the little domestic scene behind her. The male caricature admitted that he was queen

controlled by his wife. However, he did not mind the negative gossips of his

henpecked existence. He realised that his wife behaved in such a manner because he

readily gave in to her requests out of his love for her.54 This directly criticised husbands

who allowed their wives to lead them. Significantly, it portrayed how excessive love

shifted the balance of power from the husband in favour of the wife. Perhaps it wished to

poke fun at women who behaved similarly.

52
Adakah Tuan Pernah Menganggap Isteri Tuan Seperti Kuda?, Asmara (30), January 1957, p. 27.
53
Kemajuan Wanita-wanita Kita, Asmara (4), November 1954, p. 34.
54
Zaman Bertukar, Suami Mesti Bertukar, Asmara (7), February 1955, p. 28.
 137

The Henpecked Husband, Asmara, 7 February 1955.

 138

Bold Malay Woman in Asmara, February 1955.

 139

Another cartoon also made statements regarding self-assured Malay women. It

shows a couple seated on the sofa. Instead of being pursued by the man, the woman made

physical advances towards him by tickling his chin intimately and sitting close to him.

The man reminded the woman that she should keep her distance or he would be too hot

for her to handle. She persisted in her antics and cheekily responded that she thought he

ought to be used to this kind of advances by then. She further reasoned that no one could

see them from where they were. 55 The depictions of women in such a light may reflect

the attitudes of some Malay women then, but ultimately, these were anxieties men had

regarding bold and confident Malay women in the larger society.

In the sociological imagination, dispositions found in Malay women were

augmented in stories and depictions of the janda (divorcee). Tales of divorcees

perpetuated the fear of such women and reflect anxieties towards them. In the story

Janda, Minah, the protagonist in the tale, was happy with her new status as a divorcee.

She recounted the episode to three younger female friends in the village: one was newly

married, another was engaged and the last was single. They were amazed that Minah had

such a positive attitude towards her divorce.56 As they wondered, Minah claimed that her

experience had been instructive on men and made her wiser. Although she was slightly

disturbed by her divorce, she found pleasure in her new-found freedom. The women were

dumbfounded upon learning that she was about to meet her latest catch. At the end of the

conversation, she cautioned the girls not to follow in her footsteps. She added simply that

she just wished to be happy again.

Fictional, short stories of the janda often epitomise societal anxieties regarding

the sexual availability of these women who had considerable freedom of movement;

are fully emancipated by their first marriage and who pleased and frequently behaved

55
Asmara (7), February 1955, p. 28.
56
Asmara (30), Janda, January 1957, p. 3.
 140

provocatively with men. 57 On a more serious note, Djamour reflects that marriage was a

hallmark of full adulthood for women. At that stage, women received emancipation and

freedom to move beyond her parental home. 58 In addition, when a marriage did not work

out, it was still in a womans favour to walk out of a failed marriage in order to find a

new lease of life. Most felt that the divorcee had more advantages than a married woman

as she was no longer tied to a man in a failed relationship. In another womans eyes, if a

janda wished to look for a man, the whole community of men was her marketplace.

Overall, the expansion of social spaces of the 1950s and early 1960s, with the

widening sphere of a distinctive youth culture contributed to womens desire to move

beyond institutions like marriage towards their self-actualisation. Stories of the janda in

the popular magazines highlight this form of self-actualisation when tales of unhappy

marriages are portrayed as imprisoning young women. While the scenes of the 1950s and

1960s portrayed these women with much anxiety as if they were dangerous, the same

literature depicted that these were women who deserved our sympathy and who had the

right to leave unhappy marriages. On another note, the liberalisation of social relations

made it slightly easier for these women to exist in the communities without fear of being

reproached. Due to this misunderstanding regarding divorcees in Malay societies,

religious literature deemed that it was necessary for women to learn about their rights in

Islam especially in marriage to address social misunderstandings regarding womens

conditions. 59

The Malayan dream of social prominence, of being youthful, of falling in love,

and of blissful or complicated marriages, complemented and competed with dreams of

the modern nation. These dreams and discussions of what they mean to the Malays

57
Djamour, Malay Kinship, p. 129.
58
Djamour, Malay Kinship, p. 130.
59
Berilah Peluang Wanita Bersuara, Asmara (15), October 1955, p. 4.
 141

successfully took individuals of an already war-wearied community from the wider

realities of the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation and the Cold War that were plaguing

the communities.

As these vivid sociological imaginations made an impression on the audience, the

Malay media underplayed social tensions that rose on both sides of the Straits of

Malacca. There were two events that tarnished Malaysia-Indonesia relations till 1965.

One was the burning of the British embassy and the ransacking of the Singapore embassy

and homes of Singaporean diplomats in Jakarta. The second was the MacDonald House

bombing in Singapore on 10 March 1965 which resulted in three deaths and 33

casualties. In addition, the infiltration of saboteurs into both Singapore and Malaysia

aimed to exploit racial tensions and undertook acts of sabotage to destroy vital

installations.

The use of practical politics with the aim of affecting culture was useful in

inoculating a war-wearied community from leftist ideas. It also had the ability to rouse

individuals to a certain path. The Malayan dream that morphed out of this period

addressed this path that Singapore and Malaysia needed to take, young or old, to actualise

its peaceful revolution of constructing a nation with roads, electricity, homes and schools.

It also served to remind Malay Malayans of the realities of the politics of needs as

opposed to the politics of idealism that Sukarno was espousing to his countrymen.
 142

CONCLUSION

During the period of Communist insurrection in British Malaya from 1948-

1960, a State of Emergency was declared. The definition of Emergency then took its

meaning as a condition of urgent need for action or assistance within the state. The

intimate associations the Emergency has with General Sir Gerald Templers single-

mindedness in leading the psychological and economic battle against the Communist

insurgents in rural Malaya was a critical moment in the history of British Malaya and

the region.

The second Emergency, as Kumar Ramakrishna points out, was a political one

in which representations of Malay and Chinese elites were created through both the

United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the Malayan Chinese Association

(MCA). Such creations were important in counterbalancing the influence of leftist

parties and movements. In addition, the colonial authorities and certain parties

intervened to ensure the survival of the political leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman

of UMNO and Lee Kuan Yew of the Peoples Action Party (PAP).

This work helps to shed light on the third Emergency. This Cultural

Emergency consisted of a series of cultural occurrences and concentrated efforts that

aided the process of the political Emergency of British Malaya. It made a poignant

impact on everyday lives of ordinary Malayans at work, in public spaces and in their

homes while inoculating them from Communism and Communalism. Above all, it

shaped the culture of everyday lives. While this emergency was influenced by British

cultural policy in Singapore with definite American inputs, the ownership in the

diversity of views regarding the Malayan route by Malayans and the forms that it

could take was potent in winning over the hearts and minds of ordinary Malayans

from the magnetism of Communism.

 143

Communism and Communalism, on one hand, became efficacious tools used

by colonial and local governments in mobilizing Malayans towards the double

process of decolonization through modernization. On the other hand, this was used as

a tool by its detractors during the Malaysian-Indonesian confrontation in which

Indonesian saboteurs tapped onto racial tensions to escalate skirmishes between the

states. During this process of decolonisation through modernisation, another process

took place.

At this juncture in time the colonization of everyday lives towards the

Malayan dream, predicated upon the premise of the American Way, made its striking

impact on ordinary Malayans. This dream created capitalistic ideas and goals to

counter communist ideals and goals. In relating this to the Malay community in

Malaya, women became important targets and instruments in this process of making

everyday lives relevant expressions of capitalism and cultural freedom. Print media,

films and television became reference points for the socialization of Malayans in the

coming of age of the modern nation.

The fate of Linda Chen Mong Hock and the Womens Federation reminds us

of the power of cultural politics and its unquestionable impact on everyday living. It

highlights that Linda, by attempting to represent her own interpretation of the culture

of the everyday, had gone beyond this intrinsic connection between the visible and the

invisible, the legitimate and illegitimate, the enemy and the ally. Her ideas of freeing

women from the kitchen conflicted with the dominant propaganda of the United

States and also of Malaya in creating the kitchen and the home for the comforts of

their women.

This thesis does not pretend to be a wholesome cultural history of Singapore

and Malaya. There are limitations to this. One, this thesis is limited to the discussion
 144

of the Malay communities in the period. It can be observed that there are parallels and

contrasts between changes in the Chinese communities and the Malay communities.

Without the configuration of Islam to be taken into account, what were Chinese

sentiments regarding their Malayan dream? How was this manifested? However,

while there are many rich sources on the Chinese communities, the inability to read

the language and the perennial constraints of time impeded such abilities at this time.

Furthermore, with the opening of archival resources that were once restricted, it is

highly recommended that scholars who are fluent in the Chinese language study the

impact of the Cultural Emergency on everyday lives in Singapore and Malaya, away

from popular tendency of studying the impact of political Emergency of this period.

Secondly, this articulation of the Cultural Emergency needed to be done more

comprehensively in another study, looking at the British and American collaboration

and competition in their Cold War policies. Follow ups needed to be done on the

differences between their policies and the problems they encountered in Singapore

and Malaya and in the region as a whole.

Thirdly, this thesis is not aimed at giving a comprehensive account regarding

the world of Malay publishing companies and more specifically, the world of Jawi

magazines. It is recommended that a coherent study of intellectuals behind these

publishing houses in Singapore and preferably in Malaya be done.

In conclusion, this study will hopefully mark a new beginning. A beginning

that calls upon not just historians of Malay thought, but historians and thinkers of

culture, politics, media and gender to revise the study of history.

 145

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Archival Records

AR 34, Seminar on South and Southeast Asia Has a Second Look at Democracy,
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DIS 15, Freedom of the City, File 352/ 57.

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PRO 2, B.B.C Programmes, File 391/55.

PRO 4, Weekly Report: Exhibition Section, File 2/54.

PRO 4, PRO Weekly Staff Meeting, File 10/54.

PRO 4, Regional Publications Bureau, File 632/53.

PRO 10, SEA Committee of the Movement for Colonial Freedom, File 352/54.

PRO 15, World Congress for Cultural Freedom Rangoon Meeting, File 657/54.

PRO 27, Anti-yellow Culture Campaign, File 330/56, (Confidential).

PRO 27, Study Movement, File 395/1956, (Confidential).

PRO 27, Overseas Information Service, File 433/ 55.

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Aneka Warna
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Anakku Sazali, Malay Films Productions, Shaw Brothers, 1956.

 146

Ibu Mertuaku, Malay Film Productions, Shaw Brothers, 1962.

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Nujum Pak Belalang, Malay Films Productions, Shaw Brothers, 1959.

Pendekar Bujang Lapok, Malay Films Productions, Shaw Brothers, 1959.

Tun Fatimah, Cathay Keris Productions, 1962.

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Books

Abu Talib Ahmad and Tan Liok Ee (eds.), New Terrains in Southeast Asian History,
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Andaya, Barbara Watson & Leonard Y, A History of Malaysia, (London: Macmillan,

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Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread

of Nationalism, (London: Verso, 1983).

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Appendices
Appendix 1
Lyrics of Nona Singapura
Macam itik pulang petang
Dia jalan melenggang
Bibirnya merah delima merkah
Kain tinggi sebelah
Betisnya membayang
Itu dia nona Singapura
Itu dia nona Singapura
Bajunya jarang hai ketat di pinggang
Bunga di depan bunga di belakang
Pinggang ramping diikat dengan erat
Sampai susah bernafas
Rambut hitam ikal mayang
Disimpan menggerbang
Pakai sepatu asal dari kayu
Tas tangan plastik tersangkut di bahu
Itu dia Nona Singapura
Itu dia Nona Singapura
Tudung pelangi hai tak pakai lagi
Bajunya basah mandi air wangi
Orang kata semua tolak tepi
Asal senang di hati
Orang kata semua tolak tepi
Asal senang di hati
Macam itik pulang petang
Dia jalan melenggang
Bibirnya merah delima merkah
152
Like a duck on its way home
She walks swaying
Her red lips like the ripen pomegranate
Her kain is high on a side
The silhouette of her calves showing
That is she, the Singapore lady
That is she, the Singapore lady
Her blouse is sheer but tight at the waist
Florals on the front, florals on the back
Her small waist is fastened closely
Until it is hard to breathe
Her hair is dark and curly
Kept loose
Wearing shoes which was once wood
Her plastic handbag hung on her shoulder
That is she, the Singapore lady
That is she, the Singapore lady
Her rainbow scarf is no longer worn
Her blouse soaked wet with perfume
People say that everything is rejected aside
As long as the heart is free
People say that everything is rejected aside
As long as the heart is free
Like a duck on its way home
She walks swaying
Her red lips like the ripen pomegranate
 153

Kain tinggi sebelah Her kain is high on a side

Betisnya membayang The silhouette of her calves showing

Itu dia nona Singapura That is she, the Singapore lady

That is she, the Singapore lady
Itu dia nona Singapura

That is she, the Singapore lady

Itu dia nona Singapura
Sung by: R. Azmi
 154

Appendix 2

Songs of the 1950s

Gadis Desa

Duhai gadis desa

Kau muda remaja
Sedangnya dewasa
Wajahmu jelita
Ayu murni asli
Serta kecantikan
Bak indahnya alam
Yang dicipta Tuhan

Gadis desa ayu

Cantik tiada palsu
Tiada gincu tiada berbedak
Juga tak bercelak
Tapi jelita bak sekuntum bunga

Tingkah lakunya sopan

Santun berbudi bahasa
Memghormati pada sesama
Itu dia gadis desa

Duhai gadis desa

Dikau ibaratnya
Sekuntum melati
Bunga indah suci
Nan ayu berseri
Dan dijalin permai
Dan suntingan bakti
Ibunda pertiwi

Nyanyian: Kamsani
 155

Gadis Kampung

Gadis kampung memang mulia

Baik budi tutur bahasa
Hormat sopan taat setia
Gadis kampung memang mulia

Dari rumah ia segera

Dan turun ke ladang bekerja
Harus tidak menjadi pantang
Rajin usul hafal segala

Tidak suka bersolek berdandan

Apa lagi menghias badan
Hanya kain dan baju kurung
Berjalan tunduk memakai tudung

Nanyian: R. Azmi
 156

Appendix 3

Ismail Hussain waxed lyrical on Singapore as the centre of literary activities in the
region. Quoted from Hamedi Mohd Adnan, Direktori Majalah-majalah Melayu
Sebelum Merdeka, (Kuala Lumpur: University Malaya Press, 2002), p. 40.

Singapore truly has the ideal opportunities to be the centre of literature, not
only for the collective purpose of print and big publishers, but also for other purposes.
After the war, the importance of Singapore as a harbour city and centre for trade in
Southeast Asia has increased, also as a centre for the passing of worlds ships and
centre for defence. Singapore as a cultural city with its libraries, archives and its
highly qualified teachers - with the establishment of University of Malaya in 1949 and
birth of Nanyang University in 1955. In Singapore, there was a concentrated number
of visitors from all over the world - politicians, artists, writers and scholars. The
cultural life is on fertile grounds. Every month, there is always an exhibition, talks
from artists and scholars.
The development of the print and publishing has the same effect on the
development of the literary scene in Singapore. Almost all of the most prominent
Malay writers consisted of journalists. The development of the print required the
energies and efforts of composers and after the war from 1947 to 1951, there were
more writers from the Federated Malay States to Singapore working in the
newspapers and magazines. As a result, there was a birth of a literary society that
consisted of journalists, teachers and lovers of literature, etc. This era also witnessed
the birth of organisations that emphasised language and culture such as the Angkatan
Sasterawan 50 (ASAS 50), Lembaga Bahasa Melayu (Foundation of Malay
Language), Persatuan Angkatan Kesatuan Melayu Baharu (The Association for New
Malay), Persatuan Wartawan Melayu (The Association of Malay Journalists) and
other small organisations