(no subject)

[jhameia]

3 down, one more to go!

Dr. HM did give me a creative aspect to work with for this one. But he was like "outline a short short story for what would be typical Malaysian literature" and my whole prior essay was about how there's no such thing as a singular Malaysian literature.

So I wrote him a list of "Samples of Typical Malaysian Literature" with parodies of stuff I remember having to read in newspapers and school. If he doesn't laugh I'm never talking to him again.

SCRAPS OF TYPICAL MALAYSIAN LITERATURE

1. A letter to the newspaper editor on the nature of Malaysian society.

E.g.:

Dear Editor,
In last week's article on the nature of Malaysian writing, I was disappointed to find that there appears to be a lack of a Malaysian identity in the list of short stories provided. Each author only writes about things that concerns their own community! How can we truly say that we are Malaysian when our literature so narrow-minded? The division between races is the biggest problem we face today…

2. Sajak lamenting some social ill.
E.g. on the lack of roots displayed by urban youth who no longer balik kampung for Hari Raya:
“… Ada tak kampung? / Kalau takde kampung, mana mulanya anda? …”

3. Treatise on the state of economic disparity brought on by political instability.
E.g.:
…. Given the disappointing behavior of Barisan Nasional in the latest elections, we can expect to see our best and brightest driven away by the rampant inequality maintained by a corrupt government…

4. Utopian cerpen or short story.
E.g.:
… here, the social ills of society do not touch us, and we live in complete harmony with each other, even though we are poor—we are strong despite all the challenges we will face! …

5. Dystopian cerpen or short story.
E.g.:
… Everywhere he looked, there was chaos—here, Indian drunks fighting each other—there, Malay ulamas preaching a version of Islam that was not in accordance with the actual Quran… maybe his Chinese forebears had it right to flee the country before it went under… why didn’t his father respect his own father’s wishes to leave when the rest of the family did?

6. Pantun homily to demonstrate a moral value
E.g.:
“The cempedak tree outside the gate is fruiting / Quick, get the galah to pick the fruit! / Neighbourliness is a beautiful thing; / Cooperation binds a society together.”

7. Poem depicting the local environment.
E.g.:
“…the mango trees outside are blooming in the tropical heat / as the crow cries …”

[Further examples could not be collated due to lack of funding. We feel this is a very important project and request the commission to renew this project until further samples can be found…]