ABSTRACT

By and large, writings on modern Malay literary history by local as well as foreign scholars often forward Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Munsyi as the Father of Modern Malay Literature. Within the Malay literary scholarship this construct is hardly disputed, the only significant challenge being that voiced by Syed Naguib Al-attas who contended that Hamzah Fansuri, a seventeenth century poet and mystic (1589–1650 Barus, Aceh), was more deserving of the title. According to Naguib, Flamzah's works demonstrate sophisticated philosophical discourse absent in literary works before. Naguib's viewpoint, however, elicits little interest and initiates no serious re-evaluation of the construct and Abdullah Munsyi remains the watershed in modern Malay literary history, the tokoh or figure who ushers in ‘modernisation’ in Malay literature. That this construct persists to this day is amply seen in the two recently published volumes on Malay literary history, Modern Malay Literary History; Volumes I and 71, which adopt Abdullah as the take-off point of modern Malay literature. Published in 1992 by Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka (DBP), a quasi-government body recognised as the custodian of Malay language, literature and culture, the ‘history’ enjoys the authority and credibilty with which DBP, as an official organ, is invested. Thus to all intents and purposes the construct which has Abdullah as the Father of Modern Malay Literature remains to this day the ‘standard’ or accepted version of modern Malay literary history. It is the aim of this paper to examine the processes by which Abdullah attained this singular landmark position and the notion of ‘modernity’ which underpinned the consensus.