Malaysian literature is the collection of literary works produced in the Malay
peninsula until 1963 and in Malaysia thereafter. Malaysian literature is
typically written in any of the country's four main languages: Malay,
English, Chinese and Tamil. It portrays various aspects of Malaysian life and
comprises an important part of the culture of Malaysia.
The earliest works of Malaysian literature were transmitted orally in
the absence of writing scripts. Oral literature encompasses a variety of
genres of Malay folklore, such as myths, legends, folk tales, romances, epics,
poetry, proverbs, origin stories and oral histories. Oral tradition thrived
among the Malays, but continues to survive among the indigenous people of
Malaysia, including the Orang Asli and numerous ethnic groups in Sarawak and
Sabah. Information
Early Malays literature was mainly influenced by Indian epics, such as the
Mahabharata and the Ramayana, which later included other traditions that now
form the Malay literary heritage prose which were delivered through generations
by oral, such as the Hikayat Mara Karma, Hikayat Panca Tanderan and Hikayat Gul
Bakawali. Much of the stories were recompiled and republished into books,
driven by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, the national language society. Malay
romantic tales were also sourced from the Panji cycle of Hindu Java. There
were also several forms of Malay poetry, which are either in the form of pantun,
syair, gurindam and seloka and are still remain popular until today.
For the Orang Asli, literature was and still is constituted by accounts of
actual events. Different ethnic groups have different versions of the same
story, although there are several recurring themes and elements in every
tale. The cultural practices of the indigenous
people in Sarawak are shaped in part by oral traditions. Themes like the
relationship of the people to their past, particularly their ancestry, and
the spirit world, including its influence on the production of food and
health are the primary themes of the oral literature of various ethnic groups
in Sarawak. The recitation of oral literature is often accompanied by
rituals. The oral traditions of Sabah encompass
folk tales and legends, such as creation myths, that have been preserved by the
ethnic groups in the state. This oral literature is recited during ceremonies
conducted by priestesses, who serve as ritual specialists, faith healers and
spirit mediums. By the 19th century, oral literature on
the Malay peninsula was superseded by written literature. This was attributed
largely in part to the introduction of Islam to the Peninsula by the 15th
century and the adoption of the Jawi script as well as their surging fervor
of nationalism that had seeped through the intellectuals, educated in Turkey or
in Al-Azhar University, in Egypt. This tradition was influenced both by earlier
oral traditions and Islamic literature from the Middle East. Works during this
time ranged from theological literature that discusses religion as the crucial
solution towards social problems as well as colonialism and legal digests, to
romances , popular tales of Islamic prophets and even animal tales, which
were written in a number of styles ranging from religious to the Hikayat
form. The literary traditions of the Malay
sultanates were distinct in that scribes were hired to record the significant
events of the time. One important work of this period was Sejarah Melayu, which
was written during the era of the Malacca Sultanate, rewritten in 1536 and
revised in 1612. A surge of new, modern writers gave the
birth of what considered as a novelty then, in the form of novel and short
story. The colonialism and the increasing numbers of intellectuals
mainly educated in MPSI or MCKK had such profund impact throughout the
development of the two forms. First developed by Abdullah Munshi in his
Hikayat Pelayaran, it is developed more by the end of the 1920s and throughout
the 1930s. Much of the works were didactic in every sense, implementing
elements of religion and theology, and a critique of the social problems that
surfaced and deemed to halt such progresses of economic prosperity as
well as independence. In every sense, their novels often melancholic and
portrayed the Malay proletariat class in an idealistic manner, much driven with
realism as well as romanticism. Writers during this period were Abdul Rahim
Kajai, Harun Aminurrashid and to a lesser extent, Abdullah Sidek.
During the Japanese Occupation, literature were mainly driven with such
fervor of the Emperor of Japan and were published in magazines. Most of the
works centered about the strength of the Japanese Army and their successes, and
Japanese-induced nationalistic fervor. Not much of the novel, short story nor
poetry were written during this period, only a few remained from the 1930s such
as Ishak Haji Muhammad and Abdul Rahim Kajai.
Poetry Traditional Malay poetry was used for
entertainment and the recording of history and laws. There are three forms
of traditional Malay poetry: the mantera, the pantun and the syair.
Modern Malay poetry consists of the sajak.
List of writers See also
May 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969
Terengganu Inscription Stone Malaysian National Laureate
References Sastera Melayu
Adopted from Selected Poems and Short Stories Form 1 text book
Adopted from Selected Poems and Short Stories Form 4 text book
Adopted from Antologi Tingkatan 1 text book
Adopted from Antologi Tingkatan 2 text book
Adopted from Antologi Tingkatan 3 text book
Adopted from Antologi Tingkatan 4 text book
Adopted from Antologi Tingkatan 5 text book
= Additional sources = Quayum, Mohammad A., Malaysian
Literature in English: A Critical Reader. Kuala Lumpur: Pearson Education,
ISBN 983-74-1956-3. External links
Literature of Malaysia at The Encyclopedia of Malaysia
Tradition Malay Canonical Texts