Malay Editorial Cartoons in the 1930s: Humour and Sarcasm in Visualising the Other

Abstract

This article defines Malay identity through their portrayal of the Malay Other - the Arabs, Indian Muslims and the Europeans. The Arabs and Peranakan Arabs were identified as foreigners in disguise, the Europeans colonisers as harbingers of modernity. From this perspective not much have been written, using editorial cartoons in Malaysia. This article then focuses on the depiction by the Malay of what constitutes the foreigner (and the West). The medium of the cartoon was a recent innovation in Malay-language newspapers, having first appeared in the first issue of Warta Jenaka a weekly pictorial newspaper on 7 September of 1936. This article surveys three major periodicals in the 1930s including that of Warta Ahad and Utusan Zaman in their construction of ambivalence toward colonialism and Western influence. These were the inter-war years.  The periodicals capture Malay sentiments couched in humor and sarcasm ranging from the proximate culture of the Arabs to British or European notions of race, modernity and progress. It is cognizant of the colonial condition and the milieu and the inherent character of the Malay press, serving as instruments of criticism and satire. The visual ethno- nationalistic discourse is observed with regard to the trajectory of modernity brought into Malay awareness during the period.