In the late 1920s British colonial power in Malaya appeared at its zenith. Run by a small political and commercial elite on behalf of metropolitan interests, Malaya was the most profitable of all Britains possessions and seemed likely to remain that way. Into this scene came a young journalist, George Bilainkin witty, confident, acerbic and iconoclastic appointed by chance as editor of Penangs lively English-language newspaper The Straits Echo in 1929. Through a series of engaging sketches and reflections he discloses a wonderfully compelling portrait of Penang, its personalities and its environs. Looking beyond the complacent colonial façade Bilainkin grapples directly and indirectly with a wide range of topics that have strikingly modern the absurdities of social snobbery; the position of women in society; and, above all, the fraught nature of race relations.
Hail, Penang!
UncategorizedGeorge Bilainkin
2010. Areca Books.
Hardcover, 22.2cmx15.6cm, 271 pages
ISBN 9789675719028
RM40.00
Only 32 left in stock
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