Rocking the Home Team with a Lot of Hot Poop in WW II Malaya
I was looking through digitized materials in the Australian National Archives when I came across this “mirror typed letter” that was sent to Captain J. L. Chapman, a member of…
Pua Kumbu and Digital Knowledge Mobilization
On a recent trip to Malaysia I visited an exhibition on Textile Tales of Pua Kumbu at the University of Malaya Art Gallery that really impressed me. Pua kumbu are…
Viewing the Past: The Belle of Penang
As it became clear that the Chinese Communists would gain control of the mainland in 1949, many members of Shanghai’s film industry relocated to Hong Kong. Hong Kong already had…
Remixing the Past: Shoveling Lunatics in Colonial Malaya
I was looking through a book called An Illustrated Guide to the Federated Malay States. This book was published at least three times (in 1910, 1911 and 1920), and is…
Swimming with Crocodiles in 1934 Malaya
I came across an amazing movie from 1934 called “Beyond Bengal.” It is the record of an expedition into the Malayan jungle by American “explorer” Harry Schenck. The film was…
Chinese Rushed in Where Tamil Rubber Tappers Feared to Tread in Early-20th-Century Malaya and Sarawak
I recently read an article in The Sarawak Gazette from September 2, 1929 entitled “The Tamil Cooly” which contained the following passage: “Though the Tamil is an orthodox Hindu by…
Mahjong and Dondang Sayang
A few weeks ago I wrote about a new book with accompanying CDs called Longing for the Past: The 78 rpm Era in Southeast Asia. One of the songs in…
Malaya’s Multiethnic Military?
I came across these images today by using the Online Public Access page of the US National Archives. Apparently the US Information Agency created these posters in 1953. Written in…
A Letter from Lord of Thailand Tengku Abdullah Osman
On 21 October 1945, Lord of Thailand Tengku Abdullah Osman sent a letter to “Mr. D. Headley, Lieutnent (sic) Colonel & Chief Commander Civil Affairs, Trengganu Government.” Headley probably found…
Defoliants in the Malayan Emergency
I was looking at materials that are now available online through the National Archives of the UK. Records from the Colonial Office have not been digitized, but “cabinet papers” have,…