“I am sick of buying Malaysian books which are re-cycled newspaper columns. They all should be spanked,” said Amir Muhammad, in his typically glib style, when explaining why he embarked on this, his newest project: New Malaysian Essays 1.

By not wanting to deal explicitly with his objectives, one is left to freely speculate about the cultural politics that underscore the opening up of a new front in the battle against the banality of modern Malaysian life. Much can be said about this attempt to make the essay form attractive and relevant to both local writers and readers, since it’s a form that is not easy to command. Neither is it clear that it is suited to the present local intellectual temperament.

The essay at its best -- from Michel de Montaigne to Angela Carter -- is the convergence of clarity of thought, modesty of ambition and a persuasive prose style. So to sustain a tight argument over the lengths proposed by this series -- five to fifteen thousand words -- would require an uncommon discipline by both writers and editor.  In the Malaysian context, this exciting development signals the possibility of rising above the necessary, but limited, shoot-from-the-hip blog and too-often too personal opinion column.

Could this be the political imperative of the project? Does the Series mean to create a forum for well-managed arguments on issues social, cultural and political to emerge, with an attendant demand on writers and readers to engage in ways of thinking thus far marginal to our public sphere?

And what of our public sphere? As a spectrum it denies us the use of the adjective “broad” being less than a stretch, from coffee shop talk to the ceramahs of televised post-Cabinet press conferences and  open-air party-political address.

Beyond that, there is the "alternative" media which often merely mimics the news values of the mainstream especially in its fixation on the party political; and the academic presses and its output, which, with a few notable exceptions, are as moribund as the universities which spawn them.

More positive moments along this spectrum have been the video movement and the performance and visual art scenes, which have struggled to generate new vocabularies and stir defunct synapses. These forms however, are still unable to get the audiences they deserves or perhaps, are unclear as to whom they want to address.

Into this challenging situation comes this project, describing itself as an “annual series concentrating on local non-fiction … From polemic to ode to memoir … to notice, analysis and interpret the living, throbbing, squelching vitality around them”. Conceived and edited by Amir Muhammad, the contributors to this first edition consist of unknown PhD students, a social activist and writers already active in the scene. Set to be on shelves soon, this handsome first volume deserves to be bought, read and debated.

I found many of the essays far too long. I believe, a happy compromise between the pleasures of the writer and those of innocent readers can be struck. While it has other weaknesses, New Malaysian Essays 1 is certainly setting a benchmark for high production values as well as intellectual audacity.

In my estimation, the most successful contribution is Brian Yap’s essay, “The Trouble with Malaysia” with its elegant and simple prose style, coupled with a command of his facts and an instinct for the Malaysian worldview. It’s an essay that is bound to resonate and is worthy of re-reading and discussion.

As an aside: when Brian takes the microphone at the recent launch of the Series, he does something quite rare. He mentions Malaysian books he has read and read again. He refers to Rehman Rashid’s A Malaysian Journey and the edited volume of writings by Sheryll Stotdhard, Kam Raslan and Amir Mohammad (he too should be spanked) entitled Generation. This is the kind of referencing which a mature intellectual scene would display.

The second most rewarding piece is also the only Malay language essay in the collection, Saharil Hasrin Sanin’s “Teroris Bahasa”. It is an important reminder of the challenges of our linguistically fragmented public sphere. While I have accumulated over thirty Malay and faux Malay words waiting clarification with a Kamus, I found the essay  accessible if meandering. I enjoyed the fecundity of Saharil’s Malay as much as the arguments blossoming, sometimes wilting, throughout the piece.

Though I was excited by the early promise that Aminuddin Mahmud was going to theorise the “mamak” I found his prose style turgid. Unfortunately, his essay “Branding – Mamak Style” seems captive of dry academic style, perhaps understandable for someone in the midst of a PhD. In the same academic vein, but much more florid, is Burhan Baki’s “Yes, We Must Move On: Theoretical Notes on Various Things Malaysian”. It was clearly not written for non-specialists. Perhaps if Burhan had understood the audience that this Series seeks to address, he could make Zizek, Lacan et al speak to the Malaysian condition. That would have been a worthy contribution.

Sonia Randhawa’s “A Manifesto for Independence: Fifty Years to Merdeka?” unfortunately, reads like a shrill ceramah given at a spoken word event, moving giddily between sanctimonious gesture and faux social analysis. What I do like about this essay, however, is that it resurrects a beleaguered form, the manifesto.  It also reminds me of those deeply earnest “Blueprint for a Green Planet” books I read in my youth. True to this genre and its democratic ethos, Randhawa concludes with a “Putting it into practice” segment and the de rigueur “Disagree with me. Write your own manifesto!” gesture.

Lastly, Amir’s departure from the essay form with his lexicon of “Unwelcome Words” brimming with “cheap jokes”, as he says (and it is true!), and the amusing, sometimes pointed images by Danny Lim, Hardesh Singh and Akashdeep Singh, are a welcomed sign for the Series. It suggests that they will not rely solely on the essay in future volumes. For to maintain the quality that I imagine he aspires to, Amir as the Series editor will have to wield his judgment like a scalpel, cutting away the turgid, the over-wrought and the shrill, or else cajole them to speak with voices modulated for the intended audience.

It might be more realistic to choose only the most successful essays and give space to other formats. In the forth-coming issues, I hope to see interviews, histories and visual essays but most of all, I hope clarity of purpose comes to the Series about whom it wants to address.

~~~

Sharaad Kuttan is a writer, artist and activist.

New Malaysian Essays 1, edited by Amir Muhammad and featuring words by Brian Yap, Burhan Baki, Saharil Hasrin Sanin, Aminuddin Mahmud, Sonia Randhawa and Amir Muhammad (with attendant miscellany by Danny Lim, Hardesh Singh and Akashdeep Singh), is available at Kinibooks, selected MPH stores, and independent bookshops.