Malaysia

Malaysia is the first overseas country I ever travelled to (I don’t count my stopover in Singapore, where I sat in a chair at the airport for an hour, worried that I wouldn’t know when to board the plane.) I was eleven and travelled by myself, to go see my best friend whose family was living in Kuala Lumpur at the time. I’d caught a few planes by myself at that stage—in fact, had begun to see myself as something of an old hand—but was terrified of this process of changing planes in one country to get to another. I survived, and ate curry and bought a lot of knock-off t-shirts and plastic earrings. Hey, what can I say? I was shallow. Though it was also during that trip that I read Wuthering Heights for the first time—my first Brontë novel. I wish I could remember more of my trip now that it’s 31 August and we’re celebrating Malaysia’s “Hari Merdeka,” or Independence Day (Independence s from the United Kingdom, and came in 1957.)

My father still calls Malaysia “Malaya” reasonably often. Other people his age that I’ve met do too, which surprises me whenever I hear it. When I hear “Malaya” I think of World War II.

Malaysia has been inhabited for tens of thousands of years, and Ptolemy knew it. Or that’s what his map suggests—how else would he know to include it? From the beginning of the common era there’s been a fair bit of movement, as well as changing religious influences, with Hindu, Buddhism and Islam arriving in waves—there is evidence of the latter from the 14th century onwards.

Then of course there was the European influence, as Western explorers ventured further afield. First came Portugal in 1511, and then the Dutch in 1641. Britain was late in the game—1786, when Penang was leased to the British East India Company. Essentially the Malay archipelago ended up divided between Britain and the Netherlands, and Malaya (yes, it was still Malaya) was in the British zone.

Japan invaded the country during World War II—after this the local population were more keen for independence to arrive. When what was then Malaya merged with a few crown colonies on Borneo in 1963, Malaysia was born. (Singapore was initially part of Malaysia too, but separated from the nation in 1965.) It wasn’t all smooth sailing—as well as Singapore’s leavetaking, Indonesia and the Philippines caused some headaches.

While we’re celebrating Hari Merdeka, here is a poem to help the festivities along. “Language” by Baha Zain comes from Language for a New Century. Enjoy!


Language

How hard
to accommodate the word to the meaning
such trouble
to wrap decorum with language
the emotions of old bards;
a fish flashing in water
you already know its gender.

—Baha Zain
translated from Malay by Muhammad Haji Salleh
from Language for a New Century