Without ikan bilis

Without Anchovies by Chua Kok Yee

"... In my thirty years of teaching, I have seen many of my former students grow up and take on unexpected roles in life; star athletes have ended up working as illegal car jockeys, mediocre students have become millionaires, and perfectly decent boys are now politicians."
as said by Cikgu Preetam in Perfect Prefect

Heart-rending, hilarious, irreverent, fantastical, macabre and one hundred per cent Malaysian, all at the same time, these twenty-two stories by Chua Kok Yee explore what it is like to live in this bizarre country. And the message is all about hope. These are stories of Malaysian, by a Malaysian, for Malaysians. No apologies asked for, or given.

Chua Kok Yee is an old-fashioned yarn-spinner with a thoroughly modern sensibility, and many of the tales in Without Anchovies would make great short films.

Amir Muhammad
Writer and independent filmmaker

Other new Malaysian books:
1. Rojak by Amir Muhammad
2. Tapai by Hishamuddin Rais

Islamization and Activism in Malaysia

Islamization and Activism in Malaysia by  Julian C.H. Lee

Islamization and Activism in Malaysia examines aspects of the increasing political and social profile of Islam in Malaysia and describes how different kinds of activists in Malaysia have sought to protect fundamental liberties and to improve the state of democracy in Malaysia. In particular, focus is paid to activists who engage with electoral process, the law and the public sphere, and in particular, to movements that cut across or combine these realms of action. Spanning the period of the Prime Ministership of Abdullah Badawi, Julian C.H. Lee's grounded analysis examines the most important issues of that period including the freedom of religion case of Lina Joy, the Islamic state debate, and events surrounding the 8 March 2008 general elections.

Other new books on the shelf:
1. Borneo and Beyond by Peter Eaton
2. Corruption is my Name by Don Patrick




(All these books are available from our online bookshop.)

Penang German Community

More Than Merchants ( A History of the German-speaking Community in Penang 1800s-1940s ) by Khoo Salma Nasution (Areca Books, RM60.00)

One hundred years ago, the port of Penang attracted German and Swiss traders to make their fortunes here. This mercantile community had their own German club, beautiful suburban residences and prominent trading offices along the harbour front.

They made immense contributions to public life, engineering, architecture, photography and postcard publishing in this part of British Malaya, and unduly influenced Anglo-Siamese politics in Southern Thailand.

The S.M.S. Emden’s daring raid on the Penang harbour during the First World War is often recounted, but less well known is the fact that Penang served as a secret U-boat base during the Second World War.

More Than Merchants relates the social history of the German-speaking community in Penang through the stories of individuals, families and companies. Also featured are famous visitors to Penang such as Karl May, Count Friedrich M. von Hochberg, Hans Sturzenegger and Herman Hesse.

Stamford Raffles

In the Footsteps of Stamford Raffles by Nigel Barley (RM 39.90)

Stamford Raffles is that rarest of things — a colonial figure who is forgotten at home but still remembered with affection abroad.

Born into genteel poverty in 1781, he joined the East India Company at the age of fourteen and worked his way up to become Lieutenant Governor of Java when the British seized that island for some five years in 1811. There he fell in love with all things Javanese and vaunted it as a place of civilization as he discovered himself as a man of science as well as commerce. A humane and ever-curious figure, his administration was a period of energetic reform and boisterous research that culminated in his History of Java in 1817 and it remains the starting-point of all subsequent studies of Indonesian culture.

Personal tragedy and ill-health stalked his final years in the East. Yet, though dying at the early age of 44 and dogged by the hostility of lesser men, he would still find time to found the city-state of Singapore and guide it through its first dangerous years. Here, mythologised by the British and demonised by the Dutch, he is more than a remote founding father and remains a charter for its independence and its enduring values.

In this intriguing book, part history, part travelogue, Nigel Barley re-visits the places that were important in the life of Stamford Raffles and evaluates his heritage in an account that is both humorous and insightful.


Other new Malaysian titles (we  received over 30 new titles this week, but we are listing only ten.):

1. Three Thousang Miles to Freedom by Brig MM Pillai, MC (RM 45.00)
2. Metafizik & Kosmopolitanisme (RM 25.00)
3. Apa itu Pencerahan? (RM 15.00)
4. Tiada Paksaan dalam Agama (RM 25.00)
5. Gelombang Kebangkitan Asia (RM 20.00)
6. Nathan Yang Bijak (RM 35.00)
7. Polemik Islam & Dasar Pemerintahan (RM 25.00)
8. Islam & Dasar Pemerintahan (RM 20.00)
9. Menuju Reformasi Rerundingan Islam (RM 35.00)
10.Pengalaman Bertuhan (RM 10.00)

IB: A Life ( The Autobiography of Ibrahim Hussein ) -- Pusaka (RM50.00)

"Art makes you realise the beauty of life itself. It is never about the destination but the journey, and you must enjoy the journey for once you reach the end, that is all there is."

IB: A Life -- The Autobiography of Ibrahim Hussein is a fascinating story of an artist who touched the hearts of everyone he met.

Born in a small village in Kedah in 1936, his remarkable journey would lead him all around the world, but ultimately back home to Malaysia where he died in 2009.

His desire for adventure and his unique storytelling abilities allow us to follow this critically acclaimed artist through the Swinging Sixties in London, the creative pulse of New York, an incident-filled return to Malaysia and the founding of the Ibrahim Hussein Museum and Cultural Foundation up till his final year.

Part told and part collated from a gathering of his own disparate writings - diary entries, meditative sketches, letters, interviews - it presents an intimate and moving narrative of a man and artist in a constant state of brilliant creative restlessness.

Other new Malaysian books:

1. Belas Kasihku Meliputi Segala -- Reza Shah-Kazemi (RM10.00)
2. Testamen Politik -- Republik Anak Muda Malaysia (RM 8.00)
3.Stabil: Puisi dan catatan -- Fared Ayam (RM10.00)
4. Shore to Shore (Tamil) HB -- Muthammal Palisamy (RM40.00)
5. Shore to Shore (Tamil) PB -- Muthammal Palisamy (RM25.00)
6. The Patriot Game -- Kua Kia Soong (RM22.00)
7. 445 Days under ISA -- Kua Sia Soong (RM 25.00)
8. Missing Malaysia -- Dean Johns ((RM22.00)
9. Ethnic Relations in Nation Building -- Various (RM 28.00)