Tag: Malaysia

Malaysian mail-order brides: what fairy tale?

Excerpted from The New Straits Times: Once upon a time, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella had to battle witches and overcome spells to find Prince Charming. Now, young women are discovering that the road leading to “happily-ever-after” is wider, shorter and much less of an obstacle course. In recent years, a large number of… Continue reading Malaysian mail-order brides: what fairy tale?

Book review: Ombak Bukan Biru by Fatimah Busu

Fatimah Busu has a gift for telling stories of social alienation. Her stories are often a provocative social critique of Malay society but are easily accessible and good for philosophical rumination. In Salam Maria, her protagonist is a misfit, a social castoff who is forced to the depths of the forest to live with those… Continue reading Book review: Ombak Bukan Biru by Fatimah Busu

Weekend round-up of favourite online reads 11/1

My current obsession with feminist science fiction led me to brilliant reviews of Vandana Singh’s The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet at both The F-Word and Ultrabrown. In my earlier post on Islam and feminism in SF I mentioned a few times about how the genre is used to critique some grand narratives… Continue reading Weekend round-up of favourite online reads 11/1

Understanding anti-feminism in Malaysia and where it comes from

Okay. This is going to be a super-biased piece from the get-go. I feel the need to write about this because I am TIRED of trying to talk to people about what feminism really is about. There is just so much misunderstanding and lack of information out there in the real world. Feminism is, as… Continue reading Understanding anti-feminism in Malaysia and where it comes from

Book review: Contrary Visions – Women and Work in Malay Novels Written by Women by Christine Campbell

Despite the clunky title, Contrary Visions (2004, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka) offers a rather comprehensive review of novels by Malay women written between 1940 and 1995, including a couple of early Indonesian novels thrown in for good, hazy archipelagoan measure. Alongside Virginia Hooker’s Writing a New Society: Social Change Through the Novel in Malay (2000),… Continue reading Book review: Contrary Visions – Women and Work in Malay Novels Written by Women by Christine Campbell

For Muslim women, the personal is political

The recent fatwa on assumed female homosexuality has opened another can of worms. Yet again, the Malaysian religious authorities insist on tightening their grip on Muslim women by policing the way they dress, and who they choose to love, without fully understanding the complex nature of human sexuality. Meanwhile, a worrying proportion of the Malaysian… Continue reading For Muslim women, the personal is political

Nafsu buas: the politics of imagined lust in Malaysia

‘Animalistic lust’ (nafsu buas) is a common spice in Malay tales of adulterous wives, transgender paramours, and homosexual men and women. ‘Animalistic’ or ‘buas‘ here is a blanket term for all that is unbridled and transgressive. Though derived from the Arabic word to mean ‘soul’, ‘nafsu‘ is often accompanied with pejorative connotations, and it is… Continue reading Nafsu buas: the politics of imagined lust in Malaysia

Shame and stupidity: a brief history of Malaysian womanhood

Malaysian women of different cultures and ethinicities welcome visitors from abroad in their colourful traditional costumes. They all smile benignly, and they all look beautiful. This is the ‘Malaysia, truly Asia’ tourism campaign. But wait – the lady in the sari (second from left) does not look Indian at all; she’s very light-skinned unlike the… Continue reading Shame and stupidity: a brief history of Malaysian womanhood

Gender trouble: some thoughts on transgenderism in Malaysia

If there’s one thing about feminism that I feel proud to be identified with is its struggle for the abolishment of traditional gender roles. For the uninitiated, this means rejection of women as natural homemakers and men as pre-determined breadwinners. Rejecting the social conditioning of gender also means redefining the feminine and masculine and who… Continue reading Gender trouble: some thoughts on transgenderism in Malaysia