In urban centres, skyscrapers and condominiums vie for investors’ attention at the expense of homely neighbourhoods. In rural areas, forests are cleared for highway construction and commodity plantations, while traditional villages wither into decrepit buildings as youth migrate into cities.
But despite these developments, deeper cultural, historical and personal memories survive in the minds of Malaysia’s residents and sojourners.
Now these memories are reflected upon in “Malaysian Places and Spaces: Poems”, an anthology that invites readers to meditate on and find a connection with our country’s changed and changing landscape.
The bright orange cover features a montage of a hornbill bird, a coconut tree, a Malay stilted house, and a sampan moored by the riverside. Flip it open and you will encounter some 80 poems by pioneering English-language Malaysian poets such as Salleh ben Joned, Ee Tiang Hong, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, Wong Phui Nam, Muhammad Haji Salleh, Cecil Rajendra, and Fan Yew Teng.
These are followed by more contemporary works thoughtfully curated and edited by local poet Malachi Edwin Vethamani, following an open call between late 2023 and early last year.
Malachi said he deliberately included poems from an earlier period “to give a wide response to Malaysian places and spaces”. As he told FMT Lifestyle, “the poems show continuity, comparisons and contrast to the places examined over several decades”.
These poets might not have interacted with one another in person, but their thoughts about Malaysian landscapes, history and politics are weaved into a distance- and time-transcending conversation.
Many of the works are tinged with nostalgia, while some reflect on present challenges. Prevalent themes include the living conditions of Malaysian diasporas; longing for a simpler time before urbanisation; racial tensions; and Malaysia’s delectable food scene.
This collection features not only local writers but also foreigners who formed an attachment to Malaysia’s landscape during their brief or extended stay.
Noteworthy, too, are the contributors’ diverse ethnic, gender, religious, racial and geographical backgrounds, reflecting Malaysia’s complex and colourful society.
As you leaf through the collection, expect yourself to explore the sleepy town of Bachok echoing with prayer calls; a dead longhouse in Senah Rayang; the famous trishaw mural in George Town; and a disquieted family hiding away from the parang mobs in Kuala Lumpur during the May 13 riots.
Words of the poets
Speaking with FMT Lifestyle, poet Chloe Hor said her work “Kota Kemuning” was inspired by the wealth disparity she observed in her neighbourhood of Bukit Rimau.
In the poem, the “rumah orang kaya” with “mosaic marble floors” and “unreachable ceilings” dishearten the young persona who originates from a modest middle-class background and attempts to find footing in the inflated economy.
Even though Hor admits an undertone of envy had caused her to paint the rich as lonely and arrogant, the poem undeniably captures the fact that both communities live separately in the same neighbourhood.
Meanwhile, in “Telegram”, Geeta Dhirajlal poetically narrates her father’s complex emotions upon receiving news of his relative’s death in India.
The poem deftly captures the difficulties faced by a diaspora living in Malaysia in the 1970s, as returning home to attend a funeral was not a luxury many could afford. Any semblance of grief by the persona could only be conveyed by requesting his family in Malaysia to refrain from “lighting of prayer lights” until “all the rituals were over in the village, in the former homeland”.
Geeta shared that her father had been very private and tended to handle everything himself. “The isolation he felt manifested in many ways: guilt for leaving people behind, guilt for not catching up, and guilt for doing better than those in India,” she said.
“Like others who emigrated from India to Malaya, life was not about choices: one just lived it and made it work. Whatever separation or even isolation one felt, it was a decision made and accepted.”
‘Malaysian Places and Spaces: Poems’ is published by Maya Press and can be bought from Gerakbudaya and Riwayat for RM25.