207. THE FORGOTTEN DECADE: MALAY NEWSPAPERS OF THE 1930S
207.
Panel Title : THE FORGOTTEN DECADE: MALAY NEWSPAPERS OF THE 1930S
Convener : Timothy P Barnard
Chair : Timothy P Barnard
Discussant : Ian Proudfoot
Panel Abstract :
This panel will consider Malay newspapers as texts for the study of history and literature. The presentations will be based on material collected by the Jawi Transliteration Project, which has overseen the transliteration of 3000 Jawi articles into Romanized Malay and centred at the National University of Singapore in newspapers such as Majalah Guru, Majlis, Saudara, and Warta Malaya, which were published in Seremban, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Singapore respectively in the period prior to World War Two. These newspapers were key sites for a variety of debates ranging from the discourse on nationalism and economics while also playing an important role in the development of literary traditions in the region. In the process, the numerous uses of such materials, and how transliterations of their content will be made available to all scholars of the Malay world and the larger public, will be highlighted. In the process a better understanding of Malay writing and thought during the previously neglected period of the 1930s will be emphasized.
Participants :
Timothy P Barnard
Paper Title : Transliterating The Past: An Overview Of The Jawi Transliteration Project
Abstract :
This paper will provide a synopsis of the Jawi Transliteration Project by providing an overview of the goals of the project, its development since 2003, and its potential as a source for scholars. The author will explain the choice of newspapers, key figures in the newspaper world, the choice of materials and the future plans for the project. In the process, the role of such texts in providing a broader understanding of a variety of issues in the development of Malay consciousness will be highlighted.
Mark Emmanuel
Paper Title : Rethinking Malay Economic Nationalism
Abstract :
This paper will focus on new understandings of Malay economic nationalism, a subject that has received little treatment in the larger field of Malaysian historiography, as it is described in various newspapers from the 1930s. It argues that Malay economic nationalism should not be seen merely as a subset of political nationalism or as a reaction to the riots of May 1969. This paper argues that a new Malay economic discourse emerges in the 1930s because of a confluence of three factors: the trauma of the Great Depression, the threat of the bangsa asing (ethnic outsider) and the emergence of a vibrant newspaper publishing scene.
Henk Maier
Paper Title : Literature Around The Margins: Looking Beside The Article
Anstract :
This presentation will consider what is not seen in the articles transliterated in the Jawi Transliteration Project. By examining the content of the Jawi originals, the author will consider the context in which 1930s articles appeared. While the Project has emphasized the content of certain articles on a page, others have been left out. By examining the "untransliterated" regions of advertisements and other articles, a better understanding of the context of the period will be highlighted as well as the limitations of focusing solely on textual evidence.
Jan Van der Putten
Paper Title : Whispers Of The Future: The Origins Of Post-War Literature In 1930s Malay
Newspapers
Abstract :
The paper will focus on a number of important post-War Malay literary and nationalistic leaders who first worked in the Malay newspaper industry in the 1930s. Through an examination of their writings in newspapers such as Majlis and Warta Malaya, greater insight into the influences and concerns of the Malay intelligentsia during a key period in its twentieth-century development will be highlighted.
