‘SPUN WITHIN THE BRAIN, WOVEN IN THE HEART’

Abstract

Among the literary studies of R.J. Wilkinson (1867–1941) – an administrator-scholar of diverse interests and the compiler of the famous Malay-English dictionary – his survey Malay literature: romance, history, poetry (1907) occupies a special place. Published in the series, ‘Papers on Malay subjects’, created by Wilkinson with a view to broadening prospective colonial officials' understanding of the Malays, this survey drew material from both his ‘field studies’ and from written texts, often Singaporean lithographs. The use of these sources, more demotic than was usually the case in Malay studies at the time, influenced Wilkinson's insights into the significance of the oral element in traditional Malay literature, the nature of its creators' literary views and their audiences' particular characteristics. A number of his pioneering ideas have been confirmed and further elaborated by contemporary students of traditional Malay literature. At the same time, Wilkinson's survey, like his other works, had the overarching task of defending the ‘Malay cause’, which he understood as the conservation of Malay traditions and customs combined with their development. It is precisely this approach that explains Wilkinson's position vis-à-vis traditional Malay literature, which is expressed in the survey through what can metaphorically be viewed as a theatrical performance, with a ‘Malay rhapsodist’, a ‘pedantic scribe’, a ‘European’ and ‘Wilkinson’ himself as its characters.

Notes

¹For bibliographies of Wilkinson's works, see Lim Huck Tee and Wijasuriya 1970: 151–52, National Union 1968–1980, 664: 112–14.

²There were in fact two series of ‘Papers on Malay subjects’. In the first series under the general editorship of Wilkinson, 17 issues were published, of which Wilkinson wrote ten: the literary survey, Malay proverbs on Malay character (1907), Letter-writing (1907), Introductory sketch for the publications on Malay law (1908), Events prior to British ascendancy (1908), Notes on Perak history (1908; two latter works were published as a single pamphlet and enlarged and corrected in 1920 and 1923), The incidents of Malay life (1908), Council minutes, Perak, 1880–82 (1909), Malay amusements (1910), The aboriginal tribes (1910), and Notes on Negri Sembilan (1911). In the second series under the Committee for Malay Studies of Federated Malay States with Wilkinson as its chair, he published two more issues: Sri Menanti (1914) and A vocabulary of central Sakai dialect of the aboriginal communities in the Gopeng valley (1915). For more details on ‘Papers on Malay subjects’, see Gibson-Hill 1952, Burns 1971.

³In the introduction, the survey quotes this characterisation from Wilkinson's Statement, which was written on the direction of E. Birch in 1906. Appended to Birch's memorandum The Malay race in FMS, which contained critical comments with regard to the government's policy towards the Malays, the Statement was addressed to the Resident General to be forwarded to the High Commissioner (see Burns 1971: 4–5). The complete text of the characterisation runs as follows: ‘It is generally admitted that there is no shyer, prouder, more sensitive race than the Malays. They do not lightly accord their confidence to officers whom they do not know, who are moreover actually ignorant of traditions which are a commonplace amongst the people whose interests they try to serve. The Malays are not pushful persons […], so they are apt to go unheard. But education is spreading amongst them, and their needs will be more insistently put forward soon’ (quote from Wilkinson 1907: iv).

⁴While describing his work on the dictionary in Singapore in the late 1890s, Wilkinson remarks: ‘Much of the best Malay literature was unprinted and could only be studied in manuscript at places like London, Leyden and Batavia. Fresh MSS had to be procured, if possible. On my paying good prices many texts came my way. They included two copies of the Hikayat Koris […]; one of the Chekel Waneng Pati […]; one of Hikayat Bestamam […]; three of the Sang Samba; four each of the Parang Puting and Putra Jaya Pati; and others […]; most interesting of all to me was a version of the Hikayat Iskandar Dzulkarnain […]’ (Wilkinson 1932, 1: i–ii). The list of manuscripts quoted by Wilkinson is far from being complete. In fact, in 1900 and 1910 he donated his collection of 66 manuscripts of various literary genres to Cambridge University Library (Ricklefs and Voorhoeve 1977: 112–19). In the reference section of his dictionary he quotes 17 manuscripts, mostly of very famous and representative hikayat and syair from this collection (Wilkinson 1932, 2: 658–62). Almost all the works contained in these manuscripts are also discussed in Wilkinson's survey of Malay literature.

⁵In contrast to to de Hollander, Wilkinson mentions lithographs, both generally as a literary medium and more particularly as specific lithographed works, quite often. His good knowledge of lithographs can be further confirmed by a long list of them (including 47 titles) in the reference section of his dictionary. This ‘tradition’ continued, and if in C. Hooykaas's Over Maleische literatuur (first published in 1937) we find only two references to lithographs (Hikayat Sinar Bulan and Hikayat Marakarma), R.O. Winstedt, in A history of Malay literature (1939), refers to many dozens of lithographs. This preference of British scholars can be easily explained by the lack of significant manuscript collections in Malaya of that time. However, at least in the case of Wilkinson, it drew the scholar's attention to a living and flourishing literary culture, more widely spread, accessible and popular than that of the epoch of manuscripts. New print runs of favourite works composed in different eras not only helped to clearly define the literary tastes of the Malay readership, but also created an impression that Malay literature was a synchronic phenomenon, thus weakening the significance of its historical development. Moreover, in comparison with some literary works in their manuscript versions, in lithographs they were simplified, ‘folklorised’ and ‘democratised’ in the spirit of popular culture (cf. Braginsky 2004: 511), which brought them closer to the oral compositions so dear to Wilkinson's heart. All these factors played an important role in the formation of Wilkinson's perception of Malay literature, bringing forth a number of its salient features that anticipate and echo contemporary approaches (see below). It is not by chance that, in his groundbreaking book Authors and audiences in traditional Malay literature, Amin Sweeney called Wilkinson ‘one of the most sensitive of colonial administrators’ (Sweeney 1980: 4).