GROUP TASK

DISCUSSION OF SOCIAL ISSUES IN A LITERARY TEXT

TUNKU HALIM IBRAHIM

A MALAYSIAN RESTAURANT IN LONDON

BIS3073

MALAYSIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

NAME MATRIC NO

MOHAMAD SHAHRIL BIN MD SALLEH D20131063426

MUHAMMAD AHZAM BIN NADZRI D20131063409

NUR AIMAN HAZIQ BIN NORAZMAN D20131063441

AHMAD BUDIMAN BIN OMAR D20131063476

SHAFIQ AFFENDY BIN MAT HANAFI D20131063442

LECTURER : ASSOC. PROF. DR. ABDUL GHANI BIN ABU

GROUP : A

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

NO. CONTENTS PAGE

1 INTRODUCTION 3

2 OUR BIGORAPHY 6-9

3 ABOUT TUNKU HALIM 9-11

4 SOCIAL ISSUES IN “A MALAYSIAN RESTAURANT IN

LONDON” NOVEL

11-17

5 BIBLIOGRAPHY 17

6 APPENDIX

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

First and foremost we want to give thanks to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdul Ghani Abu

for giving us this assignment and guide us along the way.

This task is given to us as a group assignment to fulfil the criteria of the subject

(Malaysian literature in English). This task require us to choose one of the Malaysian

novel in English and discuss on the social issues that is instilled in the novel.

Finally, we felt and believe that this assignment is interesting because we were able

to witness the author’s views on social issues. Furthermore, it enhance our knowledge and

skills in literature and we believe it will help us in our future endeavours.

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2.0 OUR BIOGRAPHY

2.1 MOHAMAD SHAHRIL BIN MD SALLEH

My name is Mohamad Shahril bin md Salleh. I was born in 28 of august 1993. To tell

more about myself, I was born in ordinary family with nothing much to brag about. My

father working as a policeman. Being raised by a police officer, displince is one of the

things that been highlighted. i have 5 siblings including myself. 4 are boys and the last

one is our flower in my family. We’ve been taught that no matter what happens, family

comes first. We stick to that believe. To tell more about my contribution in this group

work, me as a group leader has assigned each member to the specific task that they have

to do. This is how we do it through out all the works. Not this assignment only, we use

this kind or organization for short story presentation aswell. Group work is easy for me,

as long as there are chemistry and hardwork from all of us

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2.1 MUHAMMAD AHZAM BIN NADZRI

My name is Muhammad Ahzam bin Nadzri. I was born on the 25 th of October, 1993 in Hospital Besar

Kajang, which is located in the state of Selangor. I am the firstborn of three siblings. My second sister,

Nurazhani binti Nadzri, who is now 20 years old, is currently studying in Kolej Poly-Tech Mara in

Kota Bharu, Kelantan, and my youngest sister, Nurilyana binti Nadzri, who is now 13 years old, is

currently studying in the secondary level in Kuala Lumpur.

Due to the occupation of my father, Nadzri bin Che Lah, who is now 49 years old, as an army officer,

me and my family moved around frequently. From the year 1993 until 2007, me and my family spent

our time together in Kem Terendak, located in the state of Malacca. During this time, my mother,

Azmah binti Ishak, who is now 48 years old, works as a supervisor in an electronic factory which

produces electronic goods such as televisions, and radios. Besides that, she was also the head of the

Badan Kebajikan Angkatan Tentera (BAKAT), an organisation which maintains the welfare of all army

personnels’ family. It is here in Kem Terendak that I received my first education at Sekolah

Kebangsaan Kem Terendak 1 (SKKT1). From the year 2000 to the year 2005, I studied there. Then

from the year 2006 until the early Febuary of the year 2007, I continued my secondary level education

at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Ghafar Baba (SGB). After that, me and my family moved to Kota

Kinabalu, which is located in the state of Sabah. From the year 2007 until August 2008, which was a

few months before my Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) exam, I continued my secondary level

education in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Putatan (SMKP). After that, from August 2008 until June

2009, I continued my studies at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bandar Baru Bangi (SMKBBB).

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Then, from June 2009 until December 2012, I continued my studies at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan

Taman Sri Saujana (SMKTSS), sat for my Sijil Pelajaran Menengah (SPM) exam, and then continued

my studies as a Form 6 student in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Laksamana, both schools were

which situated in Kota Tinggi, located in the state of Johor. Now, my family resides in Desa Wangsa

Keramat, Kuala Lumpur, which is locared near the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), and I am here in

Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) continuing my studies in Teaching English as a Second

Language (TESL).

My hobbies are jogging, surfing the Internet, and playing video games. After I finish my studies, I

hope that I could educate to the masses everything that is to be known about the English language. The

reason for this statement is that educating is not restricted to the context of being a teacher, but

educating encompasses many career choices or paths. For example, an English news reporter can open

an English language teaching centre for public citizens to generate extra revenue. Furthermore, the

reporter can utilise the knowledge that he or she has cumulated from their days in the university until

the present day to provide an efficient and consistent English language education.

2.3 AHMAD BUDIMAN BIN OMAR

My name is Ahmad Budiman Bin Omar. I was born by a couple with the profession of

teacher on the 15th September 1993. I was the fifth child from 7 siblings which consist of

3 males and 4 females. Being raised in a teachers quarters, my neighbours were always

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full of integrities. Not to mention, my father was also a discipline teacher in his school.

So, I grew up respecting him and I always have him as my mentor on living my daily life.

I was born in Hospital Taiping and later on moved to a remote area in Perak called Gerik.

Being raised in a remote area like Gerik my parents make sure that me and my other

siblings to experience enough of the peacefulness and unpolluted surroundings.

Living in a remote area, my parents taught me to associate with other peoples more rather

than lives with full of gadgets. One ways I used to associate with other peoples is by

playing football. Football later becomes my hobby and later on change to be my ambition.

As an addition, my father was also a football coach, coaching his school’s football team.

I started playing football for my school when I was standard five. However, my passion

for football did not come with talent. My skills in football just average and I realized it

when I was in my secondary school.

After my STPM, I continued my study in UPSI following my brother’s footstep. I took

TESL as my course in UPSI. My ambition then changes from being a professional

football player to English teacher who coaches football in school.

2.4 SHAFIQ AFFENDY BIN MAT HANAFI

My name is Shafiq Affendy B. Mat Hanafi. I was born in 15 of November 1991.

To tell more about myself, I was born in a poor family and the luxury that we felt now is

the fruit of my father blood and tears. My father works as a policeman. Being raised by a

police officer, discipline is one of the things that been highlighted. I have 4 siblings

including myself. I am the eldest and the only son in the family. I am currently living in

Kulaijaya. My contribution to the group is by completing the task that was given by our

great and glorious leader, comrade Aiman. He is a just and kind leader that grants work to

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each of us according to our capabilities. I had aided to shoulder the great weight that is

carried by our great leader shoulder by providing a bit of slides in the presentation among

other important task. My comrades within the group also had provided their share of

effort into completing the group task. For this, I express my most heartfelt gratitude.

2.5 NUR AIMAN HAZIQ BIN NORAZMAN

My name is Nur Aiman Haziq Bin Norazman. I was born on 9 th September 1993 in

Hospital Besar Kluang, Kluang, Johor. Then until now, me and my family have been

living in Kluang. I am the firstborn within 4 siblings. My other 3 sisters and a brother still

in their secondary school years. My father, Norazman bin Yahya who is now 49 years old

is a retired army and now doing an errand for other peoples like repairing houses, plowing

fields and others. My mom, Rohaizah binti Mansor who is now 48 years old once a

worker in an electronic factory named ASAHI in Kluang and now is a fulltime housewife.

I was under the care of my mother’s grandparents side from newborn up until I was 9

years old. As child that taken care by my grandparents, I can say that I was a very naughty

child and friended with wrong group of teenagers. Later, my father bought our own house

and I was transferred to another primary school and I lived in the school’s hostel. Living

in the hostel changed me a lot to become a more mature child. I was a science stream

student in my upper secondary school but later I further my study in my Pre-University

years in arts stream which majoring in history because of my love towards history. After

graduated, I apply to become a Pengajian Am and History student but then I was enrolled

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as a Tesl student in Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris and now I am in my third year as a

Tesl student.

I have a lot of hobbies, some of it are playing sports such as futsal, taekwondo, badminton

and others. Moreover, I also spend most of my time surfing the Internet and playing video

games. I also like to read novel but my favorites are all the work from Haruki Murakami

because of his style of writing, plot and metaphors that are weird but yet amazing and

astonishing. My all-time favorite novel is Norwegian Woods by Haruki Murakami

himself. The feelings I get from his novel is superbly gloomy and because of its hanging

ending made me felt like I was hanging also.

My hope is I want to become a black belt taekwondo practitioner as I am a red belt now

which require me 6 months from now to become a black belt. Moreover, I really hope that

I can open my own taekwondo club in the future. Furthermore, I hope that after finishing

my degree, I hope that I can help as many people or students I can to improve their

English proficiency and change most of Malaysian stereotypes toward English speaker

especially Malays.

3.0 ABOUT THE AUTHOR (TUNKU HALIM)

Tunku HalimTunku Tan Sri Abdullah or also known as Tunku Halim was born in 1964 is

one of the famous writers in Malaysia. He is a qualifier Barrister from the United

Kingdom after he obtained his Law degree there. He has also been called to the Bar in the

High Court of Malaya and as a solicitor in New South Wales. Not only that, he also holds

a Master of Science degree in Shipping, Trade and Finance ( Distinction ) from the City

University Business School in London. He has also worked in the corporate and business

world but he found something better to do which is writing. From his interview, he stated

that he was sent off to a boarding school in England at the age of 13. He also stated that

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he has been living in Australia for almost 20 years which 10 years in Sydney and another

10 years in Hobart, Tasmania. He also stated that he lives nomadically but he is a frequent

visitor to Malaysia and Australia. Tunku Halim is famous for his horror writing. He

stated in an interview that myths and legends are very important after being born in

Malaysia. Whenever he is not writing, he often posed various yoga position as it is one of

his hobbies other that doing Pilates. Not only that, he also enjoys classical music and

opera. Bob Dylan, David Bowie and Bee Gees are the person who he loves to listen to

when he is not contemplating the eternal silence.

He started his writing in 1997. At the year of 1997, he published two books

simultaneously which are a collection of short stories entitled The Rape of Martha Teoh

and Other Chilling Storites and a novel entitled Dark Demon Rising. Dark Demon Rising

is actually his debut novel. He actually had started his collection of short stories five years

before which mean he started writing scary short stories in the year 1992. In 1995, he

published his second collection of short stories entitled Bloodhaze: 15 Chilling Tales. His

second novel entitled Vermillion Eye was published a year later. As an addition, this novel

was used as a study in the Language and Literature course at The University of Singapore

and was analysed as “masterpiece” in the NUS’s Professor John Phillips in his essay

“Torn Pieces: A New Aesthtic of Trash” in Postmodern Singapore. A Malaysia’s national

newspaper New Straits Times, unknowingly, gave the novel a huge compliment: “… one

of the most unpleasant books I have read in many years.” It is surely a good compliment

for a horror novel to be complimented like that. A year after that in 2001, he published his

third collection of short stories entitled The Woman Who Grew Horns and Other Works.

In this collection, for the first time he included a play, a short play entitled Pig Heart

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which yet to find its way to be performed on stage. Tunku Halim stated that he wanted

these sort stories to be longer, so that they could have a better resonance ad he also

wanted to create some connection between the stories. Most of the tales were deliberate

move away from horror. 6 years later in 2007, he published a twin-volume retrospective

of short stories entitled 44 Cemetery Road and Gravedigger’s Kiss. Both of these books

have been included with several new stories. One of the short story entitled Hawker Man

has found its way into the anthology Dark City 2. In 2008, he published a novella entitled

Juriah’s Song. After that, he then spent about 5 years working on his novel entitled Last

Breath and has been published in the year 2014. This latest novel could be seen as change

of direction in his writing. Tunku Halim himself comment on his work that the elements

of what he had previously written are fundamentally the same, they have just

extrapolated. While he was looking for a publisher to publish the Last Breath novel, he

wrote a collection of seven short stories later on have been made into a book and

published with a title of 7 Days to Midnight in the year of 2013. In the same year, he was

approached by Fixi Novo to republish some of his short stories over the last 15 years into

a book. Surprisingly, the collection with the title Horror Stories has become his best-

selling book.

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3.0 SOCIAL ISSUES IN “A MALAYSIAN RESTAURANT IN LONDON”

Among the social issues that are highlighted in the novel entitled A Malaysian Restaurant

in London written by Tunku Halim Ibrahim is the deep and continuous belief in the

supernatural or paranormal elements. Malaysia is a racially and religiously diversed

country where its citizens practice various faiths or beliefs. And in each religion, one

element stand out as the element that seem to reside in every kind of belief, which is the

belief in the supernatural world and the paranormal beings that exists within the

aforementioned world. And of all the three major races which include the Chinese and the

Indians, none other race were more tied to the supernatural elements than the Malays,

which are the most dominant race of all. They are the ones that holds almost all of the key

positions in all of the sectors, particularly the government sector. Furthermore, the Malay

language is also the national language for the country. So, suffice to say that the influence

of the Malays runs heavily in the daily lives of the average Malaysian citizen. This aspect

here is presented in the third part of the novel, where two of the main characters, Kenny

and Trevor, return to the homeland of Kenny’s late work companion and his own

homeland as well and Trevor’s former lover, Faizah. After attending the wedding

reception of Kenny’s eldest daughter, he and Trevor decided to pay Faizah’s mother,

Aminah who still resides in the village. The purpose of their visit was to enlighten her

mother about the events that happened when Faizah paid Trevor a visit in Seville, which

is located in Spain. From her arrival in Seville, the times that they spent together

sightseeing the historical and inspiring monuments around Seville, as immortalised by

Trevor in his poem :-

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Spirits towering through shadowy realms

Abandon kings and quenns in stately dreams

No sky nor ocean dares steal you from these turrets

Where sunbright love draws mosscovered ever closer

But the event that has been burdening both Trevor and Aminah was the event when

Faizah was shot by some mysterious men. (Slowly, he relates the heart-wrenching

events.....)(Aminah nods....her chest rising and falling.)[pg. 204]. And Trevor even

mentioned about Faizah’s secret, which was her healing abilities. Then, Aminah began to

tell the story of how she was able to heal people, which involved the paranormal beings

that was mentioned before which is the orang bunian or as Trevor and Kenny calls them

“the fairy people”. This here shows how deeply embedded the belief in the supernatural

realm and the paranormal beings like the orang bunian or the fairy people that exists

within the realm among the Malays. And the influence of the belief among the other races

can be seen in Kenny when he and Trevor went hiking in the jungle to search for the

banyan tree that the villagers found Faizah under after she went missing for three weeks

after being guided by Musa, the son of Aminah’s neighbor. At one point during their hike,

their noses caught a rather peculiar but delightful scent. Kenny told Trevor to be silent

while waiting for the scent to pass. Then, Kenny proceeds to tell about the superstitious

belief that is related to the scent, (“They say that if you smell something sweet in the

jungle you shouldn’t mention it because it could be the scent of a female demon or

some other crazy creature. The smell’s meant to attract you...............”)[pg. 219]. And

when Trevor proceeds to ask the question whether he believes that the sweet smell is the

sign of presence of a “female demon or some other scary creature”[pg. 219], Kenny

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nods his head indefinitely, strengthening the fact that the belief of the existence of the

supernatural realm among the Malays also exists within the minds and hearts of other

Malaysians as well. And in extent, through the above fact, it is clearly present that said

belief still exists today in this age of globalisation, where the development of technology

is at a rapid pace, and the world becomes more connected than ever. So, it is surprising to

see that kind of belief still exists today.

Another social issue that is presented by Tunku Halim in this novel is the youth and their

false pretenses towards their future. In A Malaysian Restaurant in London, the story was

set in 1985, (Mikhail Gorbachev called for a new openness in the Soviet Union,

Ronald Reagan was sworn in for a second term as the US President, Rock Hudson

died of AIDS, Britain agreed to return Hong Kong to China and Microsoft released

its Windows operating system)[pg. 22-23], a year where the “...young and the

musicians...”[pg. 22] that they listened to felt like that they “...could do anything.

“Even bringing about world peace.” [pg. 22]. But unlike their vibrant and ambitious

dreams for their future, the dreams and the state of their present lives contradicts far from

the dreams of their future. Rather, the present is very bleak. They go to college just to

pass their examinations than to actually learn. They “...wanted to get by with the least of

efforts.” [pg. 23]. Furthermore, most of them are not very interested as well in their

studies, even though their parents worked really hard for their children to continue their

studies either domestically or internationally. This here fact is present in Kenny during the

first part of the novel where all of them, including Trevor, Faizah, and his older brothers

Robert, and James, were still in London and studying and working their way to pay for

their college fees rather than fully depend on their parents (I was a second year

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Economics student who wasn’t sure what I was going to do after I left university

other than the standard fare of wanting to do delightful things and meet interesting

people...................Although I knew that my parents had sacrificed so much to send

my brothers and I to the UK, I found Economics boring and I couldn’t motivate

myself to study. I just wanted to pass my degree........but I decided that I would help

pay my way through university)[pg. 23]. Even more so with Kenny, James, and Robert,

who came from a family where financing is their forte, although only their father’s

occupation was mentioned. (My father worked almost almost all of his life for a local

bank...”)[pg. 25]. Even Trevor ended up with a bleak future when he moved to Seville

thirty years after Faizah went missing due to their increasing popularity of the restaurant

as a result of putting Hunger Pangs, Faizah’s signature traditional dish on the menu. He

was taking odd jobs in Seville, mostly involving handywork for the foreigners who lived

there (“........Painting, handyman sort of stuff. Mainly for the foreigners, mostly Brits,

who’ve moved here.”)[pg. 126] Before he moved to Seville, he did involve himself in an

investment scheme , but that turned out to be a futile effort, even causing a divorce with

his wife, Jane due to his focus on only working and not spending quality time with his

family. (“........Instead I worked and worked, got involved in business and investment

schemes and gave no time to Jane. Then the investment scheme.............was wound

up. I lost my share in the lighting business after the financial crisis and it had to be

sold. So nothing has worked out as planned.”)[pg. 125]

Another social issue that is present in this novel is the unattended, and unsupervised

lifestyle of Malaysian students who are studying abroad. In the first part of the novel, the

year was 1985, a time where debauchery, regardless of their race and religion was very

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much present in London and in extent, the whole world, and like most years, even today,

people just want to have a good time with some good company. Due to this trend, most of

the Malaysian students, specificallly Kenny, Robert, James, and Faizah who were

studying there were sucked into this kind of lifestyle. They consumed alcohol (“......I’ll

buy you a pint after work......”)[pg. 25], which is something that they would not have

done if they were in Malaysia, under the guise and supervision of tneir parents and family.

And furthermore, there were people of different race and religion who went out together

on dates, who then eventually became a loving couple. This is present in the portrayal of

the relationship between Trevor and Faizah. Trevor may not have known, but if Faizah’s

mother ever found out about their relationship, there is a slight chance that her mother

would forbade their relationship to be continued. This is because most Malay Muslims

were very conservative with almost every aspect of their lives. And judging by the way

Faizah has been living in London when he was together with Trevor, going to concerts

(“He mentioned how he had taken Faizah to a Peter Gabriel concert the previous

Monday.....”)[pg. 33], even deciding to live together, (“About a month later Trevor

told me that he had left his shared house and moved in with Faizah.”)[pg. 44],

Faizah’s mother, Aminah would have been extremely enraged if she ever found out about

how she is living her life in London. Then again, there was the word “slight’ that was

mentioned earlier. In the mid-1980’s where the first part of the story took place, Malay

Muslims back at Malaysia were just starting to be conservative due to constant

reformations by the government and also an increase in awareness among the Malay

Muslim community regarding the importance of living life according to codes and laws of

Islam. Even so, the openness that they have practiced since after they regained their

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independence in 1957 still exists. So, suffice to say that the percentage of Aminah

approving Faizah’s relationship would be much higher compared to the percentage of

Aminah dissapproving of her relationship entirely. This is further backed by how she

reacted when Trevor began to tell the story of their time together, from their first

encounter in London, to the events leading up to Faizah’s death in Seville. (“No need to

apologize..........”)[pg. 206]

5.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTERVIEW: Tunku Halim. (2009, November 12). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/11/interview_tunku_halim/

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