Up Close and Personal December 5, 2019 – Posted in: In The News

By Regina Hoo Meet Rosnan Rahman, Malaysia’s only active male Pak Yong dancer. A USM architecture graduate, Rosnan was introduced to the world of Mak Yong by Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Mohamed Ghouse Nasuruddin, and took to it like a duck to water. “I fell in love with it — the authenticity and the uniqueness of music, costume, dance and history of Mak Yong is very different from other art forms within the performing arts…

Mak Yong – a rich regional tradition under threat – Posted in: In The News

By Regina Hoo The ancient, ritualistic folk theatre Mak Yong was declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by Unesco in 2005 — a proud ﬁrst for “any Malaysian item of cultural heritage”? But though it is an art form steep in tradition and heritage, Mak Yong surprisingly has no “real” history. Theories have been advanced to explain its origins, but none can be conﬁrmed, says Prof. Datuk Dr Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof,…

Sutan Puasa: Founder of Kuala Lumpur December 2, 2019 – Posted in: Reviews

Keywords: Abdur-Razzaq Lubis, Sutan Puasa: Founder of Kuala Lumpur. Areca Books, Penang, 2018, xxxii + 615 pp. ISBN: 9789675719332, price: RM 144.00 (hardcover). Reviewed in Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, Volume 175 (2019): Issue 4 (Nov 2019) Keng We Koh This book is a long-awaited sequel to an earlier study by the same author, Raja Bilah and the Mandailings of Perak. In this monograph, the author shifts…