Book Review: The Towns of Malaya

[an error occurred while processing this directive] The Towns of Malaya by Dr. Neil Khor, Mariana Isa and Maganjeet Kaur. (19 July, 2017)


Name: The Towns of Malaya
Authors: Dr Neil Khor, Mariana Isa and Maganjeet Kaur
Publisher: Editions Didier Millet Sdn Bhd
Price: RM99
ISBN: 978-981-4610-22-3
Review Date: 19 July, 2017

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The Towns of Malaya is a book that traces the history of the various towns in Peninsular Malaysia, right up to 1957. Published by Editions Didier Millet in 2017, it was co-authored by Dr Neil Khor, Mariana Isa and Maganjeet Kaur. This is indeed and refreshing and timely book. If you have no chance yet to peruse it, let me take you by the hand and show you all the I love about this book, as well as a couple of issues I have with it.

If you live in Penang, as I do, and you step into an academic bookstore, you will be confronted with a plethora of books on Penang. The number of books written about Penang outweighs its size, and outnumber those published for many much larger cities. On the other hand, cities and towns in Peninsular Malaysia that are smaller Penang, or even Kuala Lumpur, are often neglected. It is therefore so refreshing to see this book being published. Finally, the lesser towns of the peninsula have a chance in the spotlight.

I like it that the authors start of our journey by providing us a map of Malaya from 1937, and adding to it the page numbers for each town mentioned. That helps us zoom in to learn the history of the town in question, and I am sure most people will head straightaway to the page on their hometown before reading anything else.

Rather than arranging the towns alphabetically, or randomly, or by size, the authors of The Towns of Malaya have taken to group them according to their characteristics. Therefore, royal towns are grouped together, followed by port towns, mining towns, and those that do not fall under any of the three aforementioned categories. This neat presentation allows us to have a clearer appreciation of each featured town and its development. On top of that, there is a period map of the town accompanied by period photographs, and often, people who have an intimate relationship with the town are roped in to contribute an insight.

The Towns of Malaya is very easy to read, and is richly illustrated. The names of the towns shown are based on how they appear before Independence. So, Alor Setar is shown as Alor Star, while Port Klang is shown as Port Swettenham. Keeping to the period when Peninsular Malaysia was Malaya, the book offers its readers a glimpse into the past.

Having said this, The Towns of Malaya is not without its flaws. The first - though minor - is on the cover itself, where the three co-authors' names are shown as "Dr Neil Khor, Mariana Isa and Maganjeet Kaur". It should be clear to all that the names are not arranged in alphabetical order, and the one first mentioned is the principal author or lead author, while the other two, who previously collaborated to produce Kuala Lumpur Street Names, provided research assistance and secondary authorship. However, Dr Seuss aside, it is usual practise to drop your personal title when placing your name as author. When Prof. Emeritus Dr. Ahmat Adam wrote Antara Sejarah dan Mitos, he simply called himself Ahmat Adam. And all of Dr Henry Kissinger's books mention him as Henry Kissinger. The principal co-author of this book has published before, and as far as I can tell, the personal title does not appear in his previous books, so why now? Was it at his own insistence, or was it forced on him by his co-authors or editor? While it is not wrong, it comes across as tacky.

The second bone I have to pick with The Towns of Malaya is, although it is a very informative book, it is sadly lacking in itemised substantiation. While it does have a glossary and a bibliography, it does not provide any referencing footnotes to the facts and figures it dishes out. It's fine is you're stating a commonly known information (just as example: "not all Malaysians are Malays"), it is not so fine if you're mentioning something that is not commonly known, and especially if it going to cause a surprise (just example, not actual: "three quarters of Malaysians come from Mars"). The reader will demand to know where on earth the authors got the information. We could not accept whatever is stated just because you say it. We want to independently verify it. If you want people to accept what you say, it is not about parading your doctorate, it is about showing that piece of your homework. The absence of footnotes makes it difficult for well-read readers to take it seriously.

On the whole, The Towns of Malaya is a commendable effort, and for those who are keen to learn the history of the various towns of Peninsular Malaysia, they should get a copy.

The Towns of Malaya is richly illustrated with period photographs and maps of every featured town. (19 July, 2017)

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