How does fiction imagine Malaysia in different times? Part 3: The Future
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How does fiction imagine Malaysia in different times? Part 1: The Past
How does fiction imagine Malaysia in different times? Part 2: The Present
Okay, let’s be honest. There aren’t that many books that feature Malaysia in the future. We’re not exactly sure why this is the case: perhaps it is because works set in this time period are usually fantasy and science fiction, which are still regarded as niche genres in Malaysia?
This is not to say futuristic Malaysian works do not exist: notable examples are the anthology Cyberpunk Malaysia edited by Zen Cho and Joshua Paraputnam’s A Blue Moon (which, due to the passage of time, is now alternate history!). Local publisher Simptomatik Press also publishes science fiction in Malay, including anthologies such as Resesif by Nor Azida Ishak, and Biohazard by Kushairi Zunaidi. Many Malaysian authors have also had their science fiction stories published in prestigious international websites and ’zines such as Strange Horizons.
Quite a few of these stories feature aspects of Malaysian life and culture combined with sci-fi tropes such as time travel, robotics or technological discovery.
One prominent local writer of speculative fiction (a broad term for fantasy, horror and science fiction) in English is Fadzlishah Johanabas. He has published over 25 short stories on Malaysian and international platforms. He is also a registered neurosurgeon at Hospital Kuala Lumpur.
His anthology, Faith And The Machine, contains many depictions of a future Malaysia. The story Act Of Faith, for example, features an android learning about Islam from a Malaysian Muslim family, while Equatorial Snow is set in a Kuala Lumpur that is covered in snow due to environmental disaster. The Cure, on the other hand, is a scientific take on vampires in our country in 2063.
Fadlishah Johanabas is the author of the anthology Faith And the Machine.
What, to you, is the appeal of writing fiction set in Malaysia’s future?
I guess I like possibilities. I enjoy looking at events happening now, and extrapolating them into the future! And if you look at works set in the future, they are usually very white. We Asians are usually secondary characters, and if they show another culture, it’s usually to add an exotic touch.
There aren’t many science fiction writers who write in English from Asian countries. We have writers from China who like to write speculative fiction, but there is nothing set here, in Malaysia! When I started, there were none.
How were you introduced to writing science fiction?
I actually started with reading fantasy. I started with stuff like Narnia and Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree, and then moved on to things like Dragonlance and the Forgotten Realms. But apparently, writing fantasy in Islam is kind of a taboo, especially with the idea of multiple deities and all. When you touch theology, it can be a bit difficult.
So I started writing science fiction. Not to say it’s more compatible, but you can imagine Islam in the future. That’s how my story Act Of Faith came into being. I actually have stories in my head about what Muslims would do in space. Like, if our kiblat is the Kaaba, and when you’re in space, what happens to the kiblat? Will it be Earth in general?
What makes a work feel exclusively Malaysian?
It’s not just about the setting. It can be space a few hundred years from now! As Malaysians, we have our own culture, our own mannerisms and our own nuances that only we can understand. For my stories that are set locally, most of my characters are Malay, because that’s the culture I grew up in, and so it comes easiest to me. So we have, for example, certain ways where a mother conveys her love to her children, or how a husband interacts with his wife.
It’s in things like how we take off our shoes before we enter a house, how we take care of each other, how we interact with each other, the food we eat. So it’s those things that make a story Malaysian, not just the language or setting.
When I wrote for COSMOS magazine, I first wrote about equatorial snow. I submitted the story, and the fiction editor told me he liked my writing, he liked the exoticness of it, but the science was just out. He told me to write something with believable science and then we’d talk. So I wrote Act Of Faith, sent it to him and he liked it.
So it depends on the spectrum of science fiction you’re writing. If it’s hard science, then you really need to know the deep details, and sometimes your story can read like a journal. Or you can have social science fiction. That you need just enough science to make it believable. For me it’s easy, I write medical science fiction, so I use my medical knowledge to augment it. But a person doesn’t need to be a doctor or be in the medical field to write medical science fiction. They just need to do their research. You always need to do your research.
What are some common mistakes that people do when writing about the future?
One is not enough description to root the story in place. Or too much description, till it bores the reader. So it’s difficult to find a balance. Also, there’s talking down to the readers, not trusting them. And then there are trick endings! Malaysian writers really like that, I don’t know why! They write this meandering story, and then it suddenly ends abruptly with the twist, like that. And they also tend to recycle the same stories over and over again.
Are there any aspects of Malaysian culture you’d like to see more in speculative fiction?
Our multiracial culture. Regardless of whatever gripes we hear on the news, we generally live in harmony. It can be tenuous, but there is still a unity and togetherness here. And we can write about that. And why not have nasi lemak in space? Or maybe a Malaysia-centric space ship shaped like a wau? We can definitely have that.
Why is it important to have stories set in Malaysia in the future?
In a way, it’s how we promote Malaysia to the world. Science fiction is especially US-centric. We have very few references to Malaysia there. So Cyberpunk Malaysia, for example was an introduction to outsiders about Malaysian science fiction. I had people who’ve read Act Of Faith, and wrote to me, saying they’d never seen Islam portrayed in such a peaceful manner. To them, Islam (in fiction) was mostly about jihad and terrorism, so this was a different depiction of it. People nowadays are looking for stories which are different.
And we have a lot of stories to tell! I write a lot of Malay characters because that’s what I’m used to. But I’d like to see more speculative fiction with the Chinese community, like what Zen Cho is doing. I’d like to see more stories about the Indian community, and the East Malaysians. I don’t want just the basic stories, I’d like to see international quality stories. There are so many Malaysian stories to tell! Why do we need to pander to the American market with a Western setting? There are already so many stories like that.
Source : Star2.com
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