Self and Society in Southeast Asian Fiction: Thematic Explorations in the Twentieth Century Fiction of FIve ASEAN Countries 9789814379595

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St:Lf AND SOCit:TY IN SOUTHt:AST ASIAN fiCTION Thematic Explorations in the Twentieth Century Fiction of Five ASEAN Countries

The Southeast Asian Studies Program (SEASP) was established in

December

Asia.

It

1976 aims

by

a

group

of

at

promoting

scholars

from

comparative

Southeast

research

and

writing on Southeast Asia by social science and humanities scholars

of

the

region.

composed

of

representatives

is

It

of

directed various

by

a

committee

countries

in

the

region, but it is based at and formally affiliated with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies was established as It ~s

an autonomous organization in May 1968. research

centre

concerned

with

multi-faceted

for modern

scholars

and

other

Southeast

Asia,

a regional specialists

particularly

the

problems of stability and security, economic

development, and political and social change.

~s

The Institute of

Trustees

Government, various

governed by a twenty-two-member Board

comprising the

Chambers

organizations.

National of A

nominees University

Commerce, ten-man

day-to-day operations;

from

and

of

the

Singapore,

professional

Executive

Singapore

Committee

and

the civic

oversees

it is chaired by the Director,

Institute's chief academic and administrative officer.

the

TEACHING AND RESEARCH EXCHANGE FELLOWSHIPS

St:Lf AND SOCit:TY IN SOUTHt:AST ASIAN fiCTION Thematic Explorations in the Twentieth Century fiction of five ASEAN Countries

Thelma B. Kintanar

JSEASPC

SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES PROGRAM INSTITUTE OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES

Published by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Heng Mui Keng Terrace Pasir Panjang Singapore 0511 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

© 1988 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

The responsibility for facts and opinions expressed in this publication rests exclusively with the author and her interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views or the policy of the Institute or its supporters. Cataloguing in Publication Data Kintanar, Thelma B. Self and society in Southeast Asian fiction: thematic explorations in the twentieth century fiction of five ASEAN countries. 1. Southeast Asian literature -- History and criticism. 2. Fiction --History and criticism. I. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. II. Title. PL 3508 K51 1988 ISBN 981-3035-09·9 Printed by Kin Keong Printing Co. Pte. Ltd.

To my family for their unstinting support in this project, as in everything else

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword Preface Acknowledgements

v~~~

X

xiii

I

Introduction

II

The Development of Modern Fiction in Southeast Asia A Brief Survey

16

III

The Individual and His Identities

42

IV

Alienation and Exile

83

V

Social Class and the Individual

129

VI

Commitment

173

VII

Conclusion

211

1

VIII Appendix

217

The Author

221

FOREWORD

The Southeast Asian Studies Program (SEASP) was established in

1976

in

response

to

a

need

to

promote

comparative

research and writing on Southeast Asia by scholars in the Social Sciences and Humanities. the

lack

of

appropriate

reference materials from

local,

tertiary

pertaining

though

Of particular concern was

not

to

level

the

teaching

region

necessarily

and

and

written

nationalistic,

perspectives. Towards the

first

series

this

end,

SEASP

three of these

of

initiated

focused on the

country-specific

volumes

Government; History; and World-Views. a

scheme

This

scheme

greater among

of

Teaching commenced

regional and

between

and in

scholars

preparation of a on

Ln

and

Politics

Exchange

in response

collaboration

activities:

and

The fourth comprised

Research 1982

four

teaching

Fellowships.

to

a

need

and

institutions

for

research

of

higher

learning. The

Exchange

Fellowships

have

enabled

not

only

qualified scholars to teach and undertake research in other Southeast Asian countries but also universities to acquire

Foreword

the

ix

teaching and

research services of scholars from other

Southeast Asian countries.

Moreover, each fellow has been

required to complete his or her research during the period ~n

stipulated

the

award.

This

publication

grew

out

of

this process. Needless

to

say,

this

work

could

not

have

been

completed without the co-operation of the host institution, Faculty

of

institution Department

Arts, of

the

of

fellow,

English

University of the to express

Silpakorn

our

University,

College and

to

Arts

System.

the

We

the

and

Comparative

Philippines

thanks

of

and

home

Letters,

Literature,

would also like

Stiftung Volkswagenwerk

for

its generous financial support to the Teaching and Research Exchange Fellowships as a whole. In

thanking

all

well

as

others who have

make

this

that

the

publication

our

benefactors

author,

as

in one way or another helped

to

possible,

responsibility

for

it the

and

~s

the

clearly understood

facts

and

opinions

expressed in Self and Society in Southeast Asian Fiction: Thematic Explorations Five

ASEAN

Countries

interpretations

do

not

in the Twentieth Century Fiction of rests

with

necessarily

the

author,

re fleet

and

the views

her and

policies of SEASP or its supporters.

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES PROGRAM

PREFACE

The need

for

cultures

and

Southeast

Asians

to

understand each other's

literatures is apparent and recognized.

The

formation of regional groups such as the ASEAN has further underscored

this

countries. in the

need,

especially

its

member-

Attempts have been made to forge cultural links

form of conferences,

various

among

forms

of

cultural

regional

literary prizes, and

exchange.

But

that these have not been enough -- the

it

seems

to me

lack of knowledge

and/or interest in the culture of each others' countries is widespread in the region. This study is, first of all, a personal response to a situation

which

has

repeatedly

Travelling

to

or

living

in

countries

such

as

Indonesia,

faced

various

much

like me

that

I

author.

Southeast

Thailand,

Malaysia, I marvel at the similarities:

this

Asian

Singapore,

and

people who look so

am often mistaken

for

one of

them;

flora and fauna so like those in my own country; problems and home.

frustrations Yet,

in

of day-to-day these

seemingly

often feel like a stranger.

life

similar

familiar

to

those

surroundings,

at I

In this situation, the need to

Preface

acquire

a

more

profound

knowledge

of

people has never been more apparent.

a

culture

and

its

To meet this need, I

have tried to study the literature of these countries as it reflects the people's values and concerns. This study is, secondly, a small attempt to contribute to the research efforts of scholars who are engaged in the study

of

Southeast

many,

most

of

Asian

them

literature.

coming

States, and Europe.

from

There

Australia,

There

is

no

dearth

of

of

the

Southeast

understandable, and

since to

United

Asian

studies,

there

acquire

countries

are

even a

but

seldom look at the other

than their

own, or make an attempt to compare them directly.

available

too

literature of the

country

Southeast Asian scholars and academics literature

not

Southeast Asian scholars are only now

beginning to interest themselves in the region.

are

very

few

This is

translations

rudimentary knowledge

of

the languages involved takes time. Finally, this study is an attempt to interest not only academics

but

the

Southeast Asia. presents

general

reader

in

the

literature

of

Fiction seems a good place to start as it

ordinary

people

working

out

their

lives

in

everyday circumstances.

Moreover, fiction is ubiquitous in

the

of

modern

parts

of

literatures the

world,

much

Southeast of

it

Asia.

is

As

written

1n

other

for

cheap

entertainment but much also deserves serious study. This

study

makes

no

claim

to

comprehensive or exhaustive.

In

to

Southeast

Asian

beginning.

But

the

study

considered

a

of

small

made, however limited therefore

beg

the

being

1n

any

the comparative approach fiction,

it

can

beginnings have

indulgence

for

be

to be

in scope or tentative in nature. reader's

way

I

whatever

xii

Preface

inadequacies are

to be found here.

I hope, however,

that

this work will serve to awaken or heighten his interest in Southeast

Asian

fiction.

As

I

try to demonstrate in the

following pages, it deserves his attention.

Thelma B. Kintanar

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to acknowledge the following institutions:

The

University of the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines, for allowing me to go on sabbatical leave in order to undertake this study.

The

Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, for giving me a visiting fellowship and allowing me full use of its library and other facilities.

The

Southeast Asian Studies Program based at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, for facilitating the Thai portion of this study through a Teaching and Research Exchange Fellowship.

Silpakorn University, Nakorn Pathom, Thailand, for welcoming me as a Visiting Senior Fellow and aiding my research on Thai fiction through interchange with its faculty and students.

The individuals -- friends, associates, and colleagues who helped make this study possible are too numerous to name here. ~.

To them, I owe what we Filipinos call utang na

a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid but is

here gratefully acknowledged.

I: INTRODUCTION

The

relationship between

reality underlies novel,

one

individual

experience and

social

the development of modern fiction.

of its

major forms,

The

developed at an important

juncture in the social and intellectual history of the West. When it emerged in approach

to

the eighteenth century,

experience,

as

expounded

by

the

individual

Descartes

and

others, was beginning to prevail; at the same time, society as constituted by an emerging and fast-growing middle class was becoming aware of itself and demanding a literary form that would reflect more closely and faithfully the life and 1 experience that it knew. Thus developing, the novel plunged into saw,

filtered

standpoint of

the life of society but in depicting what it social

the

individual

its characters and ultimately of

the author

who created them.

experience

In this sense,

through

the novel

truly reflects

the dynamic interaction between individual and society. It is not difficult to understand why the novel and its related form, the short story, have been readily adopted by countries in Southeast Asia and have gained prominence in the

present-day

literature

of

these

countries.

The

2

Southeast Asian Fiction

flexibility of story

enable

them

encompass

chronicle the

the

a

wide

range

in view of its

novel

human

origins and to

throes of societies in transition as is

the

Southeast Asian

is

of

sui ted

development,

case with

to

More important,

experience. early

the novel and the adaptability of the short

eminently

societies.

The

shift

from

a

communal society which is essentially simple and harmonious to a modern one which is more complex and dissonant, forces the individual to see himself apart from his society; at the same time, he feels even more greatly the need to understand it and to situate himself in it.

The novel responds to this

need. "The novel's

great virtue",

a

critic

has

remarked,

"lay in finding a way to combine the tragic concern for the 2 individual with the comic concern for society." Tragic in the sense that the individual must continually face the fact of his aloneness: dies

in

a

crowd.

"Man in this world is neither born nor He

comes

alone.

And

dies

alone • .,)

Confronting the awesome fact of his essential isolation can be, and often is, a fearful and terrifying experience. The comic concern for society, on the other hand, lies in the fact that in spite of the conflict situations which continually arise within it,

the larger movement of society

has always been toward harmonization and reconciliation of its individual members.

Similarly, the individual feels the

need

to his

to relate himself

fellow men

sense of isolation and aloneness.

to mitigate his

As "a social being

with

a deep need to share, to help, to feel as a member of a 4 group", it is natural for him to reach out to other men who may have similar needs, purposes, and desires.

The sense of

Introduction

community

3

thus

forged serves as a

rna trix within which he

articulates both his individual and social needs. The novelist explores the creative tension between the individual and society both as a source of themes and as a way

of

depicting

relationships

social

and

reality.

experience

through

consciousness of his characters, deeply

into

the

closer

to

critical

a

significance

Viewing the

social

individual

he is able to probe more

of

these

understanding

events

of

and

society

comes

than mere

observation and description of the social scene can provide. His

powers

of

observation

nonetheless important.

and

skill

at

description

are

They provide a context of external

circumstances and events which are recognizable as belonging to

the

world

of

actuality,

thus

verisimilitude

to

his

and

work

giving making

an

it

air the

of more

convincing. The

novel,

concern for in

with

its

immersion

in

society

the

patterns

relationship between

that

emerge

Asian experience,

for

they form

meaning and

changes in his society.

identity

part of

stability as

he

the

the

Some of

the Southeast individual's

responds

to

the

They are briefly explained below.

The Individual and His individual

from

the individual and society.

these pat terns seem particularly relevant to

for

its

the individual, has continually engaged itself

discovering

search

and

seems

communal societies of Asia,

Identities.

essentially

The concept of

Western.

In

the

the individual has never been

singled out for special attention.

Under Western influence

and the social changes and tensions this generated, however, man in Southeast Asia has the question of his

increasingly been confronted by

identity, in fact,

of his identities.

4

Southeast Asian Fiction

Comprising the individual's various identities are his human identity, essentially his sense of belonging

to

the human

race; his social identity, which arises from his membership in various groups that make up his society; and his unique, 5 personal sense of self. His human identity is the ground on which he builds his social identities, depending on the roles he is called upon to play as he interacts with fellow members of his society.

The more complex and fragmented (by

increasing specialization) his society, the more various and specialized these roles and the greater his need

to define

himself and create a self-identity to tie together and make sense of his multiple social selves.

Recognizing this, we

can see why the search for identity is a universal theme in the

individual's

attempt

to

understand

himself

and

his

society and why it is so compelling and pers is tent a theme in modern fie tion.

This is

true of fie tion in Southeast

Asia where multicultural societies and emerging nationalisms often

find

the

individual

at

sea

in

a

confusion

of

identities. Alienation and Exile. refers

to

Broadly speaking,

alienation

the different ways in which man is distanced or

distances himself from society.

From this point of view, we

may recognize two major forms of alienation: first,

that in

which a person is seen as essentially a victim of "social forces

[which] block the indi viduars quest for meaningful 6 existence", thus creating the situation described by the poet: This

"I, a stranger and afraid/ In a world I never made." is

the sort of alienation

suffered by the weak,

imposed from

7

without and

the poor, and the disadvantaged,

the

marginalized in society, although those in the centre may not necessarily be immune.

It should be noted that in many

Introduction

5

parts of Southeast Asia,

the marginalized make up a large

number of the population. On the other hand, there is the type of alienation in which the individual, unable to accept the collective values of his society, withdraws from it and refuses to participate in

the

social

process.

Such

is

the

alienation

of

the

intellectual, especially the young intellectual, which often manifests

itself

in

the

active

institution--family,

religion, 8 focus of his alienation. Closely

effect)

to

related

(in

alienation

circumstances

or

disaffection

with

relationship exile,

deliberately one's

of

the

government--which

the is

rejection

whether

chosen.

society

of

We

and

social is

the

cause

and

forced

by

can

"freely

see

how

chosen"

alienation can lead one to choose actual exile; on the other hand, geographical exile can lead to estrangement from one's society and cul ture--"you can' t

go home again."

Physical

exile, even after it has ceased to exist, becomes the symbol for

the

individual's

psychological

estrangement

from

his

culture.

The theme of exile is included here because it is

a

theme

major

in

the

fiction

of

one

of

the

countries

reviewed, the Philippines. The sense of alienation, however it manifests itself, is indubitably a part of the existential temper of our times and as such, finds expression in modern fiction, both of the West and of the East. Social Class and the Individual.

Social s tra tifica-

tion is present in practically all societies. s tra tifica tion

presupposes

inequality

The idea of

in social

relation-

ships, whether such inequality be in power, status, wealth, or all

three.

In the

traditional socie-ties of Southeast

6

Southeast Asian Fiction

Asia, stratification is seen primarily in terms of a social hierarchy which bestows status.

In the Western world,

it

was not until the nineteenth century that stratification was seen in terms of class. tia ted

from

emphasized

status, the

The concept of class, as differen-

is

primacy

usually of

the

at tri bu ted economic

political bases of stratification. ranking

based

on

ownership

of

to

Marx

over

the

who

socio-

He saw it primarily as a the

means

of

production.

Inequality in power and status, it follows, are derived from ownership of wealth.

With this comes a further distinction

between "class in itself", a circumstanced

with

respect

grouping of people similarly to

their

ownership

or

non-

ownership of wealth, and "class for itself", a grouping of people who are not only

aware of their common situation but

recognize their common interests and are prepared cancer ted action against their common opponent.

to

take

From this

point of view, there are only two classes in the true sense of

the

word:

production and have

no thing

struggle.

the

propertied

who

control

to

Even

century. societies,

lose and

now,

in

s tra tifica tion

groupings still persists. may be a

everything

to

gain

colonialism and/or

Awareness

in a

class

to

light of

social

a

of

in

those

the

rapid

glaring

the idea of class

to be recognized only in

in 10

sharp awareness

particularly

brought

of

9

the Marxian sense came

sense,

means

the masses who own nothing and consequently

In many Southeast Asian societies, in

the

number terms

of of

Southeast

traditional

this Asian

status

Alongside this, nevertheless, social class

in

societies where pace

defects

inequality

of in

and

the Marxian the

end

modernization the

its

social effects

of has

system. on

the

Introduction

7

individual and society is thus a major theme in the works of many Southeast Asian writers, particularly those who write out of social commitment. Commitment. represents

a

individual

and

Commitment as

more

positive

his

perceived

in

relationship

society.

Unlike

this

paper

between the

the

alienated

individual, the committed individual does not withdraw from society

nor

political

refuse

to

process.

participate

Perceiving

in

the

the

social

inadequacies

of

and the

existing social order, he may advocate change--such change as can be effected

gradually, within

the workings of

existing sys tern, or change of a more radical nature.

the The

individual impatient with the slow pace and limited extent of change from within the system may advocate revolutionary means, sometimes within the context of an ideology different from the prevailing one. bring

about

However much their views on how to

improvements

in

society

may

differ,

such

individuals are deeply committed to their respective visions of a more humane and just society, one.

certainly of a

better

These visions, as embodied in fiction, are part of our

concern. Although these literature,

themes have been played up in Western

they are universal

themes in the relationship

between man and society and occur often in the fiction of Southeast Asia.

It is interesting

forms

in

they

presence

or

take

absence

the of

fiction

to see

of

certain

each

themes,

the particular country. the

The

frequent

recurrence of others, and the distinctive ways or different guises

in which

they appear in

the

fie tion of a

country

imply much about the nature of that society and its culture.

8

Southeast Asian Fiction

The themes chosen for study may be recognized as key ideas in the social science disciplines, particularly those which

deal

with

collective.

human

behaviour,

both

individual

and

Indeed, the social sciences and literature both

attempt in their respective ways to shed light on the human condition and, increasingly, students of the social sciences and of literature are discovering that they can learn from each other.

The conceptualizations of the social sciences

have been helpful in providing a more solid background for the study of these themes, but it must be stressed that the works

discussed

literary rather

here

are

than a

approached

primarily

from

sociological point of view.

a

This

approach assumes that (1) literature and society are closely interrelated,

and

(2)

the

study of

society as

imaged

in

literature is very much within the province of the student of literature. The operative word here is "image" as opposed to fact. We

are

not

primarily

in teres ted

here

fiction", as one sociologist puts it, literature as "symptomatic evidence" s true ts. creates

11

in

"the

fact

in

nor in the work of

for sociological con-

Our interest lies rather in the way the author an

image

of

society

from

his

experience

and

observation, interpreting and illuminating for us aspects of that society and of social experience. Experience

in

the

real

world

is

often

chaotic,

fragmentary, and amorphous, constantly in a state of flux. The writer, by the use of the literary imagination, arrests significant moments of that experience and fashions an image which seems very much like reality but is more satisfying than reality in that it has order, unity, and, meaningfulness.

The writer gives us,

not a

therefore,

photographic

Introduction

9

representation of

reality

nor

a

"slice

of

life"

but an

interpretation of social life and experience as seen through his particular consciousness and sensibility. It

is

not

the

aim

of

literature

to

give

us

a

quantitatively valid or factually verifiable representation of reality but rather formulations of

to humanize and enrich our abstract

society,

to make us vividly aware of

infinite complexity of human and social relationships, show

us

appearance

that and

insight rather writer of

there

may

reality.

be

a

significant

In

short,

than information.

fie tion

it

gap

aims

to

the to

between give

us

to

the

We do not look

to give us value-free observations and

conclusions such as we may expect from a social scientist, but

to make us

see and

feel

society and a given culture.

the

"felt life"

of a

given

The well-written fiction of

the various countries in the region can make us understand what it is like

to belong to a

particular culture in our

region, affirming at the same time that, while we may have cultural differences, we share a common humanity. From another point of view,

fiction is important in

the society in which it is written.

People read a

great

deal of novels and short stories, mostly for entertainment, it is true, but even then, the effects can be more profound and longer lasting than mere escapism. fiction,

however

subtly

and

A successful work of

indirectly,

perceptions of our society and culture.

can

affect

our

It may confirm our

image of that society, thereby making us more secure in our feelings

about

our

culture

or

it

may

challenge

our

perceptions, causing us to rethink our views or to seek new understanding such as the work itself may provide.

10

Southeast Asian Fiction

To fully perceive the image of society presented in literature, The

literature must be studied on its

literary

qualities

of

given

solely

Mere content analysis is insufficient to extract the

work

can

controlling

principle by which

substance meaning. effectively by enable his

Content

in

if we view form as

the author

gives

his

In fiction, he projects his chosen theme

the manipulation of

work

communicating

yield.

literature is not separable from form, the

in

not

meaning.

meaning

essential

are

attributes

what

are

piece

terms.

aesthetic

fully

but

a

own

to make

its

formal

elements

total effect.

These

which formal

elements which may be broadly categorized into elements of structure

and

elements

of

style

are

not

necessarily

unfamiliar to the reader. The elements of structure would include such things as plot,

the dynamic ordering of events

relationship

and

presentation of

thus

draw

character to

out

to show their causal

their

significance;

the

reveal an individual's inner

life; and the choice of a point of

vi~,

the vantage point

from which the author tells his story. Under elements of style would come the use of language in special ways to convey nuances of meaning: word choice, sentence rhythm and phrasing, not a

matter of

rhetoric.

image, and metaphor. Richard Haggart,

It is

a well-known

student of literature and society, has pointed out that "by close attention to individual words and images, to stress, critic

can

to

the movement of each passage,

just

begin

to

make

assumptions

to syntax,

the literary about

each

au thor's sense of his audience and his society, about the assumed relations between literature and social class and 12 about other assumptions shared and unshared. " Irony and

Introduction

11

symbolism may be included here as well; other

forms

of

literature,

they

are

in fie tion as in important ways

of

extending and deepening meaning through implication rather than direct statement. These

formal

elements

aid

the

embellishing but in clarifying reality.

writer

not

in

They make possible

the novel, as Joseph Conrad so forcefully defines it: "What is a novel if not a conviction of our fellow-men's existence strong enough to take upon itself a form of imagined life clearer than reality and whose accumulated verisimilitude of selected episodes puts to shame the pride of documentary his tory?" 13 The novel does not attempt to document society directly, but it informs our understanding of it, enlarging our

sympathies

and

ordering

our

vague,

indistinct

impressions of human experience, both individual and social, into a sense of the whole. In selecting the works of fiction studied here, it has not been possible to make a thorough or exhaustive survey of the fiction of each country. limited to

The works discussed have been

those which develop the chosen themes,

but as

mentioned earlier, quite a large number of works deal with these

themes

in one way or another.

Whenever possible,

therefore, literary significance and representativeness have been

used

as

a

basis

for

narrowing

down

the

choices.

Existing literary and critical histories of the literature and/ or fie tion of each country have been helpful as have interviews with country experts.

Attention has been given

to winners of literary awards and prizes, both national and regional, and the bases for awarding these prizes, as a way of singling out significant fiction.

12

Southeast Asian Fiction

The

availability

consideration.

of

translations

has

been

another

All Tagalog works discussed here were read

in the original, as were Malay, Indonesian, and Thai works for which there are no existing translations.

Otherwise,

translations were used to facilitate the reading of a large number of novels and short stories and to call the attention of the potential reader to those works which are available in English. There

is,

unfortunately,

an

appalling

lack

of

translations into English of modern Southeast Asian fiction. In the region, Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd. has been

most

active

in

the

publication

Southeast Asian literatures. Press

has

published

and

translation

of

The University of Queensland

translations

of

Thai

and

Indonesian

fiction in its Asian and Pacific Writing series while Oxford University

Press,

based

in

Kuala

Lumpur,

has

published

translations of Malaysian novels and short stories. In the individual countries themselves, translation is proceeding slowly.

In Thailand,

several

of

collections

short

a

few major novels

stories

are

available

and in

English translation while in Malaysia, the Dewan Bahasa dan Pus taka (Council on Language and Literature) has translated and published a stories. that

few

novels

exist

are

those

of

of

short

Indonesian

fie tion.

In

this

the name of Harry Aveling must be mentioned.

However controversial his bring

two collections

Perhaps the largest number of English translations

connection,

to

and

Indonesian and,

translations, to

a

14 he has done much

lesser

extent,

Malaysian

fiction to the attention of a wider reading public. In Singapore which is a multilingual society, fiction is written in Chinese, Malay, Tamil, and English.

Very few

Introduction

13

translations have been made of literature in the first three languages, although recently, a collection of Chinese prose and poe try in translation (along with the original Chinese texts)

has

come

out.

No

novels

appear

to

have

been

translated so far. In the Philippines, there is a flourishing literature in

English

and

international

some

works

recognition

of

in

that

fiction

have

language.

gained However,

fiction in English is only a tributary to the main stream of Philippine fiction. vernaculars,

There is a large body of fiction in the

with

Tagalog

fie tion in Spanish.

predominating,

not

to

mention

Two major novels in the his tory of

Philippine fiction, those of Dr Jose Rizal, are in Spanish, although

English

available. are

and

Tagalog

translations

are

widely

Translations of vernacular fiction are few; they

usually

found

in

M.A.

or

Ph.D.

theses

which

are

accessible only to interested specialists. The works

studied here are discussed according

theme and grouped by country.

to

When a work written in one

country bears striking thematic similarities to a work from another country, comparison

both are

occurs.

obviously closely

The

discussed where themes

chosen

the for

need

for

study

are

interrelated and may overlap;

cases, a work may develop more than one major theme.

in some If so,

a work discussed in one chapter may again be discussed in another, from a different point of view. are in tended picture of

to enrich each other and

the work concerned.

The discussions to give a

In general,

fuller

this study,

through the following chapters, hopes to demonstrate that fiction

plays

workings

of

a

part

society

in by

helping

us

to

filling

in

the

understand gaps

in

the our

14

Southeast Asian Fiction

apprehension of

reality,

both social and

serving as "literary witness

individual,

and

to the fullness of a

society's life".

Notes

1.

See Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964), pp. 9-34.

2.

Robert Scholes and Robert Kellogg, The Nature of Narrative (London: Oxford University Press, 1966),

p.zn.3.

Pramoedya Ananta Toer, "No Night Carnival," in A Heap of Ashes, ed. and trans. Harry Aveling (Queensland: University of Queensland Press, 1975), p. 159.

4.

Erich Fromm, The Sane Socie t_y (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1956), p. 140.

5.

See Joseph Juhasz, "Social Identity in the Context of Human Personal Identity," in Studies in Social Identity, ed. Theodore R. Sarbin and Karl E. Scheibe (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1983), pp. 289 ff.

6.

Gilbert Abcarian and Monte Palmer, Society in Conflict (San Francisco: Canfield Press, 1974), p. 168.

7.

A. E. Housmann, Last Poems, IV.

8.

See Kenneth Keniston, The Uncommitted (New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1962), for a full study of alienated youth and a clear exposition of alienation as an attitudinal stance.

9.

R.K. Kelsall and Helen M. Kelsall, Stratification: An Essay on Class and_Ine3uality (London: Longman Group, 1974), pp. 18-24.

10.

See, for instance, A. Kahar Badur, "Social Rank, Status-Honour and Social Class Consciousness Amongst the Malays", in Modernization in South-east Asia, ed.

Introduction

15

Hans-Dieter Evers (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1975), pp. 132-149. 11.

Joan Rockwell, Fact in Fiction: The Use of Literature in the Systematic Study of Societ (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1974 • This is nevertheless a very useful book in showing how values and attitudes in society are illuminated by their use as themes in fie tion.

12.

"Literature and Society" in Speaking to Each Other, Vol. II, (London: Chatto and Windus, 1970), p. 34.

13.

A Personal Record (1912), Chapter 1, quoted in Miriam Allot, Novelists on the Novel (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1959), p. 76.

14.

See, for instance, Umar Junus, "Ziarah and The Pilgrim: A Comprehensive Review", Kertas Data, no.S, Jabatan Pengajian Melayu, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, August 1976. Harry Aveling talks about his translations and the difficulties he has encountered in "Flowers in the Sky: Reflections on Translating Indonesian and Malay Literature", in The Writer's Sens~~f the Contemporary, ed. Bruce Bennett, Ee Tian Hong, and Ron Shepherd (The Center for Studies in Australian Literature, University of Western Australia, 1982), pp. 55-58.

II: THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN FICTION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA--A BRIEF SURVEY

One

can

identify

instrumental in

certain

basic

factors

which

were

the development of modern fie tion in many

countries of Southeast Asia, namely: 1.

Increasing contact with

interest in its culture.

the West and a

growing

The colonization of many countries

of Southeast Asia by the West was an important agent in this contact.

Thailand, although not colonized, nevertheless was

under political and economic pressure and felt compelled to acquaint itself with Western thought and culture. 2.

The presence of certain social conditions as a

result of

this contact.

More specifically,

this refers to

the introduction of printing technology and the development of

journalism,

concomitant

with

the

broadening

of

the

educational base and the growth of a reading public. 3. which

The

linked

existence the

new

of

traditional

forms

to

the

narrative

indigenous

forms

literary

tradition. In spite of emerged

and

the fact that the novel and short story

developed

at

a

time

when

Southeast

Asian

societies came under the increasing influence of the West,

17

Development of Modern Fiction

it would

be a

mistake

to

consider

them as

no

copies of Western models imposed from without. their

development

in

these

countries,

more

than

A survey of

however

brief

and

sketchy, would nevertheless show that there was a merging of influences--traditional and modern, indigenous and foreign-and that the course of that development in each country was primarily influenced by the social and cultural setting. Malaysia, historical,

Indonesia,

and

geographical

and

Singapore. ties

Cultural,

bind

Malaysia

to

Indonesia, on the one hand, and to Singapore, on the other. Until 1965, the history of Malaysia (then Malaya) up with the history of Singapore. in

Malay

e.g.,

literary

the

development

formation

of

the

was tied

In fact, important events took

place

Angkatan.

in

Singapore,

Sasterawan

(Generation of Young Writers of the Fifties), Asas short,

a

modern

population of

literary

movement.

Singapore was

For

'50 for

although

predominantly Chinese,

'50

the

it had

its historical beginnings as a Malay settlement and later, was

linked

to

the

Straits Settlements.

Malay

states

as

part

of

the

British

Moreover, in view of its position as a

port of embarkation and disembarkation for Muslims going on pilgrimage to Mecca, it became a centre for Islamic thought and teaching,

the cultural centre of the Malay world in the 1 nine teen th century. From

a

Malaysia and

literary

point

of

view,

the

Indonesia are equally strong,

and culturally.

links

between

linguistically

Modern Indonesian literature is written in

Bahasa Indonesia which is based on the Malay language, and modern literature in both countries may be said common origin.

2

to have a

18

Southeast Asian Fiction

Modern Malay fie tion (both Malaysia)

is said

that of Indonesia and of

to have originated from

the

tradi tiona!

hikayat, a prose narrative of a romantic cast.

In spite of

their

present-day

closely

linked

origins,

however,

the

literature of Indonesia and Malaysia followed distinct lines of

development

determined

by

the

social

and

historical

context of their respective cultures. A major influence on the development of modern Malay fie tion was

the work of Abdullah bin Abdul

(1797-1856), a Malay of Arab-Indian descent. in

Malacca

and

later

in

Singapore

Kadir

Munshi

Abdullah lived

which

were

both

cosmopolitan societies (Malacca was a bustling en trepo t of monsoon

Asian

trade

even

before

the

penetration

of

Europeans, and continued to be so under Portuguese and Dutch rule and later, with Singapore and Penang, under the British Straits

Settlements).

However,

he

travelled

widely

throughout the Malay archipelago and recorded his personal observations and criticisms of traditional Malay society in two works:

Hikaya t Abdullah (The Story of Abdullah) and a

travelogue of his voyage

to Kelan tan and Trengganu, Kesah

Pelayaran Abdullah (The Voyage of Abdullah). have

been

described

by

literary

his tor ian

His writings Mohammad

Osman as • • • the forerunner of modern Malay literature, not so much because of the style of his language which has shed much of the language cliches to be found in the tradi tiona! Malay literature, but more because of the content and subject rna tter of his major works which deal with the writer's description and observation of contemporary everyday events and happenings and his comments on them •.•. Abdullah did not write novels, nor did he make any attempt to experiment with new forms of verse, but he did

Tai b

Development of Modern Fiction

19

introduce an innovation to Malay writings of his time by writing about the things around him which he saw and took notice of, and by expressing his views and critic ism, especially of the state of affairs prevailing among his people. This touch of individualism and realism in writing was new to the world of Malay 1i tera tute which had all the time been a literature of the court and a literature dwelling in the realm of superhuman princes and princess3s and the creatures of the heavenly kingdom.

It was not until began to appear.

the 1930s

that the earliest novels

An adaptation of an Egyptian work, Hikayat

Faridah Hanum (The Story of Faridah Hanum), by Syed Sheikh Al-Hady

appeared

preponderance

of

(palace Malay), and,

in

Perhaps

in

hikaya t

Although

elements

and

it

uses

contains Is tana

a

Malay

it confronted contemporary social problems

this respect, the

1926.

has

the characteristics of a novel.

first original novel by a Malay writer using

Malay characters

in a

con temporary Malay setting is Kawan

Benar (True Friend) by Ahmad bin Abdul Rashid which appeared in 1929. It was

also

in

the mid-1920s

that

the

first

short

stories appeared, primarily on the pages of newspapers.

As

elsewhere, the development of journalism played an important part in the development of fiction in Malaysia. Mohd.Taib

notes that the short story "did not grow out of

any conscious effort at creating a new literary rather

In fact,

out

of

a

journal is tic

endeavor

genre, but to

entertaining reading in the columns of newspapers"

provide (p. 8).

Nevertheless, these short stories known as cerita or cerita pendek,

later

shortened

didactic nature,

to

written for

cerpen,

were

generally

of

the moral edification of

a the

20

Southeast Asian Fiction

reader,

with

no

literary merit.

apparent In fact,

short stories seems

attention

given

to

attaining

the main aim of both novels and

to have been the inculcation of moral

and religious lessons.

The novel as well as the short story

had very little literary intent;

Mohd. Taib stresses

that

their appearance was "more a by-product of a socio-religious awakening in society"

(p.4),

rekindle

spirit

the

influence

Islamic

of

Western

part of a general attempt to to

counter

culture.

the

Moreover,

encroaching fiction

and

literature in general was singularly uninfluenced by either serious

English

literature

or

the

literary

ferment

in

neighbouring Indonesia which was taking place at the time. After World War II, a new literary consciousness came into being.

The establishment of a

strong Department of

Malay Studies at the University of Malaya in Singapore and the organization of Asas resurgence

and

'50 gave impetus

established

a

climate

literary discussion and experimentation.

to this literary which

stimulated

The slogan of Asas

'50 was "Art for Society" and although writers continued to write about social not neglected. the

post-war

problems,

artistic considerations were

One of the first major novels to emerge in period

is

Salina

by

A.

Samad

Said.

Its

realistic portrayal of everyday life, fuller presentation of character, and the absence of a didactic or moralizing tone are characteristic of the new literary movement. in the development of Keris Mas

Similarly,

the short story during this period,

stands out for his

insight and keen perception

which goes underneath the surface of Malay society to show us the truth as he sees it. With the coming of independence to Malaya,

Kuala

Lumpur established

the Federation of

itself as

the

centre of

Development of Modern Fiction

modern Malay literature. been very

instrumental

21

The Dewan Bahasa Dan Pus taka has

fie tion and

in encouraging modern

other forms of literature by publishing the works of new and established writers and by the awarding of literary prizes. Among are

the newer writers who have distinguished

Shahnon

peasant

Ahmad,

life

are

a

novelist whose

both

novels

compassionate

themselves

of Malaysian

in

outlook

and

compelling in narrative power, and Anwar Ridhwan, a short story

writer

who,

among

others,

has

successfully

used

experimental and innovative techniques to suit the Malaysian experience. In

tracing

the

development

of

modern

fiction

in

Malaysia, the foregoing discussion has focused on literature written in Malay, as it developed out of indigenous Malay literary tradition.

In Malaysia, this has been put forward

as the national literature or at least as the base for the 4 development of a Malaysian national literature. It must be no ted

however

that Malaysian

multicultural.

Malays

society

comprise

a

multiracial

is

little

more

than

and

50

per cent of the population of peninsular Malaysia, Chinese approximately 35 per cent, and Indians approximately 12 5 per cent. Literature is thus written in Chinese, Tamil, as well

as

in

"sectional

English

by

literatures,"

the

English

although

educated.

they

may

These

be

seen

as

outside the mainstream of Malaysian literature, should not be overlooked for what they contribute to our understanding of the only

to tal Malaysian experience.

have

access

translations literature attention.

of in

to

Chinese

which

English,

there

Unfortunately, we can

and

Tamil

are

however,

very

commends

fiction few;

through Malaysian

itself

to

our

22

Southeast Asian Fiction

In Indonesia, although there is a great diversity of regional groups, all of

them

Chinese) are ethnic Malay.

(with the exception of

the

Each region has rich literary

traditions of its own but it has been possible to create a new literary

tradition by the establishment of a national

language, Bahasa Indonesia, the linguistic embodiment of the spirit of

Indonesian

nationalism.

The

Bahasa Indonesia as a national language

establishment

of

took place in 1928.

But before a modern Indonesian literature could develop in the new language, a reading public had to be created. job was done literature,

in large measure by

Balai

Pus taka,

the bureau for

The

popular

which was established by

the

Dutch government in 1908 to collect and publish traditional literature, translate Western literary works, and make these available

to

books tore s. encouraged facilities works.

the

public

Equally budding for

the

through

important

its

was

Indonesian

libraries

the

by

writers

publication and

fact

and

that

it

providing

distribution of

their

In his Modern Indonesian Literature, A. Teeuw says

that "it is no exaggeration to state that the coming in to being of the modern Indonesian novel and its popularity, was largely made possible through the existence of Balai Pustaka 6 and the enlightened policy of its successive directors." The

earliest

novels

appeared in the early 1920s.

published

by

Balai

Pustaka

Azab dan Sengsara (Torment and

Misery) by Merari Siregar, considered by Teeuw "the first original novel", came out in 1921, closely followed by Marah Rusli 1 s Si tt~ Nurbaja (the girl)

in 1922.

A basic

title refers

theme of

to

the name of a

these and other novels

written in this period is the clash between the traditional and

the

new,

of ten

represented

by

the

conflict

be tween

23

Development of Modern Fiction

generations,

especially

with respect

spouse.

Young people,

the adat

(Malay customs and

choose

their

pressures

life

of

parents.

however hard

partners

traditional

to

the

choice

of a

they struggle against

traditions), but have

society as

are not free

to

bow

down

represented

to

by

to the

their

More broadly, the theme is one which is to persist

in the development of

the Indonesian novel:

the individual caught between

two worlds,

the dilemma of the old and

the

new. The novels mentioned above were all written in Bahasa Indonesia.

In the development of this language to encompass

the Indonesian experience, Pudjangga Baru (The New Poet), a literary/cultural

periodical

intellectuals--Takdir

founded

Alisjahbana,

their own writings but also dynamic

spirit

into

three

Armijn

Hamzah--played an important role.

new,

by

Pane,

writerand

Amir

It published not only

that of others and infused a the

development

of

modern

Indonesian literature in the period before World War II. During

World War

II,

with

the

suppression

of

the

Dutch language by the Japanese, Bahasa Indonesia solidified its

gains

and

language and The

became

firmly

established as

national

the language of modern Indonesian literature.

Japanese

encouraged

writing

in

Bahasa

subjected it to strict censorship, so little

literary

writer,

Idrus,

Indonesian

the

activity. emerged

prose

style.

at

Indonesia

but

there was relatively

In

fiction,

this

time

His

terse

the

and

short

story

revolutionized

style,

realistic

description, and concrete images fix indelibly in our minds the

impressions

time.

of

life

in Indonesia

during

the Japanese

24

Southeast Asian Fiction

After the war and the establishment of the republic in 1945, a number of new writers emerged.

The term Angkatan 45

(Generation of 45) was used loosely to designate the writers who were active during the period of independence, although there was

some controversy about

the

use of

this

label.

Among the novelists who came in to prominence at this were Achdiat Karta Mihardja, Ananta Toer.

The last

time

Mochtar Lubis, and Pramoedya

was active for some time in Lekra, a

cultural organization with a Marxist orientation. associated with Lekra challenged

the

ideal

of

Writers "universal

humanism" put forward by some writers of the Angka tan 45 and called for a literature that was more deeply roo ted in the common people. The novelists mentioned above were also prolific short story writers.

In

fact,

it was

the

short

story which

flourished during this period in part perhaps because it was the form in which Indonesian literature was most accessible to

the

public

magazines.

publication

in

journals

and

Perhaps another reason for the popular! ty of the

short story unwieldy

through

as

than

a

genre

the

was

novel;

the

its

fact

that

compactness,

it was

less

brevity,

and

flexibility allowed the writer to deal with much more of the richness and variety of Indonesian contemporary life. The year 1966 is seen as marking a new, vi tal period in

Indonesian

literature.

Literary

historians

attribute

this to various factors, among them "greater opportunities 7 for creative freedom and expression" through the establishment activities

of

as

several

well

as

cultural

increased

foundations sponsorship

and of

their

creative

writing by both government and private ins ti tu tions in the form

of

grants

and

awards.

Two

main

streams

of

prose

25

Development of Modern Fiction

fiction may be recognized at this time: serious.

Popular

fie tion

refers

the popular and the to

fie tion

written

essentially for entertainment, addressed primarily to women 8 and young people, and available through the mass media. It would not do, single glance, bulk

of

however, for

a

this

various reasons:

Indonesian

necessarily

to dismiss

reading

new

material;

phenomenon

traditional literature;

(1)

but

may

fie tion without a it comprises

the

(2)

not

it

have

and (3) a number of

is links

to

these novels

are in themselves worthy of serious attention. In the case of serious fiction, we have novelists both old and new who write in the conventional modes of realistic fie tion.

Outs tanding among the newer short story writers is

Umar Kayam,

a

professional sociologist whose

have helped

sharpen his

training may

insight into Indonesian character

and culture. An indication of the state of so phis tica tion at which Indonesian

fiction

has

arrived

is

the

not

insignificant

presence of avant garde writers on the literary scene:

the

short story writers Budi Darma and Danarto who write of the absurd

but

novelists

root

Iwan

respective

it

in

Indonesian

Sima tupang

ways

deal

and

with

Putu the

experience Wijaya

theme

who of

and in

the their

existential

alienation. These

trends

in modern

Indonesian

fie tion could be

indicative of the fact that as Indonesian writers of fie tion become more sophisticated in their outlook and

techniques,

they become more open to international literary influences. But one could just as well link these tendencies, especially the concern with the absurd,

to the strong mystical strain

in

(three

the

Javanese

character

of

the

four

writers

26

Southeast Asian Fiction

mentioned

are

Javanese),

supporting

the

claim

made

throughout this chapter that modern fiction in the countries discussed here is not a

simple rna tter of copying clearly

Western forms but is more a case of local writers responding to

outside

influences

in

temper, reshaping these

the

context

to express

of

the

indigenous

their individual points

of view as shaped by their respective cultures. As we have seen, in spite of the cultural diversity in Indonesia, language

there which

is

ethnic

makes

literary tradition.

it

homogeneity and

possible

to

one

develop

national

a

unified

Such is not the case in Singapore which

is a multiracial and multilingual society, the ethnic groups comprising literary

it

having

dis tine t

traditions.

separate

and

is

Literature

cultural

written

in

and four

languages: Chinese, which has a common written literary form for

the various Chinese

regional languages

majority

ethnic

Chinese;

language;

Tamil,

which serves as a

Indian ethnic

groups;

English educated.

and

Malay,

English,

which

spoken by

is

the

national

lingua franca which

is

the

used

for

the

by

the

The literature of one language group is

not accessible to the others, unless it is translated into English and then only to the English educated. There are a of

the

few

literature in Chinese which had its

Singapore in 1919. been

translations available, particularly

translated

beginnings

The short stories and poems

reveal

the

tradition, but increasingly

influence of

Chinese

in

that have literary

the newer writers reflect the

influence of modern literature and their awareness of being Singaporean as

they respond more and more to the real! ties

of life in Singapore.

Development of Modern Fiction

27

Writing in Tamil does not seem to abound but consists mas tly

of

short

television.

stories,

poems,

and

plays

pre sen ted

on

Translations of a few short stories and poems

are available in some anthologies, but there are not enough of

these for anyone not familiar with

the language

to be

able to judge the general character of that literature. Malay literature in Singapore properly begins only in 1965 when it separated from Malaysia.

Previous to this, the

development of Singapore Malay literature is

identical

to

the early development of modern Malay literature, discussed above.

Singapore was in fact the centre of Malay literary

development in the first half of this century.

But Malay

literary activity in Singapore began to decline after granting of 1957. the

independence

to

the

Federation of

the

Malaya

in

Many Malay writers moved to Kuala Lumpur which became new

literary

centre.

Consequently,

there

was

very

little activity in the sixties, save for the publication of a few poems and short stories.

In the seven ties, with the

establishment of the Hadiah Sasterah (literary award), more poetry and short stories as well as novels were produced. Several novels

were published in

the

period from

1976

9

to

1982 which some critics have seen as essentially for popular 10 consumption, with very little claim to literary merit. They do,

however,

reflect some of

society in Singapore, values and mores

namely,

the

the

concerns

eros ion of

of Malay

traditional

under the onslaught of modern ways, and

the need to hold on to Islamic ethic and religion to counter this.

Only

recently,

a

conference

of

Malay writers

in

Singapore took up as its main theme the need for more novels to be written.

Southeast Asian Fiction

28

Literature in English developed comparatively late in Singapore.

Its beginnings are associated with the founding

of the University of Malaya in Singapore in the late 1940s and

the

publication

followed.

of

student literary magazines

which

Most of the output was in poetry and it remained

with the poets to try to fashion the English language into a more

flexible

reality. Hochs tad t

shape

Prose

that would accommodate

was

published

slow

in

developing.

The Compact,

stories written at

the

his

Singapore

When

Herman

collection of

short

the University of Malaya from 1953

to

1959, he complained that the difficulty lay not so much in "the large amount of rna terial to choose from but [in] the 11 limited choice available". And when Robert Yeo took up the

task

Stories,

in

his

covering

two-volume the

an tho logy,

period

Singapore

1960-1967,

he

saw

Short mainly

"variety" and "disparateness" among the stories rather than 12 the beginnings of a unified tradition. In the last five years, however, the short story in English has gained polish and rna turi ty.

Several of the authors represented in Yeo's

collection have collections, Asiaweek

to publish

young

Singaporean

and

short

well-written

gone on

story and

competition

well-crafted

their own short story writers

two

have

times

stories

won

the

running

with

depicting

the

Singapore experience. One unfortunately cannot say the same of To date,

few novels

have

the novel.

been written in English and of

those, very few are competently written.

By "competently

written" is meant that which shows clarity in its grasp of theme and

character and

structurally weak.

is

not stylistically awkward

or

Still, many of the promising writers of

fiction are young and from them will surely emerge those who

Development of Modern Fiction

29

are capable of transforming their experience and vision into sustained works of fiction. To continue in the realm of speculation, if a national literature were to develop in Singapore, perhaps it would do so in English which does not belong to any racial group but is

accessible

to

all,

given

the

government's

bilingualism (i.e., English plus mother tongue).

policy

of

In fact,

as reported in the Straits Times, "all pupils in Singapore will be taught English as their first language by 1987.

In

a new 'national stream,' mother tongues will be the second language. ,.l3

If

this

policy

is

followed

in

the

next

ten

years, we may expect practically everyone in Singapore to be English-educated. national

In view of this,

literature

in English

is

the possibility of a not far-fetched.

The

challenge would lie in extending the possibilities of the language

to

bring

together

cultural

traditions

in

the

strands

from

expression

of

the

different

distinctively

Singaporean concerns. Philippines.

It may be possible to find links between

modern Filipino fie tion and indigenous literary tradition. Unfortunately, the tradition is a discontinuous one and, in the pre-Spanish period, largely oral.

When it re-emerged in

the seventeenth century after years of suppression by the Spanish colonizers, tradition, religion

it developed

assimilating of

the

elements

conquistadores

in the from

form of a the

hybrid

culture

(conquerors).

A

and major

narrative form which existed in pre-Spanish times was

the

folk epic, many of which have fortunately been retrieved and recorded.

Even in the epic, as recorded, however, we see

Spanish accretions.

For

name),

recorded

the

earliest

instance,

Lam-ang

epic,

has

(the a

hero's

Christian

Southeast Asian Fiction

30 invocation

and

uses

characters,

no

doubt

Christian to

make

names it

for

more

some

palatable

of

the

to

the

Catholic missionaries and a Christianized audience. The new narrative forms which developed reflect the emphasis

on

the

missionaries

Christian

and

entertainment.

the

The

religion

inculcated

Filipinos'

first

new

sheer

form

to

by

the

love

emerge

for the

in

seventeenth century was the pasyon, a narrative recounting of

the life of Christ from his

(i.e., form

his

crucifixion

the passion of Christ, hence "pasyon").

The other

is

the

metrical

romance,

birth

known

to

locally

as

awi t

or

corrido (distinguishable by minor differences of form and content),

which

made

its

century.

Having stated

appearance

what these

in

forms

the

reflect of

culture of the Filipinos, we need to qualify. been

shown

teaching important

that,

religion role

in

apart and the

nineteenth

It has since

from

the

conventional

morals,

the

pasyon

life

of

the

the

aims

played

common

of

a

more

people.

By

presenting Christ as the model of the true leader come to deliver his served

to

people

from a

inspire and

to

world of provide a

evil and model

for

misery,

it

mass-based

revolutionary movements seeking to bring about a better and more

just society.

The leaders

of

these

movements were

charismatic men who emerged from the masses and were seen as 14 Christ figures by their followers. Similarly,

the awi t and corrido, with their aura of

fairy tale romance and their stories of high-born characters living in a golden world where love and virtue invariably triumphed

over

evil,

have

been

regarded

as

allegorical

disguises for showing up the evils of colonial society.

An

example is Florante at Laura by Francisco Baltazar, one of

Development of Modern Fiction

31

the best known corridos in Philippine literature.

Submerged

in these narrative forms were the traditions of prates t and social consciousness which to this date are a strong part of the

fie tiona!

impulse.

They are

manifestations

of

the

strong didactic strain in the Filipino temper which impelled the

development

of

narrative

forms

in

the

Philippines,

including modern ones such as the novel and the short story. In

the

same

didactic

mode

forerunners of the novel. or

polemical

framework,

manner

the

use

the

more

immediate

These prose works of a religious

which,

of

were

by

dialogue,

virtue and

of

the

a

narrative

presentation of

character, however minimal, may be said to have anticipated 15 the novel. Apart

from

Ninay,

a

romantic

novel

depicting

Philippine customs and mores written by Pedro Paterno

1885, Noli Me Tangere (1887) by Jose Rizal, national hero, novel.

is considered

Although

this

in

the Philippine

the first important Filipino

novel,

and

its

sequel,

El

Filibusterismo (1891), were written in Spanish and published in Europe, they were not directed at a Spanish audience but were written expressly for

the

Filipino people.

Given

their nationalistic thrust and their exposure of the ills of colonial society, it was certainly them in the Philippines. by Filipinos, the

Western

perfect

not possible to publish

Unlike anything previously written

they are full-blown examples of the novel in realist

tradition.

mastery

of

the

It

is

real is tic

perhaps

Rizal' s

technique

as

demonstrated in these novels which has caused some to remark that

the

Filipino novel

from the head of Zeus.

emerged

full-grown,

like Minerva

But our brief view of the native

1i terary tradition shows that Rizal may be located in this

32

Southeast Asian Fiction

tradition, although the compelling force of his motivation, aided

by his

great

talent enabled

him

to

take what one

historian has called a "qualitative leap". The development of the novel after Rizal

took place

mainly in the vernaculars, particularly Tagalog.

With the

turn of

the century and the shift of power from the hands

of

Spanish

the

interlude

of

to

that of

Philippine

the

Americans

independence),

(with a

brief

censorship

relaxed and periodicals increased accordingly.

was

This allowed

the Tagalog novel to develop at a brisk and vigorous pace. Two

major

themselves tendency

tendencies in

the

towards

development romance and

awareness and realism. themes were

the

established of the

earlier

the

manifested

Tagalog novel:

tendency

towards

the

social

Love, marriage, and other domestic

purview of

the

roman tic

novel as

in

the

novels of Valeriano Hernandez Pena, while the plight of the lower classes, current social issues, and a strong tendency towards socialism were to be found in the social novel, as 16 pioneered by Lope K. Santos. Attempts to combine the two were

not always

successful,

but as

the

novelist

gained

mastery of his craft, he was able to integrate his social concern into a love plot, as in the case of Faustino Aguilar and later, Lazaro Francisco.

During

this

period,

popular

novelists increased in number and were published in Liwayway and other leading Tagalog periodicals. Meanwhile, as Filipinos gained mastery of the English language,

they

began

to

produce

fiction

in

English.

Filipino skill and artistry were first apparent in the short story, as in the finely etched descriptions of rural life by Manuel Arguilla. were A.B.

Among other notable short story writers

Rotor and

Francisco

Arcellana.

The

novel

in

Development of Modern Fiction

33

English appeared in the 1920s but it was not till 1940 that a novel with sufficient rna turi ty and polish was published. This was His Native Soil by Juan C. Laya.

At around this

time, Tagalog fiction began to show the influence of modern techniques.

Deogracias A. Rosa rip,

a

short story writer

introduced the "stream of consciousness" technique, using it in his short fie tion. After World War II,

Tagalog fie tion and

English took divergent roads. been addressed publication and

to a

Tagalog fiction had always

mass audience,

distribution being

its

chief

the

popular

whose editors knew what their audience wanted. fiction of a romantic nature continued significant

development

in

fie tion in

Tagalog

outlet for magazines

Much popular

to be written, but

fiction

was

in

direction of increased social awareness and realism. as

writers

gained

in

technique.

increased

in

so·cial

rna turity

of

outlook

This

was

consciousness, and

particularly

writers who were university

the Even

they also

sophistication

true

of

the

of

younger

trained and widely exposed

to

new trends and techniques in fie tion which they integra ted into their social concerns. Compared to Tagalog fiction, fiction in English had a much more

limited audience-- the

who was

fluent

writers

to

go

in

English.

to

scholarships after

the

The

United

the war

American literary viewpoints

middle-class many States

strengthened (especially

Criticism) on Filipino writers in English.

intellectual

opportunities on the

grants

for and

influence of

that of

the

New

Many outstanding

novelists and short story writers emerged at this time, all of

them

Filipino

concerned with middle-class

probing

the

intellectual

sensibilities and

of

portraying

the his

34

Southeast Asian Fiction

problems. major

The problem of Filipino cultural identity was a

theme, as in the novels of Nick Joaquin and N. V.M.

Gonzales, among others. The rise of student activism over the sensitive issues of

foreign

imperialism and

strengthened

the

tendency

socially aware fiction. of

the of

oppression of Tagalog

the

writers

masses

to

write

Committed writing became the order

the day for many Tagalog writers and some writers

English as well. who were

Language became an issue, as many writers

competent in

write in Tagalog

both Tagalog and

to affirm

their

in English, while continuing to middle-class

social and

intellectual,

English chose

to

nationalist sentiments.

These trends continue to the present.

the

in

A number of writers

take

the point of view of

record

political involvement as

their

seen in

increasing the

recently

published novels of F. Sionil Jose and Nick Joaquin. Thailand. far

back as

the

Thai recorded 1i tera ture may be traced as thirteenth century.

During

literature existed primarily in poetic form. tradition,

however,

predominating.

Among

was the

strong,

with

ja taka Buddha.

tales

which were

narrations

time,

The narrative epic

important sources

poetry were the Indian epics such as

this

romances

of narrative

the Ramayana and the of

the

lives

of

the

The ja taka stories were also the chief source of

prose fie tion; a collection of these tales in the form of prose

narrative appeared as early as 1457-1657 17 Chiengmai. It was not until the nineteenth however,

A.D.

in

century,

that prose narrative developed more fully.

Apart

from jataka tales, animal fables and full-length historical narratives also appeared at that time.

The introduction of

Development of Modern Fiction

35

the printing press facilitated the publication of these and other works and caused them to be more widely circulated. Similarly, the development of journalism enhanced the development of

prose fie tion.

Appearing on the

pages of

newspapers were various forms of prose narratives: satires, didactic tales, riddles and their solutions. often developed

into

Riddles were

fully extended narratives which,

in

form and content, came close to the modern short story. The newspapers also made possible the translation and publication

as Marie Corelli's 18 Vendetta which appeared as Kwam Phayabat in 1902. This did

not

of

sit

Western

well

novels

with

Thai

such

Buddhist

beliefs,

so

Liam

Winthuprammanakun wrote Kwam Mai Phayabat (Non-Vengeance) in response and published it in 1915. Some consider this the 19 first Thai nove1 although it may also be seen as basically an adaptation of a Western one.

It was also in the early

1900s that fully developed short stories began to appear. One such short urban-rural humorous

conflict.

turn

characters,

story deals humorously with

and

of

The

the

the

currency

plot,

real is tic

the

of

the

ordinary

manner

of

the

theme of

theme,

aspect

of

the the

presentation all

qualify it to be classified as a modern short story. The novel as written by Thai people and dealing with Thai life had a

rather more difficult birth.

In 1886, an

abortive novel, Sanuk Nuk (Fun Thinking), raised a storm of controversy because its author used a realistic setting for his story about four monks who had finished their stint in the monkhood and were about to go out into the world.

This

was the Wa t Borroneve t, a major Buddhist temple in Bangkok which at that time had for its Abbot, the Supreme Patriarch

36

Southeast Asian Fiction

of the Buddhist religion in Thailand.

The story was quickly

suppressed and no more than the first instalment appeared. However,

the appearance of Western films

before

the

1920s, the increasing publication of translations of Chinese as well as some Western fiction, and the writing by the Thai themselves of quasi-novels and adaptations of Western novels smoothed the way for the full-fledged Thai novel when it did In these two years,

three novels by

Thai authors appeared in quick succession.

Luk Phuchai (A

appear in 1928-1929.

Real Man) by Si Burapha had for its protagonist the son of a poor carpenter, traditional

a

Thai

protagonists.

radical departure writing

which

from

the

usually

practice of

had

The second novel to appear, Sattru Khong Chao

Lon (Her Enemy), was written by a woman novelist. with

the

high-born

theme

of

the

conflict

between

It dealt

Western

traditional values but used such roman tic devices as

and the

suitor in disguise to resolve the complications of the plot. Its author, Dokmai Sot, however, was to mature into one of the major novelists in Thailand. Haeng Chiwi t Raphiphat, because

(The

The third novel, Lakhon

Circus of Life)

by Prince Aka tdamkoeng

dealt more seriously with

it was

written by a

the

prince and

events in the novel were similar to

those

same the

theme,

but

setting and

that figured in

the Prince's life, it was taken to be true and raised the same sort of

controversy as

Sanuk Nuk.

This

caused

Prince to issue this statement: Novels are stories written with imagination. It is only that I have made it very close to the fact. This is what most Thai readers have not come across and it caused suspicion. The reason for my using our homes at Samsen and Bangchak as the settings is that I want the description to

the

37

Development of Modern Fiction

be rea lis tic. Please understand that Lakhon Haeng Chiwit is neither true, nor [is] the story of Prince Akat. However, I wrote about an unfortunate man and about newspapers abroad because they are the only life circle I have seen and know well, and want write about them as realistically as possible.

z8

In the

thirties and

for ties,

particularly after the

revolution of 1932 which turned Thailand from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy, fiction moved further in

the

direction

of

realism

and

social

consciousness.

Social realism is typified by the novel of woman novelist K. Surangkanang,

Ying

Khon

Chua

(The

Prostitute).

She

is

reported to have collected her material for observing

the

life

of

prostitutes

in a

this novel by 21 brothel. Other

examples of rea lis tic writing are the novels of rural life by Malai Chupinit. This trend continued in the period after World War II which saw the rise of committed literature, socialist ideology.

influenced by

Among the novelists who exposed social

ills and emphasized the need for commitment were Si Burapha and Seni Saowapong. More madera te

in

their approach

to

the

problems of

Thai society were liberal intellectuals like Kukri t Pramoj and Boonlua, a respected female educator and younger sister of Dokmai Sot. in a

Kukrit dealt with the problem of communism

Buddhist society in Fai

Daen~

(Red Bamboo)

but his

major work of fiction is Si Phaen Din (The Four Reigns). Here he traces the social and political history of the Thai through four reigns (Rama V to Rama VIII) and showed their transforming effects on Thai society, that is,

the changes

38

Southeast Asian Fiction

they wrought not only on the mores and manners but on the values of that society.

22

The sixties and the seventies saw the rise of student activism which culminated in the student uprising of October 1973, and emphasized the production of "literature for life" or

"fiction

for

society".

Such writings,

were

however,

suppressed after the coup of 1976 by a highly conservative government. At present,

the tradition of a socially aware fie tion

is carried on by such competent writers as novelist Chart Kobchitti and short story writer Ussiri Thammachote. shows

the

influence

of

Western

existentialism

writings but assimilates it into

Thai

Chart in

situations;

his

Ussiri

skilfully marries his concern for the underprivileged with a poetic style and great mastery of technique. These writers have been termed "progressive"; a great many novels, however, are written by "popular" writers and serialized in various magazines. serialize as many as novels

are

popular

then

among

series.

ten to

brought out

them

are

made

Some of

twenty novels a week. in

book

into

Indeed, fie tion writing

fie tion.

too

firm a

form

movies

and or

These

the

more

television

has become, for a number

of writers, a lucrative profession. can not draw

these magazines

23

Again,

however, we

line between popular and serious

In the his tory of Thai fie tion, some of the works

of significant novelists

(Dokmai Sot, Krisna Asoksin, and

others) have been serialized in precisely this fashion and gone on to achieve deserved recognition. From paths

we have seen how different are

the

taken by the development of fie tion in each of

the

countries

the above,

studied,

even

in

the

case

of

Malaysia

and

Development of Modern Fiction

39

Indonesia where modern fie tion had a common beginning.

It

shows us that the cultural and historical imperatives of any given country can influence the course of that development. Moreover,

it

reinforces

the

conviction,

stated

at

the

beginning of this chapter, that the modern forms of fiction in Southeast Asia are not direct transplants from the West but have their roots in native soil.

They are the products

of the dynamic interaction be tween the need to look forward to modern literary development sui table for the expression of life in a

changing society and

the equally compelling

need to look back and find links with indigenous traditions which are a repository of that society's culture.

Notes

1.

See William R. Roff, The Origins of Malal Nationalism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967), pp. 32-55.

2.

Interview with A. Wahab Ali, lecturer on modern Malay literature, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 19 September 1984.

3.

Modern Malay Literature (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1964), p. 1. Subsequent page references are to this work.

4.

See Mohd. Taib Osman, "Towards the Development of Malaysia's National Literature", trans. Jamahah Ridhuan and Mohd. Taib Osman, in Tenggara 6 ( 1973): 105-120.

5.

R. Chander, 1970 Population and Housing Census of Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur: Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia, 1971). Cited in Tham Seong Chee, ed., Literature and Society in Southeast Asia (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1981), pp. 217 and 243n.

6.

Vol. I (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979), p. 14.

40

Southeast Asian Fiction

7.

Boen S. Oemarjati, "Isteri, Cinta and Arjuna: Indonesian Literature at the Crossroads" in Tham Seong Chee, pp. 82-95.

8.

Boen S. Oemarjati, pp. 82-95.

9.

Suratman Markasan, "Kesusasteraan Melayu Singapura: Dulu, Sekarang Dan Masa Depan" [Singapore Malay Literature: Past, Present, and Future] in Persidangan Penulis ASEAN 1977 [Conference of ASEAN Writers 1977] (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pus taka, Kernen terian Pelajaran, 1978), pp. 297-324.

10.

Interview with Haji Masuri bin Salikun, vice-president of Asas '50, at the Ins ti tu te of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, June and December 1984.

11.

Quoted by Robert Yeo in Singapore Short Stories, Vol. 2 (Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd., 1978), p. ix.

12.

Ibid. pp. xi-xii.

13.

See Hedwig Alfred and Tony Tan, "It's English for all by 1987," The Straits Times, 22 December 1983, p. 1.

14.

See Reynaldo Ileto, Pasyon and Revolution (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1979).

15.

See Resil B. Mojares, Origins and Rise of the Filipino Novel (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1983), for a full account of the genesis of the novel and its development to 1940.

16.

See Soledad S. Reyes, "Traditions and Themes in the Tagalog Novel" in Philippine Studies 23 (Third Quarter, 1975): 243-292.

17.

Wibha Senanan, The Genesis of the Novel in Thailand (Bangkok: Thai Wattana Panich Co., Ltd., 1975), p. 21. Much of the information found in this and the succeeding paragraphs come from this book and from conversations with its author, June to September 1984.

"Isteri,

Cinta

and

Arjuna",

Development of Modern Fiction

41

18.

The transcription of Thai words and names generally follows the system of the Royal Institute of Thailand. In the case of authors whose works have been translated in to English, the spelling used in the English version has been adopted.

19.

Supannee Wira t, Prawatkan Prapan Nawaniyai Thai [His tory of the Thai novel1 (Bangkok: Munnithi Krongkan Tamra, 1976), p .118. See also Mattani Rutnin, the The Process of Modernization and Transformation-of-Values, East Asian Cultural Studies, Vol XVII, Nos. 1-4, p. 21.

20.

Quo ted in Kwandee Rakpongse, "A Study of the Novels of Mom Luang Buppha Nimmanheminda (pseud. Dokmai Sot)", Ph.D. dissertation, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1975, p. 44.

21.

Ibid. p. 55.

22.

See Mattani, op. cit., Chapter III.

23.

From a series of interviews with Dr Vinita Diteeyont, lecturer on Thai fiction at Silpakorn University, Nakorn Pathom, and herself a practising novelist, July to September 1984.

III: THE INDIVIDUAL AND HIS IDENTITIES

The contact with Western civilizati on and the opportunit y to acquire a modern education which colonizati on brought to many parts of Southeast Asia in the nineteenth century proved to be a mixed blessing.

It resulted in the creation

of a Westernize d intellectu al elite on whom would devolve the task of nation building when the colonizers had finally left. But it also produced within these potential leaders of their peoples conflicts and tensions as they attempted to reconcile the liberal ideas of the West with the traditions and realities in their own countries. first,

that

though

themselves

from

tradition

itself

realities

of

in

blind

their

minds

adherence

They soon realized, they

may

outmoded

to

have

freed

traditions ,

remained a dominant force in their societies and, second, that persistent idealism and the will to effect change were not sufficient to cope with the harsh colonial

colonial

power.

Such

oppression

and

realizatio ns

the

structures

often

resulted

of in

trauma as well as anguish over their personal and cultural identities which could not be dissociate d. Indonesia.

The situation described above is addressed

in Indonesian fiction and is depicted

in Bumi Manusia (This

The Individual and His Identities

43

Earth of Mankind), a major novel by controversial novelist Pramoedya Ana n ta Toer.

A Javanese,

history

of

in

freedom

from

involvement colonial

the

Pramoedya has a

Indonesian

domination

as

long

struggle

well

as

in

for

various

political developments in his country. Minke

(not his

real

name but derived

from a

Dutch

teacher's calling him "monkey" in anger) , the protagonist of the novel,

is a member of the Javanese elite and the only

native enrolled in the Dutch Senior High School in Surabaya. A budding

writer,

he

is,

at

the

start

of

the

novel,

completely enamoured of science and learning to which his Dutch

education

European

has

exposed

knowledge,

different from

he

that of

him.

considers

As "my

a

Javanese

personal! ty

with rather

the general run of my countrymen.

Whether this viola ted my being a Javanese or not, I don' t 1 know either," It is the turmoil and conflicts to which this dual personality leads him

that is at the heart of

this novel. Minke's life

changes profoundly when he

meets

Nyai

Ontosoroh, concubine of the Dutchman Herman Mellema who owns the prosperous Buitenzorg plantation.

Amazed at the culture

and learning of this woman, he is caught in the grip of her compelling

personality.

She

is

not

only

the

complete

mistress of Mellema's house, it is she as well who runs his prosperous

business

establishment

daughter, Annelies. fact,

with

the aid of

their

Her husband has become dispirited,

in

mentally and emotionally disturbed, after a violent

confrontation with his son from Holland,

Mauri ts Mellema.

Seedy and useless, he spends his days in a brothel. Minke is Nyai

the

soon drawn in to

fulfillment

of

Native

this

household,

potential

when

seeing in properly

44

Southeast Asian Fiction

developed and adopting her as his unofficial teacher. also captivated by the beauty of

He is

the fragile Annelies who

has fallen deeply in love with him. When he is called back to his home town to attend his father's feels

inauguration as bupati

acutely

the

conflict

(regent)

between

of his

the

values

town

he

of

the

enlightened West which he has acquired and the values of the traditional,

feudal society to which he belongs by birth.

Spurning the world of his father which is preoccupied with "rank and

position,

wages and

embezzlement",

instead "mankind's earth and its problems".

he

embraces

He affirms his

desire to become, not a high official like his father, but "a free human being, not given orders, not giving orders". His gentle mother sadly accuses him of having become a brown Dutchman, no longer a Javanese who bows down to those older and more powerful than he. nobill ty

of

character,

surrender but he answers

She reminds him that, to achieve one

must

firmly

have

the

courage

that "those who

have

to the

courage to surrender are stamped and trodden upon" (p. 115). At his father's inauguration he catches the attention of the Assistant Resident, a Dutch liberal who, along with his two daughters, befriends him and henceforth acts as his sponsor. Back in Surabaya, he is drawn deeper into the affairs of the Mellemas.

When Herman Mellema is found dead in a

Chinese brothel, Minke's name and his relationship with the Mellemas is brought out into the open and smeared with all sorts of

insinuations and

unfounded accusations.

Through

his writings and with his friends standing by him, he and Nyai see the crisis through.

Dismissed from school, he is

reinstated and graduates in triumph,

to place second in the

The Individual and His Identities

45

state examinations for the Indies.

He then marries Annelies

in a traditional Islamic ceremony. But

his

triumph

and

happiness

are

short-lived.

Mauri ts Mellema lays claim not only to his father's estate but to

the guardianship of Annelies.

Minke fight valiantly but before

the

to no avail;

law which does

having any

rights.

Nyai On tosoroh and

not

they are helpless

recognize

Minke and

Anne lies'

the

natives

marriage

recognized and she has to be brought to Holland. this

moment

that Minke

realizes

how

hollow

as

is not It is at

his

Western

education is and how powerless he and all natives are in the face of the colonial power s true ture that engulfs them all. With a deep sense of betrayal, he cries out in anguish: "Is this how weak a Native is in the face of Europeans? you,

my

teacher,

is

this

Europe!

the manner of your deeds?"

(p.

334). Unlike Minke, sense of self. her

Nyai Ontosoroh is more secure

in her

One of the reasons Minke is drawn to her is

self-assurance

in

a

world

where

the

lines

between

Native, Indo (mixed blood), and White are firmly and rigidly drawn.

Even

more

than

he,

she

has

acquired

European

knowledge and polish but entirely through self-study, under the

guidance

father

to

of

Herman Mellema.

Mellema

extremely bitter

as

a

towards

young

Sold girl

her parents;

of

by

her

ambitious

fourteen,

from

the

she

time

is they

turn her over to Mellema, she cuts herself off entirely from them and from her past.

For tuna tely, Mellema turns out to

be a wise teacher and guide. self-res pee t

by

He res to res her dignity and

teaching her European manners and culture

and training her to be a competent business woman:

46

Southeast Asian Fiction

[I] grew up into a new person with a new vision and new views. I no longer felt like the slave that was sold years before in Tulangan. I felt as if I no longer had a past. Sometimes I asked myself: had I become a Dutch woman with brown skin? ( p. 77)

Herman Mellema answers her question about her identity and strengthens her self-confidence: It's impossible for you to be like a Dutch woman. And it's not necessary either. It's enough that you are as you are now. Even thus you're cleverer and better than all of them. (p. 77)

Nyai

Ontosoroh

is

a

complex

character.

charismatic, "able to reach straight into peoples' as

if

it were

easy

peoples' breasts".

for

her

to

know

what

She

is

hearts,

lived

inside

But she is also an extremely capable and

hard-headed business woman.

She can be harsh and ruthless,

refusing to waste her pity on the demented Herman Mellema because, according to her, he has ceased to be human, having lost all awareness, and she believes that "pity is only for those who know". daughter leeway

to

into

a

develop

Moreover, she s ingle-mindedly moulds her capable her

administrator

own personal! ty,

childlike and vulnerable.

respects

gives

thus

her

no

leaving her

She shows that she can reach as

high a level of competence as although she

but

the best of Europeans,

their knowledge,

she despises

but

them.

Her pride of self lies not so much on her being Javanese as on what she has made of herself: lifting herself above the baseness and humiliation of her situation and investing it with dignity and pride of achievement.

In doing so, she has

47

The Individual and His Identities

cut herself off from society but in fact, colonial society is not ready for her.

As Minke's liberal-minded teacher,

Magda Peters, says, she has made a historical jump.

When

she does collide with society, she is defeated; but she is an indication of what the future could become, if there were more of her kind.

It is only fitting

that Minke should

learn from her. Pramoedya

poses

dialectically.

Javanese culture. to

hinder

the embodiment of,

the

and

warnings.

of

identity

and

spokesman for,

She makes no attempt to hold on to Minke

constantly reminds heritage

question

In contrast to both Minke and Nyai Ontosoroh

is Minke's mother,

or

the

course

of

him of

the

tempers

his

his

development,

but

she

importance of his Javanese

European-ness

by

her

gentle

Unaggressive, she impresses us by her wisdom and

her deep understanding of her culture. As the

third woman in Minke's life, Annelies is less

clearly drawn. creature:

It is easy enough to dismiss her as a vapid

presented

doll-like,

she

completely

under

personality. makes

her

in

seems

a

the

Nevertheless,

weak shadow

Moreover,

seem

both appearance

unreal,

Pramoedya

her

psyche

friend,

when

Dr

creature

of

her

dominant

some

mother's

on her great beauty

fairy to

give

tale

character.

depth

to

his

We are given an insight into

Martinet,

probes deeply in to

emotional fragility.

uninteresting

manages

presentation of her character.

behaviour as

and

the emphasis like

and

her

physician

and

family

the causes of her physical and

We then realize that she does have a

will and judgement of her own. brother out of sheer hatred and

Brutally !:aped by her own jealousy,

she

refuses

to

Southeast Asian Fiction

48

tell her mother because, as she tells Minke,

the choice is

between keeping silent and bringing destruction on them all. She

is

identity.

unwavering,

too,

on

the

question

of

her

Throughout, she sees herself as Native, not Indo.

At the end of the novel,

in the face of defeat, she

turns

her face to the wall but rouses herself enough to act like a true Javanese wife: she literally spoonfeeds her husband. 2 Moreover, she refuses to bring anything to Holland except for

the old tin sui tease her mother brought from her home

and the batik kain (cloth worn as a skirt) Minke's mother made for their wedding. Even Minke,

for all

core of

retains a

his

ethnici ty.

European ways In

moments, he feels himself a Javanese.

of

thinking

important or

critical

When his dignity is

challenged, pride of race and status comes to the fore: he asserts his being a noble, with the blood of the kings of Java

coursing

through

his

Preparing

veins.

marriage, he lis tens solemnly to his mother's

for

his

teaching on

the attributes of a

true Javanese knight.

Most telling,

perhaps,

feels depressed

fight against

is when he

injustice. called

in the

He identifies his feeling as what his ancestors

"nelangsa-- the

feeling of a

piece of

coral

still

living among its fellows but no longer the same; where the heat of

the sun is borne alone.

The only way to obtain

relief was communion with the hearts of those with a similar fate, similar values, similar ties, with the same burdens ••• " (p. 267).

Or when he feels that triumph is in sight,

he invokes his absent mother: Mother! Mother! at last my cries have been heard. • • • And here your beloved son will not run. He will stay and fight back. Your

The Individual and His Identities

49

beloved daughter-in-law will not be stolen away. She will present to you the grandchildren you long for, so one day you will be able to attend their weddings as Javanese. (p. 314)

A. H. Johns through Javanese time

he

And

it

finds is

notes

that

in his

is

cultural attitudes.

much in his this

Pramoedya

"through

and

At the same

traditional culture repellent.

ambivalence--his

isolation

from

and

commitment to his Javanese traditions--that is the source of 3 much of the emotional intensity of his work. " Certainly this

is

true of Bumi Manusia, a

work of

such compelling

power that it fixes our attention on the problem of identity in a colonial society like Indonesia and makes us intensely aware of its complexities. Philippines.

Philippine national identity was given

shape by the Philippine reformists of the nineteenth century (consisting primarily of the educated elite or ilustrados) and forged in the fires of the Philippine Revolution at the end

of

that century.

At

that

time,

the

united in a common cause against Spain. fervour

remained

American regime.

strong

during

the

Filipinos

were

The nationalistic

early

years

of

the

But the obvious rna terial advantages and

educational benefits which were made available to a larger number

of

Filipinos

people

by

increasingly

a

"benevolent" susceptible

to

America its

made

the

culture

and

receptive of its values. With the attainment of independence, however, came the urgent need

to rediscover a

true Philippine identity.

To

the middle-class intellectuals, heirs to the ilustrados, who took it upon themselves to redefine this identity, it proved no easy task.

They had to cope with the multiple nature of

Southeast Asian Fiction

50

their cultural heritage, derived in part from Spain and in part from

the United States and as

such representing

two

diverse cultural traditions, as well as with the fragmented and discontinuous state of their indigenous culture. The search for self is one of the recurrent themes of the Filipino novel in English which,

as

intima ted

preceding chapter, may be categorized primarily of sensibility.

in

the

as a novel

In the Philippines, however, the search for

self can never be purely private or purely personal.

It is

bound up inextricably with the need to know one's cultural and historical roots. This we see in Nick Joaquin's The Woman Who Had Two Navels. woman

Connie has

turbulent

Escobar,

grown

up

life

and

an

under

emotionally the

her

shadow

father's

disturbed of

young

her

mother's

unsavoury

career.

Precipitated into a crisis by the discovery that her husband has

been

startles

her

mother's

Pepe

veterinarian),

Monzon, by

lover, a

claiming

she

flees

Filipino that

to

Hongkong

doctor

she

has

(albeit two

and a

navels.

Realizing that her problem is not medical but psychological, he

sends

her

to

his

brother,

Father

Tony,

a

priest.

Together, they try to convince her that her two navels is a delusion, a fantasy in which she takes refuge to avoid the pain and responsibility of living in the real world. Tony tries

Father

to get her to see an older priest who can help

her. The complications in Connie's life are not diminished by her flight.

Her mother, Concha, is in Hongkong and her

husband, Macho,

follows her

home.

there

to

persuade her to come

Moreover, her coming changes the lives of the group

of Filipinos who live in self-imposed exile in Hongkong.

A

51

The Individual and His Identities

cohesive

group,

their

difficulties disturbs and

forces

them

to

these are based. revolutionary,

reluctant

involvement

in

Connie's

the apparent placidity of their lives re-examine

the

assumptions

The patriarch among them is

Dr Monzon,

father

of

on which

the Filipino

Pepe and Tony,

whose

life in self-imposed exile has been sustained by the dream of returning to a sons on this dream.

free Philippines and who has raised his Another one who finds himself involved

in the life of both Connie and her mother is Paco Texeira, a part-Filipino

bandleader.

He meets

them in Manila while

fulfilling a contract and canna t understand why they tear at his emotions and sap his will, in spite of the fact that he is happily married. Events in the novel move rapidly to a climax. up

the

monastery hill

to

see

the

Driving

priest Father Tony has

asked her to see, Connie drives her car off a cliff and is presumed dead.

Unable

to recover her body,

Macho shoots

Concha and kills himself in a last desperate act. Actually, Connie opts for life rather than death--she jumps out of her car before it goes up in flames.

But she

has to die to her old life before she can begin a new one and this is what takes place symbolically as she drives up the hill.

By the use of such cinematic techniques as dream

sequences and flashbacks,

the au thor shows us

the

turmoil

going on in Connie's mind

as tortured recollections of the

past give way to imagined confrontations with her husband, her mother, and her father, forcing her to face the reality of her relationships with each one of them.

These imagined

confrontations also add to her self-knowledge, bringing out in to

the

open

her

deepest

insecurities,

her

half-hidden

guilt feelings, her submerged awareness of evil, forcing her

52 to

Southeast Asian Fiction

face

the

demons

that

pursued

effect, exorcising them.

her

growing

Significantly,

up

and

in

these visions all When her car

end in death, a symbolic dying to her past.

bursts into flames, the fire seems a final, symbolic purging and she jumps out of anew.

the

flames,

ready

She first makes her way to

she asks

to begin her life

the Monzons'

the dying Dr Monzon for his blessing,

flat where then elopes

with Paco who to her represents the sane and normal world of everyday life. Essentially,

the

novel

has

choices that people make or fail pat terns shaped

that emerge

in

his tory

in

and

the this

to

with

the

of

the

moral

But the moral

to make.

lives is

do

the

point

characters are of

the

novel.

Connie's moral confusion arises because she has no moorings in the past,

the historical past in which both her parents

grew up and which they subsequently betrayed.

She cries out

to her father: ••• I must know what I am ••• and how can I know that if I don't know what I came from? When I was little ••• I thought I knew. I caught snatches of a voice and glimpses of a face. There were traces of somebody else all over the house. I came upon a sword and a pistol, I saw an old uniform hanging beside an old flag, I found some books and newspapers. I began to form a picture of what my father was. Oh, he was a hero. But then I grew up and began to notice what people were saying. Now I don't know which is my real father--the one in the old newspapers or the one in the new ones. But I do 4 know I must find him.

The soldier of

reference

is

to

her

father's

past as

a

young

the Revolution which he betrayed by becoming a

corrupt politician.

The Individual and His Identities

Similarly,

her

mother

53

grew

up

in

the

era

of

the

Revolution when ideals were firmly rooted in nationalism and love of country, religion provided certain knowledge of good and evil, and one's identity was not a matter of doubt.

It

was an age of heroes--soldiers as well as poets--who for her served as a "dictionary", an unerring guide to conduct. she trades all these in for a

But

tawdry life in the present.

Blinded by her lust for life, she gives up a vocation for God to enter into a loveless marriage with Manalo Vidal whom she knows to have betrayed his moral and cultural heritage. Thus,

she cannot presume

ideals of a

to instruct her daughter

past which she

in the

has deliberately eschewed

in

order to live feverishly in the present. It is,

for

the novel, a highly questionable present

where the nationalistic fervour and intellectual ferment of the past,

its culture and elegance,

replaced by tawdry Hollywood images.

have vanished,

to be

In this present,

the

Filipinos have insula ted themselves from the "drab horror of inadequate

reality

by

the

ultra-perfect,

colossal,

stupendous, technicolored magnificence of the Great American Dream" (p. 32). But the novel does not simply contrast the meaningful past with the inadequate present. one

cannot

dwell

too

long

in

It makes the point that the

past

or

illusory, having no contact with reality. goes

back

Philippines,

after the

the

war

to

a

becomes

When Dr Monzon

finally

reality that greets him

it

independent

turns out

to be

drastically different from the dream, and he goes back to Hongkong, a broken old man. of

Connie,

in

reverse:

His dilemma is similar to that

Connie

is

troubled

and

confused

because she does not know enough of the past to make sense

54

of

Southeast Asian Fiction

the

present;

Dr

Monzon

is

shattered

and

disoriented

because he has lived too long in the past and has lost touch with present reality. One must not only connect but comprehend both the past and the present if one is to contemplate the future.

Connie

instinctively senses this when, after her escape from death, she makes her way to Dr Monzon. representative,

the

given substance. looking for,

For her,

he is its

true

uniform she glimpsed in her childhood Here

"the hero

she] had all betrayed".

is

the

father-figure she has been

they [her mother,

her

father, and

Dr Monzon at first takes her for

her mother, a familiar face from the past, but soon realizes that she is the present catching up with him, as it must. Compelled

to

listen to her story,

he

finally understands

that he must earn the right to die in peace by facing the reality of the present, sharing its anguish and trusting it to keep what was precious in the past meaningful and alive. Joaquin's convoluted plot ref lee ts in the search for Philippine identity.

the

tortuous road

The novel can strain

one's credulity at times (e.g., Connie's leap from a burning car at the edge of Connie and

a eli ff,

Dr Monzon who

the emotional meeting be tween

have

never met before)

but we

manage to gloss over this by virtue of the novel's technical achievements.

Joaquin

has

a

rare

talent

for

creating

atmosphere and uses the shifting point of view with great skill

to deepen our

problem.

insight into

the complexities of

the

His prose style is lush, almost extravagant, but

it is remarkably suited to sustain the emotional intensity of the novel.

Moreover, he has authentic knowledge of what

tensions between cultures can do to the Filipino soul.

Born

and bred in Manila with a father who had been a colonel in

55

The Individual and His Identities

the Philippine Revolution, he has had maximum exposure both to the rich Spanish-Filipino culture which survived from the nine teen th century and to the inroads of American modernism on Philippine manners and mores,

particularly after World

War II and in the 1960s when this novel was written. Style and

technique

Wilfrido Nolledo' s problem of

But For

Philippine

experiments

several

languages--English, and

consciousness experience

with

their

as

he

limits

pursues

in the

An avant garde writer,

language, Tagalog,

to

Philippine

to

the Lovers

Japanese--and technique

of

pushed

identity.

Nolledo

Spanish,

are

using

play

Castilian and

exploits create

his tory

word

the

a

in

pidgin

stream

of

phantasmagorical

during

the

Japanese

Occupation in World War II. Clearly

allegorical

characters are Maria Alma,

in

intent,

the

novel's

main

representing the Filipino soul,

and her lovers, representing the various colonial powers who have sought to possess her.

They are Hidalgo de Anuncio, an

old Spanish vaudeville clown;

Shigura, a Japanese corporal

who rides a white horse; and Jonathan Winters, an American pilot.

Their very attributes are symbolic.

An ageing clown

could not be more appropriate to symbolize the dying Spanish culture in the Philippines;

Shigura' s white horse may well

refer to Japan's grandiose plans nations

to

their Asian-ness and

to res tore

the colonized

to preside over an "Asian

Co-prosperity Sphere"; while Jonathan Winters in his shining plane emerges as a Christ figure (around whom the guerillas build a cult) and presages the American "liberator". Alma eclipse of Hidalgo who

suffers

from amnesia

(clearly

symbolic

indigenous Philippine culture) and is brings

her

home

to

his

boarding

of

the

found by

house.

He

56

Southeast Asian Fiction

attempts to possess not her body but her soul, mesmerizing her with fairy tale images of the past and bringing her with him in his drift to death by causing her to sleep and dream of a

dying

culture

for

longer and

longer

periods.

His

influence, however, is counteracted by Amoran, his sidekick, who provides for their survival by foraging for food in the stinking city streets.

Amoran has a strong gut feeling for

life and thrives on the dirt and mud of the city.

He rouses

Alma from her stupor and brings her around with him, waking her

to an awareness

of

life and

the

present.

In

these

excursions, they are constantly trailed by Shigura, a sadomasochist obsessed by his dreams of the new Japanese world order.

But it

is

with

the

god-like

figure

of Jonathan

Winters with whom Alma falls in love. Alma's situation-- her youth, her lack of memory, her confusion as she moves from the hands of one lover to those of another--clearly symbolize the Philippine dilemma. very s true ture of surrounds

the novel reflects

The

the ambiguity which

the question of Philippine identity.

The novel

begins with a prologue which presents in an express ion is t manner

the

companions,

experience

of

a

young

an American soldier and a

girl

and

Japanese

her

two

deserter.

The experience of the girl prefigures that of Alma in the main narrative, but

the connections between

the girl and

Alma (are they one and the same?) and between the prologue and narrative (is the prologue a dream of Alma's?) are vague and indefinite. The novel ends with the Battle of Liberation during which

Manila

is

devastated

characters are killed.

by

fire

and

most

of

Only Alma and Amoran survive.

the But

Alma, unlike Connie, does not emerge from the fire in to a

The Individual and His Identities

new life.

She remains

uncertain. survive,

57

the same--innocent,

With Amoran beside her,

unknowing, and

we are sure she will

but whether she will recover her memory and re-

discover her true self is an open question. To

the

serious

performance,

reader,

the

in

conception and

brilliant

both

novel

is

a

dazzling execution.

But its very virtuosity is its weakness, for it renders the novel obscure, capable of being read and appreciated by only a few. to

But it is, in its complexity, a significant attempt

illuminate

the

identity

Yet another novel on Coast

crisis

in Philippine

the search for

identity,

culture.

His Native

by Edith Tiempo, gives an international twist to this

basic theme.

The novel involves Michael Linder, an officer

in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II who meets and falls in love with Marina Manuel in the jungles of Pagatban in

the

southern

intellectual, dissatisfied, wants.

of

Marina not

quite

the

seems

Philippines. nonetheless

knowing

who

she

A sensitive restless

is

or

what

and she

She seems acutely aware of the fact that her mother

belonged

to

one

northern Luzon. not

part

wanting

of

the

pagan

tribes

in

the

highlands

of

She refuses to marry Michael after the war, to

saddle

him

with

her

uncertainty

confusion: ••• It won't work. • • • All my life I've consumed myself by dreaming. I've been spent with watching, concerned with the forces in my blood, in my bones, with being true. I feel I haven't been able to do or be. It's as if I wasn't really s~e who I am, why I am. Do you understand that?

and

58

Southeast Asian Fiction

Back

in

the

United

assignment

to

the

other

dis sa tis fled.

He

and

circumstances,

for

Michael

nine

the

Marina

Santa Rosa meet

her

withdrawal, truth

she

rooting

and

the Philippines as

again

under

in

the

inauspicious

the chief chemist at

in the hills of northern Luzon.

He

but comes is

to

see

that her

saddened by her

sense

but her defection has helped refuses

physically

After all,

restless

Deeply hurt and shamed, Marina flees

steps

irrevocable.

one

for Michael uncovers a shady deal at Santa

mother's village traces

from

Sugar Central

Rosa which involves Marina's husband, the Central.

goes

years,

He finally goes back to

personnel manager of south.

States,

to

face:

or

"how

one

metaphysically

ways, frankly ubiquitous" (pp.

297-8).

Michael

decision

is

of defeat and

him arrive at a

need in

one's identity was some thing

to her

not always any

one

that was,

be

place. in many

Adopting this as a

guide to action, Michael is ready to go back to his job in Santa Rosa. The novel would be deeply moving, were it not for the fact that it is too cerebral.

Marina is a deeply sensitive

person but she intellectualizes too much. feel the agony she is suffering. of

any

intensity

of

emotion,

We never really

She doesn't seem capable

however

much

she

hints

at

primitive forces in her blood; if they are there at all, she has certainly succeeded in subduing them.

Marina's nature

is so firmly established in the first half of the novel that her dancing before the primitive Christ-figure in the chapel when her world crumbles around her seems out of character and difficult to accept. Lacambre.

So is her marriage to the boorish

We are never clearly shown why she marries him.

"He was the sort some women found attractive, a refined and

The Individual and His Identities

high-class thug type" ( p. 168).

59

But surely not Marina, from

what we know of her. Perhaps these acts are defense mechanisms in Marina's refusal

to

face

life.

She

marries

Lacambre

instead

of

Michael because such a marriage would not force her to face her uncertainty and confusion; she "reverts" to her mother's primitiveness living in

because

in

this way,

she

need not continue

the larger world and be hurt by it.

problem adds

a

new

complication

to

the

Marina's

already

complex

problem of Philippine identity: one must not only be able to assimilate the strong cultural influences from the West but must be ready to face the more primitive layers of one's own culture. Malaysia. members

of

The identity crisis which occurs among the

the

Westernized

elite

such as

we

see

in

the

fiction of Indonesia and in the English-language fiction of the Philippines is not usually found in Malay fiction. is

perhaps

because

Malay

society

is

more

This

strongly

traditional and also because many Malay writers come from 6 the rural areas where tradition prevails. This is not to say that the identity theme does not occur in Malay fiction. The concern of Malay fie tion writers, however, is the need to

reassert

Malay

identity

by

strengthening

it,

by

re-

discovering the sources of its past strength and applying these to the present.

Only in doing so can Malay society be

revitalized and roused from its lethargy. To restore pride of race and reaffirm Malay identity-these are

the

themes of The Son of Mad Mat Lela by Ishak

Haji Muhammad.

The novel tells of the development of Bulat,

a

foundling,

realistic,

from

there

infancy are

many

to manhood. allegorical

Though apparently elements

in

this

60

Southeast Asian Fiction

novel. the

Bulat's name, meaning round, is clearly symbolic; as

author

discourse

reminds on

perfection.

us

in

roundness,

his

first

this

chapter

signifies

which

is

completeness

a

and

But these are not necessarily the attributes of

Bulat at birth; he must develop, like "something that is not round,

at

first,

but

rolls,

spins

and

turns,

[and]

eventually becomes round", polished and shaped by all that it encounters.

Such

is

the

case with Bulat as

through several sets of parents.

he goes

His first foster father,

Mad Mat Lela, is not so much mad as unusual for his

time.

Creative and forward-looking, he "could see things as

they

really were

just

over a

••• and

year old,

thought rationally".

Bulat is

stolen by a

When he

is

childless

couple,

Johari (jeweler or expert) and Permai (beautiful) who treat him as

their own child.

are blessed and goes

with a daughter.

to Kelan tan

Bulat with him. but evil

But Johari becomes restless

to study Islamic

theology,

bringing

Here, he gets infatuated with a beautiful

woman who

abandon Bulat. modern,

Their business prospers and they

persuades

Left

smart-looking

him

to

divorce

to his own resources, young

couple

who

Permai

and

Bulat meets a

take

him

to

the

Cameron Highlands to look after their car while they stay in a luxurious resort hotel.

They turn out to be impostors--a

village couple who sell their farm just to be able to live in luxury for a

time.

They are now so badly in debt they

hardly have enough money to go back to their village. Once more,

Bulat has

to

fend

for

himself.

In a

dream, a princess comes to him and reveals the truth about his parents: married secretly, they were forced to separate after his refused

father killed

to marry.

the

rich old man his

mother had

His father is now wandering abroad

to

The Individual and His Identities

escape

61

the consequences of his crime and his mother is a

singer in Singapore.

The princess goes on to instruct Bulat

to make an aeolian harp out of bamboo and commands him to look for a Sakai (an aborigine) called Alang who would serve as his teacher. Following Alang who his tory.

the

princess'

teaches him

instructions,

Bulat

finds

traditional lore and ancient Malay

When Bulat is troubled by the contrast be tween the

great Malay empires of

the

past and

the abject state of

present Malay society, Alang explains that it is ••• because we are divided among ourselves. We fight each other, we lack a common purpose and we have no real leadership. • • • When we stay divided, everything is small--our family, our land, our houses, even our rice and vegetable plots. minds and our hopes and ideals shrink too.

our

He advises Bulat to travel the length and breadth of Malaysia if he truly wishes to understand his people. When he is sixteen years old, Bulat sets out on his travels.

He sells a

traditional

toothache cure and makes

music with his harp and beautiful voice. arrives in Singapore to look for his parents. for

them,

Eventually, he While looking

he works as a musician, composing and arranging

new styles of Malay music.

He is finally reunited with his

mother, now a famous singer, and his father who has suffered much in the last twenty years.

He also meets his foster

parents, Johari and Permai, now together again, and their daughter, Khadijah.

The novel ends with the reunited family

preparing to go to Mecca.

62

Southeast Asian Fiction

This

is

basically a

simple

tale

of

a

young

man's

growing up, but the author has some difficulty managing all the background and narrative de tails he chooses to include. As a result, we sometimes get a feeling of discontinuity and awkwardness.

However, the overall picaresque form, with its

slight air of the unreal and the exotic, achieves a fusion of the realistic and the allegorical elements in the novel. Bulat's

travels,

and Bulat himself,

clearly represent the

new Malay on a voyage of discovery of his his tory and his identity.

In so doing, he also develops in the direction of

wholeness

and

integrity.

traditional wisdom of his Lela's vision and more painfully, true

values;

Bulat

learns

race from Alang;

discernment from

through experience,

he

develops

the

his

the

history

and

he imbibes Mat

cradle;

he

learns

to separate false from

creativity

and

strives

to

perfect the artistic talent he inherits from his mother; and at the novel's end, he moves towards the purification of his religion.

These are the components of a true Malay identity

as envisioned by the author.

Although i t may be difficult

to achieve them, the important thing is to move in the right direction,

as

Bulat continues

to do

in

the

last chapter

which ia s igni fican tly entitled "Bulat Rolls On". "We have no real leadership"--Alang' s comment on the failure of leadership which prevents the Malays from coming into their own is

the theme of Menteri (Minister), a novel

by Shahnon Ahmad.

The novel primarily depicts the internal

conflict

that

disturbed

by

takes the

place within Minister

economic

condition

of

Bahadur who the

Malays

is and

perceives this to be because they are dispossessed in their own land.

He

feels

correct policy and

that his is

party

dithering as

is not following to whether

he

the

should

63

The Individual and His Identities

point this out and risk its displeasure. embodied

in

a

nightmare

that

evening

His conflict is in

which

telescoped twenty years in to the future (1987).

he

is

He sees a

different Malaysia, for the Malays have been driven into the forests

by

the

Chinese

and

the

political

landscape

has

changed entirely. He is confronted by an angry crowd of Malays who blame him for

their difficulties and are about to kill him.

his secretary and son-in-law deflects

But

the wrath of the mob

by explaining that it is not Bahadur who is to blame but all those leaders

whose attitudes are colonial,

bureaucratic,

and feudalistic. This

novel

situation

situation

in

that

Undoubtedly, not

been

seen as contributing to the 8 Malay communalism. It came out at a time when

feeling of the

has

seem

Malaysia

erupted

was

in

particularly

the

riots

of

tense, May

a

1969.

the novel is political in character but it does

to

be

propagandistic

in

intent.

Shahnon

was

writing out of the reality of his time and in his choice of situation

and

reflecting

the

period.

The

character, views theme

he

could

not

prevailing among of

the novel is

have

avoided

the Malays in

the failure

that

of Malay

leadership but it is a novel of character rather than of action. who

It is an in-depth study of the weakness of one man

unfortunately

happens

to

be a

leader of

his

people.

This theme is reinforced on another level by the satirical portrayal of

Sidek, Bahadur's secretary.

He is motivated

primarily by his ambition to reach a high political position and

is

not

averse

to

marrying

shortcut to getting there.

his

boss'

daughter

as

a

The racial images in Bahadur's

nightmare are rather unfortunate but as dream images,

they

64 are

Southeast Asian Fiction

necessarily

reality.

distortions

rather

than

reflections

of

It is true that they can be misunderstood and can

exacerbate existing tensions but they must be seen as parts of a whole.

This raises the difficult question of the uses

to which literature can be put.

Undoubtedly,

literature

lends itself to political purposes, whatever may have been the intent of the writer.

On the other hand, one must grant

the writer the compelling need to write out of his times and the urgency of his

vision.

It is on

this basis

that we

should view the novel. In recent years, more Malay writers of fie tion have turned their attention to

the individual's problems as he

tries to understand himself and his relationship to society. We find a growing number of short stories which focuses on identity conflict within the individual.

Such a story is

Bahazain' s "Out of the Night", in which a writer struggles to make sense of his social role as a writer,

his

family

role as a husband, and his own need for freedom to create and

express

himself

as

an

The

individual.

protagonist

believes that "the role of the writer and the artist is not merely

to

set

society

free

tradition which stifle and

from

the

enslave"

powerful

but

that

hands

the

of

act of

writing is a liberating one, enabling the writer to find and fulfill himself as an individual.

He must first discover

himself before he can fulfill his role in society. says,

"Only

after

this

can

we

use

our

skills

As he as

an

instrument in our struggle.

At this stage, our work is not 9 only satisfying but convincing and responsible." More.richly subtle is Shahnon Ahmad's short story, "At Rest", in which an individual struggles to find a centre of unity within himself and thus to resolve the tension between

65

The Individual and His Identities

his spiritual and material concerns. set against his

family's

demands

His internal strife is

for

love and attention.

The setting is the dry and arid season in Malaysia and the prevailing drought deepens his growing sense of decay and of the certainty of death. Divided in to seven parts, the story is s true tured like a ballet, with the main themes of his meditation--drought, death, family,

the dialogue between body and soul--weaving

in and out of his mind like recurrent movements in a dance pattern. heat,

The physical events in the story--the dryness, the

lunch

tensions

with

within

consciousness

his

family--serve

him.

of

The

to

drought

exacerbate intensifies

imminent decay and death and

grim landscape for his

thoughts.

the his

provides a

At lunch, his children's

squabbles over whether there is still rice in the pot serve as an ironic counterpoint to the argument going on inside his

head

as

to

whether

there

is

an

unbridgeable

gap

between body and soul. Looking essential savour,

around

unity

in

water and

different.

You

cannot separate ex tend love argument,

the

dining

can

he

perceives salt and

him:

sugar and sweetness are not

talk about

them."

table,

things around

freshness,

to his

but

the

them

separately

but you

This perception makes him want to

family,

to

res tore harmony after

they are suspicious of him and

the

he realizes

that there is a gap between him and them.

His overwhelming

problem is

He alone

can resolve

he seeks a

solution,

not

their

problem.

crisis within himself. time

in

creation. well.

the

Again,

relationship

But from

be tween

this stems

the

creator

and

the this his

the idea of separation as

Perhaps a sense of unity can only be found by living

Southeast Asian Fiction

66 life here and now: Life as

"The important thing was now. Today. 10 lived now." There is no easy and final

it is

solution

to

the

problem,

story ends with a

only partial

insights,

and

the

juxtaposition of images--the protagonist

taking his youngest child upon his lap, while outside,

the

drought continues "on its murderous way". There is oblique social commentary in recurring metaphor landscape

to

shrivelled

is

the

politics

and

comparison of

and

twisted

the

A

the dry and arid

politicians:

like

the story.

"withe red,

heart

of

a

dry,

cabinet

minister"; "naked, scarred twigs, jerking and lea ping like a member

of

parliament carried

electoral campaign".

along

by

the

fever

In making the connection,

of

his

the author

seems to be hinting that political attempts or promises to alleviate the problems of the people are empty because they lack wholeness material failure

and of

and

fail

spiritual

to

see

needs.

leadership which

the

relationship

This

prevents

links the

be tween

back

to

Malaysians

the from

fully realizing their identity as a people, a theme which he develops in Menteri. The question of Malay consciousness is very properly the concern of Malay fiction. nation. goes

Is it possible to forge a larger consciousness that

beyond

takes a

But Malaysia is a multiracial

the

to tal

narrow

view

limits

of

ethnic affiliation and

of Malaysian life and

society?

Lloyd

Fernando, a Malaysian Indian writer, raises this question in his novel, Scorpion Orchid. Guan

Kheng,

a

Chinese;

Four friends--Santi, an Indian;

Sabran,

a

Malay;

and

Peter,

a

Eurasian--just leaving university are caught up in the race riots 1950s.

attendant

to

Malaya's

gaining

independence

in

the

One of them, Peter, is beaten up as is their friend,

The Individual and His Identities Sally.

67

Finding themselves suddenly immersed in the climate

of fear, hatred, and destruction generated by these events has

a

subtly

divisive

effect on

their

In

group.

the

university, their relationship had come close to the ideal, but now that friendship is strained.

They begin to perceive

each other as strangers and to question their individual and collective identities.

Guan Kheng shapes

the doubts and

questions that beset them all: Had it been foolish after all, to have believed that we could make a go of it as one country, he wondered ••• He and Sabran and Santinathan and Peter seemed in microcosm a presage of a new society, a world of new people who would utterly confound the old European racialist Wffs of thinking. How did these hopes stand now? The title of the novel refers to a type of orchid but it may also refer to the scorpion that may be lurking at the heart of the beautiful Malaysian orchid, waiting to destroy it--a clear symbol of the bitterness and hatred that could des troy the ideal of Malayan unity. the novel. Said.

Other symbols enrich

An important one is the mysterious figure of Tok

Is he a prophet, a wise man or, as the police say, an

invention of the communists to stir up trouble?

He does not

physically appear in the novel and no two people who have seen him can give a clear or consistent picture of him, but his effect upon whoever sees him is profound. Sally,

the

significance.

prostitute,

is

also

invested

The figure of with

symbolic

Of uncertain racial origin--is she Chinese or

Malay or a mixture of both?--she is richly capable of loving but in the end, she is beaten, raped, and defeated. alone

seems

not enough

to heal

the

wounds

of

Love

division.

Southeast Asian Fiction

68

Time, patience, and the will to act are needed as well. Said says to Sabran: "Birth is bloody. The profound

questions but

the

Having four

raised

novel

friends

by

the

itself

who

Do not lose heart."

novel are

seems

represent

Tok

the

searing and

somewhat

contrived.

four ethnic groups

that make up Malayan society seems an obvious and convenient device and

the

technique

of

interspersing

Malay historical annals rather "arty".

excerpts

from

But these excerpts,

which are mainly descriptions of multiracial encounters in the past, do

serve a useful purpose.

They provide a dual

perspective from which to see the events in the novel and enable us to see how Malaysia's present is prefigured in her past. Singapore.

I den ti ty in Singapore

different context.

must be seen in a

Unlike Malaysia which puts forth Malay

language and culture as Singapore encourages

the basis of a national identity,

the concept of a

plural society even

though a large segment of its population is Chinese. the

geopolitical

otherwise. language

realities

of

the

region,

it

Given

cannot

do

To create a national identity based on Chinese and

culture

immediate neighbours,

would

not

be

acceptable

Indonesia and Malaysia,

to

its

to

its

nor

non-Chinese population, or even its ethnic Chinese citizens who are Westernized and English educated.

Nor does it seem

possible to merge elements from the cultures of the various ethnic groups that comprise Singapore society;

the cultural

traditions of these groups are too disparate and strong to result

in

a

harmonious

blending.

Sociologists

have

postulated that the chief components of what may so far be regarded as a Singapore identity are the pragmatic values of efficiency and progress which have been consistently seen as

The Individual and His Identities

the

goals

of na tionbuilding

69

in Singapore.

12

Moreover,it

seems likely that this identity will be increasingly based on the English language as the language which is most useful in the attainment of these values. It would appear that the concept of Singapore identity is still amorphous, still in the process of It is not strange, dominates written

neither

in

therefore, background

Singapore.

that nor

Much of

taking shape.

the sense of identity theme

the

of

the

fie tion

fiction

portrays

or

comments on various aspects of the plural society that is Singapore

but

it

is

difficult

to

find

any

unanimity

feeling concerning what it means to be Singaporean.

of

Perhaps

this is why Robert Yeo points out in his 1967 collection of Singapore short stories that short story writing "had not as 13 yet coalesced into the beginnings of a tradition" • This is true of fie tion in English, up to a point.

Fie tion in

Malay and in Chinese or Tamil (in so far as the last two are available to

the reader in translation)

seems

to focus on

the problems of their specific language communi ties.

Some

stories, like those of M. Balakrishnan, a Tamil writer, deal with the theme of inter-racial friendship, but this seems to be based more on the characters' awareness of their common 14 humanity than on their being Singaporeans together. A

negative

tic/materialistic

attitude base

of

a

towards

the

Singaporean

projected in Kirpal Singh's short story,

pragma-

identity

is

"The Interview".

This is a satire on the government's push for progress and development everywhere,

not excluding

literature

and

the

arts, as well as on the virtues (and rewards) of conform! ty to its views of Singapore and Singaporean identity.

The

dialogue between the newly appointed Minister for Media and

Southeast Asian Fiction

70 the

Arts

and

the

president

of

the

Na tiona!

Writers

Federation is totally revealing: "Now tell me, do you seriously think we should expose our children to lines like 'My country and my people/ Are neither here nor there' , do you seriously? • • • But surely, today, today we know where we are. Today we have forged an identity; we have shaped a nation. We don't want our school kids to be wondering about our country. We want them to realise and be proud that they are the lucky generation of a truly remarkable country; a country which, through sheer hard work and struggle and tough management, has made it against all odds." "I'm sorry that you have been saddened by what you have read, Mr. Minister. But writers have to be honest to themselves, to their feelings. From time immemorial writers have regarded themselves as watchdogs of their societies, self-appointed, of course, but never the less performing what they see as a necessary role. They have to point out flaws in an otherwise efficient system, draw attention to those aspects of life which decision-makers often take for granted, point out that a cityi in order to 5 be a good city, must have a heart."

The

Minister

is

celebratory literature anyone who

would

concerned and

write

offers

"a

novel

about a

the

grant of

which will

lack

of

$30,000

to

celebrate

a

system that allows such free expression to take place." The story succeeds because it maintains consistency of tone

and

style.

And

the

tongue-in-cheek

sa tire

is

delightfully fair--the author is not above making a dig at his

fellow-writers

who

eagerly assent

to

the

Minister's

views so that they might have a crack at the $30,000:

71

The Individual and His Identities

As the Minister had predicted, the Federation of Writers was delighted at the idea of giving handsome grants to local writers. The moment had arrived, they said, when the country was truly going to be civilised, truly culturised. They had waited patiently for such a moment for years and years. Yes, they agreed that most of them had not given the Government or the people the credit they rightly deserved for having transformed the country in a rna tter of years. Yes, they admitted, they had been unfair in their accusations. Yes, the cynicism and the snideness were actually uncalled for. Yes, where were the songs of celebration? Yes, they should produce works of praise and celebration. • • • And yes, some of them would be more than happy to write poems of celebration if they could be given the $30,000. (p. 9)

A more personal point of view is presented in Rebecca Chua' s

"The

Picture".

The story consists

of

the

bitter

reflections of a young woman who has succeeded--too well--in curbing her artistic sensi ti vi ty and might better conform

to

talents

so

that she

the expectations of her society.

The setting, a sumptuous Chinese New Year dinner and family reunion,

points

up

the

contrast

appearance and the inner reality.

between

the

outward

Going through the motions

of eating her dinner, she is insula ted by the busy hum of conversation and is thus able to contemplate the monotony of her existence and the deadening of her soul.

She realizes

that she has not only given up her art but life as well, as she dares to recollect the one affair she has ever had.

But

it is not the affair so much as what it symbolized of the capacity

for

exhilaration,

love that

and avowed

life,

that

celebration

"revelation of

and

love, ••• that

electrolysis of love and longing" which occupy her mind. This is replaced by an image of what she is now, an image of

72

Southeast Asian Fiction

stagnation, in spite of her two-storey home, the family Ford But, of

Escort, her model husband, and her two children. 16 course, "they made such a pre tty picture. " But

it

seems

that

the

concept

identity is beginning to crystallize.

of

a

Singaporean

In contrast to

the

character in Rebecca Chua 1 s story , the narrator-protagonist of Ovidia Yu 1 s "A Dream of China", the first prize winner of the 1984 Asiaweek short story contest, strongly affirms her Singaporean identity. raised on

dreams

of

A modern young woman,

she has been

China by her scholar-father who

has

never stopped regretting not having gone back to China to help his

people,

unlike

his

opportunity to go to China, for herself

younger

brother.

the narrator

Given

takes it,

the

to see

the China of her father s dreams and stories. 1

She admires the vast, natural beauty of China but is to tally unable to identify with present-day China: China spoke to my mind. The idea that this land was the land my people had sprung from, had lived off in pre-history, warmed and stirred me. However, China had nothing to say to my spirit, if indeed land speaks to spirit. My spirit was as alien here as I was. It inclined towards a diamond city of trees and meaningful occupation, efficiently sparkling in the modern world. That was where I truly belonged, among skyscrapers with glass fronts and gold-encrusted orchids. When I finally met my uncle, it was as a visffor to a strange land, not as a returning exile.

Meeting her uncle is even more disillusioning, for he turns out to be a greedy, grasping, and querulous old man, not the noble, dutiful son whom her father has idealized. The

narrator 1 s

attitude

crystallizes

as

a

result of

her

disillusioning experience, but the story implies that·it is

The Individual and His Identities

73

an attitude shared by many young Singaporeans.

Her husband,

modern and highly educated, has even less enthusiasm for a China

he

has

summed up

never

in his

China are fine,

seen:

"All

liking for

he

liked

about China

was

Chinese acrobats." Dreams of

but only to be told in stories.

For the

narrator and others like her, what is meaningful is life in Singapore.

As

for

her

father,

"[he]

is

a

good

man,

whichever country can claim him for its own."

does

This

is

take

a

a

well-crafted story,

rather

large

leap

conclusions

about

experience.

The prose style,

well-controlled: father's

China

it

longing

on

is for

of

the

if

logic basis

to

China;

to

convey

the narrator

in

basing

of

one

in particular,

able

narrator's disillusionment;

even

her

small

is admirably

delicately

describe

the

gently

the

and to portray graphically her

dis tate and disgust at her uncle's

spiritual and physical

deterioration. Thailand. racially,

contrast

culturally,

homogeneous culture,

In

and

society.

religion,

The

and

to

Singapore,

Thailand

linguistically, Thais

his tory.

seem

a

secure

fairly in

Predominantly

is

their

Buddhist,

they take pride in a rich cultural heritage developed under a

long,

unbroken

monarchy to identity. enough

line

of

Thai

kings.

As

the only people in Southeast Asia for tuna te

to escape

they

the

this day remain firm symbols of Thai national

colonization,

they did not have Western When they were exposed to

culture forcibly imposed on them. it,

Buddhism and

were

in

a

position

to

pick

and

choose

elements of Western culture which would augment

their own

traditional culture and bring them to the modern age. took place largely during King Chulalongkorn' s

those

This

time ( 1868-

74

Southeast Asian Fiction

1910).

The process has not been without trauma, of course.

As elsewhere, there will always be areas of conflict between Eastern and Western culture, between the traditional and the modern. their

But they have been spared the additional pain which colonized

recognizing

the

equality, and viola ted

in

neighbours value

of

have

had

Western

ideas

justice while seeing their

own

countries

to

by

suffer--that such as

these the

very same

of

freedom,

principles people who

espoused them. As in other Southeast Asian countries, it is the elite in Thailand who have been most widely exposed ways and values.

to Western

But secure in his history and culture, the

Thai does not suffer an acute identity crisis.

The problem

for the Thai lies in learning how to take his place in the modern world, drawing on Western culture, yet retaining the best and most dis tine ti ve of his own values. the

first

Dokmai Sot,

female novelist in Thailand and chronicler par

excellence of the life of the Thai elite, portrays this in a succession of novels. characters, degrees,

Each of these portrays a gallery of

many of whom have been subjected,

to Western influence.

in varying

In her major novel, Ni Lae

Lok (This is the World), she shows us some of the effects of this exposure on the sense of identity of her characters. Like Dokmai Sot's other novels, Ni Lae Lok is a novel of manners, (Lord)

portraying

Suramon tri,

and their friends. whom

the

the

life of

the

family

particularly that of his

of

Phraya

grandchildren

They are modern young men and women on

veneer of Wes terni za tion lies

apparent in their behaviour,

thickly.

their conversations,

of dressing--they wear Western clothes, go

This

is

their way

to restaurants

and movies, go out dancing, play tennis, and so on.

Salaya,

75

The Individual and His Identities

the

attractive

least

socially

and

granddaughters, is different. devotes

time

to

companionship. go

to

poised

of

the

She alone of all her sisters

their grandfather who

is blind and needs

A good tennis player, unlike her sisters who

the courts

mainly

to socialize and show off

their

clothes, she seldom plays because her grandfather needs her company. What is more important, is on her mind,

the impact of Western culture

not on her manners.

She goes to Western

movies and reads Western books avidly but does not swallow them whole; rather, she ruminates on the ideas she gets from them and compares them to Thai ideas. truer

understanding

of

Europe

by

She seeks

reading

to get a

serious

books,

following the development of major political events on the continent, and

discussing these with her grandfather.

She

appreciates Western music, not necessarily the latest fad, but solid classical fare. difference

between

modern ways,

At times, she senses acutely the

her and

and she

her

sisters,

suffers a

with

their easy

feeling of not belonging.

Nevertheless, she is secure in her values and convictions. Thus,

when

her

brothers

reject

Buddhist

principles

ethical values as "nonsense" or irrelevant, she

and

sees this

as due not so much to the inadequacy of the religion but to their failure or refusal to Salaya

finds

really understand it.

understanding and companionship of her

own age in her best friend, Yupha, and in Thawit, a Westerneducated young man with whom she finds many things in common and with whom she about

society.

proposes

can discuss She

falls

to Yupha instead.

illness and

in

her ideas and observations love

This,

with plus

Thawit,

but he

her grandfather's

subsequent death cause her much physical and

76

Southeast Asian Fiction

emotional strain. she

suffers

a

Never having been in excellent health,

heart attack and

dies.

Her

death

scene,

wherein the author shows us what goes on in her mind as she dies

alone,

is

sensitively and

poignantly

rendered,

and

serves as a powerful conclusion to the novel. By focusing on Salaya as the most important character in this novel of Thai society, it would seem that Dokmai Sot is

holding

judgement

her up as and

a

model

discrimination

of in

the

Thai

sifting

who

uses

through

her

Western

ideas and values, one who is able to get the benefits of Western civilization, without compromising her Thai cultural and religious identities. As we have seen, individual's

religious,

remarkably cohere.

Thai

society is

cultural,

and

one

in which

national

But this is not always so.

the

identities No country

is without its ethnic minorities and among these groups in Thailand,

there does exist an identity problem.

This

is

portrayed in a novel, Chotmai Chak Muang Thai (Letters from Thailand), by Botan.

This has to do with the cross-cultural

conflict faced by the Thai Chinese in Bangkok. Chinese in Thailand have Thai society,

integra ted

Although the

remarkably well

in to

this novel depicts the difficulties attendant

to their doing so. Written in epistolary form,

it tells of the life of

Tan Suang U who left his native village in China as a young boy and is now a successful merchant in Bangkok.

In spite

of his success in his adopted land, Tan Suang U insulates himself from Thai culture and makes no attempt to understand the Thai people among whom he lives. lazy and

pleasure-loving.

He is

He despises

determined

them as

to raise his

children to be strictly Chinese in their ways, to follow the

77

The Individual and His Identities

tradi tiona! Chinese values of

thrift and hard work and is

disappointed when they fail to do so. his

children's

personal! ty:

dilemma

conforming

of

having

only son rebels,

to

cultivate

a

dual

to Chinese ways when at home and

speaking and acting like Thais which they are a part.

He does not realize

in

the larger

society of

Because of these difficulties, his

acting in anti-social ways,

and finally

cries out to his father in anguish: When I was a little boy, school always seemed like another world; the Thai school, I mean, like another planet or something. Here we spoke Chinese, and you expected us to behave like kids in that place where you grew up--Po Leng village? Well, in the Thai school they told us we were 'new people,' whatever that is. I think it's good that we kids know both languages, but-in business, Papa, where you think I speak Thai like a Thai, you know? Actually, I have this -this accent. They laugh, like the kids used to laugh at the Thai school, only kids laugh right in your face and not behind your back ••• well, that part isn't so bad, maybe, but what it means is that a guy has to be two or three kinds of persons, you know? ••• I always tried to conduct myself in the old ways at home, to please you, but the harder I tried the less you seemed to notice me, because you expected it. The only time you really noticed me was when I forgot myself enough to act like myself. Outs ide our house, I tried to be a 'regular guy' and act like other kids my age. • • • I act too much like a Thai to satisfy my parents, but to a Thai I'm still--jek ••• I'm a jek with a Thai education. Papa, ~g you understand what I'm trying to say to you?

78

Southeast Asian Fiction

Here we see the identity crisis which an individual caught between two strong cultures must undergo. As an immigrant who wants

to keep his

ties

to his

mother culture intact, Tan Suang U does not realize that his children's

perception

They

the

feel

need

of

their

for

closer

identities ties

culture in to which they were born.

to

is

the

different. country and

His youngest daughter,

in particular, gets herself a Thai education all the way to college and marries a Thai,

thus integrating herself into

Thai society. The

epistolary

form

project Tan Suang U' s

is

well-sui ted

feelings

as

he

to

pours

the

need

to

them out in

letters to his mother who represents his ideals--the best of the old that he would wish to preserve in his life and that of his children.

We follow him in his painful journey to

understanding that he cannot keep his children in a cultural cocoon and that he himself must open his mind and spirit to the culture of his adopted country. Less problematic but equally important is the theme of folk or rural identity. the Northeast. poorest and

A distinctive area in Thailand is

Known to the Thai as Isarn, it is one of the

most backward

regions of Thailand.

Although

many of the inhabitants are descended from the Lao and the local culture itself is much influenced by Lao culture, the people

nevertheless

themselves Thai. and

crafts,

distinct.

identify with

Thailand

and

consider

But they do have a dialect, folkways, arts

and

A novel,

even

a

physical

environment

that

is

Khru Ban Nok {The Teachers of Mad Dog

Swamp) by Khammaan Khonkhai, celebrates the lsarn identity not as a separate ethnic identity in conflict with the Thai one, but as a folk culture that contributes to the strength

79

The Individual and His Identities

of Thai culture.

The major theme of the novel is commitment

(and as such, will be discussed in a later chapter): a young man from the Northeast comes to Bangkok for an education and then decides to go back to teach in his home region. The opening scene of the novel is significant.

It is

the graduation ball of a teacher training school in Bangkok. Piya,

the

central

character,

bored

with

the

sights

and

sounds of the ballroom, wanders off to the exhibition of the arts and crafts of the Northeast region which he has helped to organize. of

the arts

He feels proud not only of his handiwork but of his home

region.

photo graph which depicts a

Pausing before a

large

typical village scene, he makes

an important decision: Piya stared at the eyes of the two people in the picture, feeling their burden and their solemnity and, at the same time, letting his thoughts float to Isarn, his birthplace from which he had come so many years ago. The sound of dance music which came noisy and insistent from the Assembly Hall slowly dropped out of his consciousness, being replaced by the soft, faint sounds of the khaen and phin, whose plaintive melody, slow and sad, fluttered in his ear and gradually became louder as the rhythm of the ponglang (a wooden gong) thrust itself into his imagination. At that moment, the question he had been pondering for many days was answered. When he graduated, should he work in Bangkok or should he return home? [ge would return and become a teacher in Isarn.

Piya' s rejection of of Bangkok,

as

music,

the

for

symbolized simple

the sophistication and modernism by

and

the more

ballroom and primitive

the

life

of

dance the

80

Southeast Asian Fiction

Northeast

is

an affirmation

suffers no identity crisis. in

his

home

region,

recognizes one of

by

of

his

Isarn

identity.

He

But, by acknowledging his roots

being

proud

of

his

origins,

he

the sources of the strength of the Thai

culture and Thai national identity. In

the

fiction discussed above,

nation building along with society

force

the

the pressures of a modernizing

individual

to

an

identities, both personal and social. of

identity,

often

the difficulties of

accompanied

awareness

of

his

This emerging sense by

much

pain,

may

significantly alter the individual's perception of his place in the community and may in fact, come with a growing sense of displacement, of alienation from his society.

We explore

the various forms of alienation, as expressed in Southeast Asian fiction, in the next chapter.

Notes

1.

Pramoedya Anan ta Toer, This Earth of Mankind, trans. Max Lane (Australia: Penguin Books Australia, Ltd., 1976), p. 2. Subsequent references are to this translation.

2.

See Keith Foulcher, "Bumi Manusia and Anak Semua Bangsa: Pramoedya Anan ta Toer Enters the 1980s", Indonesia, no. 32 (October 1981): 1-15.

3.

"Pramoedya Anan ta Toer--The Writer as Outsider: An Indonesian Example", in Cultural Options and the Role of Tradition (Canberra: Australian University Press), p. 97.

4.

Nick Joaquin, The Woman Who Had Two Navels (Manila: Solidaridad Publishing House, 1972), p. 173. Subsequent page references are to this edition.

The Individual and His Identities

81

5.

Edith L. Tiempo, His Native Coast (Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1979), pp. 112-13.

6.

Interview with Anwar Ridhwan, senior editor, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur, 20 September 1984.

7.

Ishak Haj i Muhammad, The Son of Mad Mat Lela, trans. Harry Aveling, with an introduction by Phillip L. Thomas (Singapore: Federal Publications, 1983), p. 69.

8.

C. Skinner, "A Note on Communalism in Malay Literature" in The May Traged in Mala sia: A Collection of Essays Australia: B. Kinlay of Howitt Hall for Monash University Malaysia-Singapore Students' Association, July 1969), pp. 33-39. See also Ismail Hussein, "Sas tra Melayu dan Perpaduan Kaum" [Malay literature and communalism] in Sas tra dan Masyarakat [literature and society] (Kuala Lumpur: Penerbitan Pustaka Zakri Abadi, 1974), pp. 22-30 for a defence of the novel, and Tham Seong Chee, "Politics of Literary Development in Malaysia" in Literature and Society in Southeast Asia, ed. Tham Seong Chee (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1981), pp. 228-230 for his opposing viewpoint.

9.

Barclay M. Newman, trans., Modern Malaysian Stories (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1977), p. 94.

10.

The Third Notch and Other Stories, trans. Aveling (Singapore: Heinemann Educational [Asia], Ltd., 1980), pp. 28-38.

11.

(Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books [Asia], Ltd., 1976)' p. 67.

12.

See Chan Heng-Chee and Hans-Dieter Evers, "National Identity and Nation Building in Singapore" in Studies in Asian Sociolof£X:O ed. Peter Chen and Hans-Dieter Evers (Singapore: Chopman Enterprise, 1978), pp. 117129.

13.

Yeo, pp. xi-xii.

14.

See, for instance, "China-India Friendship" in Stories from Singapore, ed. George Fernandez (Singapore: Society of Singapore Writers, 1983), pp. 196-206.

Harry Books

82

Southeast Asian Fiction

15.

Ibid. pp. 6-7.

16.

The Newspaper Editor and Other Stories (Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books [Asia], Ltd., 1981), pp. 85-87.

17.

Asiaweek, 18

18.

Botan, Letters from Thailand, trans. Susan Morrell (Bangkok: Duang Kamol, 1977), p. 319.

19.

Khammaan Khonkhai, The Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp, trans. Gehan Wijeyewardene (St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1982), p. 3.

January 1985, pp. 44-48. Fulop

IV: ALIENATION AND EXILE

Among the causes of alienation in the societies of Southeast Asia,

it

is

possible

to

generalize

a

few.

One

is

the

inability of the individual to meet the demands of a society where rapid changes--economic, political, technological--are taking place. powerlessness

This may cause him to suffer a and

may

perhaps

withdraw from his society.

force

him

to

feeling of retreat

or

On the other side of the coin is

the individual who has acquired a modern education and on whom the impact of modern liberal ideas is so great that he is unable to adjust to his society which in many respects may still be traditional and conservative.

The landscape of

change in our societies is extremely uneven: broad areas of modernization interspersed by deep pockets of traditionalism (or

vice

versa),

making

it

individual to find his way. inner

resources

of

changing situations, economic which

realities

he

sustenance.

can

draw

the

of ten

upon

for

the

No doubt, much depends on the

individual

but no less which

difficult

surround his

to

adapt

important are him and

history

and

the

himself

to

the socioextent

culture

to for

Southeast Asian Fiction

84 Indonesia. who

is

The classic situation of

unable

to

reconcile

modernist

the individual views

with

a

traditional upbringing may be found in Achdiat K. Mihardja novel, Atheis.

S

Hasan, the central character, is a highborn,

fairly well-educated Brought up as a parents 1

1

young Javanese who works

in Bandung.

deeply religious young man,

mystical

partly

sect,

because

he joins his he

has

been

disappointed in his love for a young woman who is not of his class.

He nevertheless faithfully follows the tenets of his

mystical order,

trying to

perfect and purify his faith by

fasting and mortification of he

impairs

his

health.

classmate, Rusli, young

woman,

the flesh,

In

Bandung,

who introduces him

and

Anwar,

an

to the extent that he

meets

a

former

to Kartini, a

modern

anarchist.

All

three

are

basically socialists (Marxists) and unbelievers. Hasan

naively

sets

out

to

bring

them

back

to

the

Islamic faith, but he soon finds out that he is no match for Rusli 1 s superior logic and closely reasoned arguments.

He

is further impressed by Rusli s attitude of tolerance:

"We

1

should be broad-minded and, above all, free from fanaticism. Truth should Indeed,

he

not be begins

to

Rusli opens his mind considered

and,

coercive--it should find

Rusli s 1

be

convincing."!

arguments

convincing.

to issues which he has never before

although

he

finds

some

of

Rusli 1 s

contentions disturbing, he can find no way to refute them. He begins to neglect his religion, especially after he hears Rusli 1 s opinion that Indonesians only turn to mysticism as a palliative because

their society is

primitive and rotten.

Above all, however, he is drawn to Kartini who reminds him of his former sweetheart and with whom he falls in love.

On

a visit to his village, he breaks with his parents after a

Alienation and Exile

85

fierce argument with his

Shortly

father about religion.

afterwards, he marries Kartini. We see him next three and a half years later, during the Japanese Occupation in World War II.

His marriage has

turned sour and his health has worsened.

At this point, he

feels

to tally desolate and alone:

"Bereft of happiness,

I

was now alienated from existence, cut adrift from my wife, my parents, cut adrift, (p. 135).

too,

from the ideals I

once held"

He can no longer return to the simplicity of his

former ideals--to have a

pious and virtuous wife, raise a

family, and "pray or discuss religious questions with others whose opinions agreed with my own" (p. 135). After

a

violent

quarrel,

Kartini

leaves

him.

He

suspects Kartini of having an affair with Anwar and vividly imagines himself murdering Anwar. is

on

the verge of death,

attempt at reconciliation.

Learning that his father

he goes

to his village

in an

But his father rejects him, and

feelings of guilt at having contributed to the cause of his father's death add to his total misery.

Back in Bandung, he

believes he has found proof of Kartini and Anwar's betrayal of him.

Determined to seek revenge, he unheedingly goes out

into the street during an air-raid alarm and is shot by a Japanese soldier. The author complicates our view of Hasan by using an elaborate narrative s true ture--a box-within-a-box narrative device.

There are

two narrative voices in the story--the

author/narrator's and Hasan's. Hasan's

death,

with

the

The novel opens just after

author/narrator

giving

us

an

account of his first meeting with Hasan and his impressions of him.

He then in traduces an autobiographical manuscript

which Hasan has asked him to read.

Hasan's own account of

86

Southeast Asian Fiction

his

life

is

At

necessarily unfinished.

the

end

of

the

manuscript, the author again takes up the narrative thread by giving an account of his

last meeting with Hasan and

fills in the details of Hasan's last days as pieced from the account of Kar tini and others. This rather intricate device enables us to judge Hasan not only from his own account of what he thinks and does; it also

enables

Hasan's

the author

character.

essentially accurate

to

give

His and

us

his

assessment

sums

up

our

own analysis of

Hasan

impress ions

of

seems of

an

unsophisticated and impressionable young man who is exposed to

too much too soon and

is carried along on

the strong

current of half-understood ideas until he finds himself in waters

too

deep

"influenced

by

to

get

out

half-baked

of.

His

is

essentially

that of

an

personality

knowledge ••• the

someone more knowledgeable than himself". is

a

individual

victim

of

Hasan's dilemma

caught between

two

worlds and, unable to find his place in one or the other, is alienated and eventually destroyed. Stemming from the same source--the inability to bridge the

gap between

tradi tiona! village life and modern city

living--but of a different quality are the emotions of the character in "Mother Goes

to Heaven" by Si tor Si tomorang.

There is nothing in him of anger or confusion, only a total inability or lack of desire to relate to his former world. He comes back to his village from his job in Jakarta because his mother is dying,

but we see nothing of any

ties

that

bind him to his former home, his religion, or even to his parents.

When he realizes that his mother has died while a

religious service is being held in their home, he feels no intensity

of

grief

but

rather

"a

strange

feeling

of

87

Alienation and Exile

gratitude", at

He recalls incidents from his childhood, looks

familiar

scenes,

and

participates

tokenly

in

the

activities going on around him, but his attitude is one of polite

indifference--that

outsider looking in. long or city?

to

of

the

courteous

observer,

the

Is it due to his having been away too

the dehumanizing and deadening effects

of

The story does not make a precise statement.

the

It is

simply told in the first person by the protagonist who does not elucidate his emotions,

there is no authorial comment,

and we must form our own conclusions. "Sunyi Senyap di Siang Hidup"

(Desolation at Life's

Noon) by Pramoedya Anan ta Toer focuses more narrowly on the alienation of the writer from society and how living in a huge and

impersonal city like Jakarta

can exacerbate it.

The problems of the writer/protagonist in this story seem primarily economic but are linked to his artistic integrity and creative being.

He does not have enough money to meet

his daily needs much less support his artistic endeavours because he cannot get a well-paying job without compromising his integrity.

He is reluctant to form any close personal

relationships because of what he calls his "arrogance", the desire to live life in his own way, to have total freedom as an artist. come

to

Yet, he senses that his creativity seems to have a

dead

end,

for

typewriter, no words come.

even

though

he

sits

at

his

Perhaps it is because he is too

wrapped up in his own thoughts and feelings.

There are many

facets of life in Jakarta that he could write about but he finds himself unable to care or write about them: He thought of the fire in Poncol. Thousands of shanties destroyed and tens of thousands without a place to hide.

88

Southeast Asian Fiction

But I didn't want to go and see them. Damn. A damn writer. This was arrogance. No-one ever comes to help me, so I don't care about anyone else either. I should have gone to see how they lived, the tumult as they fought for their land, piece by piece. Their anguished cries as their faith collapsed; the fight between God and the fire. Apd between the individual and the city council.

The only things he really cares about are his art and his children by his divorced wife. the

third person point of view,

consciousness dialectic.

dominates

the

The story is told from

but although the writer's

work,

there

is

some

use

of

Dini, a girl who loves him, comes to pay him a

visit and invites him to a wedding.

When he refuses because

he doesn't know anyone, she tells him that he must learn to relate to other people, for only by sharing it with others can his suffering be minimized: You don' t have to suffer alone when you have friends ••• We're lonely when we suffer, alone in a world growing smaller. We want sympathy in our suffering. So we have to mix, to divide up the suffering and to receive sympathy in return. (p. 176)

But he refuses to accept this, believing that a writer should be alone,

"in to tal command of his his tory".

Yet,

somewhat inconsistently, he relates his predicament to the state of his society and the confic t within himself to the conflict of cultures, East and West, within He sees himself as

that society.

the battleground on which this conflict

is fought. This story, like many of Pramoedya's stories, is semiautobiographical.

According to A. Teeuw, it was written at

Alienation and Exile

the end of a

89

critical phase in Pramoedya' s

beginning of a new one.

Embittered by

life and

the

the way life has

treated him, Pramoedya is "ready to replace his dreams with 3 action". (He visited Beijing shortly after the story was writ ten and role

thereafter played a more prominently political

through Lekra,

the left-wing cultural organization.)

This may be the rea son why he is unable

to integrate

the

personal, economic, and cultural causes of the crisis in the creative life of his character, although he vividly captures the intensity of his confusion and despair. A more

profound sense of alienation is

the sense of

"cosmic outcastness" which derives from the existentialist view that the world lacks coherent meaning and purpose and is, therefore, absurd. meaning

for

meaning

to

It is up to the individual to create

himself.

Since individual

existence are

bound

to

attempts

differ,

to give

truth

becomes

subjective and solipsism results. The theme of alienation approached through a sense of the

absurd

may

be

found

Indonesian fie tionis ts.

in

the

works

of

a

number

of

The short story writer Danar to, for

instance, recreates the world of the absurd in his stories. But his is no mere copy of European absurdist fiction for it is deeply roo ted in his society and cultural origins. Javanese,

his

creatures.

world

is

Even when

peopled he

by

creates

Javanese his

own

A

mythological characters

or

adapts Western ones like Hamlet or Horatio, he invests them with

a

Javanese

presence.

Danarto's

vision

rests

on

pan theism which is an element of the traditional Javanese 4 world view. The belief that God is in everything and 5 everyone and that everything and everyone is God causes his characters to reject or be rejected by the society in which

90

Southeast Asian Fiction

they live.

This, to Danarto, is a world that is all routine

and futility.

Rintrik, in the story of the same title, is a

blind old woman who digs graves for dead babies, especially those

unwanted by

their

parents.

She

is

farmers of her valley to whom she radiates goodness of God.

beloved

by

the

the wisdom and

But she is apprehended by the Hunter who

looks upon her as an "antisocial atheist" who has poisoned society by her dangerous doctrines. she reaffirms

her vision of a

genuine wealth",

where men

Before she is executed,

"society based on love and

treat each other as

holy and

"everything we find is the face of God". Rintrik has a positive vision of society based on her belief in the harmony between God, Man, and Nature.

The old

man in "Godlob", another story by the same author,

totally

rejects

son so

that

this

he

vision.

might

be

He kills proclaimed

his battle-wounded a

hero

by

Poll ticians" to whom only the dead are heroes.

the

"Noble

When he is

exposed by his wife, he flings his defiance in their faces: Look at the Noble Poll tic ian! He talks of the state, of war, economics, poe try, the zoo and women. He has defiled them all. What has he left us to talk about? It makes me so sick I want to vomit!

Malaysia.

Unlike

the

6

Indonesian writers who mostly

belong to the Western-educated elite and are widely exposed to the influence of Western literature, of

Malay

educated.

writers

have

a

rural

the greater number

background

and

are

Even when they live and work in the city,

are in close

touch with Malay

Malay they

traditional society and see

Alienation and Exile

themselves

as

91

spokesmen

for

the

Malay

community,

particularly within the multiracial context of Malaysia. For

this reason,

perceived need broad

social

for

they are apt

improving Malay

problems

rather

than

to focus more on the society and on

the

individuals who feel aliena ted from society. community is

strong

in Malay

fie tion,

resolving

problems

of

The sense of

particularly

those

which deal with rural life, such as the very moving novels of Shahnon Ahmad, a writer who started his career as a rural school teacher.

In the village, men live close to nature

and are far from the disrupting influence of the industrial city

and

modern

technology.

Moreover,

their

relative

poverty compels them to stand together and help one another in

their

difficulties.

community,

therefore,

Preserving

the

strength

of

the

is of paramount importance in their

lives. But even here, where the feeling of oneness with the community predominates, This

is

the

problem of alienation occurs.

true of Shahnon's first novel, Rentong

(Burnt to

Ashes), set in his home village of Banggul Derdap.

In this

novel, we see how village unity is threatened by one man's ambition for

power and another man's alienation from his

community. Dogol has secret ambitions to be headman; he tries to realize

his

ambition

confidence in Pak Senik, their

wrath

against

by

undermining

the

villagers'

the village headman, and inciting

Semaun,

already

ostracized

by

the

villagers because of his reputation for violence. There is a chance for

the community to prosper when

the government offers to give substantial assistance if the farmers would plant twice instead of just once a year.

The

Southeast Asian Fiction

92 condition,

however,

is

that everyone

this rural development program. Senik,

the village headmean,

never

contrary, who

participate

tries

cooperated with

to convince Semaun and

the

Father and son

villagers

before;

they are considered antisocial by

shun

them

because

in

The problem arises when Pak

to join the program.

his father, Pak Kasa, have

must

they

believe

on

the

the villagers guilty

them

deliberately harming their crops and animals.

of

True to his

reputation, Semaun hot-headedly drives the headman away. Actually, Semaun knows

that Pak Senik is a good man

who alone in the village is willing to help him. father

lies

religious

dying,

rites

it

for

is

the

Pak

dying

Senik and

who

it

is

When his

performs he

arrangements for the funeral when Pak Kasa dies.

who

the makes

He and his

family then join Semaun and his family as the only mourners to bring Pak Kasa to his grave. Meanwhile, Dogol realizes that Pak Senik has softened considerably towards Semaun and he feels

threatened.

When

his cow disappears, he seizes the opportunity to fasten the blame on Semaun, although he knows that a well have attacked it.

Quickly,

tiger could very

he assembles a

crowd of

villagers and incites them to burn Semaun' s house down and drive him out of the village. his house

to the death,

Semaun makes ready to defend

if necessary,

but Pak Senik calms

everyone down by saying that they can only decide who really killed the cow by looking for its carcass.

When they do

find it, it is clear that the tiger is responsible for its killing.

The mob now

turns against Dogol but again,

Pak

Senik averts violence by pointing out that the tiger demands their immediate attention.

The elders deputize Semaun, who

is an excellent shot, to kill it with Pak Senik's rifle, one

Alienation and Exile

93

of only two guns in the village.

The other belongs to Dogol

who makes secret plans to kill the tiger

himself.

When he

gets near the platform where bait is laid for the tiger, he hides in the underbrush.

Overwhelmed by hatred, he aims for

Semaun and Pak Senik instead. the

tiger

springs

simultaneously, disruptive

Before he can shoot, however,

upon him and breaks

Semaun

shoots

both

forces,

the

his

neck. With

tiger.

social

and

Almas t these gone,

natural, to

the

examining

the

causes of Semaun's alienation from his village society.

For

reconciliation

is

effected

and

harmony

restored

village. Considerable

attention

one thing, a deep reverence for his

family

for

generations

given

is

to

the land that has been in

and

respect

for

ancestral

traditions set him apart from the others who, at the moment, are

mo ti va ted

by

the

desire

for

material

progress.

His

immediate reaction to the idea of planting twice a year is thus negative--to plant more than once a year would be "to torture the ancestral earth".

But greater than this is his

deep hurt and failure to understand why his fellow-villagers should be so antagonistic towards him when he knows he has done nothing father

have

to hurt

been victims

perpetrated by Dogol.

On the

them. of

contrary,

injustice,

in

he and

large

his

measure

His sense of being alone and unwanted

is further intensified by the death of his father. The novel gains strength from Shahnon's understanding of crowd psychology.

He knows how mischief can be so easily

sown in a small community and how quickly the community can close ranks against perceived threats to its existence.

He

also handles his characters with compassionate insight and considerable skill.

His

technique in presenting Semaun is

94

Southeast Asian Fiction

effective, as he engages the reader's sympathy gradually but firmly.

He first presents Semaun from the negative view-

point of the villagers then contrasts this with the fond and admiring regard

his

sister,

Senek,

has

for

him.

When

Semaun finally appears, it is his immense physical strength and

his

impulsive

actions

that

immediately

strike

us.

Gradually, we come to understand and admire him as we see his deep sense of hurt, his lack of false pride, and his immense gratitude and loyalty to Pak Senik.

He is certainly

no ready-made hero presented for our instant approval. is Dogol a stereotype villain.

Nor

He is not evil incarnate but

a believable human being whose main victim in his ambitious drive for power is himself. Pak

Senik

is

a

memorable

creation.

Gentle

and

unaggressive, his strength lies in his patient and tireless efforts

at

finding

understanding of

peaceful

solutions

the need for change.

and

in

Both

his

wise

tolerant and

compassionate, it is he who initiates the process of healing the rifts in the community caused by the divisive forces of prejudice and anger. Shahnon' s poe tic evocation of nature it adds depth and symmetry to his work. an

oppressive

atmosphere

of

and his use of

The novel begins in

approaching

night

and

impenetrable silence, with a sense of enemies lurking in the darkness. cheering

It ends with the coming of light, with the crowd the

death of

the

tiger,

and with

the villagers

keeping vigil together over Dogol's body as the dawn breaks. Throughout the novel, we see both the benign and destructive aspects of society and of nature, as

they are interwoven

into man's life and as they affect man's fate.

95

Alienation and Exile

This latter idea is the theme of Srengenge, Shahnon' s latest novel, which suggests yet another form of alienation-man's alienation from nature and have on his society.

the effects

benefits

could

Srengenge is a mountain that looms

tall over a small farming village. obtain

this

from

the

mountain;

Most of the villagers they

go

to

it

for

materials to build their houses, for firewood, for food such as

wild

fruits

and

game.

Hunting

on

Srengenge

is

the

favourite pas time of the farmers, especially while waiting for their grain to ripen.

Some snare spotted doves; others

trap porcupines or mousedeer.

All of them appreciate the

greenness and beauty of Srengenge. Except for

one man.

To Awang Cik Teh,

ugly, an enemy to be vanquished. trees,

burn down

fields.

the

mountain,

Srengenge is

He wants to cut down the and

convert it

into

rice

Not because he needs the food but because it is a

challenge and confronting this challenge would give meaning to his life.

Knowing

that it would be difficult to do this

without the support of the villagers, he goes to Imam Hamad, the spiritual leader of

the community.

The Imam,

one of

those who enjoy hunting on Srengenge, is averse to the idea at first.

But after a

disastrous

hunting expedition

in

which he kills his favourite decoy, a spotted dove, because he believes it to have turned coward, he agrees to call a meeting.

Before he can do so, he turns gravely ill.

He is

believed to be possessed by evil spirits and when the healer tries to find the source of this possession, one answer--Srengenge.

there is only

An offering is made to the spirits

of Srengenge, but just the same, the Imam dies. Alienation from nature, the novel suggests, is harmful not only to man but to his society.

Awang Cik Teh' s near-

96

Southeast Asian Fiction

obsession with clearing Srengenge disturbs

the harmony of

the village and increases both his and the villagers' sense of separation.

When the Imam, in a fit of blind rage, kills

his spotted dove, he too must suffer and not only him but the en tire village which is deprived of a leader and beset by great anxiety at his death. As the men (with the exception of Awang Cik Teh) go up the mountain to appease the spirits of Srengenge, each one examines his heart to find for

possible

offenses

whatever guilt may lurk there

against

creatures who inhabit it.

Srengenge

and

the

living

Awang Cik Teh has his own form of

guilt--the struggle between wanting and not wanting the Imam to die; if he died, everyone would be angry at the mountain and would be more receptive to his proposal to raze it. In the midst of the tension over the Imam's condition, Awang Cik Teh blurts out his proposal.

It is received in

shocked silence and he realizes that he has gone too far. He

prepares

to go home,

from the community.

thus underscoring his

separation

But Useng, the healer, believing that

Awang's obsession is a form of possession, makes a healing gesture by asking Awang to lead the prayers over dying Imam and thus restores harmony.

the now

Sobered by the Imam's

death, the villagers accept the uncertainty of life and the enduring presence of Srengenge (even Awang Cik Teh who has relegated his plan to fantasy) as it continues to exert its ambiguous influence on their lives. In contrast to the rural landscapes of Shahnon is the Malaysian city with its

oppressive heat and aridity--the

setting for Lee Kok Liang's novella, The Mutes in the Sun. Writing in English, Lee tells the story of a young man from a well-to-do family who kills his father's second wife.

He

Alienation and Exile

is

exonerated

on

97 grounds

of

temporary

insanity,

but

thereafter lives as an ou teas t from society. We

first

encounter

the

central

character

in

the

seedier part of the city, dwelling in a makeshift cubicle in an old deserted house with a sick old woman whom chance has made his neighbour.

He feeds himself and the woman on food

his grandmother occasionally brings him; when this is gone, he goes out to steal.

On one

such expedition,

he

feels

himself observed and discovers his observer to be Kee Huat, the object of his search for many years now.

Kee Hua t has

himself become another outcast--and mute as well. possessions are a

diary,

a

faded photograph.

Through these and

His only

packet of old letters,

recollections, we piece together a

and a

the main character's

tangled story of love,

hate, and guilt. In his recollection, we see the protagonist as a teenaged boy who prefers watching and playing with living things instead of

interesting himself

sawmill business.

in his father's

prosperous

Among his schoolmates are Kee Hua t, his

closest friend, and Gaik Lang, a prostitute's daughter, who are in love with each other.

His father, however, has his

eye on Gaik Lang and later takes her in to their household. The boy inadvertently causes his father

to learn of Gaik

Lang's involvement with Kee Hua t and feels guilty when the father uses school. his

his

influence

to have Kee Hua t

His unsuccessful attempts

resentment

at

Gaik

Lang's

removed

from

to locate Kee Huat and

rising

influence

in

the

household as his father's second wife inflame his hatred and he stabs Gaik Lang.

After his release from reform school

where he was held during the trial, he continues his search for Kee Hua t.

98

Southeast Asian Fiction

The au thor's chief achievement in this story is his success in creating atmosphere. Kok

Liang's

works

"seem

It has been no ted that Lee

steeped

in

shadow

layers

of

authorial introspection, a Hawthorne-like consciousness of 7 corruption in the hidden essence of life and society". In The Mutes in the Sun, he is able to suggest these shadowy depths not reached by the dazzling Malaysian sun through his psychological

penetration

of

character

as

well

as

the

deliberate use of narrative ambiguity which hints at,

but

does not make explicit, hidden possibilities of meaning.

He

is excellent at creating texture, using stark, naturalistic de tail to describe the dirt and filth of the city or rich sensory de tail

to make us

oppressive fragrance of

feel

tropical

character kills Gaik Lang. details is

to give

the

blinding heat or

flowers when

the

the central

The cumulative effect of these

them symbolic force,

transforming them

in to motifs of the moral climate in which the action takes place. But the most important symbol is the muteness of the characters.

Kee Hua t is mute and the protagonist, when he

becomes an ou teas t, gestures with

hardly ever

speaks,

the woman he lives with.

communicating

in

The only time we

hear his voice is when he accosts the stranger who turns out to be Kee Hua t.

Thereafter,

they communicate in silence.

The inability and/or unwillingness to communicate becomes a major symbol of their alienation, as is their final action in

the

story.

Kee

protagonist,

sets

fire

protagonist)

father's

Huat, to

with the

sawmill,

the

complicity

building housing described

in

of his

the (the

unmistakable

terms in the story as "a gray formless achievement of the indus trial man".

With this,

they accomplish their revenge

99

Alienation and Exile

on society and free

the oppression of the

themselves from

past and their burden of anger. almost

is

Singapore

Malaysia,

Unlike

Singapore.

completely urban and the problems of alienation have to do with the pressures of city living.

In very many respects, In a

Singapore is a model city--clean, orderly, efficient. short span

of

time

the

to

(1965

present),

economic

its

growth has been phenomenal, brought about by the determined efforts of its leaders and the cooperation and hard work of But even in so prosperous and disciplined a

its citizens.

society, the unrelenting push for progress is bound to exact its toll.

Sociologists tell us that not just painful crises

but abrupt changes, however beneficent, such as the sudden growth of

the

disturb

can

wealth

social

equilibrium and

if not extreme anxiety,

create feelings of insecurity,

in

The inability of the individual to relate

the individual.

to his rapidly developing society may cause him to suffer a sense of alienation, a him in that society.

feeling

that there is no place for

He may feel insignificant, like a mere

cog in a machine. This

is

the

pervasive

of

emotion

Kwang

Meng,

the

protagonist of Goh Poh Seng's novel, If We Dream Too Long. Kwang Meng is neither brilliant nor highly qualified but he is

sensitive

a

literature.

individual

like

active

and

enjoys

music,

nature,

and

Yet, he sees no future for himself save that of

eking out a meaningless, just

who

his

father.

vital

uneventful existence as a He

life--but

dreams--of knows

he

travel, has

financial means nor the will to achieve these.

of

clerk, a

neither

more the

Some meaning

comes into his life when he meets Ann, a quiet, sympathetic girl with whom he goes out a few times.

100

Southeast Asian Fiction

But Kwang Meng has

to give up even his

dreams and

unformed hopes of achieving happiness when his father falls ill.

As

the

responsibility

eldest of

child,

supporting

he the

has

to

family.

take

on

the

Added

to

his

burdens is a new, sudden fear--the fear of losing his job. He realizes people

the

that it is just "this kind of fear small

frightened

people

that

that made

they become:

the

spineless clerks who eke out a dreary job year after year after year." Now he is irrevocably doomed to be one of them. The author Kwang Meng, conception reminds

but of

us

presents a there

the

very

sensitively drawn

seems

Western literature,

and

In many ways,

of

the

the

novel

existential indeed

Kwang

it does not fully succeed.

Meng

heroes

seems

to

attempt to look at existential man in Singapore. such,

of

to be some ambiguity in his

character. strongly

picture

of

be an But as

Kwang Meng is no less

sensitive, no less aware, no less capable of suffering than his Western counterparts, but the moral climate in which he lives,

as

recreated

in

this

novel,

is

one

existential attitude is ultimately alien. push and

its

rna terialism,

his

society

to

which

the

In spite of its is

one

in

which

traditional values remain strong and capable of sustaining him.

A beautifully authentic note may be found

in

this

description of one of the few moments in which Kwang Meng feels free and happy because he feels

the closeness in his

family: The close and good spirit was unplanned. It just happened. Maybe the heavy rain outside brought warmth and closeness to the dinner table, which every member of the family conspired to promote, as if there had been a secret compact among them to do so; as if they

Alienation and Exile

101

were aware that the atmosphere was a fragile, an almost accidental thing. Their mother hovered around, almost incandescent with her presence. She, the patient, strong woman who had brought them up, cooked for them, washed their clothes, seemed then stronger than ever. This was what it was all for, she seemed to convey. Their father was relaxed and content, as if he too agreed that this was what it was all for, all his struggles and troubles. The children realized all this, and behaved with the real freedom of children for once. Even Kwang Meng, smoking afterwards, felt as free as the ~moke that curled up and up to melt into the air.

Although we may sense a kinship between Kwang Meng and Camus' that

"Outsider" the

hero

of

it is

in some respects, Camus'

novel,

who

is

alienated man, should ever feel this way. Kwang Meng,

inconceivable the

completely

From this view of

it seems consistent that he should accept his

fate with "undespairing and undramatic resignation", holding firmly and unquestioningly to the value of filial piety and acknowledging the need to do his duty to his family.

But

the novel goes on to suggest in its concluding episode that Kwang Meng goes mad because he has "dreamt too long" and the reality proves too much for him. goes

on

in

the

novel,

this

On the basis of all that conclusion

contrived and not fully prepared for.

seems

somewhat

It fails to take into

account all the elements in the novel or to present a clear and unified view of the main character. novel

presents

a

moving

portrayal

of

Nevertheless, alienation

in

the the

"high-rise society" that is Singapore. The stresses of life in a highly competitive society can make one not only feel inadequate but also drive one to

102

Southeast Asian Fiction

frustration and despair.

This could lead the individual to

regard suicide as seemingly the only way out. short story by Rebecca Chua, friends--obviously professionals

opens with a

successful,

such

as

recent suicide and

abound

its

in

"Suicide", a group of

sop his tica ted

five young

Singapore--discussing Remembering

possible causes.

a the

victim as a former classmate of hers, one of them shrugs her off as "ordinary average",

"average insignificant".

lives diverge after this meeting and each other at intervals. that,

from

being

a

Ironically,

theoretical

they only hear about it becomes apparent

subject

for

suicide has become a reality in their lives. eventually

commit suicide.

Their

discussion,

Three of them

After hearing of the third such

death, the narrator, overwhelmed, contemplates her own: I thought of Gloria lying in the morgue, cold flesh on a colder slab. I stood on the balcony, feeling the wind whip my hair and cheeks and arms, and I looked down, down, down into the street. I pressed against the balcony railing till it cut into my wrists, and the pain and the wind brought tears stinging to my eyes. They were dead: Ling, and Harry, and even indomitable Gloria. They were all dead and it made no difference to the world. Nobody cared. I looked down, down, down into the street below, and the wind pushed me back against the wall, where I crouched and cried. Twenty-six years crammed in to one frail, yielding body that would disintegrate with the eternity of time~ the mind corruptible in its hearts and fears.

Alienation and Exile

The

story

103

is

a

strong

pressures but ultimately on

comment

not

the emptiness

only

on

of life

the

in

the

high-achieving society that its characters inhabit. Singapore writers in English are not the only ones who concern themselves with the "too much, too soon" effects of modernization on

the individual soul.

Malay writer Bahri Raj ib, undermine

a

community.

person's

Lisda, a

novel by

shows how modern mores not only

faith

but

alienate

her

from

her

Lisda is a thoroughly modern young woman who has

been educated abroad and holds an executive position in a big business woman,

she

than holds free and

concern.

is a

A prime

example of

the

liberated

logical and independent thinker and more

her own in the business world. easy lifestyle:

she drives

She follows a

her own

sports

car,

drinks, and goes out with various men of her acquaintance. Lisda's alienation from her community is seen early in the novel when she refuses to wear the proper Malay dress to her cousin's wedding at which she in tends only a

few minutes on her way

to a

to drop in for

business appointment.

Arriving late, she is greeted sarcastically by her uncle and is

the

cynosure of

all eyes.

Her moving away

from her

sister's house to live independently symbolizes her almost complete separation from her community. Into

this

situation,

the

author

brings

in Aimi,

young man whom Lisda meets in the course of business,

a to

bridge the gap between her and the Malay community of which she is a part. attempts

to

Aimi holds firmly to the Islamic faith and

guide Lisda

principles of Islam.

back

Lisda,

to

the moral

and

religious

for all her active and busy

life, has begun to feel a lack and is more and more drawn to Aimi and his

patient efforts

to get her

to

re-learn

the

104

Southeast Asian Fiction

tenets of her faith. shattered

to

learn

She falls that

he

is

in love with him but is Crisis

already married.

follows crisis; it turns out that her frequent headaches are caused by a brain tumour.

Aware of her approaching death,

she is reconciled with her family and her religion. As a fictional character, Lisda is a highly successful creation.

The author is able to give us a vivid sense not

only of her vitality and her independent cast of mind but also of the doubts and, later,

the anguish that beset her.

The same cannot be said of Aimi who is a poorly conceived character.

His motives may be pure but his behaviour is

questionable--why does he not tell Lisda at the start that he

is

married?

And

discouraging, Lisda' s structure

of

the

digresses

at

every

why

does

he

respond

to,

instead

of

show of affection and intimacy? The

novel

is

equally

possible

flawed.

opportunity

The

and

author

brings

in

flashbacks which are only remotely connected to the storyline and do nothing much for

his

character of Lisda and

the

barely

together

hold

the

novel

plot development.

urgency of her and

problems

manage

to

The just

hold

our

interest. Thailand.

The problem of alienation, of the different

ways in which the individual is estranged from or estranges himself from society, fie tion.

is a

rich source of

themes in Thai

There are many types of the aliena ted:

the poor,

the outcast from society, the ordinary man caught up in the struggle for

survival--all of

these may

be found

in

the

fiction discussed below. In Kaw Nok Na (Rice Outside the Paddy Field) by Si Fa, the

theme

of

alienation

identity in discussing a

is

linked

with

major social

the

question

of

problem current in

Alienation and Exile

Southeast Asia:

105

the problem of the American-Asian children

left behind by American troops in Southeast Asian countries The novel

such as Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines.

two sisters by the same mother but

the story of

narrates

different fathers--one, a white American, the other a Black effect

In

one.

by

abandoned

to a rich couple of

the fair one,

"sells" them off: Duan,

aunt

their

mother,

their

high status and Dam (black) to a woman who treats her as a servant. Ill treated,

The novel focuses on the life of Dam.

scorned, and mocked by practically everyone because she is dark-complexioned

she

whom

people

in her

hatred

accumulates

Thai

by

and,

ugly,

she

only

really

good

The

heart.

themselves

are

knows

standards,

unfortunate

and

oppressed, and so she rejects goodness,

religion, and all

the values which Thai society holds dear.

She questions her

own identity--am I Thai?--but refuses to identify herself as a

mother

own

her

by

Rejected

Negro.

the

when

latter

reappears in her life, perceiving herself no better off than an animal who is sold, and given food worse than that people feed their dogs, she acquires a protective toughness. Eventually, because of her natural talent for singing, and

spite of

in

for

career because

her skin

herself her

of

as

a

colour,

colour, nightclub she

is

satisfactory personal relationships.

she

manages

singer. unable

to

to

make a

But

again,

form

any

She falls in love with

a young man who secretly loathes her ugliness but tolerates her because of the money he can get from her. When neglects

he her

finally

leaves

career

and

her

falls

for

someone

in

with

a

else, group

Dam of

106

Southeast Asian Fiction

dispossessed young men and women like her who were all born of American fathers: They were all in the same condition: no father, no mother, no future. They all grew up without aims • • • No one was in teres ted in them. They had only today but not tomorrow. Some of them came from rich homes where they lived with their stepmother or ~crepfa ther. But they lacked warmth and love.

To together

fill

up

in a

effect las ted,

the

narrow

lack in room,

their

smoking

lives, pot.

they all And

while

stay the

"a dirty room became their castle and their

suffering became merriment".

Dam herself when she was in

that narrow room "which she thought was her heaven ••• felt very happy and forgot the outside world." But not entirely. She

resents

her

sister

who

is

much

more

beautiful

and

for tuna te than she is and schemes to bring Duan down to her level. Unknown to Dam, Duan has been having difficulties of her own which bring home to her the reality of her situation as essentially a

bastard child, even

adopted by a rich family. to the room. back

though she has been

Dam manages to bring her sister

Though repelled at the beginning, Duan comes

to avoid

the

pain at home and

to

talk

to

the other

people there with whom she feels a sense of kinship. recognizes: "Yes, we are alike.

As she

Nobody wanted us." The room

is raided by the police and its inhabitants brought to the police society

station by

the

where

they

are

newspapers.

exposed Duan

is

to

the

rescued

glare

of

by

her

stepmother who truly loves her and Dam by a doc tor from an

Alienation and Exile

107

American foundation who knows her potential and is anxious to help in her rehabilitation. It

is

interesting

to

compare

this

novel

with

a

Philippine short story which depicts essentially the same situation, "Si Impeng Negro", written in Tagalog by Rogelio Sika t.

Sixteen-year-old Impen was fa the red by an American

Negro while his younger brothers and sisters are half-white. He works as a water carrier to help support the family but is

an

object

of

derision

especially the bully Ogor.

to

the

entire

neighbourhood,

The mother has been deserted by

her current husband and feels too ashamed to go out to work so it is on Impen that the burden of supporting the family falls.

On him as well are heaped the mockery and ridicule

of everyone in the neighbourhood.

Impen feels this acutely

and his mind protests at their neighbours' them a chance to live in peace.

refusal to give

On his way to the public

well, he can feel everyone's glances following him: From the windows of the barung-barongs [shacks], he could see the children pointing at him. On him too fell the glances of the old people. They didn't say anything, but in their eyes, in the movements of their lips, he could read what the children were yelling out: Negro. He could only bow his head. Such was the world outside of their barttl}.g-barong. It was that cruel, that ferocious.

At

the

well,

Ogor

not

physically assaults

him.

He

only

taunts

him

cannot understand

should consider him an enemy, why he should when he has done nothing to deserve it.

but

also

why Ogor

treat him so

Unable to stand it

any longer, his abject feelings turn to rage and he fights

108

Southeast Asian Fiction

back savagely until Ogor gives up. notices a

change

in

With his vic tory,

the attitude of

he

the crowd which now

looks at him with respect. This

is

a

well-crafted

involvement in Impen' s action.

With

interest. where

balancing

our

interest in

the

it

our

feelings with our

economy of

detail,

sustains

Our attention is drawn from the very beginning,

Impen' s

fight,

great

story,

and

tastes for

mother warns

held

to

him not to get involved

the end when,

flushed

in a

by vic tory,

he

the first time what it is like to be respected

and in a position of strength: "He lifted up his face ••• In the intense heat of the sun, he was like a warrior wounded in battle but standing firmly on his field of victory" (p. 230). In

the

works

discussed

reconciled with society. (The Judgement), both the S.E.A. Thailand Award though poor, lives. the

above,

the

individual

is

This is not so in Kam Phi Paksa

a novel by Chart Kobjitti which won him Write

Award and

in 1982.

the Literary Council of

Unlike Dam in Kaw Nok Na,

Fak,

is well-respected by the society in which he

Growing up with his widowed father in the shadow of

village

temple,

he

is

pious

and

dutiful.

When

he

reaches the fourth grade in the temple school, he enters the monkhood as a novice, an exemplary one in whom the village people take great pride. father who

is

overworked,

But because he wants to help his he

disrobes

before

he

can

be

ordained as a monk. He goes for national service and finds on his return that his father has taken a wife--a young woman half his age who is a little touched in the head.

When his father dies,

Fak

quite

feels

that his

stepmother,

not

sane

and

with

Alienation and Exile

nowhere

to go,

is

109

his

responsibility.

Here,

the

trouble

begins, for his stepmother goes around referring to him as her "husband". are

indeed

teasing

Soon the villagers start believing that they

living

Fak

and

together looking

as

man and

askance

at

wife;

him.

they The

start

rumours

snowball and Fak, a quiet and humble person, sees no way of stopping

them.

He

suffers

becomes more and more

inwardly and

isola ted from

becomes apparent when nobody comes cremation.

in silence.

the villagers.

He This

to attend his father's

Depressed, he is befriended by the under taker,

the lowest man in the social hierarchy, who introduces him to alcohol.

Here he finds release so he turns more and more

to drink until he finally dies of it. The

novel,

which

ends

with

Fak's

funeral,

is

structured around three funeral scenes which show us how Fak becomes progressively aliena ted

from

first one at

the

village

the

beginning of

headman's

religious and

father--a

social,

to

big

which

his novel

community. is

community the

The

that of affair,

villagers

the both

flock.

In

contrast is the funeral of Fak's father where there are only the most basic of rituals,

the humblest of offerings, and

two mourners--Fak and his stepmother who doesn' t know half of what is going on.

Finally, there is Fak's funeral which

is not even a proper religious ceremony, but a test run for the

new

furnace

cremations.

which

has

been

installed

future

People come to gape rather than to mourn and

the only real mourner is his under taker friend, of the low.

for

the lowest

Nothing could be more symbolic of his rejection

by the community in death as in life than this funeral which is that of a non-person.

110

Southeast Asian Fiction

This life

is a

in Fak' s

terribly grim novel

but the

depiction of

village community is vivid and convincing.

This creates problems since one who does not know much about the Thai can easily accept this as a realistic picture of Thai village life.

Similarly, people who do know the Thai

will object to this portrayal as not representative of Thai village society.

In fact, Chart has been attacked by some

Thai critics for the "flaws" in his depiction of rural life 12 in Thailand. But if one were to see the author as depicting an essentially human situation-- how,

in a small

village, gossip and rumour can easily get out of hand and more important,

how

the

poor and

the weak can become

the

victims of small-mindedness and downright cruelty--then the accuracy or inaccuracy of Chart's portrayal need not be a major issue.

The situation Chart presents is universal and

his

it psychologically sound.

grasp of

sense of

isolation,

his

mental

Fak's

torment as

he

increasing feels

there is no way out, is fully and sensitively drawn. course

of

unleash the once

given

the

novel,

we

realize

how little

the

In the takes

to

malice in people's minds and hearts and how, rein,

this

malice

feeds

everything until it is beyond control. find

it

that

villagers'

increasingly

on

anything

and

Realizing this, we

harsh

and

hardening

Rentong,

Shahnon

attitude towards Fak believable. This

novel

may

be

compared

Ahmad's novel, discussed earlier. the case of a

to

In both novels, we have

young man rejected by his community.

But

while there are healing forces at work in Shahnon' s novel, Chart pushes the situation in his novel to its limits.

The

village of Banggul Derdap in Rentong is far from the city and

relatively untouched

by

technological

progress.

The

111

Alienation and Exile

villagers upon.

have

It is

themselves

necessary,

consolidate. motion:

only

In Fak' s

and

each

therefore,

village,

other

for

the

progress

depend

community

to

has been set in

"there were regular buses going into

Bangkok.

to

town and

to

Progress continued to come and rumours began that

electricity

would

soon

be

connected

to

the

village."

13

Symbolic of this progress is the new crematorium where Fak's cremation takes place. a

funeral.

Here,

Like Kam Phi Paksa, Rentong ends in

the villagers

solemnly keep vigil over

Dogol' s body in spite of the harm he did in his life time. In

Kam

Phi

cremation, about

Paksa,

not

the

to

crowds mourn,

new furnace.

of

but The

villagers to

satisfy

climate of

come

to

Fak's

their

curiosity

indifference has

begun to set in and community solidarity no longer seems as important. This

climate

alienation

from

of

indifference

others

which

and

prevails

the in

sense

of

city

is

the

explored more fully by Chart in another work, Ruang Thammada (A Common Story). the city learns

In this novella, a young man working in that his

landlady's daughter has

cancer.

Since his room is next door to hers, he cannot help but be aware

of

anguish.

the

young

woman's

suffering

and

her

mother's

He expresses his sympathy and tries to help, but

only insofar as it does not interfere with his sleep or with his work.

After the young woman dies, her mother turns to

him for comfort, but he soon tires of listening to her and hurts her feelings by dismissing her abruptly.

He suffers

some guilt feelings but rationalizes that, after all, he is just an observer and her suffering has no thing to do with him.

Hers

is

just a

"common story"

like

that of

beggars lying on the footpaths or flyovers of the city:

those

112

Southeast Asian Fiction

People pass by but no one takes any interest. We are not interested in that person, not even to see whether he is still alive or not. We pass him by as if he were a huge waste. Maybe some d£~ t even see him. It has become a common story. 1

The story is

told in the first person thus enabling

the au thor to project more vividly the character 1 s feelings of guilt and his attempts to rationalize his attitude. unnamed

protagonist

manifests

yet

form

another

The of

alienation--that of the many faceless, white-collar workers in the city who have become so immunized to

the harsh and

impersonal conditions of urban life that they are unable to involve themselves in the suffering of others. The

overwhelming

struggle

distance man from his fellow men, from

any

form

of

protecting himself.

for

survival

can

indeed

causing him to withdraw

involvement with

others,

as

a

way

of

This is shown in the short story,"Dee--

Phu Thi Yang Yu" (To--Those Who Remain) by W.

Wipu t.

The

central character is a vendor, Bunma, who witnesses a woman being raped while on his way home one night.

He neither

goes to her rescue nor reports the incident to the police, although he recognizes the men involved.

He thinks back to

times in the past when his attempts to help others or to do his civic duty have only caused him trouble, quiet.

so he keeps

Shortly afterwards, he learns that the rapists have

been apprehended,

thanks to the testimony of an old samlor

driver who comes upon the scene.

That evening, he notices

1

that the old man s pedicab has been hired by a man whom he recognizes to be a relative of one of the accused.

He sees

them driving to a deserted place near his house.

Knowing

Alienation and Exile

113

that the old man's passenger lives nowhere near this place, Bunma sus pee ts that foul play is in tended.

The samlor stops

for a while to allow the driver to repair a wheel and Bunma is torn be tween the impulse to go to the aid of the old man and the ins tine t to preserve himself. is none of his

business and he should not get involved.

After the samlor departs, finally,

his

He tells himself it

Bunma continues

to be

torn but

humane feelings win out and he gives chase.

But it is too late;

the old man has been stabbed to death

and his assailant has fled. A different sort of aliena ted hero is to be found in Kukri t Pramoj 's psychological study of an obsessed man in "Mo Seng" The latter

(Dr Seng), a story in Lai Chiwit (Many Lives). is a

collection of

short stories

tracing

the

lives of several people who perish together in a shipwreck. The story of Dr Seng is just one of many, but it is one of the most gripping in the en tire col lee tion. the

son of a

doc tor,

Seng himself

Growing up as

becomes a

doc tor and

dedicates himself to fighting death and disease.

Unlike his

father who sees death as part of man's fate and something to be accepted, Seng sees death as an enemy to be overcome by any means.

His preoccupation with finding ways to overcome

this enemy soon becomes an obsession, especially after his father's death; he spends more and more time doing research on

the subject,

distancing himself from

him, including his patients.

the world around

Ironically, it is he who is

overcome, in the worst possible manner: he is stricken with leprosy.

While

he

had

previously

lived

in self-imposed

isolation while doing his research, he now feels the pain of enforced separation from society. death

as

an

enemy

but

would

He now no longer regards welcome

it

as

a

friend.

Southeast Asian Fiction

114 However, death doesn't come.

When he can no longer bear the

estrangement from people, including those who were formerly his friends, he decides to go away where no one knows him. He

boards

a

boat

for

Bangkok.

That

evening,

in

the

gathering storm and the darkness that envelops the river, he draws a sigh of relief.

The darkness and his cloak covers

up all signs of disease and, if only momentarily, he feels just like everyone else, an ordinary person instead of the leprous outcast he knows he must be as soon as it is light. The story is told with restraint but the author's use of the ironic reversal makes it highly effective.

We are

moved by a sense of pity as we contemplate Seng's fate. there is horror, ex tracts

a

too,

heavy

Yet

in the way Fate--or is it Nature?--

penalty

for

what would

seem

a

slight

imbalance in the human psyche. A form of alienation among

the

young

alienation of alienated Seeing the

progressive

that serves as a writers

the intellectual.

hero

is

the

of

Thailand

Typical of

disillusioned

common theme is

the

this kind of

university

student.

injustices rampant in con temporary society,

he

dissociates himself, sometimes violently, from that society. This is the theme of a short story by another S.E.A. Write Award

(for

1981) winner,

Ussiri Thammachote--"Khun Thong,

Chao Cha Klap Mua Fa Sang" (Khun Thong, You Will Come Back in the Dawning).

In the story,

it is rumoured

that Khun

Thong, a young man who left for the jungle a year ago, coming home to live life as an ordinary citizen.

is

His mother

excitedly makes preparations for his homecoming; as soon as the dawn breaks, she takes a boat down the canal to welcome him home.

But, "he is dead", a young man tells her.

starts to weep but he enlightens her.

She

Khun Thong is alive

115

Alienation and Exile

in the jungle but his resentment of society is so great that he has decided to die to his old life, his mother, his home, by never coming back. sword,

"his

In the jungle, he lives only with his

blood-stained

sword

the

symbol

of

his

loathing." The story is told from the point of view of the mother who is torn between the longing to see her son again and the attempt to understand how his anger and disappointment can be so strong that he would leave his mother, of his home, and his beloved books

the happiness

to live the life of an

outlaw in the jungle. Though he disaffected

writes about

in

society,

the

underprivileged and

Ussiri' s

style

is

not

the

starkly

real is tic but poe tic, frequently making use of descriptions of nature to foreshadow or reflect emotion.

Thus, in this

story,

"the huts and

"the banks--dismal

in

the

silence",

farmhouses hidden in the shadow of dark,

lonesome

and

isola ted"

mother's spirit which is

the

become

trees which looked metaphors

troubled and afraid as

for

the

she rows

along the canal in the dim light of dawn to meet Khun Thong. Furthermore,

the

name

significant.

It is

Ussiri

gives

his

character

is

the name of a legendary hero, a young

man of the Ayu thaya period who raids a Burmese camp during the wars with the Burmese to free some Thai villagers whom they have

held captive.

His mission is successful but Khun

Thong himself does not return. this legend and not

divorce

the

Through his symbolic use of

the poe tic style which distances but does story

from

reality,

Ussiri

places

his

protagonist and the cause he represents in the perspective of his tory and at the same

time invests his story with a

sense of the timeless and the universal.

116

Southeast Asian Fiction Philippines.

The theme of the alienated intellectual

is a common one in Philippine fiction in English. Among the more important novels which depict his plight is F. Sionil Jose's The Pretenders. The hero, Antonio (Tony) Samson, is an intellectual although he does not come from the ilus trado (educated elite) class but from peasant stock.

His father

is an Ilocano farmer in jail for having killed the soldiers who tried to evict him forcibly from his land--land which he believes is rightfully his because it had been settled by his

forebears.

His

mother,

now

dead,

washerwoman to send Tony through college.

worked

as

a

Tony fulfills

everyone's hopes for him by getting a Ph.D. in history from Harvard.

This includes his cousin, Emy, with whom he has a

brief affair before leaving for Harvard and who, unknown to him, has borne him a son.

But Tony, along with his Ph.D.,

has acquired a rich wife who pressures him into leaving his job at magnate.

the

university

to work for

her

father,

a

steel

His job is to write press releases for his father-

in-law's business concern and

to ghost-write speeches for

the industrialist's political associates. Contemptuous of the rich and powerful, despising his job, Tony nevertheless finds himself getting more and more used to the life of the rich.

He engages in incessant soul-

searching, but rationalizations soon start to creep in.

To

shore up his defenses, he takes a trip to his grandfather's home town to rediscover his past and subsequently to his own home town where he visits Emy and sees his son for the first time.

In an attempt to assuage his guilt, he offers

to

provide for his son, an offer which Emy firmly refuses. Ironically, he learns that his wife has aborted their unborn child.

Feeling more and more trapped, he finds out that his

117

Alienation and Exile

This is

wife is being unfaithful to him.

the last straw.

He leaves her and goes to his sister's house in the slums where he commits suicide by flinging himself under a train. Tony

Samson

aliena ted

from

his

is

doubly

former

alienated.

world

poor, have courage and dignity. this world rich,

he

by affiliating

has also

First,

in which

people,

he

is

though

In cutting himself off from

himself with

betrayed his

the world of

the

past--the history of

his

family which began with his grandfather, a poor but learned man who

had

the

better life from his

courage

in new

to uproot himself

territory.

Second, Tony is alienated

present world-- the world of

wealth and

power.

nevertheless

unable

Contemptuous to

to look for a

extricate

of

those en trenched their

himself

values, except

he

by

in is the

desperate act of taking his own life. He sees his suicide as an act of strength, "the only act by which he could illustrate to himself his own brand of courage".

But from what we see of Tony in the novel, it

seems more an act of weakness, cons is tent with the evasion and self-deception which characterize some of his actions. There are many instances of this in the novel, among them his readiness to believe his brother-in-law's assertion that Emy has turned into a bad woman, having given birth to an illegitimate child.

Yet,

he has always idealized her and

continues to think of her sentimentally.

Moreover, knowing

full well that he had an affair with her before he left, he never allows himself to suspect that the child might be his. Since he is not naive, he must be evasive.

Worse still, he

solemnly promises his father that he will not allow his body to be cut up by medical students if he dies in prison.

But

when his father does die in jail, he makes no attempt to

118

Southeast Asian Fiction

claim the body.

All he does, while sitting back comfortably

in his

air-conditioned

office

sister

that

perhaps"

father's

"someday,

remains

home town.

for

is

to

vaguely

they

could

burial beside

promise

his

claim

their

their mother in

their

But there seems no reason why he couldn't do so

now, as he has the means to arrange for a quiet funeral, if he is so minded. The

dilemma

of

with

Tony

sympathize

the

novel

by

is

using

it

that him

as

asks the

us

to

unifying

consciousness yet at the same time gives us ample grounds for

withholding

that

sympathy

narration of his actions. his

anguish,

but we

through

the

third-person

We share his thoughts and some of

also

see

him not

just as

he

sees

himself, but more objectively, on the basis of his actions. Thus we are in a position to ask the questions he fails ask himself:

is

he

really a

vic tim of

insurmountable social pressures,

to

circumstances and

trapped by a sys tern which

he cannot fight because it is bigger than himself? Or does he

simply

lack

the

will

to

act according

to

his

lofty

ideals? And when he does act, what exactly does he achieve by committing suicide? Placed side by side with his father's simple act of courage in defending

the land which is his

life-source

fearless

and

his

grandfather's

venture

into

unknown lands to find a better life, his "heroic" act seems, at best, a roman tic but ultimately futile gesture. Alienation from society can set in at an early age. "Utos ng Hari" (The King's Command), a short story by Jun Cruz Reyes, depicts the disaffection of a seventeen-year-old student in an intellectually elite high school in Manila, as he sees

through the

He

about

is

to

pretence and hypocrisy of his elders. be

dismissed

from

school

for

his

Alienation and Exile

"foolishness"--

119

cutting

classes,

coming

to

class

drunk,

holding hands with his girl in the school chapel, and in general,

for

lacking what his

propriety and decorum". are

symptoms

of

a

teachers

call "a

sense

of

But Jojo's uncooperative actions

deep-seated

disillusionment.

He

is

to tally unable to respect his teachers: his social science teacher preaches honesty and integrity in class but helps rig the ballot boxes in favour of the ruling party during elections;

his English teacher is full of affectation and

false pride at her Spanish ancestry; his rna thema tics teacher comes

to class unprepared and covers

up by assigning his

students to do the work.

How then can they presume to set

themselves

of

up

as

models

behaviour and authorities

in

their fields? Even more, he resents their attempts to make him and

his

fellow

students

conform

to

a

mould,

their

refusal to allow the students to be themselves and to think for

themselves.

sys tern and listen

Jojo feels

that they are

trapped in the

that there is no one they can turn to who will

to

their

grievances.

The

only

way

they

can

communicate is by writing graffiti on the wall. Apart

from

its

theme,

interesting for its style.

this

story

is

particularly

It is not written in formal or

literary Tagalog but uses the kind of informal idiom current in

Manila--a

expressions sentences

Tagalog as

in

well

English.

interspersed as

words, This

with

phrases,

slang

and

coined

and

even

whole

not only makes

for

greater

accuracy in depicting the social scene but its informality serves as a filter for an essentially harsh view of what is perceived to be a hypocritical society. the

tone:

deep disillusionment from

The style modulates

the

point of view of

120

Southeast Asian Fiction

humour and

youthful resilience is prevented from becoming

empty cynicism. In related

Philippine to

the

fie tion,

a

dominant

theme

theme of alienation is exile.

closely

The second

colonization of the Philippines by the Americans after the Philippine exile.

Revolution

caused

many

to

go

into

Some of the leaders of the Revolution chose exile

for political reasons: American

rule

after

unable to bow down to

having

been

short-lived Philippine Republic, until

Filipinos

such

Philippines.

time

as

was

briefly

the yoke of

free

under

the

they went to live abroad

propitious

to

return

to

the

Dr Monzon in The Woman Who Had Two Navels is

one of several fictional characters who illustrate this.

In

him, we see the extreme effects of such an exile: away from the continually changing reality of the present in his home country, he dwells more and more in a frozen memory of the past and an imagined, illusory future. There

is

another kind

comes mostly from

the

of

exile--the

rural regions.

immigrant,

who

Pressured by harsh

economic conditions which were not alleviated by American government policies and motivated by the desire for a better life and more opportunities, thousands of young men went to the United States in the early years of the American regime to

work

in

plantations,

orchards,

canneries,

companies, wherever they could get jobs. often

shockingly

painful.

Whatever

railroad

The experience was they

might

have

expected, they did not anticipate the racial discrimination, the harsh treatment, and the exploitation by their employers which they found. But the Filipinos are a hardy and resilient breed and they survived, not just the sheer difficulty of existence,

Alienation and Exile

121

but the combined pain of isolation imposed upon them by an alien

society

families.

and

of

separation

from

their

homes

and

Thoughts of home helped sustain them; thoughts of

eventually going home did so even more.

Some did manage to

go home, only to be faced by another culture shock: longer seemed

to belong.

they no

Without becoming assimilated in

one society, they had somehow· become misfits in their own. This predicament is depicted in Juan C. Laya's novel, His

Native

Soil,

mentioned

earlier as

one

of

the

first

rna ture novels to be written in the Philippines before World War II.

Martin Romero,

the protagonist who has been away

for fourteen years, views the local scene with the eyes of a stranger: the city slums, the rice fields, the towns dry and dusty in the summer heat.

He views

the immediate future

with trepidation: '"Here on this soil he was to grow

As

he neared his hometown, he grew a little apprehensive

He

might smash himself fighting this new way of life.'"

Martin

is full of good intentions and the will to see them through. Fired by the idea of progress, sleepy home father and

town, other

company which community

is

does

Flores,

not

to galvanize his

in to action.

relatives quite

he wants

to

invest

successful,

really

He in

at

accept

a

persuades his rice

first. him,

trading But

finding

the his

progressive ideas, his outspokenness, and his business-like attitude local

too

disruptive.

His

power s true ture feel

change the status quo.

enemies

who

represent

threatened by his attempts

the to

But even his relatives are repelled

by the cold impartiality and the lack of humanity which they think characterize his business.

This plus a flood and his

father's death prove too much for Mar tin. deathbed,

he

reveals

his

anguish

over

At his father's his

cultural

122

Southeast Asian Fiction

dislocation,

caught

be tween

two

worlds

yet

belonging

to

neither: It was all wrong, Ta tang, my going away--all wrong. It's all a mistake. Think of those young boys out there--all desperately lonesome for the normal life. They change and grow away until they are neither Filipinos nor Americans, just racial bastards. You could no longer understand me when I returned. I thought I res is ted over there. I refused to comply. I wanted always to be loyal to the things I left behind me. But things have been too big, Tatang, and eleven years is a long time.(p. 375)

But in spite of his defeat, Martin is resilient and undaunted. (another

He leaves home once more, for Manila this journey

bride-to-be--the

into

exile?),

shy,

quiet

humanizing values of warmth,

but

bringing

Soledad sense

who

with

him

represents

of kinship,

time a the

and quiet

understanding which will no doubt temper Martin's drive for success. Martin comes across as a initiative,

courage,

and

very vi tal character:

persistence;

the

doubt

his and

insecurity hiding behind his brash, business-like exterior; his very human inability

to resist

the lures of

the

town

siren, even though he recognizes her for what she is;

his

nearsightedness

him

when it

in

not

is apparent

realizing

to everyone

Soledad's else

in

love

his

these make him a highly sympathetic character.

for

family--all Some of the

characters are predictable sterotypes like Virginia Fe, the siren; others are not fully developed like Soledad who shows signs of being a potentially

strong character.

scenes not fully integrated into used

A number of

the novel are apparently

to authenticate our sense of society and life as it

Alienation and Exile

123

goes on in Flores, to enrich the backdrop against which the drama

of

Martin's

played.

But

it

attempt is

to

the

transform

figure

of

his

Martin,

society

is

strong

yet

vulnerable, which dominates the novel and gives it unity. Those who,

unlike Martin,

failed

to make

the actual

journey home, have nonetheless made it many times in their memories and

their imaginations.

who people Bienvenido Santos'

These are the characters

short stories as well as his

novel, The Man Who (Thought He) Looked Like Robert Taylor. Santos, who

lived and studied in the United States during

World War II, was in a position to look in to

the lives of

these people and imaginatively represent their plight. Solomon King,

the

protagonist

of

his

novel,

is

an

"old- timer" (as the early Filipino immigrants are commonly known) who has gone through the hardships of his early days and now has a fairly good job at the stockyards in Chicago. A news

i tern announcing

the death of

his

favourite

movie

idol, Robert Taylor, reminds him that he too is growing old and slowly succumbing to disease and death.

The action in

the novel consists primarily of Sol reviewing the bits and pieces

of

his

life,

especially

his

memories

of

the

Philippines, and deciding to go on a trip to other parts of the United States to look up his remaining friends before he dies.

He finally manages to go to Washington where he sees

an old girlfriend only to find that there is no thing in the past they can both hold on to. Sol's life has been an attempt to survive in what was at the beginning an alien environment.

But with the passing

of time, the terms of his alienation have become so familiar that he

knows

and

wants

no

other

life.

All

the

human

relationships he has formed have been transient and passing

Southeast Asian Fiction

124

and he is content to live with the memories encased in his little brown envelopes of photo graphs.

But even these are

fading and efforts to renew his old relationships fail. Throughout his

life,

his efforts

always failed in the end. his

to

reach out have

The one constant in his life is

self-identification with Robert Taylor,

and

the

fact

that nobody ever recognizes the resemblance is symbolic of his

essential

aloneness,

his

failure

to

achieve

a

real

closeness with others.

Only in death, which comes to him in

a

to

dream,

is

he

able

others, particularly youth.

achieve

a

final

communion

with

the loved ones he left behind in his

Where they were blurred, fading images in life, they

now appear to him clearly--his father to whom he had never been close as a child, his mother,

and Luz, the love of his

youth, with gestures of reconciliation and love. Sol's pain and isolation become intensely personal in the

novel,

yet

never

lose

displacement which

underpins

it.

episodes

life

thoughts

of

we

Sol's

and

sight

of

the

Interwoven are

fellow old- timers whose lives parallel his:

cultural

through

stories J.P.,

of

the his

left by

his American wife, finds religion and rediscovers the human heart; Alipio, old and crippled, takes a second wife to help her out of her immigration problems and finds new hope in the possibilities of this new relationship. tightly s true tured novel. woven

and

some

of

the

The narrative fabric is loosely episodes

stories, connected only by the narrative of Sol's life.

This is not a

are

independent

thinnest of threads

short to the

But the pattern emerges clearly:

these are the men who live out their lives in loneliness yet escape being

pathetic because

they manage

to

hold

on

to

their simple dignity, refusing to be bitter or to feel sorry

Alienation and Exile

for

themselves;

125

able,

in one way or another,

to come

to

terms with the difficulties of their lives. The shared sense of loneliness serves as a bond which draws

them

together

and

sustains

them

in

separation from their country and culture.

who

come

to

the

United

pain

of

This separation

is intensified rather than alleviated by Filipinos

the

the new breed of

States,

either

to

stay

permanently and make a new life as the old-timers hoped to do

a

generation

representatives tal en ted

before,

of

young

their

musicians,

or

just

country and

passing

and

through

as

culture--scholars,

dancers

who

come

of ten as

members of various cultural troupes. It is

the coming of a famous Philippine dance troupe

that excites Fil Acayan and his roommate, Tony Bataller, in Santos'

short story, "The Day the Dancers Came".

ill and has to go to plans.

He wants

Tony is

the doc tor, but Fil has all sorts of

to invite some of

apartment for dinner and,

the dancers

to

their

in eager anticipation, plans out

the dinner he is going to cook for them and imagines their comments. When he

gets

to

their

hotel,

however,

perceives the difference between him and them:

he

suddenly

their youth,

their shining beautiful faces as against his tired old age, his horny hands.

When he finally musters up enough courage

to ask one or two of them, their polite refusals and patent excuses emphasize the distance between him and them. Still, Fil looks forward that evening which he seat.

plans

to

to

the

troupe's performance

record from his

When he gets back home, he replays

front-row

the tape and re-

creates the whole performance in his

imagination.

A moan

from

of

of

the

next

bedroom

reminds

him

Tony

and

his

126

Southeast Asian Fiction

selfishness

in

neglecting

his

sick

In

roommate.

his

concern, he presses the wrong button and instead of turning off the tape, erases it entirely.

He reaches out to Tony

for comfort with the anguished cry: "I 1 ve lost them all." The

sense

of

loss,

of

the

failure

to

re-establish

connections with their own people and culture that, in their long

absence,

seem

to

have

metamorphosed

into

something

alien and distant, confronts the old Filipino immigrants as they meet the new wave of immigrants who continue to come to the United

States

to

seek a

better life.

But

different.

They are better educated, and many of them are

highly trained professionals, so it doesn 1 t to establish themselves.

these are

take them long

Some of them keep at a distance

from their lonely compatriots, perhaps ashamed to associate with them.

In The Man Who (Thought He) Looked Like Robert

Taylor, this situation is emphasized in the bits of dialogue and

snatches

of

telephone

conversations

between

Filipinos and between the old and the new. in

a

sound

loneliness

mirror, added

they

to

the

reflect pattern

yet of

the

Like fragments

another the

new

old

form pain

of and

isolation. The life of Sol is not one of total deprivation and loss.

However

complicated

the

conditions

of

exile

and

alienation from his country and people, and perhaps because of this, he is able to reach out to other human beings, not to get but to give.

In a blizzard, he brings home a young

mother and her child stranded at a bus depot. motivated

by

pity

and

fellow-feeling,

Sol

Originally

finds

himself

enfolded in a warm relationship of caring and giving, not just on his part but on theirs.

It doesn 1 t last; his

is limited and he knows he has to go on.

time

But because of

Alienation and Exile

this,

we feel

127

that he

has

indeed earned his

final

death

vision of being reunited with his family and dear ones--in reconciliation and love.

In this sensitively written novel

and in his short stories, Bienvenido Santos has captured the pain

and

loneliness

of

exile

suffered

by

the

Filipino

immigrant in America. The

themes

considered

in

this

chapter

and

the

preceding one have to do with the individual's perception of self and his place in society. shall

look

at

fiction

which

In the next two chapters, we depicts

awareness of, and growing concern over,

the

individual's

the problems which

beset his society and his involvement in the effort to solve them.

Notes

1.

R.J. Maguire Achdiat K. Mihardja, Atheis, trans. (Australia: University of Queensland Press, 1972), to this p. 56. Subsequent page references are edition.

2.

A Heap of Ashes, trans. Harry Aveling (Australia: University of Queensland Press, 1975), pp. 163-164. In this translation, the story is entitled "The Silent Center of Life's Day". Subsequent page reference is to this translation.

3.

Teeuw, Vol. I, p. 178.

4.

See Niels Mulder, Mysticism and Ever day Life in Contemporary Java Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1983), Chapter II.

5.

See Danarto, "Autobiography", in Abracadabra, trans. Harry Aveling (Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd., 1978), pp. xiii-xvi.

128

Southeast Asian Fiction

6.

Ibid., p. 9.

7.

S.C. Harrex, "Social Change and Cultural Dynamics: An Approach to Some Indian and Malaysian English-Language Writers", in Society and the Writer, ed. Wang Gungwu, M. Guerrero, and D. Marr (Canberra: Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, 1981), p. 316.

B.

If We Dream Too Long (Singapore: Island Press, 1972), p. 172.

9.

The Newspaper Editor and Other Stories, pp. 26-27.

10.

Kaw Nok Na (Bangkok: Klang Withaya, 1976), p. 253.

11.

In J. Donald Bowen, ed., Intermediate Readings in Tagalog (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), p. 226. Subsequent page reference is to this text.

12.

See Phraphilai Le twicha, "Aan 'Kam Phi Phaksa' Kan Ik Sak Krang" [On reading "Kam Phi Phaksa" once again], Phasa lee Nangsu, April-September 1982, pp. 62-73.

13.

Chart Kobjitti, The Judgement (Kam Phi Phaksa), trans. Laurie Maund (Bangkok: Laurie Maund, 1983), p. 28.

14.

Ruang Thammada (Bangkok: Khon Wannakam, 1983), p. 39.

15.

Juan C. Laya, His Native Soil, rev. ed. (Quezon City: Kayumanggi Publishers, 1972), p. 4. Subsequent page references are to this edition.

V: SOCIAL CLASS AND THE INDIVIDUAL

The perception of social inequality in their societies has inspired many writers of Southeast Asia to write about the lives

of

plight, class

the seen

common as

people and

arising

distinctions

in

focus

primarily

society.

attention on

from

the

Indeed,

their

existence

"literature

of for

life" or "11 tera ture for society" has been the rallying cry for many the

writers in various countries of the region who see

primary

society,

responsibility

particularly

to

of

the

writer

the masses of

the

as

service

people.

to

With

this end in view, he must necessarily write committed, or at the least, socially concerned literature. In discussing socially concerned literature,

there is

always the question, hovering uneasily in the background, as to

where

one

propaganda.

draws

the

line

be tween

literature

and

This is an admittedly difficult task, but one

should note that the artist's responsibility to his art does not

necessarily

conflict with

responsibility to society. by

himself.

He

draws

what

he

deems

to

be

his

The artist does not live in and sustenance

specifically from his history and the development of his art,

from culture.

society,

more

Important to

therefore, is the need to make

130

Southeast Asian Fiction

it more

responsive

to

his

particular

society and

to

the

conditions and circumstances that have helped to form it. In some cases,

the

links be tween socially concerned

writers or groups of writers and political ideologies like Marxism have been strong, causing some readers/critics to be suspicious of their works as communist propaganda. unfair, however,

It seems

to generalize; each work should be read on

its own terms and viewed as a whole before judgement can be passed.

Although socially concerned literature may not be

devoid of ideological over tones, the

reader,

it is

from the point of view of

most successful when his

sympathy and

imagination are fully engaged by the situation pre sen ted, whatever his own ideological stance may be. Indonesia. organization communist

An

which

ideology

example

has is

of

been the

a

closely

Indonesian

1i terary/cul tural

identified Lekra

or

Kebudajaan Rakyat (People's Cultural Institute).

with

Lembaga Organized

in 1950 and active throughout the fifties and early sixties, it was affiliated with the PKI or Indonesian Communist Party and served as its "cultural mouthpiece". Seni untuk Rakya t

(Art for

With its slogan of

the People), Lekra put forward

the view that art must serve society in opposition to the "universal humanism" of other writers of

the

time who saw

themselves as "true heirs to the culture of the whole world" and whose one aim was humanity.

Lekra ceased to exist after

the abortive Communist Coup of September 1965 and many of the writers associated with it have apparently ceased

to

write or to exert their influence on the Indonesian literary scene.

1

One

notable

Although Pramoedya

exception

is

Pramoedya

Anan ta

Toer.

did not write much fie tion during his

Social Class and the Individual

131

years with Lekra, the social ideas that he had evolved, not only during this period but before and after, are creatively and

profoundly

utilized

in

recent

his

work--a

major

three of which have been published:

tetralogy of novels,

Bumi Manusia (discussed in Chapter Three), Anak Semua Bangsa (Child of All Nations), and Jejak Langkah (Footsteps). The first two have been translated into English. These

novels

created

were

prison for his political beliefs.

Pramoedya

while

was

in

Engaged in forced labour

on Buru Island, he was denied access to writing materials so he recounted his stories orally.

It was not until he was

back in Jakarta after 1973 that he was able to write them Anak Semua Bangsa carries forward the story of Minke,

down. the

writer

young

becomes

who

with

disillusioned it fails

European- oriented education because

his

dismally to

deal with the oppressive realities of colonial life in his It is in this novel that Minke becomes awakened to

country.

particularly,

the social realities in his native land and,

to the oppression of the peasant class. After the death in Holland

of

his

young

wife,

(who,

Annelies

it

will

be

remembered, was taken away from him to become a ward of her Dutch half-brother, Maurits Mellema), Minke is set to begin life anew. (Jakarta)

He but

plans first

to

go

to

accompanies

medical his

school

in Be tawi

mother-in-law,

Nyai

Ontosoroh, on a visit to her home town in Sidoarjo where the big sugar mills are located. In Sidoarjo, Minke meets a peasant, Trunodongso, and his family, and realizes for the first time the sufferings of the peasants under the colonial regime. which they and their forebears have

The rice lands

tilled for generations

have been expropriated by the sugar mills with very little

Southeast Asian Fiction

132

compensation and they have hardly any means of earning their livelihood.

Minke promises

to help Trunodongso by writing

and publishing his story. It is not that simple, however, as he finds out when he gets back to Surabaya.

The editor of the paper for which

he writes refuses to accept his story, giving him instead a veiled

warning.

con trolled by country.

He

sugar

finds

interests

Meanwhile,

rebellion

has

out

the

broken

later as are

papers

out

in

soldiers three days to quell.

that

the

paper

many others

report

that

Sidoarjo

which

a

in

is the

peasant

takes

the

When Trunodongso, wounded and

hunted, appears at their doorstep, Nyai and Minke take him in, and later, his whole family as well, danger to

in spite of

the

themselves should the authorities learn of their

involvement with a leader of the rebellion.

Minke sets sail

for Be tawi but is brought back to serve as witness at the trial concerning Herman Mellema's death.

After

the

trial,

Mauri ts Mellema comes to claim his father's estate but not before Nyai, Minke, and their friends confront him verbally with

the

cruel

Denied legal

and

redress

inhumane by

consequences

of

the court as Natives,

his

deed.

they fight

back if only with their mouths. The process of growth and increasing awareness which follows

Minke's

disillusionment

education begins here.

with

his

European-type

There are two major steps in Minke's

awakening as seen in this novel.

He must realize first,

that he has much to learn, not just from Europe, but from nations closer to home such as Japan, China, and even from the Philippines and second,

that

its

response

the only way he

to

colonial

can help his

oppression;

people

is

by

getting to know them more, by familiarizing himself with the

133

Social Class and the Individual

situation and circumstances, not just of his own class but of the greater mass of the people. friends

of

not

knowing

his

own

Accused by some of his people,

the

accusation

rankles but he knows that it is true: You don't know your own people! You don't know your own country! I felt shame and knew that it was deserved. I would redeem myself from these ace usa tions which I could not deny. How many ka ti do you reckon that man with the scruffy black pants over there is carrying on his back? I don't know. He was carting a tall basket of peanuts. To whom will he sell it? I don' t know. Where? I don't know. What is it worth? I don' t know. Will it bring in enough money to provide for, say a week? I don' t know. Don' t know! Don't know! Is he strong and healthy enough to carry such a load? I don't know that either. Has he been fore~ to cart it? My ignorance showed its depths.

Keith Foulcher puts Anak Semua Bangsa in the con text of politics and literature in Indonesia, calling it ••• the fullest and most powerful statement ever to appear of the notion of turun ke bawah (turba) enunciated as a touchstone of the literature of "revolutionary realism" up until 1965. By this principle, it was held to be the responsibility of all workers for socialism in the political and artistic fields to be aware of their middle-class or bourgeois origins, and consciously to strive to learn from the peasant and to know the reality of the peasant's life and struggle. Minke's self-discovery, through Anak Semua Bangsa, rests decisively on the exercise of this principle. It makes the book a clear statement of the responsibility of intellectuals to be aware of the national political struggle against imperialism, and of the oppressed classes within Indonesia itself. Viewed in this light, Bumi Manusia and Anak

134

Southeast Asian Fiction

Semua Bang sa may be said to have revived the socialist alternative view of the ~vel which was current in Indonesia before 1965.

More than a powerful political statement, Anak Semua Bangsa is a novel of profound humanity and compassion. We identify

with

Minke

as

he

painfully

accepts

his

deep

ignorance of his own people and determinedly works to reduce This is no easy task for he has

that ignorance.

to cope

with his own reactions as a Javanese aristocrat not used to dealing familiarly with the peasantry. overcome

his

distaste

for

their

Moreover, he has to

living conditions as

he

stays with them for a few days just so he might experience for himself the conditions under which they live.

But he is

honest with himself, accepting his reactions even as he is ashamed of them and proud of his progress as he gradually learns to know more about them, not just superficially, but truly understanding their plight.

the cultural and historical sources of

Not only does he see how language has been

used as a political

tool

to help subjugate them:

Javanese reserved for the aristocracy and

the high

the low Javanese

spoken by the peasants sharply emphasize class differences. He also sees their subservience and their fear as a product of their enslavement for centuries, kings

and,

important, realizes

later he

on,

begins

that a

to

their

first

European

to earn their

trust,

to

their native

masters. even

More

though he

great gap exists which can not be easily

bridged: "I realised there was a centuries-wide gap between them and me •.•• In one nation, where people eat and drink the same

things,

in one country,

yes even in one andong,

there can be such a gap, not yet or not at all bridged" (p.

187).

Social Class and the Individual

135

Because Minke's journey towards understanding his own people is internalized and takes place in both his mind and heart, it becomes, for the reader, utterly real. education as a

"child of all nations",

peoples and "all ages, manifests

a

Not so his

learning from all

past and present". Here,

tendency

towards

the novel

discursiveness

which

is

nevertheless necessary to provide a broader context in which Minke's education must take place, particularly if he is to emerge as a prototype of the new Indonesian who can help his countrymen recover the dignity and freedom lost under years of colonial rule.

There are a few passages in the novel

which may be seen as having overt ideological content, but these are clearly seen within the context of the characters' struggle against Western imperialism and are, integral

part

of

the

novel

rather

than

therefore, an

an

exercise

in

propaganda. Compared to Bumi Manusia where, despite the involved plot,

the

intensity tendency pace

narrative sustained, towards

and

at

structure is Anak

tight and

Semua

Bangsa,

discursiveness,

suffers

a

grip

on

times

loses

its

the emotional

because

of

its

slackening the

of

reader.

Nevertheless, it has its own sources of emotional power. The their

final

friends

confrontation scene

meet

the

enemy and

as

Nyai,

vanquish

Minke,

him,

if

and only

through their words, seems somewhat contrived at first but gains power as it proceeds.

Pramoedya uses an intricate

device to lessen the melodrama tic character of this scene: we

see

Nyai

On tosoroh

carefully

and

deliberately

making

preparations for what Minke describes as "a scene in a play and

that was exactly what it was." But with the stage

set and the characters assembled, we are once more held by

136

Southeast Asian Fiction

the

genuine

force

of

deeply

felt

These

emotions.

find

express ion in the res trained eloquence of Nyai, Minke, and their friends and are underlined by the violence of grief and anger

barely held

in check and

threatening

to

break

through from the crowd which has gathered around to support them.

Once more,

Pramoedya

has

"unique 4 power to create an atmosphere of in tense emotional stress " and his ability to involve

demonstrated

his

the reader in working out the

lives of his characters. In Anak

Semua Bangsa,

Pramoedya

presents

the

lower

classes primarily through the eyes of Minke, a higher-class intellectual who makes an effort to go beyond the surface of their lives and see the causes and effects of their poverty. In

contrast,

without

S.M.

any

Ardan

filtering

to

show

how

the

about

consciousness

directly to the reader. not

writes

the

lower

but

classes

presents

them

More significantly, his concern is poor

are

victimized

by

society

in

general and the class system in particular, but to emphasize their humanity. the

This difference reflects,

opposition

of

views

held

by writers

to some extent, associated

with

Lekra and those held by writers who asserted that they were writing for human! ty in general.

It should be no ted

S.M.

at

Ardan

wrote

in

the

1950s,

the

time

that

that the

controversy was raging. In his book of short stories, Terang Bulan, Terang Di Kali (Bright Moon, Bright River), he writes about the urban poor in Jakarta realistically, using the Jakarta dialect to give

us

the

inhabitants

flavour of

the

of

life

city:

among

betja

housewives, peddlers, beggars, etc. their plight although he

is

the

disadvantaged

(pedicab)

drivers,

He does not dramatize

fully aware of

it.

This

is

Social Class and the Individual

implicit in

137

the central metaphor he chooses for his book:

the moon and the river.

As he elaborates in his preface--

" If we ask for more, then we may find [here] the gap between what

is

hoped

for

and

what

actually

beautiful moon which is adored and

is,

between

the

the muddy, dirty river

which disgusts ... S But when the moon shines bright, then the river,

too,

instead

to

reflects

this

celebrate

life

brightness

and

among Jakarta's

Ardan

chooses

poor,

as

they

manage, in spite of the obvious difficulty of their lives, to extract some 'joy out of their existence. In his short story, "Bulan Sabi t di Langi t Bara t" (The Crescent Moon shifts

to

in

the

Western Sky),

another place

a

young

beggar

for begging after she

is

girl

nearly

raped by some fellow beggars near the place where she used to beg.

Here at least, she only has young beggar boys

contend with.

to

The story goes on to show the rivalry between

her and one of the young beggars and her joy when she gets more than he does:

he gets only one tal en (quarter-rupiah

coin);

a

whole

boot.

This

she

leftovers

gets to

written and

more

aware

rupiah is

from

one of

stories

in

the the

this

lady and

more sensitively volume.

Ardan' s skilful handling of what he calls hopes and reality as he shows us

same

We

see

the gap between

the beggar girl abruptly

awakened from her dreams of a rich lover embracing her to find herself about to be raped by a fellow beggar.

I t is

one of the few stories in which he gives an indication of the rest of society's attitude towards the very poor: "Her joy was added to by the fact that she did not see the look of

disgust

transferred joy" (p. 72).

on

the

the

rice

face to

of

this

her can,

lady her body

Sinah

firmly

trembling with

138

Southeast Asian Fiction

There

is

no

sentimental ism

in

Ardan' s

stories

primarily because he sees his characters as firmly accepting the reality of their lives.

His work may not be classified

as committed literature, but in reading through his stories, we sense that he is no less aware of the deprivation of the poor.

In choosing to dwell on the positive aspects of their

existence, however, he makes very few attempts to place them in relation to other levels of society and thus limits his view. More comprehensive and more deeply probing is Mochtar Lubis'

view

Sendja

di

of

social

Djakarta

classes

(Twilight

in Jakarta in

in

Djakarta).

his

novel,

The

author

presents a cross-section of Jakarta which represents a good segment of Indonesian society and of that comprise it.

the different layers

At the top are the poll ticians in power

and the big businessmen, engaged in wheeling and dealing; in the middle are the government employees who are hard put to earn a decent living; and at the bottom of the heap, we find Ardan's poor: the betja drivers, the garbage collectors, the pros ti tu tes,

and

pickpockets

as

well.

Moch tar

cuts

vertically as well as horizon tally: we have here also the intellectuals who approach

the country's

discussion rather than action;

problems

through

Communist Party members who

make use of the workers they supposedly champion for their own political ends; opportunists who have an eye on the main chance. The novel is written in the form of a monthly journal and follows levels of

the for tunes of

society

through a

these characters from various period of nine months.

Their

lives intersect at various points in the narrative but given the

narrative

framework,

the

connections

are

sometimes

Social Class and the Individual

the

in

interest

our

hold

to

manages

various

through nine months

characters as we follow their for tunes and

Never the less,

the s true ture necessarily loose.

tenuous and Mochtar

139

the novel is more than a col lee tion of vignettes. The

author achieves unity atmosphere of

by his successful re-creation of the inhumanity

and

As a journalist, he has an eye for

that pervades the city. significant detail,

disorder,

greed,

corruption,

but he manages to balance an objective

reportorial style with the ability to render sensitively the thoughts and feelings of his characters. also

Effective

juxtaposition.

parallelism and novel

shows

his

is

Salman

of

The

opening

collectors, sharing a cigarette,

scene

impoverished

I tam,

and

contrast

use

through of

the

garbage

taking turns inhaling and

savouring it, "like a grand ceremonial": Each inhalation was of enormous significance; it was done carefully with individual attention. All one's senses were keyed up to tasting this A kre tek never one drag on the cigarette. tasted so good as in this dirty and stinking 6 dus t-eart.

This

is

followed

immediately

by

a

scene

showing

Suryono stretched out luxuriously in bed, surrounded by all kinds of imported things, completely bored. He flirts with his stepmother then lights a cigarette which he throws away after

two

puffs:

"even

the

cigarette

had

no

taste

that

morning", Adding authenticity

to

the

picture of

the city and

further intensifying the contrast between the classes is the dialogue: the highly colloquial Jakarta dialect is used for

Southeast Asian Fiction

140

the lower-class characters while the rest speak in the more formal Bahasa Indonesia. Certain motifs recur throughout the novel and acquire symbolic force.

A good example is

the way in which

automobile becomes a symbolic motif in the novel.

the

Symbol of

power, wealth, luxury, freedom, escape--it is many things to many people in the novel.

For Salman and I tam,

the height

of their aspirations is to drive an autolette and earn more money to free themselves from the miserable squalor of their lives;

to

their neighbour, Pak Idjo, Raden Kasli' s new red

Cadillac becomes the symbol of oppression: bumping into it with his delman (two-wheeled, horse drawn carriage), he so arouses

the

nightmares

raden's and

ire

adds

to

that his

it

ill

gives

him

(Pak

Idjo)

health;

for

Dahlia,

it

represents the luxury which her husband cannot give her but which she obtains

through

the use of her body, while her

neighbour Hasnah shudderingly regards it as symbolizing the depths of corruption to which her formerly honest and caring husband, Sugeng, has sunk; finally to Suryono, it represents escape

from

unpleasant realities

and

in

the

end

is

the

instrument of his death. Underneath all this is our sense of the automobile as which has helped

the supreme emblem of modern to make Jakarta

technology

the cold and cruel city

that it is seen to be in this novel. In novel,

the there

characters,

gallery of character portraits are

predictably

however,

are

intellectual Murhalim makes a but he figures in one of novel.

many

memorable.

that is

stereotypes. The

this Some

Islamic

relatively brief appearance

the more powerful scenes in the

There is a riot among the crowds lining up for rice

and kerosene which he

perceives

to be communist-agitated.

Social Class and the Individual

Torn be tween what he knows

141

to be a

prudent and practical

course of action on the one hand, and his perception of evil and

the immediate need

to counteract it on the other,

he

tries to calm the crowd but is beaten and trampled to death. Another well-drawn character

is

Suryono--a

young man not

entirely without a conscience, sometimes capable of honest perception and intelligence, yet utterly weak and a vic tim of his desires. Sendja di Djakarta is a novel which, in its variety and complexity, encompasses the totality of life in Jakarta. The corruption and cruelty and many of the character types are no doubt to be found in any big city, but the sense of place is

strong

Jakarta,

in

this

Indonesia,

novel.

and

its

We are located life

and

firmly

society

is

in

what

absorbs us. Many

Malaysia. situation

of

the

Malay

writers

underprivileged

write

classes

in

about

the

society

but

there is not very much emphasis on class consciousness as such or on the

conflict between classes.

be accounted

for

by

researchers,

that

the

fact,

even

in

no ted

This may perhaps by

present-day

various Malay

social society,

s tra tifica tion is seen in terms of status rather than in the Marxian Moreover,

sense

of

many

social

Malay

classes

writers

as

who

conflict

have

a

groups.

tradi tiona!

background focus on the unity of the community rather than on the conflicting elements in society. One writer who has written explicitly on the theme of class differences is Keris Mas, one of those instrumental in th~

formation

literary

of

movement

Asas

1

formed

50

(Angka tan in

1950

by

Sas terawan Malay

1

50),

writers

a in

Singapore to revitalize Malay language and 1i tera ture. One

Southeast Asian Fiction

142

of

his

earliest

short

stories

entitled

"A

Testament" deals with the theme of class pride.

Nobleman's Its plot is

rather hackneyed--the usual one of poor boy falling in love with rich girl,

in

this case,

a nobleman's

daughter,

unable to marry her because of her social

position.

but They

meet again some years later when the girl and her father flee

from

homeland.

a

social

Dying,

he acknowledges blesses

their

revolution

in

East

the nobleman leaves a

Sumatra,

their

testament in which

the injustice of the old feudal order and

union as a symbol of

the

happiness brought

about by the downfall of the old order and the beginning of the new.

What stands out in this story and makes it more

than an ordinary love story with a

tired plot is the young

man's sense of human worth and dignity. He doesn't grovel but stands firmly by his convictions: people for

"I don't envy other

their wealth or rank, nor do I feel in any way

inferior to them.

Instead, I am convinced their wealth and

the social position they value so highly has been achieved by enslaving wretched ordinary folk who can do no thing in their own defense." Another

of

7

Keris

Motherland", dwells rich

and

powerful.

Mas•· short stories,

on the oppression of In

this

story,

"Selling

the

the poor by the

the

da tuk

penghulu

(headman) of a village sells 450 acres of Malay reservation land

to

a

Jewish

broker

further his own ambitions.

because

he

needs

the

money

to

He pre tends that it is for the

benefit of the 150 Malay farmers who have worked the soil for centuries--floods frequently come to destroy their crops and they could use the money to build another village which will not be so afflicted.

The villagers realize they are

being exploited but feel completely helpless as

their only

Social Class and the Individual

143

possible champion, an honest and courageous young man, lies dying

in

the

contrast:

hospital.

The

story

ends

with

the villagers walking humbly to bring

a

sharp

the young

man to his grave while the da tuk penghulu follows

in his

shiny, big new car just brought in from Singapore. The characters in these stories are projected as being involved

in a

class

struggle, a

struggle "not fought

in

pursuit of pleasure or personal happiness" but for the sake of social justice.

Moreover, their stories end on a note of

modified optimism:

the day of reckoning will come;

will prevail because

their cause is

the poor

just. A simple faith

perhaps, but it is the only thing that sustains them in the midst of their helplessness. The simple and God-fearing nature of the peasant, on the

other

oppression.

hand,

is

also

seen

as

contributing

to

his

In "Not Because of Her", also by Keris Mas, a

contrast is drawn between the exploitation of the poor in the villages and

the

suffering of

the

poor in

the city.

Aman, who has been deprived of his sweetheart through the machinations (religious

of

her

leader),

rich is

and

powerful

dis gus ted

by

uncle, the

an

greed

imam which

masquerades under "all sorts of fancy names--money, status, religion" to take advantage of decent and simple villagers. He comes to the city because here, at least, dishonesty is open and people are not easily cowed by rank and religion. Those who are tough, survive. Survival is

indeed

the

overwhelming

concern of

the

inhabitants of Kampung Kambing, a post-war Singapore kampung (village), in Salina, a novel by A. Samad Said. People live here under abominable conditions--it consists of converted kambing (goat)

pens,

hence

its

name-- because

they

cannot

144

Southeast Asian Fiction

afford

to

live

elsewhere.

Hilmy,

a

young

man

still

at

school, moves in with his widowed mother and is befriended by

a

warm-hearted

supporting Abdul lover,

prostitute,

Fak.ar,

but she finds

school expenses.

her

Siti

lazy,

Salina.

unemployed

Salina brute

is

of a

enough money to help Hilmy with his

She regards him as a younger brother and

encourages him in his ambition to be an archi teet. Hilmy meets another neighbour, seventeen-year old Nahidah.

As the

story progresses, their friendship deepens into love but the relationship is destroyed by Abdul Fak.ar who rapes Nahida and by her stepmother who hires her out as a waitress, a prey

to

men's

appetites.

Towards

the

end

of

the

novel,

Nahidah disappears, ashamed of the life she has been forced into, and Salina finally decides has become even more abusive. him

to

Later,

leave Kampung

inhabitants letter

school

of

and

Kambing

die

or are

Salina

to

to leave Abdul Fak.ar who

Hilmy's mother dies, forcing

look for is

work

destroyed

sea ttered.

Hilmy,

by

in Kuala a

fire

and

This

we

learn

him

to

come

asking

Lumpur. its

from back

a to

Singapore.

At the end of the novel, we see Hilmy bound for

Singapore,

eager

to

see

Salina

and

other

friends

from

Kampung Kambing again. In this novel,

the poor are seen to be oppressed not

so much by another class of society but by an arbitrary and unheeding Fate.

Trapped by circumstances, they seem to have

no way out of their difficulties.

And yet, as A. Samad Said

portrays life in the k.ampung, we see not just the suffering but the vitality of the people who dwell there.

He creates

a variety of characters, aside from the principal ones, who are quite warmly and some times fallibly human.

Kurosamy,

who converted the goat pens and rents them out at exorbitant

Social Class and the Individual

145

rates, is,

But

if anyone, cast in the role of oppressor.

all he really wants is to accumulate enough money to go back to India;

in all other respects, he is on good

terms with

his tenants, talking and joking with them, sympathizing with their

troubles

Fa tso,

and

not unwilling

to

help,

when

he

can.

the mischievous and energetic child who goes around

teasing the goats, is just one of the many children who play lustily around

the

kampung.

Razman,

the

thoughtful and

sober intellectual, has human needs just like everyone else and

is

tempted by

the desire for a

woman.

Haji Karman--

pious, rigid in his point of view, and critical of modern ways--becomes more understanding through the aid of Hilmy. These characters and others contribute to the sense of life and

movement

constantly

going

on,

making

us

feel

that,

however poor, Kampung Kambing throbs with vitality. The

author

quite

skilfully

handles

the

dialogue,

rendering the rhythms of everyday life in the kampung in a lively manner--children teasing, yelling, and quarelling at play;

their

housework

or

elders playing

gossiping

or

bantering

while

cards.

He

modulates

the

doing

tone

in

serious conversation, avoiding excess in the form of either sentimental ism or

melodrama.

His

management of

plot is

somewhat less successful: from the careful pace and build-up in the

first half of

the novel,

he overwhelms us with a

succession of events towards the end, some of them not fully or satisfactorily developed. In

his

portrayal

of

the

impoverished

life

of

the

kampung dwellers, A. Samad Said does not idealize or call for inordinate pity from the reader.

He gives us a clear

and balanced view of human beings who suffer a lot but carry on

their

everyday lives without bitterness

or

self-pity.

146

Southeast Asian Fiction

They do not hope for much but their oppressed condition does not

keep

them

from

forming

warm

and

sustaining

human

relationships. What A. lives

of

Samad Said achieves in his depiction of the

kampung

dwellers

in

urban

Singapore,

novelist

Shahnon Ahmad does equally well in his portrayal of lives of the peasants in rural Malaysia.

the

Some of the best

novels of Shahnon, two of them discussed earlier, focus on the life of

the peasant.

In particular, Ranjau Sepanjang

Jalan (Thorns Throughout the Way) shows us the difficulties in the life of a peasant and how he reacts to them. Lahuma and Jeha, a peasant couple, work hard on their fourteen relongs (Malaysian unit of area) of land, sustained by a

deep faith

in God and

the

dream of

having a

harvest so that they might improve their lives. the novel, Jeha is

bitten by a snake,

misfortunes that befall them.

rich

Early in

the first of many

For while she is ill, Lahuma

steps on a thorn as he works in the fields.

The thorn goes

in deep and cannot be removed; as a result, Lahuma's foot is infected and the infection spreads to the rest of his body. He dies, but lives on in Jeha's mind, constantly urging her to go on with the work. There must be no slackening, for without rice, she and their seven daughters would all die. Jeha

works

till

she

almost

drops

from

fatigue.

This,

combined with her loneliness without Lahuma and the nagging feeling that, hard as she tries, she has nevertheless failed him, take its toll on her mind as well as her body. She goes mad. Her two older daughters take over the work, mobilizing their younger sisters to help in whatever way they can, and working just as hard as their parents did before them.

147

Social Class and the Individual

There is an almost epical quality to this simple tale as told by Shahnon.

The piling up of one misfortune after

the other on Lahuma and his family,

their attempts to fight

these to the utmost yet always accepting them finally as the will of God surely remind us of Job. Lahuma's agonized death and Jeha's terrifying madness move us by their horror, while the coming of one calamity after the other--crabs devouring the

young

first

to

plants, the

floods

washing

harvest--and

the

them

out,

family's

birds

coming

acceptance of

the

need to keep on going, no matter how back-breaking the work and how meagre

the

reward,

finally

impresses us with

the

quiet but indomitable strength of the peasant. Fundamentally, nature among

the

there

is

peasants.

a

feeling

of

kinship

with

They sense beauty as well as

destruction in nature, as in Jeha's feeling of satisfaction at

the

richness

appreciation of Moreover,

of the

tilling

the

land

Sanah's

golden beauty of the

land

livelihood, a job to be done. life-giving ritual.

or

is

not

the

(her

daughter)

ripening grain.

just

a

means

of

Much more than that, it is a

Lahuma and Jeha are constantly aware of

their task as God-given, praying to Him formally before they start work in the fields, constantly evoking Him as they do the things that need to be done.

This, perhaps, is at the

heart of their ability to endure. It is interesting to compare this novel with a similar novel

from

Gonzales.

the

Philippines,

Sabel and Doro,

A Season of Grace the

protagonists of

by N. V.M. this novel

are even more deprived, for they do not have their own fixed plot of

land.

Unable

to

work

the

plots

in

their

own

village, they move into the forest, using the slash-and-burn method (swidden)

to make a clearing (kaingin)

in which to

Southeast Asian Fiction

148

plant rice. other

They

establish a

kaingineros

feeling of

( practitioners

community with

of

slash-and-burn

agriculture ) near them as well as with the few people who live on the edge of the forest.

Their ordinary life is even

more difficult than that of Lahuma and Jeha, for they hardly ever get enough rice to feed themselves through the year but end up subsisting on boiled sweet potatoes.

Whatever rice

is left, after the pests have had their fill and the people who come to help them have been given their share, goes to pay off

the seed-rice merchant who

demands

two

sacks

of

grain for each sack of seed rice (a system called duplihan). As in Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan, there is no overt social criticism in A Season of Grace. there

is

rna t ter-of-fac t

fourteen relongs

mention

because he had

But just as in the former, of

Lahuma' s

to sell his

having land

only

to

the

Chinese or of his not being able to afford to hire a tractor because dollars a

the

tok

day,

penghulu

(headman)

so Doro accepts

was

charging

eight

the duplihan sys tern as a

rna tter of fact, some thing that cannot be avoided.

In fact,

it doesn't occur to him to seek to avoid it; it is simply a part of

life as

he

knows

it.

The

social

criticism is

indirect and oblique, achieved through symbolism.

Thus, the

pests that attack the crop come to stand not only for

the

natural but the social forces that prey on the peasant. Like Lahuma in Ranjau, Sabel feels almost a feeling of kinship with the rats who attack the grain, seeing them as little men and women who also try

to get what they can from the

land. Referring to them, she tells Doro: "There are others on the land--people not our kind", but we come to associate these more with the seed-grain merchants and other men from the town who try to bleed them white.

Social Class and the Individual

149

Counteracting the greed hinted at in both novels, the feeling of community remains. sends

his

tractor

free

In Ranjau,

of charge

the tok penghulu

to help Jeha clear

the

fields for planting after Lahuma dies; in A Season of Grace, the kaingineros help each other in planting and harvesting and each gets number dies,

his

share of

the

rice.

When one

of

their

they all help in preparing for the burial and

in digging the grave.

The midwife not only delivers Sabel's

babies but also cares for her till she is strong enough and makes sure

that

the

folk rituals needed

accomplished properly.

for a

birth are

All this help is given willingly and

as a matter of course, just as much a part of their lives as the difficulties they shoulder uncomplainingly. The quality

of endurance

that we

find

in Doro and

Sabel is rather different from that in Shahnon's novel. They do not attain the almost mythic stature that Lahuma and Jeha do.

Except for the pests, no great misfortune befalls them;

we see them simply living out their lives from day to day. But as in Ranjau, this is no empty, meaningless routine, but a

meaningful

ritual

faith in life.

which

celebrates a

In God, too.

quiet and

simple

Although the strength of their

formal religion is not asserted here (we see Sabel mouthing prayers at a funeral service),

they do have faith and Doro

particularly achieves some insight into

the need

for God

close to the end of the novel. Both N.V.M. and Shahnon appropriately use the cycle of the seasons and

the rhythms of the agricultural year as a

means of s true turing their novels.

It is not the calendar

months but the stages of the planting season that mark the events in their characters' we

follow

the

rice

year

lives.

from

In Shahnon's novel, as

beginning

to

end,

we

find

Southeast Asian Fiction

150

Lahuma dead and Jeha insane, yet their daughters carry on, unbroken,

the rhythm of

In A Season of Grace,

the planting and growing of rice.

the end of the planting season marks

the birth of another son for Sabel, as in the last season; meanwhile,

their elder son has grown, and Dora and Sabel,

too,. grow in their marriage. Rhythm, scenes

of

punctuating plenty,

are

too, marks the style in both. Shahnon' s the in

novels,

the

recurrent

and

death,

narration--"Life the

hands

of

In the opening

God"--gives

a

refrain

dearth

and

quality

of

timelessness and resonance to the prose. On the other hand, the short simple rhythms of his other sentences, enriched by images of nature and village life, give us an almost poetic apprehension of

the

simple

hopes and

perceptions

of

the

peasant: The gold of the rice deepened. The grains grew bigger and their skins grew more taut. Children began to steal rice-stems to make into flutes. The flutes did not make very loud music, but those faint strains could touch the heart. And Sanah waited for the propitious day when she could start reaping all that 13olden rice in her fourteen relongs of rice land.

In A Season of Grace which

N.V.M.

catches

the

rhythms

of

is written peasant

in

English,

speech

and

transliterates the vernacular expressions, giving us a sense of the simple and elemental. their

thoughts

and

the

He also catches the rhythms of instinctive

imagery

of

their

perceptions of the world around them, adding poetic depth to his understated narration:

Social Class and the Individual

151

The birds swinging from a top the rice-s talks sprinkled the field with blots of garnet against the yellow-green of the waving grain. Of course, Blas Marte had set up the scarecrow once more. It had served for the corn, no doubt. Now the birds were not to be frightened anymore. They had grown too familiar with it. How over-long those arms were, how thickly swathed with that coat of tattered leaves--how unbelievable! "You' 11 also see," said Doro, "how wide the path he has made round his field this year. Exactly as he did last year. And you' 11 see the things of bamboo upon which wind will play. It's playing faintly now--lis ten ••• " "I'm listening," said Sabel. "To frighten those rice-birds away," said Doro. "But why then are the rice-birds still here?" "Because there are just too many of them," Doro said easily. He couldn' t say that perhaps Blas Marte had given up. He couldn't think of a sui table answer, in any case. But he tried; "A man can only do so much." "And he has also made those things the wild pigs away?" Sabel asked.

that drive

"As you can see, now all men must try," Doro said. He did not doubt the truth of it. Here, at Blas Marte's place, it was all too clear: all men must try. The rice stood well e~dowed with what the earth and sun could give it.

Both

novels

leaves us with a endure;

evoke

in

us

a

profound

response:

deep sense of awe at man's

the other ins tills

in us a

capacity

deep respect for

one to the

grace and dignity which enable him to do so. Singapore.

Considering

the

phenomenal

progress

of

Singapore in the short span of time from its independence to

Southeast Asian Fiction

152

the present, it is not surprising that awareness of class or of

the

oppression of

the

lower

classes

prominently as a theme in fiction. variety of

themes

which

does

not

figure

It is but one of a wide

preoccupy writers

of

fie tion

in

Singapore, insofar as this study has access to their works. As no ted earlier, fie tion in Singapore is written in several

languages

and

within

the

social

and

contexts of the different language communities. between

the

ability

to

individual's endure is

writers who

the

by

The tension

poverty

and

his

of ten explored by Malay short story

write on

Typical is

oppression

cultural

the

subject of

the

poorer

title story of Des tinasi, a

short stories by Noor Hidayat.

classes.

collection of

Hard as he might work,

the

betja driver in this story simply cannot make enough to feed his

family,

daughter.

much

less

buy

the

textbooks

needed

by

his

He plods on through the rain and finally decides

to go home in defeat, tricycle catches fire. morning,

burnt

to

Close to his home,

the lamp on his

His daughter discovers him in the

death.

The

betja

driver

apparently

epitomizes the poor in the city, although he belongs vanishing breed

in

the

Singapore of

the

1980s.

to a

Another

short story, "The Dirt" by A. Razak Jaafar, tells of an old betja driver who goes out in the rain

to be able to earn

money to buy food for his sick wife and young grandson. is unable

to make it and dies in the storm.

He

There is a

sameness to these stories: they depict the sufferings of the poor realistically and appeal strongly to our sense of pity. Unlike the resilient urban poor of Ardan and the peasants of Shahnon

who

find

characters

are

summon

all

up

sustenance

helpless their

and

in

their

isola ted

strength,

community, and

defeat

although

for

them

these they seems

Social Class and the Individual

inevitable.

Perhaps,

by

153

stressing

their

absolute

helplessness, the authors feel that they can more forcefully bring home

the

plight of

these

people.

At any rate,

the

profound gloom of these stories is unrelieved. One turns with some relief to other writers who use their

artistic

technique

more

subtly

their material and the reader.

to

mediate

between

In her short story, "Eggs",

Catherine Lim uses irony to show how the perception of one's poverty in the midst of plenty, particularly when one is a poor relation, can have a damaging effect on the individual. The situation is seen from the point of view of a six-yearold child who wants eggs for breakfast like the relatives she and her mother are living with.

Her mother scolds her

for asking, because, according to her, eggs are not for the likes

of

them.

awareness

of

The

the

child

difference

is

further

between

forced

them and

into

their

an rich

relatives by the taunts of her young cousin who calls them beggars,

living

off

charity.

When

the

mother

saves

up

enough money, she buys six eggs and forces her child to eat them

in

finish

plain view them,

of

their

relatives.

When

she

cannot

her mother screams at her and hits her. The

child is unable to understand why her mother should deny her eggs at one time and then feed them to her until she is sick She concludes

at another.

resolves never to ask for between

the

child's

that eggs must be unlucky and them again. The ironic contrast

innocence and

the mother's anger,

so

great that she makes use of her child to get back at her relatives

who

constantly

remind

state, gives us a

picture of a

more

than

disturbing

description can provide.

direct

her

of

her

impoverished

human response statement

or

to poverty realistic

154

Southeast Asian Fiction

The

contrast

between

the

young

successful

professionals of Singapore, with their designer clothes and powerful European cars, and the underprivileged few, such as the "wash-your-car" boys who pester them is

the subject of

"Monkey Face", a short story by the same author. The story shows how one of these young professionals progresses from complete

to

indifference

the

existence

of

these

underprivileged to sheer annoyance at being "victimized" by them and finally to a shamed awareness of their plight. Touches of humour lighten Lim's picture of these young unfortunates as she shows their tenacity, their cunning, and their relentless energy in people.

trying

to get a

few cents off

Monkey Face latches on to Richard and pesters him

in half a dozen different ways, finally making off with his silk Pierre Cardin shirt which Richard has especially bought to impress his girl.

Monkey Face thus becomes the subject

of Richard's concentrated ire. catch up

with Monkey

Face,

When he and a friend finally they

find

him

curled

up and

sleeping, wearing the silk shirt which hung absurdly on his thin frame, over the Tshir t which was obviously inadequate to keep out the night chill. The tattered black shorts· were held in place ••• by a cheap plastic belt that must have been salvaged from a dustbin. The legs bore the marks of sores that had dried up but on the right arm was a cluster of raw red boils from which a piece of bandage had slipped off. From one of the trouser pockets protruded a broken toy plane which had either been s tot n 0 from a child or picked up from a rubbish bin.

Really

seeing

the

boy

profound effect on Richard.

for

the

first

time

has

a

We sense in him the stirrings

Social Class and the Individual

155

of compassion mixed with shame as he peevishly orders his friend to let the boy go. Catherine Lim uses a light hand to bring off the blend of satire and compassion in this story.

Her skilful use not

only of humour but of irony contributes to this, as in the ironic contrast between Richard's and Fred's levels

of

awareness

and

perception.

They

(his friend) both

look at

Monkey Face but perceive different things: Richard's eyes are opened to

the

truth of the boy's situation; Fred sees

only what he has programmed himself Singapore society. story.

Moreover,

to see--the "scum" of

there is no excess

Richard's reaction to his discovery is just right:

no overwhelming sense of guilt or remorse, good,

in this

just an irritation masking

no rush to do

unfamiliar

feelings

yet

unrecognized and unacknowledged. Philippines.

The Filipino novel in Tagalog, which has

a longer his tory than the Filipino novel in English, also has a longer tradition of social consciousness.

As early as

1904, we find a novel that not only exhibits a high degree of

social

awareness

socialistic

but

orientation.

Glimmer) by Lope K.

is

explicitly

Banaag

at

written

Sikat

from

(Light

a and

Santos, considered a mil.estone in the

development of the socially conscious novel, deals with the class

war

be tween

the

rich and

the

poor and,

even more

explicitly, between labour and capital. A journalist and labour organizer, Lope K. Santos was widely read

in

the

literature

of

European

socialism and

tried to apply the ideas he had gathered to the Philippine situation during his

time.

In this novel,

however, he is

unable to find a narrative framework for what should be a novel of ideas; instead, he relies on the conventional love

156

Southeast Asian Fiction

plot of the popular Tagalog novel.

He presents the parallel

and

interwoven

newspaper

stories

man,

and

of

two

Meni,

a

couples:

rich

Delfin,

capitalist's

a

poor

daughter;

Felipe, son of a rich landowner, and Tentay, daughter of a labourer who dies of tuberculosis. socialistic ideas while Felipe has

make him

Delfin's poverty and his

unacceptable

to keep on

trying

to

Meni' s

to prove his

family love

to

Ten tay who cannot believe that one of his class would want to marry the likes of her. The

idea

of

contrasting

idealist/intellectual

like

a

sober

Delfin

and

and

thoughtful

an

impetuous,

anarchistic radical like Felipe is well-conceived but there are inconsistencies

in characterization.

Delfin is well-

drawn and well-motivated, but we are not given enough basis to understand how Felipe, with his background, could become such a confirmed anarchist. political

views

but

in

He is radical not only in his

his

concept

of

love

as

well.

Although he is most persistent in his suit of Tentay in the time-honoured

tradition

nevertheless refuses

of

Filipino

courtship,

he

to go through a marriage ceremony but

explicitly preaches free love.

It is equally difficult to

understand how Ten tay, already highly conscious of her low status

and

raised

conventional

Filipino

in

the

home,

traditional can accept

pie ties

this

of

from

a

Felipe,

without seeing it as a further diminution of her already low status. All this serves to distract us from the main theme as does

the

developed. the

stuff

letters,

way

in which

the

story of

Delfin and

Meni

is

The conflict between rich and poor becomes here of

melodrama,

clandestine

with

meetings,

all Meni

its

trappings--secret

pregnant

but

still

157

Social Class and the Individual

unwed, pining away for love, and finally disinherited by her irate father. The real class war

that Santos apparently wants

to

call attention to--that between labour and capital--exists in the novel only on the level of rhetoric.

The roman tic

plot proves inadequate to dramatize this conflict or to give it narrative substance by incorporating it into the action. Another reason for the failure to make it come alive is that the conflict of ideas is never internalized in any one of the characters. Felipe

and

Given ready-made, dedicated socialists like

Delfin,

on

the

one

hand,

and

entrenched

capitalists like Don Ramon, Meni's father, on the other, we can only expect fruitless debate and set speeches. Santos

makes

an attempt

to

place

his

specifically

socialist ideas within the context of a broader vision, that of a

Philippines

from

the

darkness

surprisingly

(and of

barely

superstition in to

indeed an Asia) oppression glanced

gradually emerging

(colonial

at

here),

the dawning of a

new,

oppression ignorance,

is and

enlightened age.

Yet again, this is given to us in a long speech delivered by Delfin over Don Ramon's grave in what was intended to be the conclusion of

the

novel.

However,

the

author

added

an

additional chapter to round out the plot, showing Delfin and Meni, with the aid of Felipe, confronting her rich relatives and spurning both their values and their wealth.

The fact

that the author felt the need for this shows how he fails to integrate his ideological and narrative concerns. Yet we must not underestimate the achievement of Lope K.

Santos in this novel.

Written as it was in 1904 and

placed in the context of the development of modern fiction in the Philippines, it is a major step in that development.

Southeast Asian Fiction

158 Its

no table

achievement

is

bringing

to

the

surface

the

undercurrents of social concern and social protest which we find

as

early as

the

pas yon

in

directly challenging its readers

Tagalog

literature

and

to recognize the need for

change in the social system. Where Lope K. Marxian

sense,

Santos stresses class conflict in the Maca rio

K. Pineda,

another

Tagalog

fictionist, depicts reconciliation in one of his best short stories, "Kasalan sa Mala king Bahay" (A Wedding in the Big House).

Pineda describes the wedding between Dr Arturo, the

son of a peasant,

and Anita, the daughter of Dona Isabel of

the "Big House" in town.

The festive celebration of

the

marriage between the two becomes a ritual of reconciliation between Mang Ponso,

Arturo's

father,

and Dona

Isabel who

were once lovers but were prevented from getting married by her

father.

The

situation

is

no

different

from

the

conventional love plot, with its po ten tiali ty for melodrama and/or sentimentalism, situation

but Pineda

does not manipulate

to assault our emotions but handles

with great skill and the utmost delicacy.

the

it instead

Narrated in the

first person by a member of the younger generation, a young man whose father was put in prison by Dona Isabel's father for bringing his friend's

letters

to

her,

the story only

alludes indirectly to the past, but its muted tone catches the emotional significance of the present moment: Mang Alfonso and my father went up the stairs, myself softly treading behind. Dona Isabel, apparently leaning on the shoulder of Dr. Arturo, waited at the balcony. Dona Isabel's cheeks were flushed. I sensed that the old woman would collapse without Dr. Arturo's support.

159

Social Class and the Individual

The guests from Manila apprehended no thing of all this. But for children of peasants and farmers, distant relatives of Dona Isabel, who were present on that memorable occasion, what was happening bore the profoundest significance. Mang Alfonso smiled as he gave a bunch of flowers to Dona Isabel, but his eyes were blurred by tears. His voice, though gloomy, had an air of triumph. "For you, Isabel," he spoke gently. "Today is My seventh and youngest child has rendered us back forty years of our lives. What has happened has happened and can never be altered. But in dreams, Isabel, at the moment of the wedding of our children •••• "

1906.

The tears in Dona Isabel's eyes smarte1 1 Ponso," she replied in a subdued voice.

"Yes,

In the his tory of the Tagalog novel, one of the more profound attempts

to study the effects of the class sys tern

on the individual may be found in Lazaro Francisco's novel, Maganda Pa Ang Daigdig (The World Is Still Beautiful) and its sequel, Daluyong (The Big Wave). in

both novels

is

Lino

Rivera,

a

The central character World

struggling to support himself and his

War

II

veteran

son, Ernesto.

From

Manila where he can barely survive, he moves to Pinyahan, a town

in

Central

befriended principal

by of

Luzon, Miss

the

and

Lore to

local

works

at

Sanchez,

odd the

elementary school

jobs. kindly and

her

He

is

young uncle,

Padre Amando, the parish priest and also a big landowner in the province.

Deeply impressed by his high principles, his

quiet dignity, and the depth of his understanding, in spite of the fact that he has had very little formal education, they try to find him a regular job.

Lino tells them that he

Southeast Asian Fiction

160

is willing to do anything except be a tenant farmer because he promised his father not to be drawn back into the cruelty of a

sys tern which enslaved

centuries.

Before

they

them and

can help

their

him,

forebears

however,

Lino

for is

arrested for a crime he supposedly committed while still in Manila--robbery with homicide.

Protesting his

innocence,

Lino leaves his son in the care of Miss Sanchez. Lino is sentenced to jail due to a false witness and the fact of his previous jail record.

In the past, he was

briefly jailed for assault after fighting some men who had snatched a woman's

bag.

(Unknown to him,

that woman was

Miss Sanchez who could not gather enough courage to go to the police station and

testify in his behalf, causing her

untold feelings of guilt.) This time, Lino and some others who believe themselves unjustly detained escape from prison in to the mountains of Central Luzon, where they recover a cache of arms Lino had hidden from the Japanese during the war.

Refusing

to

align

(popularly known as

themselves with

"Huks",

a

rebel

the

Hukbalahaps

group active

in

the

1950s), they acquire something of a Robin Hood reputation, helping

the

landowner,

foreman to

of

fight off

Don

Tito,

a

local

rancher

and

the Huks and other marauders who

steal the cattle. Meanwhile, the real killer of the man Lino is supposed to have killed is apprehended.

Lino is persuaded by Padre

Amando and Miss Sanchez to give himself up; in the process, he helps foil a big offensive planned by the Huks. Francisco very clearly lays down the ideological basis of his

novel,

rejecting communism as

country's social ills.

the solution

to

the

The debate between Lino and the Huk

commander, Hantik, is no abstract discussion but the clash

Social Class and the Individual

of

deeply

held

convictions,

although Hantik's force.

The

arguments

debate

is

161

on

certainly are

given

also

couched

in

Lino's

the

part,

rhetorical

courtly,

almost

mannered, and metaphorical prose, untainted by modernisms, which

Tagalog

folk

still

use

in

moments

of

deep

significance, showing us how deeply felt Lino's beliefs are. Francisco advocates the leasehold sys tern which in the novel is

pioneered

persuade

the

by

Padre

other

Amando.

landowners

The to

do

priest

attempts

likewise

but

to with

limited success. The author attempts a complete portrayal of the evil forces at work in Philippine society. not the

In Daluyong, it is

tenancy sys tern but power politics that is exposed.

Although he already has his own small farm given to him by Padre Amando, Lino is harassed by Benig, Don Tito's son, and his cohorts because they perceive him as a

threat to their

rough-shod tactics in gaining political power.

Lino' s good

friend and assistant in the farm is killed in cold blood and there are plans to do away with him as well.

His hut is

burned down--it is not completely clear whether by Benig' s men or the Huks or both,in cahoots--and in the bloody battle that follows, Lino succeeds in slaying Commander Han tik of the Huks. Apart

from

the

social

criticism,

the

emphasis

in

Daluyong is on showing how badly wounded Lino's spirit has been by his constant victimization by society. is deeply in love with Lino and he with her.

Miss Sanchez But no matter

how hard she tries, he refuses· to allow his love to be drawn out but deliberately distances himself, hurting her deeply. The fact that her well-meaning friends try to show him that he is not worthy of her causes him to withdraw even more.

162

Southeast Asian Fiction

In one of the drama tic moments of the novel, Miss Sanchez slaps Lino's face for hiding himself ignominously under the bed when her friends arrive unexpectedly.

"Learn to raise 12 even a king", she tells

your head in front of anyone

him harshly, then breaks down and weeps. Francisco

has

not

completely

moved

away

melodramatic tendencies of the Tagalog novel. dies at

the end because Lino' s

from

the

Miss Sanchez

constant rejection of her

love weakens her will to live and she neglects her health. But his prose style is well-con trolled and keeps him from falling in to excess.

He has been acclaimed for "his supple

prose style [which is] responsive to the subtlest nuances of 13 ideas and the sternest stuff of passions". Equally noteworthy is his ability to give life to the value system of

the

Tagalog

simple

people,

goodness,

in

their

both

town and

willingness

village--their

to

their

help,

essentially gentle outlook on life. Francisco draws beliefs and

his characters well,

innermost feelings as well as

uncertainties that motivate them. courage and firm principles, and

his

weakness

thoughtful in

showing us

his

the doubts and

Lino, admirable for his

his innate sense of dignity,

approach

regarding

the

to

life,

status

in

yet life

has as

his the

own world

regards it and refusing to believe that he is worthy of Miss Sanchez.

Nevertheless,

he

remains

a

highly

idealized

creation and in many ways looms larger than life.

Francisco

excels in drawing his villains; he does not use clear black and white but shades of grey. shown as misguided, not evil. Tito, open

Hantik,

for

instance,

is

The rancher/landowner, Don

is not the stereotyped hard-hearted landlord but is to

the arguments

for

land reform and

is willing

to

Social Class and the Individual

163

He has his own problems trying to keep the Huks

cooperate.

through his foreman, he and Lino enter

off his cattle and,

It is only later that

in to an arrangement of mutual help.

father predominate and he supports his

his ins tine ts as a son,

in

Benig,

the

latter's

power and

grab for

ruthless

persecution of the weak who stand in the way. In a country as socially stratified as

Thailand.

Thailand, it is to be expected that a good deal of attention is

this

to

paid

of

aspect

The

fie tion.

in

society

chronicler par excellence of the upper strata of society is Dokmai Sot, the first important female novelist in Thailand. Dokmai Sot herself belonged to the aristocracy so she was in an excellent position to write about the manners and mores At the risk of oversimplifying, one

of the upper classes.

may recognize two basic classifications in Thai society: the gentry

or

phu

di

various

includes

which

ranks

the

of

aristocracy, and the commoners or ordinary people, known as khon

thammada.

In

this

the earlier part of

an

century,

ethnic or racial element entered in to social dis tine tions. It was during this

time that the Chinese were beginning to

gain financial ascendance in Thai society at the same time The

that many Thai aristocrats were falling on hard times.

Chinese during King Chulalongkorn's time began to acquire a higher

social

status

sending

by

children

their

schools both in Thailand and abroad; in addition, himself

generously

successful diluting

bestowed

businessmen, the

thus

exclusivity

of

opening the

titles

and

ranks

up

upper

the

good

to

the King many

to

system

class.

In

and a

success ion of novels, Dokmai Sot portrays the world of the higher classes, with its sensitivity to rank and status, its complexities of rank and relationship.

She brings us into

164

Southeast Asian Fiction

their world, their

language,

thoughts. how

de pic tin'g in their

faithful

manners,

and meticulous

their

actions,

de tail

and

their

At the same time, we may trace through her novels

social

change and

effects--liberalizing

modernization began attitudes,

reducing

to

show

their

differences

in

rank, and allowing more and more the various classes to mix. In her last and greatest novel, Ni Lae Lok (discussed fully in Chapter Three), we get a microcosm of the world of the gentry, as in her other novels.

Here,

however,

it is no

longer a closed world but one where people of lower rank mix freely

with

businessman

people

of

actually

higher

rank

proposes

heroine of the novel.

to

and

where

Salaya,

a

the

Chinese high-born

She rejects him, it is true, but the

author herself does not show a patronizing attitude towards her

character.

She

portrays

him

not

only

as

shrewd,

pragmatic, and capable--stereotype qualities of the Chinese businessman--but also as capable of perception and sympathy, and a the

true friend.

high-born and

polished

as

He does not have the social graces of his

theirs,

language and but

he

is

behaviour are

shown

to

have

not as

value

in

himself, as a person. A contemporary of Dokmai Sot, Si Burapha, also writes about class view.

distinctions,

but

from a

different point of

His novel, Luk Phuchai (A Real Man), acknowledges the

fact that the idea of social class is at the heart of the Thai social order but shows

that an individual, no matter

how poor he is and how low his social status may be, can rise

by his

society.

own efforts

The

novel

tells

carpenter's son who rises Phra

(Lord)

to become a

through his

the

story

respected member of of

Mano t,

to be a judge with the own efforts.

He

a

poor

title of

achieves

this

Social Class and the Individual

through

education

which,

impressed upon him as himself.

In a

from

165 an

early

age,

has

been

the only way in which he can better

typical episode,

he confides

to a

school

friend how he is unable to dress as warmly or as well as Kiri, a rich classmate and the villain of the piece, because he cannot afford the price of a shirt. advises

him

to

be

determined

in

His father, however,

his

studies,

for

the

knowledge he acquires would someday enable him to dress like Kiri.

Later on, he savours his first triumph, passing the

law examination and placing second where some of his richer, more privileged classmates fail. happiest day of his

life--it was

realized his worth,

the first time 14 and words of highest praise."

"He felt this the first

to be the

time

that he

that he received honor

Manot loves Ramphan, another rich classmate, but gives way to his friend who belongs to the same class as she does. The very fact of

their friendship seems incredible at the

time: In truth, it didn't seem possible for Ramphan and Manot to be close friends. In social standing, they were as different from each other as sky and earth. Ramphan was the daughter of Chao Khun Bamroeharuthairat. Highly cherished, she lived a life of luxury and happiness. She was the daughter of a nobleman, honored and wealthy; in contrast, Manot's father was a mere carpenter. ( p. 8)

With his eventual success, Manot becomes a member of a new emergent class--those who, in spite of their background, are able to rise to a high position in the civil service by virtue

of

their

integrity,

intelligence,

and

hard

work.

166

Southeast Asian Fiction

Their

accomplishments

are

acknowledged

and

rewarded

by

society which accepts them in to its highest ranks. The novel,

which was

one of

the earliest novels

in

Thailand, may perhaps seem to lack polish and subtlety. depicts

class

conflict in black and

predictable pattern:

white and

It

follows

a

Mano t achieves success and happiness

after much suffering while his high-born enemy ignominously ends up in jail.

The author leaves gaps in the narrative in

an effort to stress his point and contrived:

Manot

finally

closely resembles her.

the ending is somewhat

marries

Ramphan's

daughter

who

But it is the first sustained novel

to depict class

dis tine tions

and deal

with

the

theme

of

social mobility.

In subsequent novels and short stories, Si

Burapha was to depict further the evils of the class sys tern. Unlike Luk Phuchai where idealized,

Dr.

Luk Thung

the

protagonist

by M.L. Boonlua

believable picture of upward mobility.

is

highly

creates a

more

The ti tle--luk thung

means son of the soil--indicates the peasant origins of Krit Mina

who,

economics.

at

the

time

the

story opens,

has

a

Ph.D.

in

Kri t' s family is not absolutely impoverished--

his father owns a fairly successful grape farm and his uncle is the village headman. obtain his

education without

scholarships from nobleman's

But he would not have been able to the

the government.

daughter,

amidst

help

of a

monk and

of

He marries Luk Kaew, a

varying

reactions

from

Luk

centre

of

Kaew's family. Using consciousness,

Luk the

Kaew

as

narrator

novel

shows

us

the

and

pressures

on

this

upwardly mobile young man--in his work as well as in his social and emotional life.

We see him from

the point of

view of a warm and caring wife who tries hard to understand

Social Class and the Individual

167

and forbear. Never pushy, she listens to him sympathetically as he has to make difficult decisions about his job: should he

continue

working

with

the

government

on

its

rural

development programme or should he quit and accept a wellpaying job that would help him to pay off his debts? She suffers silently over what she sees to be his insecurities, especially his lack of a sense of his own worth: I feel pity for Krit. Together with my love for him is the prejudice I feel when he compares his position to that of the friends whom he associates with rather than thinking of his past and comparing himself to the less fortunate members of his family • • • He doesn 1 t have his own home like Chiaw; he doesn 1 t have a high salary like Patana; he is not endowed with great wealth like Athorn; nobody praises him as they do Uncle Prachit and Uncle Watchara. He fails to realize that these people have spent a long time accumulating their wealth and establishing tneir position in life. Why cannot my beloved Krit realize this? Kri t whom Uncle Prachi t admires because of his intelligence and capability, who works well and makes friends easily? Why doesn 1 t he think of the honor accorded him, the highest honor accorded a Thai citizen, on which the future of the nation rests? He is the representative of millions of citizens who own this land • • • he has the opportunity to be one of the leaders of the country. Why doesn 1 t he realize that the future belongs to persons of the Mina family, not of mine or of my relatives? I am deeply disappointed and feel a heavy load on my chest whenever I think of it.l5 The greatest test of her love comes when Krit is drawn in to an affair with one of her friends, perhaps a form of response to the pressures he is feeling. The girl marries someone

else

but

eventually decides

her

child

is

to stay with

obviously

Krit 1 s.

Krit

the government where he

Southeast Asian Fiction

168 feels

he can really do some good.

Luk Kaew rejoices and

wisely keeps silent on his one indiscretion, particularly as he becomes, henceforth, a model husband and a loving father to their son. Apart from the main issues of social class and upward mobility, the novel makes an attempt to cover a variety of social problems facing modern Thailand: the brain drain, the tendency of some Thai to copy blindly from the West, the gap be tween

rural

and

urban

society,

the

need

for

a

revitalization of religious values. These are understandable concerns of the au thor who was a respected educator before her death but they cannot be brought under scrutiny without some sacrifice of narrative tightness and dramatic tension. Yet the novel remains an intelligent and honest portrayal of the complex problems attendant to social mobility. A short story by Ussiri Thammachote, "Mua Yen Yam Kong Wan An Rai" (On a Cruel Evening), stresses the economic base of

class

differences

affect character.

young

shows

how

economic

conditions

The story consists simply of two sharply

contrasting scenes. poor

and

woman

The first one shows us the grief of a whose

street-cleaner

killed by a hit-and-run driver.

husband

has

been

She thinks of how honest

and hard-working he was; his poverty made him work all the harder and he never lost hope of being able to educate his children so that they might have a better life.

Now he is

dead and she can think of no one to turn to for help. The centre of consciousness then shifts to the mother of

the

rich young

street cleaner.

man whose

car it was

that killed

the

She tries to assuage his fears by saying

that since no one saw the accident, he cannot possibly be apprehended.

But inside her, she bewails his weakness of

Social Class and the Individual

character

and

his

degenerate

169 lifestyle,

making

him

an

unworthy representative of his high and powerful lineage. The

story

comparisons. is

no

avoids

stereotypes

and

makes

no

facile

The mother's anguish over her son's weakness

less

real

than

husband's death.

the

young

woman's

grief

But when the mother turns

over

her

to wondering

which was more valuable--the expensive car which was wrecked or the insignificant man who was run over--she becomes for us

a

monstrous

representative

of

her

class,

with

its

essential self-centredness and inability to look beyond its own concerns.

The author makes no comments but his simple

technique of

contrast by

juxtapositiQn is

more

effective

than any authorial intrusion can be. Another

short story writer,

Khamsing

Srinawk,

goes

further by challenging the idea of social stratification and questioning its

validity altogether.

The

narrator

of his

short story, "Dust Underfoot", is a foreman in a lumber camp who is in a finds

good position to observe his fellow men.

himself

drawn

to

Inta,

an

ethnic

tribesman

He and

elephant boy in the camp.

Inta has fallen in love with Bua

Kun,

is

a village

girl,

and

happily making plans

to get

married when M.R.(for Mom Rachawong, a minor title) Paipeen, the

nephew

of

the

lumber

company

owner,

arrives

on

the

scene. As a member of the aristocracy, he gets the respect and deference which he sees to be his due.

When he takes a

fancy to In ta' s girl, the villagers and the men in the camp defer to his exalted social position, with the exception of the

narrator.

His

heart

goes

out

to

Inta

who

cannot

understand why an ordinary mortal, no different from himself except in their circumstances, should be treated like a lord while the rest prostrate themselves like "dust underfoot" (a

170

Southeast Asian Fiction

phrase used by ordinary people to refer to themselves when addressing a

royal personage).

The narrator acutely feels

his powerlessness

to do anything about the situation and

bitterly reflects

that social status is no thing but a lie

which fetters men: I lay there reflecting that the status of Inta, Mom Rachawong Paipeen and myself, as men were not the same and I felt as I had before that I was standing at the point where sky and earth meet, divided between the one and the other. It then struck me as peculiar that while we boast of being the most extraordinary of animals, with fine men tal faculties able to vanquish nature whether below or above ground, we yield to complete nonsense. You can understand how a man gets enslaved to position, property and other intoxicants but it is extraordinary when he bows down to spirits and otygr men he only imagines have something special.

When the narrator tries name of human decency, even

consider

a

to appeal

he is

tribesman

to Paipeen in the

laughed at. like

Inta

Paipeen doesn 1 t a

human

being.

Meanwhile, the weather has changed and a storm is gathering. The

storm

brewing

in

morning,

becomes

a

In ta s

symbol heart.

1

when it is

of The

over,

the storm

desire

for

breaks

vengeance

and

in

the

Paipeen and Bua Kun have been

trampled to death and Inta has disappeared. The authors

discussed

in

this

chapter vary

forms of their awareness of, and concern with, of class in society.

in

the

the problem

As we go through their works, we move

from a passionate espousal of the cause of the poor who are seen as chief victims of the class system to a gentler look into

the

possibilities

for

reconciliation,

or

from

a

detached and objective but no less forceful examination of

Social Class and the Individual

171

the relationship between classes to a warm portrayal of the poor as alive and fully human.

Undoubtedly, however, these

authors

to

give

full

recognition

the

problem and

its

complexities, as seen from their respective points of view. Notes 1.

For a full discussion of Lekra, see Teeuw, I, pp. 134138 and II, pp. 29-39.

2.

Pramoedya Anan ta Toer, Child of all Nations, trans. Max Lane (Australia: Penguin Books, 1984), p. 84. All page references are to this edition.

3.

Foulcher, pp. 14-15.

4.

Johns, p. 97.

5.

S.M. Ardan, Terang Bulan, Terang di Kali Pustaka Jaya,1957), p. 7.

6.

Mochtar Lubis, Twilight in Djakarta, trans. Clare Holt (New York: The Vanguard Press, Inc., 1963), p. 17.

7.

Keris Mas, Blood and Tears, trans. Harry Aveling (Petaling Jaya: Penerbit Fajar Bakti Sdn. Bhd. in association in the Oxford University Press, 1984), p. 3.

8.

Shahnon Ahmad, Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan translated as No Harvest But a Thorn by Adi bah Amin (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1972), p. 151.

9.

N.V.M. Gonzales, A Season of Grace (Manila: Benipayo Press, 1963), p. 203.

10.

Catherine Lim, Or Else, The Lightning God and Other Stories (Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books [Asia], Ltd., 1980), p. 135.

11.

Macario Pineda, "Kasalan sa Malaking Bahay" [A wedding in the big house], trans. E. San Juan in Introduction

(Jakarta:

172

Southeast Asian Fiction to Modern Pilipino LiteratureJ ed. E. San Juan (New York: Twayne PublishersJ 1974)J pp. 137-138.

12.

Lazaro Francisco, Daluyong. Photocopy of typescriptJ courtesy of Apolonio Chua, University of the Philippines, p. 415.

13.

Bienvenido Lumbera and Cynthia Nograles Lumbera, Philippine Literature: A History and Antholo y Manila: National Book Store, 1982), p. 238.

14.

Si Burapha, Luk Phuchai (Bangkok: Klang Withaya, 1975), p. 82.

15.

M.L. BoonluaJ Dr. Luk Thung (Bangkok: Phree Phitaya, 1973), pp. 384-385.

16.

Khamsing Srinawk, The Politician and Other Stories, trans. D. Garden (Kuala Lumpur; Oxford University Press, 1973), p. 92.

VI: COMMITMENT

This chapter concerns itself with commitment as a fiction, fact,

rather

than with

committed

fiction as

theme in such.

In

however, not a few of the works we have considered,

particularly in the preceding chapter, may be so classified, written by authors who

see

their

role as

bringing about

changes in society by means of their writings. Such works invariably decrying

engage

in

whatever

social

ills

critic ism,

they

see

pointing

in

their

out and

particular

societies; others may go further and incorporate suggestions or an actual programme as to how such ills may be remedied, often attempting

to

broader vision of seen

to

socially

put

these

within

society where

the

context

of

a

justice and equality are

prevail.

A common

theme

is

the

concerned

individual

to

commit

need

himself

for

the

to

the

achievement of these goals. We are concerned here not only with commitment as

expressed

in

fie tion but with

the need for the

various

forms of commitment pre sen ted in the works discussed. One form is that of the individual who is victimized by society, but

constantly

fights

to

transcend

his

poverty

and

oppression not just for his own sake but for the sake of all

174

Southeast Asian Fiction

those in the same predicament. commitment, among himself be a

There are other forms of

them the commitment of one who may not

vic tim but whose social concern is so great

that he identifies with all victims of social injustice and works for their upliftment.

Such is the commitment of the

idealist, the visionary, the committed intellectual who may or may not have an ideological orientation in his view of society and

its

problems.

simply as the readiness

Commitment may

also

be

seen

to reach out to one's fellow human

beings in times of crisis, motivated by compassion and the desire to help. Indonesia.

A classic example of the intellectual who

passionately

sees the need for commitment is Minke in Anak

Semu~-~~ngsa,

discussed

at length in the preceding chapter.

Minke is young and his sense of commitment is new-found and just beginning to develop, but we have no doubt that it will mature

and

be

a

motivating

force

in

his

life.

Perhaps

because of his searing experiences as a victim of colonial power, he identifies in tensely with poor countrymen.

the sufferings of his

His initial attempts to help the peasants

through his writings are frustrated.

He has not yet fully

realized the extent to which the tentacles of colonial power are spread.

He knows that he still has much to learn, but

he makes a solemn promise: Trunodongso, this time I failed. But one day, you will still become one of my characters--you, who knows nothing of this modern age. No schooling, illiterate; merely the sight of someone in shoes makes you tremble! And you, too, ferryman, you too will become a character in my stories. Perhaps you too are a farmer who has lost his land, and now hoes the waters of the Bran tas.

Commitment

175

Later, later when I I cannot do it now. learnt more about my own people. (p. 183)

have

"Bawuk", a short story by Umar Kayam set during the abortive

Communist

commitment:

Coup

of

1965,

shows

the commitment of Hasan,

communist with

his

passionate

us

two

forms

of

the ideal is tic young

convictions

and

his

to tal

dedication to his cause, and that of Bawuk whose commitment to her

husband

is

just as

total,

forsaking

her

family--

parents, brothers, sisters, and,in the end, her children-to follow her husband wherever he may be. The

story

comfortable

and

is

really

sheltered

Bawuk' s.

world

of

She the

leaves

Javanese

the

priyayi

(nobility) in which she grows up for one of uncertainty when she

marries

Hasan.

"intelligence, life",

She

is

gracefulness

seeing

his

attracted

and

communism

to

overwhelming as

him

by

his

passion

for

"something

separate,

some thing added, which was not an actual or necessary part of him".

She soon realizes how wrong she is, for it is a

motive force in his life, inspiring him to resolute action. Hasan goes underground and she and her children go with him. In the fighting that takes place during the coup, Bawuk and Hasan are separated. doing

assigned

tasks,

But she stays on with the communists, waiting

and

searching

for

Hasan.

Briefly, she emerges from hiding to entrust her children to her mother's care, then goes back again. story, Hasan is

reported

dead;

At the end of the

Bawuk has not been heard

from. Umar Kayam handles his material with great skill. We are first given a picture of Bawuk and the world in which she grows up and where she is

loved and pampered.

She is a

bright, bubbling child, unconventional, unpredictable, with

176

Southeast Asian Fiction

an infectious warmth and brothers and lives of should

priyayi

marry

passionate.

sisters who

live

children.

someone

life, unlike her other

zest for

like

the

We

proper,

fully

Hasan

who

well-regulated

understand is

why she

idealistic

and

But having married him, her loyalty to him is

not enforced by circumstances but by her own choice.

The

rna ture Bawuk has a clear view of her husband, both as

the

world sees him and as he sees himself, and of the nature of his commitment. and

unquestioning

Her acceptance of his world is not blind but an act of

deliberate choice.

She

tries to explain all these to her brothers and sisters when they try to persuade her not to go back: ••• I didn't marry a noble. finished high school.

My man hadn't even

that people could be important He dreamt regardless of their position and qualifications. He was a fool. He thought he understood the society he lived in. He didn't understand it at all. He should have finished high school, gone to university at home or abroad, tried for a good position in the government, worked his way up to section head, hoped to be a manager or Instead he left school, director-general. became a Marxist, studied politics, plotted, dreamed and then plotted again, dreamed and finally revolted. But I chose his world, the world of the common people, a restless, anxious world, full of left I illusions. beautiful sometimes Karangrandu behind me, the Onder's house, our Concordia, our Regent, Santa Claus, our rooster and the horse and carriage. Tonight as we sit around this table I can hear the Regent's wife laugh again, the controller's wife and the other I can enter that warm comfortable world women. again. I can feel it pulling me back. And I am, momentarily, tempted by it. But that would be

Commitment

177

wrong. Hasan's reality is somewhere else, out there. His world and his dreams are full of gunpowder and bodies, full of vengeance and pursuit. And I am still a part of that worl~ of gunpowder and bodies, vengeance and pursuit.

Although Bawuk would seem away from her former world,

to have completely turned

ultimately her values may be

understood within a tradi tiona! Javanese framework. Loyalty to one's husband, in spite of everything, is the same virtue her

mother

had

practised

when

although in a different context.

her

husband

was

alive,

Then, as she recalls in

the story, she lived in the world of priyayi bureaucracy, and a different kind of loyalty and for.

suffering was called

Thus, Bawuk' s mother fully understands her and their

parting is particularly meaningful: "'Wuk, look after yourself. Keep searching until you find Hasan, won't you?" "Yes, mammie." The gate creaked. Bawuk walked quickly out and away. "Dear mother," she whispered, "no one heard me but you." (p. 82)

It is appropriate that, in this story, the author uses not one but two points of view. The story begins with Madam Suryo's recollections of her daughter's growing up; it ends with her thoughts as, not knowing Bawuk's fate after Hasan's death, she listens to her grandchildren reciting the Koran. These serve as an appropriate framework for Bawuk' s story and her point of view, placing them within the perspective of the traditional Javanese world and value system.

178

Southeast Asian Fiction

Apart from "Bawuk" and other stories by Umar Kayam, a number of short stories have been written on the abortive Published in a special

Communist Coup of September 1965.

collection edited by Harry Aveling, many of focus on the bloody aftermath of communis ts, Islamic)

particularly

the

these stories

the coup when the anti-

Javanese

san tri

(orthodox

youth,

retaliated by killing communists or 2 suspected communists. They depict the divisive effects of this on communities and the emotional conflict it engendered within the individual who believed it his duty to kill even when it went against his humane feelings. "The tormented

Climax" thoughts

killing his

by of a

Sa tyagraha man

Hoe rip

faced

with

communist brother-in-law.

the

presents pros pee t

He knows

what

the of this

would mean to his sister and her children and anticipates the grieved reaction of his mother that he could do such a thing.

Yet the act is clearly pre sen ted to him as part of

his duty to defend/preserve his culture and religion, and he sees

no

way

out.

A writer,

he

thinks

of

parallels

literature: I agreed fully that the light of God was more than pity and meekness, that it had to be manifested through action. And yet it was hard to act when that meant killing my brother-inlaw. Kuslan falling, full of wounds. In a story, my hero would suffer doubt, then act, no matter how intense his struggle had been. That was what happened in the Bhagavad Gi ta. Arjuna was broken hearted because he had to kill members of his own family, and his guru. Krishna instructed him. He fought bravely~n the Koran God insists that the Apostate be paid back fully. Caesar loved and trusted Brutus, but for the sake of truth and justice, Brutus killed 3 him. I knew all that. But this was real.

in

179

Commitment

Fortunately,

the

problem

is

resolved

without

his

coup also brought out

the

having to kill his brother-in-law. The after-effects

of

the

more humane impulses of people as they reached out to help the

victims

of

violence-- bereaved

wives

and

children-- of ten at great risk to themselves.

innocent

Their actions

affirm a broader commitment, not to a specific political or religious ideology but to humanity, especially the suffering who urgently need help. This is

the

Gerson Poyk.

theme of "A Woman and Her Children" by

A, the central character, has to contend with

complex personal feelings in his attempt widow

of K,

a

communist,

and

her

to help Hadijah,

five

children.

He was

formerly engaged to her; K had not only lured her away from him

but had

slandered

him,

other dire consequences.

causing his

imprisonment and

When the moment comes, he does not

actually kill K but he watches him die.

He tries to forget

the experience: Depressed, he tried to kick the memory in to an obscure corner of his mind. Had he not thought of K' s wife, he would have succeeded. She had five children. The woman and her children still lived. They were not grass. They suffered. He had to help them. The shadows of the dead b~gan to re trea t as he concentrated on the 1 i vi ng.

A

tries

to

children and although

Hadijah

looking

by

by of

of

deciding

for

sympathetic,

frightened tortured

help

others

the

political

doubts salting

and away

to

to

persons

adopt

take he

repercussions. an

inner

her

the

and

of

the

rest.

But

approaches He

resentment.

funds

one

himself He

are is

accuses

sacrificing

her

180

Southeast Asian Fiction

children.

Later, his friend,

the army commandant for

the

district, assures him that everything has been taken away from her and urges him to

take the children not only for

humane reasons but to avoid further consequences disastrous to

society.

Hadijah

dies

and

A finally

takes

all

the

children away with him. These stories gain effectiveness in the simplicity and directness with which the authors portray the complex! ty of the choices people were forced to make at the time and the emo tiona! as

well as

social cost of

forcefully bring home forms

of

commitment

the is

these

choices.

point that one of

that

of

man

to

They

the greatest

his

fellow

men,

regardless of political and other boundaries. Malaysia. in

Malaysian

usually

The need for commitment is a dominant theme fiction.

focus

on

the

In

lack or

several stories of his, ways

in

which

realization cause--may

of be

a a

stressing

failure

various

of

writers

commitment.

the different

commitment--to

to

man's

society,

frustrated

or

stories,

written

grouping

in

his tory,

taking us from the

they move

to

a

worthy

1960,

vertically time of

achievement of independence.

truth,

undermined.

between 1955 and

These form a

and political commitments.

the

political short

coherent

through Malaysian

the Emergency to

the

They also move horizontally as

they go through the quality of various individuals'

are assailed by doubts

In

Keris Mas examines

better

that

it,

social

The author shows us how these

or are

subverted

by greed and a

susceptibility to the appurtenances of power. The

earliest

Leader

from

Hasan,

a

Kuala

of

these

short

Seman tan",

young man who

is

stories,

depicts

the

involved with

"A

Would-Be

predicament of the

nationalist

Commitment

181

movement in Malaya and works hard and earnestly for

its

political parties

goals.

He

during

quandary.

is

the

caught up

Emergency

in

and

the

realignment

finds

himself

As a member of a party with a declared

non-cooperation with

the

into

stay

the

jungle

detention.

or

government,

Hasan refuses

and

his

face

to go into

the

in

a

policy of

choice is

possible

of

to go

arrest

and

jungle but the

firmness of his commitment is beset by doubts and by his lack of freedom to act.

The story gives us a concrete sense

of Malaysian history in raises

are

observer,

universal.

the making, Narrated

but the

by

Hasan's

questions it friend,

an

the story is open-ended, giving us an account of

Hasan's anguish as he

gives voice

to

the

questions

that

disturb him: ••• he was suffering with the suffering of a man who feels his freedom has been taken away by some thing undesirable with which he is unable to come to terms. He hated violence, yet violence was everywhere, inside the jungle and out. He loved freedom, yet he was now pursued by circumstances which imposed upon him and his society. He was committed to only one thing, truth. And a ~n without freedom has no way of obtaining truth.

There is a story,

"On

the

fine edge of sa tire to Eve

of

Independence".

the second short

Like

the

preceding

story, it is narrated from an observer point of view by the writer-friend student

whose

of

Shahrun,

father

political detainee, suffering of

the

was

the a

Shahrun was

masses,

the

central prominent

character.

As

na tiona list

a and

deeply concerned with the state

of

the

economy,

and

education; he cared no thing for power and status. Now, on

Southeast Asian Fiction

182

the eve of independence, he is a senior government official, with

a

pot-belly and

platitudes.

a

fondness

for

spouting

The narrator sadly speculates

political

on what could

have happened: "Perhaps he had lost all his ideals. Perhaps his energy had turned to fat and he now res or ted to playacting in order to find strength from outside himself" (p. 125). These reflections are reinforced by the subtly satiric use of language. words

The narrator

of Shahrun and

repeats

takes up the high-sounding them ironically in con texts

which show up his pretensions and the meaninglessness of his pronouncements. "obligations" contrasts potholes

Shahrun as

him for

a

vaguely

government

with the

talks

the

official;

labourers

Independence

about the

outside,

Day

all

his

narrator

filling

up

celebrations--their

"obligations" are well-defined and their strength comes from within themselves.

When Shahrun claims

become a

diplomat so as

narrator

comments:

"It

to

serve

seems

an

the

that he wants people better,

excellent

idea

to the And

you'll be taking upon yourself yet another 'obligation' As a diplomat, you'll be even more 'obliged'. imagine

you at the cocktail parties and banquets" (p.124).

Shahrun in tones "peace,

I can just

that

independence

prosperity and

pride

in

is the

only a way we

"bridge" live".

to The

narrator notes that possibly, his becoming a diplomat is a sort of "bridge" too.

To his own personal prosperity? The

question is not asked but it is implied. echoed in the days

after

ambassador:

The word is again

narrator's wry comment when he hears, a few

Independence,

that

Shahrun has

been named an

Commitment

183

Gone was a young leader from the ranks of the people, and gained another senior official who would make our nation and people renowned overseas. The development of Malaya proceeded apace across the bridge of Independence. And my wife took advantage of the opportunity to accompany Shahrun 1 s wife to Ko ta Bahru to buy some kain songket [hand woven cloth with gold or silver threads] and silverware, symbols of Malaya abroad. (pp. 126-127)

In "Breakdown", Keris Mas attempts symbolism to bring home a similar point. the characters and

1

A symbolic parallel is drawn between

marriage which is on the brink of collapse

the breaking down of

The story is

the husband 1 s

political ideals.

told from the point of view of the wife who

bitterly reflects on the erosion of their relationship. She contrasts it to what it had been before her husband became an influential political figure and was motivated only by a desire

to

serve

prostitution.

The

the

emptiness

of

underscored by the fact that in contacts,

her

different from

husband the

uses

real

A

people.

related

their

symbol

is

relationship

is

their infrequent physical

her

like

a

prostitute--no

prostitutes whom he

part of his chosen lifestyle.

frequents as

But to her, he is the real

whore, for he has prostituted himself to politics. He uses his position for personal gain and sells his influence to big business concerns. is a

little

The use of symbolic techniques here

too obvious and

insistent,

making it a

less

successful story than the preceding one which is more subtly and effectively told. Two short stories by Shahnon Ahmad complement the last two stories of Keris Mas, discussed above.

They could very

well

commitment gone

be "before" and

"after"

pictures of

Southeast Asian Fiction

184 sour.

Mulhaq

Shahrun

could

in

"Scalded

have

Cat"

been.

is

the

Mulhaq

student

comes

idealist

back

to

the

university from his long vacation with vivid recollections of

the

suffering undergone by Long Kadim and his family.

They are

a

peasant

family

in

his

village

whom

he

has

befriended and who, for all their deprivation and suffering, still managed to share wholeheartedly with him what little they had.

The atmosphere in

the university

returns is much more repressive. academic

year,

student

to which he

With the start of a new

activists

such

as

himself

are

forbidden to speak out or hold meetings on issues of social concern.

Mulhaq resigns himself to the meaningless routine

of acquiring an "education", but he knows what he will do afterwards. poor

are

officials

He will see to it that the sufferings of the seared

and

in to

the

who

form

all

consciousness

of

policy,

if

even

government this

meant

bearing guns and shouting in the streets: "If need be, he would work 6 ideals."

the

rest of

his

life

to

fulfill

these noble

Throughout the story, however, we are made aware of the pressures that bear on Mulhaq even while he is is still a student and which would surely intensify once he leaves the university.

It is not only repression from

those in

power that he must contend with, but also the more subtle encroachment of one's personal desires.

This is symbolized

in the novel by Norlia, his girlfriend.

When she comes in,

"he immediately forgot about Long Kadim' s family and their suffering. beautiful

Norlia was real. and

in

counterpoints Mulhaq' s

good

Far from suffering, she was health."

vivid awareness

Shahnon

skilfully

of Norlia with his

resolution to do something for Long Kadim and his like until

Commitment

185

it becomes a motif in the novel. with Norlia's

repeated question:

next?" Mulhaq

takes

this

He further reinforces this "What do you want to do

to be a

soul-searching question

about his long-term goals but Norlia laughingly enlightens him: "I mean next, here and now. go?

Do you want to eat?

Where would you like to

Do you want to go fo a walk? Do

you want to shout your head off?

Or would you rather just

go back to sleep?" (p. 53). Between life here and now which Norlia constantly reminds him of and the achievement of his ideals, however resolute, is a distance which we fear might be difficult to negotiate. Where "Scalded Cat" portrays the idealist Shahrun must have been, Al, in the story of the same name, shows us the diplomat he

could very well

portrait

a

of

deliberately

young

become.

Malaysian

forgotten

the

Irony

diplomat

country

he

pervades

abroad

is

this

who

supposed

to

has be

representing, even to the extent of changing his name from the Malaysian "Ali"

to

the modern,

rakish "Al". He spends

his time drinking at pubs, betting on horses, and going to bed with willing young women.

The news of trouble at home--

widespread riots with 700 people killed,

towns burnt, and

the whole country in chaos--in no way cramps his style. Ironic

juxtaposition

and

counterpoint

give

us

a

profoundly cynical view of diplomats who spend their time in expensive pursuit of pleasure instead of "being useful for our country and

people"

piously says he would be.

as Shahrun in

the

earlier story

At the pub, the diplomatic crowd

talk about the Malaysian disaster as if it were a publicity stunt, a "scoop" scored by Malaysia.

A parallel is drawn

between Al and his friend, the African diplomat Kotamba, who

Southeast Asian Fiction

186 is

equally

unconcerned

about

the

starving

children

in

Biafra. Shahnon' s use of figurative language makes

the irony

even more devastating, as when he describes Al driving at top speed to the pub--" the hard top Valiant screamed like the masses of Malaysia" or his girlfriend's.breasts as throbbing "like a child with diarrhoea". The story is not just a vignette. Shahnon rounds out his plot and skilfully manipulates it to effect a change in our final attitude towards Al. nightmare

compounded

starving children,

of

Drunk at the pub, he has a

satyrs,

the

suffering masses

although

he

conscience,

sexy

women,

and

from which he wakes up to find himself

actually shedding a few tears. of

riots,

quickly however

Guilt feelings and pictures

increasingly come in to

casts

them

fleeting,

off.

These

dispose

us

his

mind,

qualms to

be

of more

sympathetic when he is informed that he is being recalled to Malaysia.

The author's deft use of the unexpected ending,

rendering

Al

speechless

not

only

at

the

news

but

with

thoughts of his re-entry into his culture, makes this a very readable and entertaining story, but the author's point is well-taken. From what we have seen in preceding chapters regarding the Malay writers' awareness of the need for the Malays to develop

their

full

potential

as

a

people,

it

is

understandable that their writings should be concerned with the

need

for

commitment.

English-language

writers

in

Malaysia, on the other hand, do not entirely neglect this theme.

"Dreams of a Beggar", a short story written by a

Malaysian Chinese, Heah Chwee Sian, comments on the lack of commitment among the rich and the powerful, but places it in

Commitment

187

a more general con text. obviously

woman

of

encounter with a spree.

Narrated in the first person by a

the

pampered

rich,

it

tells

beggar while on her way

to

a

of

her

shopping

Prompted by her "civic consciousness", she rummages

in her purse for the smallest coin she can find. While she is looking,

the somewhat garrulous beggar ·tells her about

his dreams.

In them, he is transported to a hut where he

finds adequate food and clothing; strolling in a pleasant garden.

later,

he finds

himself

A man appears and leads him

up a hill to an even more beautiful and serene garden but tells him that he does not belong there because he did not do

his

duty

parasite

the

to

instead

society

of

against oppression.

he

defending They

lived his

in.

He

rights

then move down

and

the

became

a

fighting

hill

to an

overcrowded garden where there are no scented flowers. This was

for

the

people who

"misused

their

power and

wealth.

They did not help the needy and the orphans." Obviously a parable,

the

beggar's story does not fail

narrator who gives him a dollar instead.

to impress

the

She feels proud of

her good deed and feels quite unlike the uncaring rich in the beggar's story. has

$200

for

Besides, what is a dollar? She still

shopping.

The

combination

of

parable

and

satire, though not very subtle, adds interest to this story, as does the touch of humour in the characterization of the beggar. Philippines. development of

As stated in our brief account of the

fie tion in

the Philippines, development in

Tagalog fie tion has cons is ten tly been in the direction of increased social consciousness. that commitment should be a novels and short stories.

It is not surprising then

major

theme

in both Tagalog

Southeast Asian Fiction

188

In Mga

!bong Mandaragi t

(Birds

of

Prey),

Amado V.

Hernandez attempts to carry on where Jose Rizal' s two great novels of sequel, young

the nine teen th century, Noli Me Tangere and its

El

Filibus terismo,

Filipino,

left off.

Crisostomo

Ibarra,

European education and attempts

In Rizal' s comes

back

Noli, from

a

his

to realize his dream of a

better society for his people by building a school. He is foiled by the colonial powers, deprived of his sweetheart, and narrowly escapes death. back disguised as Simon, uses his money down

the

In El Filibusterismo, he comes

a rich jeweler.

Embittered,

he

to subvert people in his attempt to bring

colonial

government.

friend, Padre Florentino,

He

fails

and

dies.

His

then throws his wealth of jewels

in to the sea, until such time as someone can put them to better use. The hero of Hernandez' novel, Manda Plaridel, combines the

high ideals

Simon.

As

the

and

goals

of

story goes,

Ibarra

with

Manda succeeds

the

wealth of

in recovering

Simon's jewels while serving as a guerilla officer during the Japanese Occupation in World War II.

In the process, he

acquires a three-inch scar which makes him unrecognizable as Andoy,

the

poor

young

student who

worked

as

a

house boy

before the war for the rich landowner, Don Segundo Montero. With this wealth, Manda founds a radical newspaper, Kampilan and endows a progressive school, the Freedom University. then travels abroad for a

couple of years

He

to improve his

knowledge and broaden his outlook. Upon his return, Manda throws himself with a will into furthering the cause of the oppressed--both the peasants in the rural regions and been one of

them,

the labourers in the city.

he earns

their complete

trust.

Having On

the

Commitment

189

other hand, his wealth and the polish he has acquired abroad enable

him

hold

to

influential

his

own with

politicians

who

the

seek

power

to

stop

brokers

him.

peasants and labourers become more militant,

As

and both

the military

and the so-called "civilian guards" and other hired goons engage in a campaign of terrorism against them. Several of the peasant leaders are killed and Mando himself narrowly escapes

an

attempt

strengthens meeting

his

on

his

life.

determination.

between

him,

the

This

only

further

novel

ends

with

The

editor

of

his

newspaper,

a

and

representatives from the peasant and labour groups at which Mando reaffirms their joint commitment to work for a

truly

free and truly democratic society. This is a rich and ambitious novel which draws on the au thor's background and experience as a labour leader and champion of the poor.

It does not wholly succeed, perhaps

because

between being

it

novel.

vacillates

On

portrayal

the

of

level

of

different

realism, strata

fable it

of

and

gives

real is tic

us

Philippine

a

vivid

society.

Hernandez has an eye for detail and a graphic style. He is able to invest the vignettes of high society he presents-the brilliant parties,

the poker games,

with a sense of actuality. simple

dignity

of

the

the charity teas--

Equally, he is able to evoke the life

of

the

poor

without

sentimentalism through his balanced presentation of detail. At

the

funeral

of

the

peasant

leader

Mang

Tomas,

for

instance, an old peasant tells the people not to shed tears as Mang Tomas died an honourable death. Observing the body neatly laid shirt),

out in a

white

pants,

barong Tagalog and black socks,

(embroidered he

further

formal remarks

that, although he had known Mang Tomas from boyhood, he had

Southeast Asian Fiction

190 never

seen him wear

socks;

it was

usually mud

from

the

fields that encased his feet. The real is tic concerns of the novel, however, remain apart from

its

symbolic

concerns. There

novel that is emblematic and allegorical.

is much

in

this

The very names of

the characters stand for the evils and virtues of Philippine society.

Then there is the symbolic aura that surrounds the

figure of Mando, especially at the beginning of the novel. His

immersion

into

the

sea

to

transformation from Andoy to Mando, all have symbolic overtones.

get

the

jewels,

his

the scar on his face,

And what are we

to make of

Simon's jewels, transferred from one fictional construct to another, yet demanding to be accepted as part of the reality this novel depicts? It requires a finds

difficult to make.

logical leap the reader

But i f one can get over

these

inconsistencies, the novel is impressive in its broad sweep, giving

us

a

panoramic

view

of

the

evils

that

beset

Philippine society and giving us a vision in Mando Plaridel of the new Filipino hero Philippine society is still waiting for. The influence of Rizal's novel is again apparent in a more recent novel, Dugo sa Bukang Liwaywal (Blood at Break of Dawn), by Rogelio Sikat.

His central character is named

Simon and the very pattern of his life follows hero in Rizal' s novel.

that of the

After sixteen years, during which

time he has made a for tune, Simon returns to his home town motivated by a desire for vengeance against those who have persecuted him and his family--the rich man, Senyor Borja, and

the

Spanish

landowner, but

Isauro Regen te.

The

considerable attention

is

novel

is

paid

to

relatively

short,

showing us

the deep-seated causes of Simon's anger. At the

Commitment

191

time of his birth, his mother became the victim of

Borja's

inhumanity when he refused to lend his car to bring her to the hospital;

this led to her death in childbirth. Regente,

on the other hand, was an oppressive landlord who took away the land Simon's father was tilling without a qualm when he fell ill.

Morever, Regente had objected to his daughter's

love for Simon and married her off to Borja's son, Andro. Even after death, Simon's parents continue as victims: Borja buys

the remote corner of

the cemetery in which

they are

buried for his sawmill and bulldozes their graves away. But vengeance returning

to

his

is

home

not all town.

origins, his first act is that would

help

the

that

motivates

Profoundly

Simon

recognizing

in his

to build an agricultural school

peasants.

desire

for

vengeance soon abates and he concentrates on helping

the

poor people of his town. of

Moreover,

his

He agrees to support the candidacy

his boyhood friend, a poor school teacher, for mayor as

against

the

candidate

of

the

Borjas.

At

a

huge

rally

/

organized by the peasants, Simon speaks of his vision of a new life for them all but is gunned down by Andro Borja. Sikat shows himself to be an excellent craftsman not only in his economical management of plot but also in his control

of

style

avoiding excess,

and

technique.

but he uses

His

style

is

quiet,

the resources of the Tagalog

language--its metaphorical quality and natural rhythms--to achieve an almost lyric grace. His descriptions stern from what is apparently a deep knowledge of rural life; he can evoke, with equal vividness, the violence of a storm during planting season or the golden serenity of harvest days and nights. His technical control is most apparent in the final chapter of

the novel.

Here,

he innovates by the

use of

Southeast Asian Fiction

192

cinematic techniques, alternating scenes of Simon and Ador, his candidate friend, walking towards the town square where the rally is to be held and talking about their plans for the future of the town with scenes at the Borja's big house where Andro is furiously preparing to shoot Simon, while his wife

vainly

between

tries

Simon's

to

stop

him.

deliberate,

The

recurrent

purposeful

Andro' s furious, violent preparations build

contrasts

movements

and

up tension as

they lead to the final moment of Simon's death. The novel ends quietly, with the peasants keeping vigil over Simon's body, waiting for the dawn to break.

He would be remembered

as one who did not forget the people from whom he came and died trying to help them. Unlike the characters discussed above who use peaceful means

to

help

Ba tungbakal' s

the short

people, s tory,

Kadyo,

the

"Liwanag:

hero

Sa

of

Usok

Brigido

ng

Punlo"

(Light: From the Smoke of the Gunshots) joins the Hukbalahap (Huks), a rebel group active in the 1950s.

Here, he arrives

painfully at a difficult truth: just as there are two sides to any conflict, so genuine commitment does not lie on one side

alone.

While

on

sentry

duty,

he

spots

an

M.P.

(Military Police) patrol and shoots them down. Just before he

does

so,

he

overhears

one

of

them arguing

with

his

superior officer that the reason there are Huks is because the government has failed in its duties towards

the poor.

The young M.P. notes that he himself is a poor man and, in this respect,

he finds common cause with the Huks. Later,

while searching the pockets of the young soldier he has just killed, Kadyo finds the soldier's

the picture of an old woman, no doubt

mother.

He remembers

his own mother,

now

dead, who had objected vehemently to his joining the Huks;

Commitment

no doubt,

193 this old woman had objected just as strongly to

her son's joining the army. His fellow-feeling strengthened, he looks up the old woman on a trip to Manila, pretending to be her son's friend.

He finds her serene in her acceptance

of her son's death, knowing he died firmly in the belief that he

was

serving

his

country and

helping

to

restore

peace. Kadyo is unable to get the incident out of his mind. The young soldier's statement, that all the poor people are united in a common cause, no matter on which side they may be fighting,

has

given him a

cannot communicate laugh at him. throws

away

this

to his

new insight. comrades;

He knows he

they would only

But he makes a personal decision to quit, his

gun,

and

turns

his

back

to

avoid

the

temptation of retrieving it and using it as a weapon for death.

Just as he does so, a weapons carrier comes along

and he is shot to death. The story is compact but intensely told. Intensity is achieved by the author's skilful handling of narrative time. The narrative present in the story covers only a few minutes and consists of two quickly successive actions: Kadyo throws away his

gun as a

symbol of his

rejection of a

life of

violence and almost immediately he is shot to death. But between momentous

the

two,

decision

the

train of events

passes

that leads

through Kadyo's

mind

in

to his quick

recollection, profoundly justifying his action of throwing away his gun and intensifying the irony of his bloody and violent death.

Kadyo as agent, in a rare moment of having

harmonized his understanding and his will, is transformed in a few moments into Kadyo as victim--of a violence that is as vengeful as it is arbitrary and ambiguous.

The story is not

194

Southeast Asian Fiction

so much

in tended

to

answer

questions

as

to

raise

them,

hitting us with a concentrated force that makes the reading of it a deeply disturbing, yet an aesthetically satisfying experience. The

theme

of

commitment

in

the

Filipino

novel

in

English may best be seen in F. Sionil Jose's Mass, where he follows a young man's difficult journey from alienation to commitment. Antonio Four).

Jose (Pepe) Samson is the illegitimate son of

Samson

of

The

(discussed

in

Chapter

Lovingly raised by his mother in their home town of

Cabugawan, Rosales, that

Pretenders

he

is

a

he resents

bastard.

their poverty and

Out

of

this

the fact

res en tmen t,

he

continually confounds his mother's love and dreams for his future. being a

He steals,

plays truant,

flunks his courses, but

naturally bright boy, he

finishes high school in

spite of himself.

Their faith in him undaunted, his mother

and spinster aunt send him to college in Manila on money they have saved from scrimping and denying themselves. Pepe sees no

point in

their

sacrifice.

He

has

no

desire

to

become highly educated; all he wants is to have as much good food as he can eat, plenty of entertainment, and sex.

He

goes on a spree and then enrols in a downtown "diploma mill" instead of at

the

prestigious State University where his

mother wants him to go. himself,

he

believes

From his profoundly cynical view of that

"no

degree

in

the

world

can

improve me anyway," In the university, he meets Toto, a dedicated young man who becomes his good friend, and Professor Hor tenso, a committed intellectual who encourages his work at the school paper.

Through them,

he is drawn into the Brotherhood, a

socially concerned organization.

He moves in with To to to

Commitment

195

the parish house of Father Jess in the slums of Tondo where they help in

the

young people.

church and

the

priest's work among

the

Pepe' s leadership qualities get him elected

to a high position in the Brotherhood; he also organizes the local

toughs

into

a

chapter.

For

all

that,

his

basic

cynicism has not left him and he remains intellectually and emotionally detached from the cause. All

this

demonstration.

changes Pepe

when

is

To to

deeply

is

killed

affected

and

some thing of his friend's sense of purpose. more deeply in to give

the work of

it direction

by his

urgency of their needs. ex-Huk who

work

in

the

Brotherhood,

socially concerned girl from a

rich man

takes

on

helping to

poor and

the

He finds a men tor in Ka Lucio, an

has learned much wisdom from his

Through his

Puneta,

the

a

He is drawn

the Brotherhood,

insight into

in

who

he

experiences.

meets

Betsy,

the upper classes,

gives

the

a

and Juan

organization financial

support. He and Betsy fall in love and Betsy offers to marry him in spite of her parents'

objection,

but he sends her

away. Meanwhile, Ka Lucio is mysteriously killed and Pepe is picked up by the military for questioning.

He is tortured,

but having no real information to give, is released. After

Pepe' s

release,

Puneta

invites

him

to

his

opulent home and makes homosexual advances. Pepe learns from an overheard telephone call that Pune ta was responsible for Ka Lucio's killing and that he has been using his wealth to subvert the student movement. knowledge,

then

kills

him

He confronts Pune ta with this in cold,

controlled

rage.

The

action crystallizes his experiences and insights so far and has its underpinnings in what Ka Lucio has helped him to realize:

Southeast Asian Fiction

196

• • • You must accept violence--you cannot begin to build until you have destroyed. • • • You must destroy the rotten foundation to build a new edifice • • • Your enemy • • • is the rich. You must be able to tell them that to their faces. And when you point the gun between their eyes, you must do it without passion7-or compassion. Do it as duty, do it to survive.

With his

act,

Pepe commits himself

to a

action which he sees to be the only way. has

to

struggle

with

acknowledges this:

his

"Yes,

own

need

to

course

of

Father Jess who make

a

decision

the priest who believes in social

justice must pursue his belief to its logical action--and here,

and

now,

brought about"

it is only with violence (p.223).

But he

that it can be

stays behind while Pepe

leaves for the mountains. As

a

character,

Pepe

is

much

more

forcefully

and

consistently drawn than his father, Antonio Samson, in The Pre tenders.

What moves him is not roman tic idealism but a

very real anger: "Anger--and it was what had kept me alive, although I

had tried to still it,

to keep it from flowing

out, and defined it in another way, and expressed it not with

violence

but

with

cynicism"

experiences, this anger in Pepe is

( p. 169) •

Through

his

transformed from narrow

personal resentment and cheap cynicism to become part of a widespread

rage,

extending

through

the

history

of

people, for a new order in society: I could look now beyond his shoulder, to his father--my grandfather whom I had never seen though I knew of what he had done, what he and the rest called Colo rums had wrought in one evening of anger Now they crowded my thoughts, not wraiths that are formless , but

his

Commitment

197

living men who are strong, whose voices urge me on. And I believe them, because I know where they come from. And beyond them, that great grandfather --about whom Mother had spoken, who had led his clan from Ilokos to Rosales. Who else had their blood in me? What had they dreamt of? Pepe Samson then is just a name; I had come from afar and was simply born in a corner of the world called Cabugawan. I was someone, yet no one, for I was no longer living for myself, for this bundle of nerves and flesh; I was part of those who had perished and those who were yet to come. (p. 230)

Again, in comparison to

the earlier novel, Jose has

sharpened his narrative skills, narrative

tension and to involve us deeply in the life of

his character. fluent,

which are able to sustain

He is in command of a much surer style--

supple.

Altogether,

Mass

is

an

impressive

achievement, a novel which grips us by its urgency and moves us by its truth. Singapore.

Of the fiction

written in Singapore since

its independence, there do not seem to be many novels and/or short stories

that

deal

specifically with

the

theme

of

commitment, at least in the fiction written in English and in Malay and

in

what

fie tion are available

translations to

this

of

reader.

Chinese It seems

and

Tamil

that

the

concern of the Singaporean is with solving his own problems and making his way within his own limited sphere, ensuring that his

rice bowl is always

full. ·This

is

the metaphor

which Su-chen Chris tine Lim uses to decry what she sees to be the primarily materialistic concerns of Singapore society in

her

Therese

novel,

Rice

Wang,

is

a

Bowl. young

Her

central

teacher

who

character, is

Marie-

dedicated

to

198

Southeast Asian Fiction

developing her young students and helping return, they hero-worship her.

them grow.

Marie enters the convent to

strengthen her commitment to Christian service. her Order,

she

goes

to

the

In

university

to

As part of

work with

the

materialism

of

students. Marie

questions

the

complacency and

Singapore society and would like to make her students more aware of widespread social problems such as poverty and the plight of the underprivileged.

Together with Hans, another

Christian worker in the university, Dr Jones, a

socially-

concerned professor, and Mak, a lecturer at the Institute of Asian

and

Pacific

Studies

with

organizes a discussion group.

socialist

leanings,

she

They launch a "Student-Worker

Alliance Project" whereby they go to Jurong Industrial Town to

conduct

English

classes

among

the

workers

and,

in

general, to help them. Marie tries to involve her Order by asking the nuns to join an anti-war demonstration organized by her group but they refuse.

In any case,

she has decided

Order as she and Hans have fallen in love.

to

leave

the

Unknown to her,

Mak too is secretly in love with her. The demonstration does not turn out to be the "protest simple and clear as a classic statement in poetry--just the hard kernel of truth" that she envisions it to be but a riot at which Mak goes berserk. the

police

station

and

Mak,

They are all hauled off to who

turns

out

to

have

connections with the underground, is placed in jail. At a

subsequent meeting,

Mak, who

turns violently against Hans and Marie.

is

out on bail,

He tries to break

up the group by showing that their idol, Marie, has feet of clay. He exposes the birth control pills that she has been

Commitment

carrying

199 around

regularly.

in

her

Actually,

he

handbag only

and

presumably

completes

the

process

disintegration that has been going on for sometime. personality and

convictions have held

but the nebulous ideals she has

the group

tried

using of

Marie's together,

to ins till in them

cannot withstand their more pragmatic doubts. The writer's sometimes ambivalent attitude towards her character poses a problem: is Marie a truly unselfish young woman, to tally dedicated to the ideal of Christian service, or

is

she

a

muddled

idealist

who

uses

her

ability

to

influence the young people with whom she works to manipulate them (though perhaps not deliberately or even consciously) to carry out her grand ideals? The author gives us different perspectives from which to view Marie.

Paul, her former boyfriend and now very much

a member of the Establishment, sees "her missionary spirit, if one can call it

that" as stemming from "a mixture of

arrogance and ignorance. was

not

the

Her desire to do good to others

result of humility but

the

outcome

of

that

strange perception which prided itself on being capable of 8 leading others to a higher level of existence." Ken, a disillusioned member of her group,

puts

it more bluntly:

"She doesn't really care.

All she wants are stooges for her

grand

Yean,

ideas!"

increasingly serve others.

(p. 262). questions

the

her

quality

most of

loyal

Marie's

follower, desire

to

Focusing all her sights on the cause, Marie

becomes insensitive to individuals and what harm they might suffer. views,

We must of course allow for distortions in their although

Yean

strikes

us

as

sensitive

and

balanced, for all that she is silent and uncertain.

well-

Southeast Asian Fiction

200 The au thor

obviously believes

in her

character and

tries to establish sympathy for her by showing us Marie's thoughts

throughout,

especially her anguished

after

the debacle of

touch

of

irony as

the demonstration.

well

in

her

reflections

But

description

there of

is a

Marie

as

"clinging all the more to favourite images of herself". The inconsistencies in Marie's character predispose us to

question,

like some

of

the

other

disinterestedness of her motives. human

relationships

that

characters

do,

the

But against the tangle of

develop

around

Marie

and

the

ambiguity of emotions she awakens in others, the author does make her point: however flawed and however unsuccessful, the attempt must be made to jolt a self-centred and complacent society to a greater social awareness and an increased sense of commitment to a broader humanity. Thailand. sys tern

is

a

Dis satisfaction with

recurrent

sometimes result in

theme

in

the existing social

Thai

the alienation of

fie tion. the

This

individual,

can as

portrayed in the story of Khun Thong (discussed in Chapter Four).

There are also a number of novels and short stories

which depict the lives of those who stay within the sys tern, trying to effect change from within.

The plots of some of

these novels are strikingly similar in their basic outlines: a young man of poor rural origins obtains an education in Bangkok but instead of staying on in the city where he has more opportunities for rna terial progress, he opts to return to

the

rural areas and works

to help his

people.

Highly

principled and idealistic, he has to contend with ignorance, prejudice, and, worst of all, those in power.

the greed and corruption of

Commitment

201

Khao Chua Kan (His Name Is Kan) by Suwanni Sukontha is the story of such a young man, a doctor who goes to work in northern Thailand just after his marriage.

Once

there,

he

refuses to compromise his principles by playing ball with the district officer, the most powerful man in the district. Entirely corrupt, this man runs a gambling den and preys on the villagers.

He feels

uncomfortable for him.

threatened by Kan and makes life In the end, he blames Kan for his

being transferred from the district and has him shot. The

novel

pays

quite

a

bit

of

attention

to

the

personal life of Kan, particularly his difficulties in his marriage. His wife, who is from Bangkok, finds it difficult to adjust to the poor and simple life in the North. This and the problems it gives rise to cause Kan moments of doubt. But although troubled, his principles never waver and so he perishes in the end. The novel

is

representative of

the sort of popular

novel which attempts to incorporate social ideas. As such, it

won

the

SEATO

award

for

literature

in

1971.

Nevertheless, as a social novel, it is rather lightweight. The author

seems

more

interested

in developing

the

love

interest and working out the entanglements of her plot than in developing her social ideas.

She gives us a convincing

portrait of Kan, his quiet idealism, his dogged perseverance as he goes on doing his work in the way it should be done. But more

than half of

point of

view

and

the novel is seen from

more

successfully

depicts

the wife's her

inner

conflicts, as she tries to choose between Kan and her former lover who is rich, handsome, and sophisticated, everything Kan isn't. in to

the

To give her credit,

the author avoids falling

trap of cons true ting too neat a

plot.

When he

Southeast Asian Fiction

202

dies, Kan's problems remain unresolved and the melodramatic element is thus mitigated.

The sentiment at the end is that

of the villagers mourning for Kan and their grief is real. The Teachers develops

a

interest.

of Mad

similar

Dog

situation

Moreover,

it

is

Swamp but

by Khammaan Khonkai

plays

not

the

down

the

somewhat

love

abstract

idealism of Kan that draws Piya back to his rural birthplace but a sense of belonging to a region which in his thoughts he

has

never

through all

really his

years

groves of forest, swamps;

left.

Remembered

in Bangkok--" the

rice

the hills and mountains,

the drought and the dryness,

heat of the hot season; and the cold of winter"· As a

images

sustain him fields,

the

the streams and

the heat,

the burning

the green and plenty of the rains 9

true son of

Isarn

(the Northeast)

which Piya

considers himself to be, it is only natural that he should want to go home and easy

when

he

gets

teach his there.

He

people. not

Not everything is

only

finds

poverty,

suffering, and ignorance but more often than not, he is met by

small-mindedness,

selfishness,

and

suspicion.

Never-

theless, he works hard and wins the res pee t of most of the villagers and

the love

of

the

children whom

he

teaches.

Apart from his developing regard for one of his co-teachers, he finds pleasure and beauty in his natural environment, the forests

of

the

Northeast.

It

is

when

he

engages

in

a

campaign to pro teet these forests from the illegal felling of

timber

s true ture.

that He

he takes

activities and sends publishes them.

comes

up

pictures

against of

the

the

local

illegal

power logging

them to a newspaper in Bangkok which

Flushed by his success, he plans

to call

Commitment

203

the attention of the higher authorities, but before he can do so, he is killed. An underlying modernization and

theme of

the book is

its attendant

the inroads

that

technology have made in to

the deepest reaches not only of the natural environment but also of the human spirit. Piya

rejects

the

At the beginning of the novel,

veneer

of

sophistication

which

modernization has brought to the city by turning away from the

lights

of

the

ballroom;

at

novel's

end,

the

worst

effects of modernization--its inciting men to greed, causing them to despoil Nature and exploit their fellow men--have caught up with him.

The plot tends to be schema tic in its

clear-cut conflict between good and evil,

but the low-key

characterization of Piya makes him human and believable. It is not just the poor or those of humble origins who develop a social conscience. of wealth and

power,

their limited

view of

responsibilities.

may be jolted in to an awareness of life and awakened

the earliest examples of plot is

the

to

their

social

The is one of the themes in Pi Sat (Evil

Spirit) by Seni Sawaphong.

its

The rich, from their position

Written in 1950, it is one of the socially concerned novel and

classic example of what is,

by now,

the

standard formula for fie tion of this sort. Sai Sima is a young man with a peasant background who finishes a law degree in Bangkok.

While in the university,

he and a group of young people from various backgrounds get together in their common concern for the underprivileged and their

realization of

them is Rachanee, society.

a

their

social

responsibility.

Among

young woman from the higher class of

In the end, not only Sai Sima but all the young

people who make up the group decide to go to the rural areas

Southeast Asian Fiction

204 to help

the people solve the problems

that confront them,

not the least of which is the deplorable economic conditions under which they live.

Sima wins the heart of Rachanee who

is equally committed and gives up her life as a daughter of the rich to teach in the rural region. Definitely

committed

literature

or

"fie tion

for

society", Pi Sat is considered a landmark in the development of

the

social

novel

for

the

way

in

which the author 10 integrates his social and aesthetic concerns. Unlike the

discursiveness of his earlier work, Seni in this novel more tightly weaves his social theme into the plot and develops it

through

the interaction of character and events.

author also makes use of symbolism.

The

The rich parents of

Rachanee see Sai Sima as an "evil spirit", frightening and haunting them, rendering them unable to sleep at nights. As the

novel

symbolize

proceeds, the

spirit

Sai

Sima

in

of

social

this

change

guise which

comes

to

cannot

be

stopped or destroyed, haunting and ins tilling fear in those who persist in the old ways of exploitation and oppression. How the rich acquire a social conscience and a sense of their social duties is a minor theme in Pi Sat. It is the main subject of a

short novel by Si Burapha whose works

after Luk Phuchai the strength of his activist writers,

(see Chapter Five)

increasingly reflect

social concerns.

In fact, many young

especially those writing in the sixties

and seven ties, regard him as an inspiration and a model of the socially concerned writer. short novel, Again),

The central character of his

Chon Kwa Rao Cha Phob Kan Ik (Till We Meet

Kome t,

is

the

aristocratic Thai family.

pampered

scion

of

a

rich

and

He is sent to Australia to study

to remove him from the somewhat dissolute lifestyle he has

205

Commitment

been following in Bangkok and to acquire the prestige of a foreign education.

Here he expects more good times but is

surprised to find

that the Australians he meets find life

rather

more

undergoes

a

real

and

major

earnest

than

transformation

he

when

does. he

His

meets

life Nancy

Henderson, a dedicated young woman who starts him on the way to questioning his values.

The example of Nancy and their

many serious conversations have a salutary effect on Komet. He acquires a sense of purpose--to return to his country and work for social justice to be extended to the masses--and studies

hard

relationship

toward with

this

goal.

Nancy

but

He

develops

unfortunately,

a

close

she

dies

prematurely of tuberculosis. Kome t' s

story

is

told

from

the

point

of

view

of

Dorothy, another Australian girl whom he meets after Nancy's death.

There is hardly any plot development in the novel.

Mostly,

Dorothy

gives

a

life

report

regarding

Komet's

and

telling a

story removes much of

of

views.

their This

conversations

awkward

way

of

the immediacy of Kome t' s

experience but does give an excellent opportunity for him to expound his views--which we clearly see as the author's own-on life and society, particularly the social and economic situation in his country.

There is hardly any action, no

conflict, and character development which consists primarily of the major transformation in Kome t when he meets Nancy is not dramatized but narrated at secondhand. short.

Clearly,

the

au thor

is

The novel is

concerned

less

with

dramatizing a human situation than in developing his views on the need for change and commitment in Thai society. In contrast to much

socially

the

concerned

somewhat grim or sombre literature,

Nimi t

tone of

Bhumi thawon

Southeast Asian Fiction

206

strikes a

light,

in fact light-hearted note in his short the

Kru Dej,

story, "The Happiness of a Village Teacher".

northern Thai village "as remote

teacher at Ban Don Prai, a

as the end of the world" tells his story in the first person happy-go-lucky young

and projects himself as an easygoing,

man. He chooses the school because he likes the sound of the of

name

uses

village;

the

outdated

and

teaching methods

keeps irregular teaching hours; welcomes a holiday declared at the slightest pretext to go on a drinking spree with his seemingly irresponsible

this

Underlying

friends.

village

exterior, however, we detect a quiet commitment to his job and

village

the

for

respect

deep

a

With

folk.

an

irrepressible sense of humour, Kru Dej pokes fun at himself His sense of the ridiculous

and at his teaching "career".

does not spare the villagers, especially when he describes their superstitious

His laughter,

prac tlces.

not one of derision but of understanding. life

of

respect for their

villagers,

the

their resourcefulness, and

openness

generosity,

is

In describing the

matter-of-factly

he

however,

reveals

his

their self-sufficiency, most

and

of

their

all,

ability to maintain their lives, however poor and simple, in an uncomplaining and carefree manner. His acceptance and commitment to his job are equally off-hand and down to earth: "sometimes I wish I could move to somewhere more urban where I could at least get a good strong

[sweet

oliang

iced

coffee]

to

quench my

thirst."

From the story, however, we gather that his regard for the villagers and his respect for their way of life far outweigh a mere wish to first

person

be able to drink oliang more often.

point of

telling of this story.

view

is

eminently

suited

to

The the

It helps to maintain consistency of

Commitment

tone and

207 makes

us

highly receptive

to

the

insights

into

village life and the views of Kru Dej as communicated in his matter-of-fact, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, style. It further allows the author to introduce some valuable social ideas-the need to adapt "modern" methods to simple village needs; the importance of conserving natural resources such as

the

timber which abounds in the jungles surrounding the village; the superior! ty of the resourceful use of local rna terials-all

these without discursiveness or any hint of authorial

intrusion. Ussiri

Thammachote

similarly uses

the

first

person

skilfully but to achieve a different effect--rendering the guilt feelings of a newspaper reporter in his short story, "Tho Yang Mi Chiwi t Yu Yang Noi ko nai Chai Chan" (She Lives On, at Least in My Mind.) The background of apparently

the

occasion of

Marshal

the story is

Thanon Kittikachorn's

return to Thailand from exile in order to enter the monkhood which triggered a violent student demonstration in October 1976.

The story itself, like most of Ussiri's stories, is

quite simple: a journalist, assigned by his paper to cover the event, meets a young girl who has been glueing protest posters

and

is

being

escorts

her

to

the

dedication to words:

chased bus

by

stop,

the he

is

impressed

the cause of social justice and

As by

he her

her simple

"In our nation, we must work together to establish

right and justice. ,.ll

Working in the pressroom later, he

sees her name among

those lis ted

haunt his

simple,

black

authorities.

mind--her

shirt,

jeans,

and

dead.

She

unpretentious

dusty

shoes,

her

continues

to

appearance

in

glue-stained

fingers clutching the unposted handbills, her innocent face devoid of make-up.

He would like

to go

to

the

hospital

Southeast Asian Fiction

208 where

she

died

to

inquire

about

her

but

he

is

too

All he can do is stare at the piece of paper

embarrassed.

"She is still

on which she had written her name and add:

alive, at least in my mind." He concludes by saying: journalist like

me

is

too

and

cowardly

timorous

to

"A do

anything more than this" (p.l3). The

young

man's

sense

of

guilt

arises

from

his

inability to do more in contrast to this deeply committed young

woman.

He

dare

not

even

presume

to

judge

the

rightness or wrongness of her actions, though he believes in the

purl ty

beliefs.

of

her

intentions

and

the

sincerity

of

her

His encounter with her causes him to reflect more

deeply on the situation in the country and as he does so, we come to see that his is more than just a personal sense of guilt but symbolizes a

guilt that his entire society must

share. Ussiri' s

skill

at

the

metaphorical

use

of

nature

description to convey the emo tiona! nuances of his story is apparent here. atmosphere to

At the beginning,

he likens

the political

the October weather where dark clouds often

appear in the sky to presage a storm.

It is still the rainy

season, yet it is pervasively hot, "like flame spreading its heat". tears

Earlier, on a

there had been scattered showers,

woman's

face,

sadness and desolation".

giving

us

a

feeling

of

"like quiet

Having established atmosphere, he

again uses the motif of storm and flame to show us the force of the demonstration and the extent of its violence: It was as if a storm had exploded in violence after having been contained in the clouds for a long time; and it was like a fire that raged, destroying everything. That morning, I received reports of what had taken place over there.

Commitment

209

Almost every line spoke of death and tears that flowed copiously. (p. 10)

The skilful blend of metaphor and quiet statement of fact gives emotional force to this otherwise simple story. In the fiction discussed above, commitment is seen as a

motive

force in

the life of

the

individual who

has a

vision of a just and caring society and who is disturbed by the

great

gap

conditions.

between

found

more

countries--Indonesia, Thailand--where and

ideal

and

actual,

We note that, as a major theme,

commitment is

prevail,

this

Malaysia,

problems

less

in

in fie tion

of

the

poverty

fiction

from

existing

the need for

from less

developed

Philippines, and

social

Singapore

and

justice

which

has

achieved a higher level of development and where a larger percentage of the population share in the benefits of this development.

Notes

1.

Umar Kayam, Sri Sumarah and Other Stories , trans. Harry Aveling (Kuala Lumpur: Heinemann Educational Books [Asia] Ltd., 1980), p. 81. Other page references are to this text.

2.

See Harry Aveling, ed. and trans., "Gestapu: Indonesian Short Stories on the Abortive Communist Coup of 30th September 1965" (Southeast Asian Studies Working Paper No. 6, reproduced by the Southeast Asian Studies Program, University of Hawaii, 1975), PP• i-x.

3.

Ibid., pp. 43-44.

4.

Ibid., p. 58.

210

Southeast Asian Fiction

5.

Blood and Tears, pp. 120-121. Subsequent page references to Keris Mas' stories are to this text.

6.

Shahnon Ahmad, The Third Notch and Other Stories, trans. Harry Aveling (Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books [Asia] Ltd., 1980), p.54. Subsequent page references to Shahnon' s stories are to this text.

7.

F. Sionil Jose, Mass (Manila: Solidaridad Publishing House, 1979), p. 152. Subsequent page references are to this edition.

8.

Su-chen Christine Lim, Rice Bowl (Singapore: Times Books In terna tiona!, 1984), pp. 225-226. Subsequent page references are to this edition.

9.

The Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp, p. 6.

10.

See Trisilpa Boonkachorn, Nawaniyai kap Sangkom Thai: 2475-2500 [The novel and Thai society: 1932-1957] (Bangkok: Suksit Siam, 1980), pp. 387-401 for a full exposition of this view

11.

Ussiri Thammachote, Kun Thong--Chaw Cha Klap Mua Fa Sang (Bangkok: Chao Praya, 1981), p. 8. Subsequent page references are to this text.

trans. Wij eyewardene,

VII: CONCLUSION

The fiction of the five countries reviewed has proven to be a

rich

source

for

the

relationship be tween study has

tried

study

of

major

patterns

in

the

the individual and his society. This

to

show

how

these

themes

are

projected

through the totality of the author's selection, arrangement, and

development of his

character.

in

plot and

More specifically, we have seen how

theme is

communicated

through

material as

the events

of

embodied

the

plot;

through

the

statements and revealed thoughts of the characters; through dialogue

and

interaction

be tween

characters;

through

intrusions by the author (authorial comment) or the narrator (point of view); through the very use of language which may be

employed

ironically, or

in

a

variety

of

ways--metaphorically,

through dialogue and

the style of a chosen

narrator--not only to convey the individual's feelings

but

to

indicate

the

relationships within his culture.

thoughts and

subtleties

of

social

Through all

these,

the

imagined world of the writer sheds light on the real world, helping to clarify and enrich our understanding of man and his world, of self and society.

Southeast Asian Fiction

212

In going through the relatively unexplored territories of

Southeast

Asian

fiction,

one

has

to

proceed

slowly,

looking for similarities of terrain to help one find one's way.

Granted

important

some

basic

differences

tradition of

similarities

in

the

of

culture,

experience but religion,

and

the ASEAN countries, can we find anything in

their respective

fiction

to show that they are not just

isola ted works which can be read and enjoyed only by the readers in their own countries? Are these works of fie tion able

to

project a

that

may

helping

perhaps to

it

be

forge

Considering study,

commonality of experience and

the

seen

a

as

feeling

tentative and

would

be

dis tine ti vely of

ASEAN,

cultural

difficult

to

come

up

thus

solidarity?

exploratory nature

positive, or unqualified answers. seen,

response

with

of

this

clear,

But as far as we have

there are some common concerns

that cut across

the

fiction of these countries. One major concern in all these works is the perception of

social

necessary countries, the

latter

change if

a

cultural

society

change is

and

is

to

transformation. grow.

In

primarily associated with

established

undermine

the

is

Southeast Asian

is often equated with modernization and

Western technology and industrialization. only

Change

social

patterns

and

the

transfer

of

These disrupt not s true tures

traditional value sys terns of a

culture.

but We

have seen how the responses of individuals to the upheavals in

their

societies

alienation

and

adj us tmen t

to

loss the

rna terialis tic terms.

and

cultures

of

identity

idea

of

range to

progress

an in

from

feelings

almost

of

complete

technological and

Conclusion

213

Through most of

the

fie tion reviewed,

we note some

sort of attempt on the part of both individual and society to

achieve

a

synthesis

be tween

the

modern

and

the

traditional. But balance is difficult to achieve when the winds of change blow strongly, bringing in their wake new and exciting ideas, bigger and better ways of doing things. They could sweep an individual off his moorings in tradition and

his tory,

and/or

a

himself

causing

confused to

these

him

to

sense

of

changes,

suffer

cultural

identity. he

could

Or,

alienation in adapting

actively

reject

his

culture, only to be faced later by a larger sense of loss. In

showing

how

their

characters

respond

to

the

changing situations in their societies, the writers we have studied invariably present the perceived need to hold on to one's

culture in

the

face

of change.

Change

cannot be

res is ted or held back but it "must be effected according to the rhythm,

to the character, values and philosophy of the

people", as Malaysian poet/writer Muhammad Haj i Salleh aptly 1 puts it. This is a perception that underlies much of Southeast Asian fie tion.

with

Equally important in helping

the individual

change

past.

is

a

sense

of

the

The

to cope

feeling

of

continuity that knowlege of his history can give helps much to

create

in him a

sense

especially when he views part of a

continuing

of

stability and

the upheavals

process.

Just as

in his

perspective, society as

important

is

the

understanding he may gain of how the present has been shaped in history and how he can utilize his knowledge of the past to help him respond to the complexities of the present. Ultimately, change is perceived as important not only because

it

brings about

progress and development in our

Southeast Asian Fiction

214 societies

but

because

the

disturbance

individual finally brings him back closely

into

the

forces

situation and to seek destiny.

that

it

causes

in

the

to his tory to look more shaped

have

present

his

meaningful clues on how to face his

It forces him to go more deeply into his culture

for a better realization of what he is and what he could be, to seek to understand how the values of his culture have come about and how he might apply present

traditional

wisdom

to

difficulties.

A second major concern to be found in these works is the vision of a new social order: a society where freedom, justice,

and

equality

are

not

empty

words

but

living

realities.

Before this can be brought about, the nature and

extent

the

of

perceived

and

evils

that

exposed:

beset

society

poverty,

must

injustice,

greed--causes and effects of man's

inhumanity

be

fully

corruption, to man but

also products of social and historical circumstances within a given culture.

Concern about these is linked to specific

suggestions for social reform but any change to be effective must be firmly based in man's moral nature. call

not

only

for

conditions but for a

an

improvement

in

These works

external

social

more profound change in the hearts of

men. No

doubt,

these

concerns

are

to

be

found

in

the

literature of other emer&ing countries whose societies are in

transition.

But

it

is

the

sense

of

geographical

proximity, of commonality in historical background, and of close links

in their

traditional cultures as well as

the

similarities in the social, political, and economic issues facing ASEAN societies today which give a shared meaning to

Conclusion

215

the expression of

these concerns and

the

perceptions and

insights to which they lead. Apart from these similarities of concern, interest us

because

they

give

us

a

these works

rich and authentic

picture of life as it goes on in our respective countries. In depicting a basic human situation and exploring it in terms of

the life and society of his country,

the author

enlightens us on many aspects of his society and culture. But these works at their best do more than that, We must evaluate them in terms of what they have to tell us of the human condition, of what it means to be human--to be moved by human impulses,

to face human problems,

to have human

goals and aspirations within a particular cultural setting. The desire to know more about the characters insofar as they represent a distinct and different culture from ours draws our interest but the recognition of the common factor of our humanity more profoundly engages our sympathy. Many of the works discussed here are not literature in the grand sense.

As reviewed in an earlier chapter, modern

fie tion in most ASEAN countries has a short his tory. With the exception of before

the end of

the Philippines where

the novel emerged

the nine teen th century,

the writing of

modern forms of fiction in Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia did not get a really good start until the 1920s; Singapore is just now beginning to develop a literary identity of its own.

Not surprisingly,

the quality

of fie tion has

been

uneven, although a number of the works studied here have a genuine claim to literary merit.

It would seem that, given

the basic talent and the inclination to write, many writers of the region have been primarily moved by the urgency of the problems facing their societies and the immediate need

216

Southeast Asian Fiction

to articulate their concern. effort

to

hone

their

The conscious and deliberate

artistic

techniques comes after this.

skills

and

refine

their

In a region where the basic

needs of a large percentage of the population have yet to be met,

this

is as

it should be.

For all

that,

there have

emerged writers of the stature of Pramoedya Ananta Toer and F. Sionil Jose, among others, who have successfully fused their

social

and

humanistic

concerns with

their

artistic

skills and whose best works show great depth and sustained narrative

power.

This

has

caused

not

a

few

of

those

concerned with literature in the region to ask: why not a 2 Nobel prize for the Southeast Asian writer? Why not indeed? Such a dis tine tion would not add to the intrinsic merit of his

works

but

it

would

be

a

great

recognition

of

his

achievements in helping to forge

the social conscience of 3 his people. To paraphrase Malaysian writer A. Samad Said, the Southeast Asian writer has regained a voice; it deserves to be

heard, and heard more widely.

Notes

1.

Muhammad Haji Salleh, "Cultural Justice", Questioning Development in Southeast Asia, ed. Nancy Clmg (Singapore: Select Books on behalf of Southeast Asian Study Group, 1977), p. 118.

2.

See "The Nobel Prize: Asia Out in the Cold", Asiaweek, 3 May 1985 ' pp. 70-76.

3.

"I Have Regained a Voice; I Hope It Is Heard", Tenggara, Journal of Southeast Asian Literature, 10 (1979), pp. 45-47.

APPENDIX

Short Stories and Novels Discussed in the Text (Note: The titles listed below are arranged by country, in the approximate order in which they are discussed in the text. Titles listed in English represent works that have either been translated into English or were originally written in English. Full bibliographical information is given in the text or in the notes for most of the titles in this list. Where this is not the case, the information is given below.)

Indonesia Pramoedya Ananta Toer. This Earth of Mankind Achdiat K. Mihardja. Atheis Sitor Sitomorang. "Mother Goes to Heaven" in Harry Aveling, ed. and trans., From Surabaya to Armageddon (Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd., 1976) Pramoedya Anan ta Toer. "Desolation at Life's Noon" Danarto. "Rintrik" • "Godlob" =----=Pramoedya Ananta Toer. Child of All Nations S.M. Ardan. "Bulan Sabit di Langit Barat" Mochtar Lubis. Twilight in Djakarta Umar Kayam. "Bawuk" Sa tyagraha Hoerip. "The Climax" Gerson Poyk. "A Woman and Her Children"

Malaysia Ishak Haji Muhammad. The Son of Mad Mat Lela Shahnon Ahmad. Menteri (Kuala Lumpur: Dinas Penerbitan Pustaka Sekolah, 1967) Bahazain. "Out of the Night" Shahnon Ahmad. "At Rest" Lloyd Fernando. Scorpion Orchid

Appendix

218

Shahnon Ahmad. Rope of Ash (Rentong), trans. Harry Aveling (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press,

1979) • Srengenge, trans. Harry Aveling (Kuala -----JLumpur: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd.,

1979) Lee

Kok Liang. The Mutes in the Sun (Malaysia: Rayirath Publications, 1963) Keris Mas. "A Nobleman's Testament" (see Chapter 5, note 7; all stories by Keris Mas listed here are from this source) _____ • "Selling the Motherland" • "Not Because of Her" A. Samad Said. Salina, trans. Harry Aveling (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1975) Shahnon Ahmad. No Harvest But a Thorn Keris Mas. "A Would-Be Leader from Kuala Semantan" _____ • ''On the Eve of Independence" • "Breakdown" -=s-=-ha-,..h_n_o_n Ahmad • "Scalded Cat"

---

... Al" ---~__..,..

Heah Chwee Sian. "Dreams of a Beggar" in A Wisp of Bliss and Other Stories (Kuala Lumpur: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd., 1981)

Philippines Nick Joaquin. The Woman Who Had Two Navels Wilfrido Nolledo. But for the Lovers (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1970) Edith Tiempo. His Native Coast Rogelio Sika t. "Si Impeng Negro" F. Sionil Jose. The Pretenders Jun Cruz Reyes. "U tos ng Hari" in Utos ng Hari at Iba Pang Kuwento (Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1981) Juan C. Laya. His Native Soil Bienvenido Santos. The Man Who (Thought He) Looked Like Robert Taylor (Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1983) "The Day the Dancers Came" in Seen t of Apples (Seattle: University of Washington Press,

1979) N.V. M. Gonzales. A Season of Grace

Appendix

219

Lope K. Santos. Banaag at Sika t (Manila: Manlapaz Publishing Co., 1959) Macario K. Pineda. "A Wedding in the Big House" Lazaro Francisco. Maganda Pa ang Daigdig (Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1982) • Daluyong, serialized in Liwayway (29 January ----~1962 - 27 August 1962) Amado V. Hernandez. Mga Ibong Mandaragit (Quezon City: International Graphic Service, 1969) Rogelio Sikat. Dugo sa Bukang Liwayway, serialized in Liwayway (6 September 1965 - 14 February 1966) Brigido Ba tungbakal. "Light: From the Smoke of the Gunshots" in Introduction to Modern Pilipino Literature ed. and trans. Epifanio San Juan (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1974.) Singapore Kirpal Singh. "The Interview" Rebecca Chua. "The Picture" Ovidia Yu. "A Dream of China" Goh Poh Seng. If We Dream Too Long Rebecca Chua. "Suicide" Bahri Rajib. Lisda (Kuala Lumpur: Heinemann Educational Books, 1982) Noor Hidayat. "Destinasi" in Destinasi (Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books, 1981) A. Razak Jafar. "The Dirt" in Singapore Writing (Singapore: Woodrose Publications, 1977) Catherine Lim. "Eggs" in Little Ironies (Singapore: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd., 1978) • "Monkey Face" ~S-u---c~h-e-n-Cristine Lim. Rice Bowl Thailand Dokmai Sot. Ni Lae Lok (Bangkok: Bannakan, 1973) Botan. Letters from Thailand Khammaan Khonkhai. The Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp Si Fa. Kaw Nok Na Chart Kobjitti. The Judgment ~~~--· Ruang Thammada W. Wiput. "Dee--Phu Thi Yang Yu" in Dee--Phu Thi Yang Yu (Bangkok: Samakom Phasa lee Nangsu, 1982)

220

Appendix

Kukrit Pramoj. "Mo Seng" in Lai_~hi~!E. (Bangkok: Kaw Na, 1974) Ussiri Thammachote. "Khun Thong, Chaw Cha Klap Mua Fa Sang" (see Chapter 6, note 11; all stories by Ussiri listed here are from this source) Si Burapha. Luk Phuchai M. L. Boonlua. Dr Luk-Thung Ussiri Thammacho te. - .. Mua Yen Yam Kong Wan An Rai" Khamsing Srinawk. "Dust Underfoot" Suwanni Sukontha. Khao Chua Kan (Bangkok: Silpa Bannakan, n.d.y--Seni Saowaphong. Pi Sat (Bangkok: Kokya, n.d.) Si Burapha. Chon Kwa Rao Cha Phob Kan Ik Nimi t Bhumi tawon. "The Happiness of a Village Teacher" in Thai P.E.N. Anthology: Short Stories and Poems of Social Consciousness (Thailand: P.E.N. Thailand Center, 1984) ---Ussiri Thammachote. "Tho Yang Mi Chiwi t Yu Yang Noi Chai Chan"

THE AUTHOR

Thelma B. Kintanar is Professor of English and Comparative Literature

at

the

University

of

the

Philippines.

Her

interest in Southeast Asian literature stems from the fact that

she

Southeast

has Asia

lived in

and

the

travelled

past

twelve

~n

various

years.

parts

Together

of

with

scholars from other ASEAN countries, she is currently doing

a comparative study of women novelists in the ASEAN region. She has also translated a collection of short stories from Thai

to

Filipino

and

is

presently

engaged

collaborative translation of an Indonesian novel.

in

a