Transnational cultures of Malaysian, Indonesian, Singaporean, and Philippine national cinema

ABSTRACT

This article proposes a transnational structure for the examination of films from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines based on the concept of Nusantara as a region characterised by a shared worldview, values, and principles. Particular attention is paid to how films from these countries can be studied based on representation through the use of regional themes and cultural codes. Additionally, this article also examines ‘cultural identity’ from shared history and ancestry, something which the cinemas of the four nations and the surrounding populations have in common. And, rather than just seeing films through the national lens it suggests that ‘critical transnationalism’ justifies looking at how the people of these countries view themselves through film representations and determines how to connect them. There are three themes that may provide an answer to the question of shared cultural identities in films of these countries, first, the concept of ‘tanahair’ which in Malay means ‘homeland’, second, the distinctive regional form of mobility called ‘merantau’ (to go on a journey, to wander) and, third, the degree of ambiguity and perplexity among the inhabitants of borderlands in films. This research found that ‘critical transnationalism’ is a reliable way to avoid the constraint of state-centrism in the discussion of films from these Southeast Asian countries.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural identity
• Nusantara
• Tanahair
• Merantau
• borderland

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. For Hall (1989), Derrida’s theory on the way of writing ‘difference’ is ‘a marker which sets up a disturbance in our settled understanding of translation of the concept’ yet it does not help as much as it should. However, the conception of ‘difference’, according to him, is allowing us to rethink the way we ‘position’ and ‘reposition’ (positioning) our cultural identities based on critical junctures (73).

2. The word ‘play’ according to Hall suggests ‘the instability, the permanent unsettlement, the lack of any final resolution’ and also hints at ‘the place where [such] “doubleness” is powerfully to be heard is “playing”’ within the various cultures (Ibid, 73).

3. In Malaysia, the slogan is intended to mean, a Malaysian film should be in the Malay language, with a Malay-majority cast.

4. The Konfrontasi, or Confrontation, was an Indonesian-led conflict against the establishment of Malaysia. Konfrontasi dismantled Maphilindo (Malaya, the Philippines, and Indonesia), a pan-Malayan organisation founded by President of the Philippines Diosdado Macapagal.

5. (1) The northern straits of Malacca (Aceh); (2) The Riau-Singapore network; (3) The Buginese network; (4) The Butonese network; (5) Minangkabau petty trade; (6) The Sulu network; (7) The Trengganu/Kelantan-Thai network; and (8) Networks of the Java sea (93).

6. In the same year, Indonesia’s House of Representatives approved two new decrees marked as Law No. 22/1999 and Law No. 25/1999. These new laws have shifted political and economic power of which previously administered from the centre in Jakarta to subnational, at the local level.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mohd Erman Maharam

Mohd Erman Maharam is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Film, Theatre, and Animation, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor Branch, Malaysia. In addition to his interests in Southeast Asian cinema studies, Erman is a cinematographer and independent film producer based in Malaysia.