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Last Saturday, I attended the launch of Amir Muhammad’s latest project, New Malaysian Essays 1. Four of the writers, Brian Yap, Saharil Hasrin Sanin, Aminuddin Mahmud and Amir himself were at the Annexe Studio, Central Market for the launch.

New Malaysian Essays 1 is the first of an annual series of non-fiction writings on Malaysia. There are six interesting essays by six distinguished writers. Other writers including Sonia Randhawa and Burhan Baki. The cool cover, layout and design of the book was done by Bright Lights At Midnight. Have to say that the cover was really, really spot on. Another cool thing about the book is that it has got more footnotes than my law textbooks, and there are index pages, too! At the event (and also in the preface), Amir told that the book was inspired by similar genus of serial publications from Singapore (Focas, now defunct) and Indonesia, of which the feel and look are incorporated into the Malaysian version. To that, Amir hit the infamous tourism tagline, “Malaysia truly Asia”. Amir also said that New Malaysian Essays contained fresh writings because he felt that most Malaysian non-fiction books are compilation of previously published newspaper column writings.

The well known writer-cum-filmmaker seemed to have paid very close attention to detail in every aspect of this book. He (jokingly) told those who present that night how he was split for choices to either use the “Shahrizat paper” or “Zaid Ibrahim paper”. Both well-known UMNO politicians have a book each. The punch line - how much UMNO control over everything in the country, even to papers for book printing - was rather dry, not many people really got it, I guess.

On the public reception of this book, Amir told that he was “worried”. His earlier publication, Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things, was well received with volume 2 to be released later this year. The compilation, according to Amir, was intended largely for those “who don’t read“. I guess he ‘worries’ no more when 113 books were sold at the event of about 200 attendees (his own account). There was this one auntie who bought four or five, for late Christmas present, perhaps.

I forgot to ask this to Amir or anybody that night. The title. Is it New Malaysian Essays as in Malaysian punya New Essays or New Malaysian punya Essays? If the latter, what does it mean by new Malaysian? Are we now living in some sort of a new kind of divide, the Malaysians and the New Malaysians?

I have finished reading Brian Yap’s The Trouble with Malaysia which was published (as pictured right with illustrations by Rebecca Chew) in this month’s Off The Edge (yeah, the one with Marina Mahathir as the sassy covergirl). Brian’s piece, I think, was the least interesting of all six. It’s not that it was all boring or anything. It’s just that it was more or less a summary of issues that have been highlighted in many socio-political blogs last year, those that I am, and probably other a few hundred thousands Malaysians, well aware of. You know, things like Zakaria’s illegally-built mansion, untold leftist histories of pre-Independence Malaya, keris-waving at UMNO general assembly, those kinda stuffs lah.

I could summed up that the trouble with Malaysia, so to say, is that there are just too many of them. Almost everyone or everything Malaysian or in Malaysia is with widely damaging problems. The lack of people trying to solve them and excess of those who create more were not helping either. A footnote from Brian’s essay, which made me ponder about my national identity for quite a while:

27 Malaysians don’t like to read. If you’re reading this, you must not be liking it, or not Malaysian.

(This is slightly related to the Malaysia’s trouble. I was very annoyed about the plastic bags wastage at the launch. There are people only bought one or two books but given a relatively huge orange pasar malam bags. Some even toted bags big enough to carry the books the purchased. Everybody, just please reduce plastic bags usage.)

Aminuddin Mahmud wrote Branding - Mamak Style which I think the most interesting one. Amir’s account on the writer, from what I can remember right now, being Aminuddin had been trying to talk to him about branding, but being Amir, he didn’t buy into it. Then he came up with “branding and mamak” and it ended up in this book.

Teroris Bahasa by the shy writer (who declined to give a speech that night, even after has been called for many times), Saharil Hasrin Sanin, as the title indicates, was about the national language. He courageously used a dozen or so words which many of us are not really keen on saying nor hearing of. But the nature of the piece was nothing degrading or vulgar. It’s purely intellectually well-written.

Other essays are: Unwelcome Words by Amir Muhammad (an interesting some (“New”?) Malaysian lingo lesson); Yes, We Must Move On: Theoretical Notes on Various Things Malaysian by Burhan Baki and A Manifesto for Independence: Fifty Years to Merdeka? by Sonia Randhawa. I have yet to start reading the last two pieces though.

At the launch that nite, Mia Palencia and Jerome Kugan entertained the crowd with lively, as Mia put it, “everything DIY” performances. They both have new records coming out. Bernice Chauly and Chuah Guat Eng were also there promoting their books.