4
thSEARCH International Conference Proceedings Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya,
May 28-29, 2015
Mohd Muzhafar Idrus, Ruzy Suliza Hashim, Raihanah, M.M.
Title: Contemporary Risks and Opportunities: Re-localizing
Malayness in Popular TV Fiction
Contemporary Risks and Opportunities: Re-localizing Malayness in Popular TV Fiction
Mohd Muzhafar Idrus muzhafar.idrus@gmail.com Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia
Ruzy Suliza Hashim ruzyhashim@gmail.com Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Raihanah M. M.
raihanah.mydin@gmail.com Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
The escalation of Malay television fiction (TV fiction, hereafter) series in recent years can be partly explained by TV producers tailoring their products to match the patterns of audience’s pleasure. Themes of love dominate the plots, and almost always the good is pitted against evil, rich against poor, where ultimately the good always wins. The formula may be clichéd, but in a world where news of war, terrorism, diseases, and conflicts often make the headlines, respite from harsh realities of life can often be found in TV fiction. This paper focuses on three TV series, Julia, On Dhia, and Adam & Hawa which draw over 11 million viewers in 2013 to study how these series highlight the return to the imaginary ‘good old days’
that reiterates Malay cultural identities. Specifically, despite their constant engagement with Western imposed modernization, the TV fiction set against the backdrop of globalization can encourage TV viewers to regress, re-routing their ways to rediscover their ‘local’ that is often dismissed, neglected, or forgotten.
Premised on this postcolonial perspective, selected TV fiction’s narrative exchanges are analyzed using conversation analysis (Hutchby & Wooffitt, 2008).
Drawing from theory of cultural hybridity, it is highlighted that these series show reversion to Malay adat (customs) in Julia, On Dhia, and Adam & Hawa, useful for understanding of the (re)making of Malayness. This regress to Malay adat through precepts of forgiveness and repentance governs the Malay Muslim worldviews;
although the TV fiction set in modern settings can potentially disrupt and risk local sensitivities and norms, re-localization of Malayness holds that Malay subjects will remain allegiant to the receptacle of recognizable, local Malay tradition.
Keywords: Malayness; postcolonial literature; conversation analysis; cultural hybridity;
popular TV fiction
About the authors
Mohd Muzhafar Idrus is an ESL instructor at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia. He majored in TESOL while pursuing his MA at West Virginia University. His research interests include postcolonial literature, sociology, and popular culture.
Ruzy Suliza Hashim (Ph.D) is Professor of Literature at the School of Language Studies &
Linguistics, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. She obtained her BA with Honors from University of Otago, MA in Sociology of Literature from Essex University, and PhD (Literature) from University of Otago.
Raihanah M. M. (Ph.D) is Associate Professor at the School of Language Studies & Linguistics, National University of Malaysia. Her research areas include minority fiction, Muslim diaspora, and SOTL.
Introduction
Recent contemporary risks concerning violence, wars, and conflicts in the world might have led to the questioning of the vulnerability of risks both at the individual and collective interactions.
Not too long ago, series of racially-motivated attacks and confrontations between South Asian immigrants and Whites in United Kingdom, for instance, have motivated scholars to examine such perils from historical and cultural lenses (Kraidy, 2002; Shim, 2006; Shome and Hegde, 2002). In Malaysia, 4.5 million adolescence aged 15 to 25 years old are at-risk, with at least 500, 000 individuals admitted to have been involved in violence and crimes (Johan, 2014; Samsudin 2010, p. 24), while Malaysians at work and schools have each reported a jump from 542 cases in 2013 to 2,011 reports in 2014, whose delinquency includes, but are not limited to homicides, rape, theft, felony, and (aggravated) battery (Johan, 2014; Government Transformation Program, 2014). In sum, school students are increasingly exposed to crimes as staggering 1,632 cases are filed in 2014 as opposed to 1,042 in 2013 (Johan, 2014; Government Transformation Program, 2014). Statistics, while not unanimous, generally supported a concern. Nationally, these were interspersed with fragments of institutions and government who seek top-down approaches for interventions and strategies. Early detection, prison improvement programs, intensified arrests, increased court trials, and improved psychological centers (Care and Cure Clinics) have resulted in the decline of street-related crimes (39.7% drop) and reduced public perception on crimes (52.8% public satisfaction) (Samsudin, 2010; Government Transformation Program, 2014;
Ministry of Home Affairs, 2015).
Despite the nuanced reading of these intervention strategies, what is missing from these issues was and is a discussion of the ways in which individuals exploit and seek respite from harsh realities of life, frequently captured in non-instutionalized, everyday experiences. One particularly feasible way of doing so is through examining television fiction (hereafter, TV fiction). This article aims at addressing this issue pertaining to popular Malay TV fiction, with the objective of studying the ways in which familiar themes such as nation and cultural identity in relation to particular social and cultural relationships and interactions are interrogated. The key to examining this aspect, as we argue, lies in an investigation on TV fiction’s narrative exchange to determine the ways in which these narratives suggest localization and navigation to Malay contexts using
cultural hybridity. The term “cultural hybridity” is often used to speak of globalization and most importantly, postcolonial contexts. We wish to draw on this term and recontextualize and expand its employment to incorporate the cleavages of re-localization of Malay cultural identity potentially existing in the TV fiction’s narrative exchange. On one level, one can undeniably surmise and react to issues that transgress borders of culture and religion through distinct controversial, taboo, and sin-related issues manifested in TV fiction. On another level, however, one identifies the TV series with the familiar, localized markers and indexes with reference to Malayness and its associated conceptions.
Premised on globalization, we will firstly discuss how cultural hybridity is relevant to our discussion in TV fiction’s narrative exchanges, pushing the boundaries of global and Malay local.
It takes attention to examining how Malayness interacts with global and modern TV fiction, considering previous insights on the involvement of the TV series and Malay cultural identities. It then shifts its trajectory to elaborate on two issues – forgiveness and repentance that encapsulate the localities of Malayness. The motivation to examine these two notions is firstly because our analysis have orchestrated the preponderance and emerging microcosms of forgiveness and repentance as constantly recurring, circulating, and dominant (Mohd Muzhafar Idrus, 2015a, 2015b). Because of these refigurations and dominance, we press these issues further to support our contention in bringing readings describing TV series that potentially connect with Malay local
‘pasts.’ Secondly, although recent readings by Chong (2005), Dahlia (2010, 2012), Hussin (1993), Liow (2009), Martinez (2004), Maznah (2008, 2011), Norman (2013), Peletz (2005), Rosya (2011), Rosya and Morris (2014), Ruzy and Shahizah (2010), Syed (2011a, 2011b, 2011c), Syed and Hamzah (2012), Syed and Runnel (2013), and Weiss (2004) have examined broadly on Malay ‘local,’ aspects of forgiveness and repentance from the perspectives of TV fiction are neglected. We examine, in addition, whether TV fiction functions as a space that offers a voice to alternative narratives that depart from the elite constructions of the Malay selves. In the final part of the paper, we reflect on the broad implications of our findings, specifically from the point of view of the cultural frames which is continually adjusted by globalized and localized spaces.
Examining the extent to which these verbal exchanges in Julia, On Dhia, and Adam & Hawa provide an alternative space for finding respite from contemporary social and cultural, global risks is the key implication of the study. By doing so, realignments are made cementing TV fiction and re-localization of Malayness in the form of TV’s narrative exchanges as the ensuing discussion will show.
Globalization, Cultural Hybridity, and TV Fiction
Before we get into discussion of cultural hybridity, we would first like to dwell on the notion of
“globalization,” which is often used in three ways. The first approach signifies globalization as an entity on which cultural imperialism has developed (Shim, 2006). While this strand may have probably evolved from America, this approach denies and de-emphasizes national and (local) cultural identities. This approach, while being used variably throughout wide political settings, is considered a one-way direction of a Western idea resulting in the increased plurality of the local that leads to the proliferation of “cultural proximity” (Straubhaar, 2007). In the second vein, globalization lends credence to the outcome of modernity projects (Giddens, 1991). Centered on the integration and accentuation of modernities, this idea pushes the boundaries of the local and global because “the increasing traffic between cultures that the globalization process brings
suggests that the dissolution of the link between culture and place is accompanied by an intermingling of these disembedded cultural practice, producing new complex hybrid forms of culture” (Tomlinson, 1999, p.141).
Thirdly and what is argued as the thrust of this study is cultural hybridity of globalization that signifies power distribution between the periphery and center from the viewpoint of postcoloniality (Featherstone, 1995; Kraidy, 2002; Kusno, 1998; Shome and Hegde, 2002;
Srivastava, 1996; Shim, 2006; Yeoh, 2001). In this sense, it maintains that the complex relations between being local and global may result in one way or another, forms of re-localization, resisting the global forces. Specifically, although TV series embrace liberal, modern, and western elements (Cho, 2010; Eswari, 2014; Maznah, 2008, 2011; Mohd Muzhafar, Ruzy, and Raihanah, 2014a, 2014b, 2014c, 2015a, 2015b; Samsudin and Latiffah, 2011; Siti Zanariah, 2011), globalization, to a certain extent, encourages youth to rediscover their local “that they have forgotten in their drive towards Western-imposed modernization during the past decades”
(Shim, 2006, p. 27). In Asia, examples of re-localization include individuals in China, India, Talibans in Afghanistan or youth involved in the recent North Sulu Borneo dispute over (home) (host) land that exist in the boundaries of the Phillippines and Malaysia (Campbell, 2013; Heng, 2013; Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2015) who actively recall the return to the imaginary good old days, revisiting and strengthening their cultural roots. In the local Malay scene, the scholarship of, among many others, Hussin (1993), Liow (2009), Peletz (2005), and Weiss (2004) offers insights into broader economic and political contexts within which Malayness are elaborated.
However, how has cultural hybridity as seen in TV fiction intensified from the burgeoning industry of popular TV fiction given the recent economic, political, and social perils?
Our article argues that, as the narratives exchanges of Julia, On Dhia, and Adam & Hawa exist within the spaces of modernity, these TV fiction also invariably entails a regress to local customs and culture in particular to Malay adat (customs). From issues that preserve, contest, integrate, diffuse, blur, and alternate Malayness, this notion of re-localization, based on our intuition, is also applicable to the context of TV fiction that intertweave shifting, interchangeable, and overlapping notions of globalization and postcoloniality. In this sense, postcoloniality functions as a rhetorical device that not only pushes the boundary of knowledge, but also unlocks the convergence of nation, modernity, and cultural identity. In exploring the TV series’ verbal exchanges, the richness of these TV texts provide a “source of cultural knowledge” that “can be quite usefully utilized to excavate the plurality of voices in ways that can tell us how the
‘encasement’ of Malay” (Maznah, 2008, p. 297) has constructed ‘routes’ to re-localizing Malay cultural identity. In turn, we do not only acknowledge the Malay imaginary of modernity, we have also sought to bridge a gap between what we understand about Malay cultural subjectivities and what is shown in Julia, On Dhia, and Adam & Hawa, staging “a representation in which a postcolonial nation forms a dialogue with its colonial past” (Kusno, 1998, p.551). The endorsement of such postcoloniality made evident in TV’s narrative exchanges reflects the
“enterprise” of promoting local pride while “finding a balance” within spaces of “modernity”
(Yeoh, 2001, p. 458) that seek to reframe and rethink hybridity.
However, critics like McLeod (2000) avers that the limitation with hybridity is mostly concerned with “Does the agency for resistance derive from the acts of representation by those from the nation’s margin, or is it found mystically within the nation itself?” (McLeod, 2000, p.120).
Putting it differently, the critiques against the use of hybridity to study TV fiction are related to the failure to underscore whether the source of resistance to modernity derives from private or public constructs. Other critics argue that there is “no clear historical and political influence”
when theory of hybridity is employed (Kraidy, 2005, p. 6). But there is a difference between understanding hybridity as an influence and as a point of elaboration. As Drichel (2008) puts it, it is used to interrogate forgotten spaces “through continuous reiterations” (605). In our study, we aim to reveal that although popular TV fiction evokes issues that are decidedly modern and liberal, the TV series’ narrative exchange reclaim Malayness. Or in other words, by using hybridity to study TV series’ texts, we argue that these texts are able to capture local, unconscious Malay pasts, forming a respite from contemporary cultural risks.
Re-localization of Malay ‘Local’ and TV Fiction
Many see such adjustments of re-focusing to localities in TV fiction as largely due to the dialogue between the local and global. The Malay local, with reference to Malay adat (customs), suggests an interaction which can be viewed from the perspectives of cognitive, religion, and cultural tradition. Taib (1974), for example, has suggested that Malay adat beliefs and values situate between Islamic tradition and traditional beliefs and scientific inquiry. Although he cautions that the readings of these three nexus do not suggest easy understanding, a number of pointers can be accentuated concerning Malayness. Malay subjects, firstly, want to live in harmony (Provencher, 1972). This harmonious conduct which is connected to the notion of Malay’s akal/budi (emotion-reason relationships) is grounded in the ideas of compromise, respect, cooperation, tolerance, modesty, patience, forgiveness, and repentance (Bakri, 2013;
Hasan, 2009; Khoo, 2007; Norman, 2011, 2013; Ruzy and Shahizah, 2010; Wan Norhasniah, 2010). This politeness translates into a Malay maxim, biar mati anak jangan mati adat (let the child die but not the custom) (AB Sulaiman 2013; Bakri, 2013; Norman, 2013) which has been used throughout, suggesting the longevity of Malay adat through normalization.
Secondly, Malay local embraces religiosity (AB Sulaiman, 2013; Bakri, 2013; Hussain, 2010;
Mahathir, 1970; Maznah, 2011; Milner, 2008; Taib, 1974; Wan Norhasniah, 2010). While religiosity foregrounds readings on Malayness, two specific concepts, forgiveness and repentance, which are intertwined in the greater circle of Malay adat values, are central to this study. Firstly, while forming one aspect of budi-Islam, forgiveness is integrated into the Malay- Muslims’ beliefs, directed towards the concept of Oneness-of-God (Hussain, 2010; Niewkerk, 2008; Wan Norhasniah, 2010). Forgiveness is largely inherent in discussions pertaining to Malay local perhaps because “the upmost aim is to uphold peace and harmony in their relationship”
(Zainal, 1995, p. 15) that intensifies the need to be “sensitive human beings that are gentle in nature” (Zainal, 1995, p.4) and evolves to minimize involvement of youth in war or violence (Milner, 2008).
Secondly, repentance, which derives from Islamic principles, holds that Malay subjects who stand below God irrespective of their statuses, roles, and gender are equal (Hussain, 2010; Izutsu, 2002: Niewkerk, 2008; Ryan, 2014). Premised on the observation that almost everyone can relate to the notions of sinfulness and forgetfulness, repentance is the ultimate forgiveness asked from God. Ethics, in Islam, furnishes the Malay individuals to hold accountable for their actions, positioned within two spectrums. On the one hand, God’s infinite goodness posits mercy,
forgiveness, and benevolence, and on the other hand, His wrath and severe, strict, and unrelenting justice stand in binary (Jones, 1999; Niewkerk, 2008; Pieri, Woodward, Yahya, Hassan, and Rohmaniyah, 2014; Winstedt, 1938). In Malay historical texts, illustrations of repentance can be seen. The extract below, from Hikayat Pasai (Chronicle of Pasai) can demonstrate the centrality of repentance in Malay adat: Maka dilihat oleh Sultan Mahmud Shah seperti berita orang itu tiada sunggoh: maka baginda pun terlalu mashghul dan menyesal oleh membunoh Bendahara Seri Maharaja tiada dengan pereksa (He prostrated with grief and repented bitterly that he had put Bendahara Sri Maharaja to death without due inquiry) (Winstedt, 1938, p.187). This extract documents the repentance of Sultan Mahmud Shah, (who ruled Sultanate of Malacca from 1948 through 1511 [Jones, 1999]) after he realizes that he wrongfully puts Bendahara Seri Maharaja (equivalent to a European’s vizier) and his family members to death, inviting a reading that, to a certain extent, allows a Malay subject to rediscover his or her local and cultural fragments.
However, the above are merely a fraction of examples of how forgiveness and repentance evolve to signify Malay spaces; one would certainly discover similar trajectory of the re-localization of Malay youth as they engage with modern TV series and rework it to reflect their (almost always) forgotten, local pasts. Yet, one needs to be conscious of the fact that although many TV fiction shown in the Malaysian context are modern, diverse, multilingual, multicultural, and to a certain degree, liberal, some of the TV fiction’s narratives still navigate towards strengthening their cultural and local identities. Another key factor to examining this issue is to explore Malaysia’s mediascape. How are TV fiction and their narratives positioned with regard to modernity in their recall to frequently forgotten, Malay local pasts? The following discussion attempts to engage these issues by using mediascape in Malaysia as an example and focusing specifically on the ways in which modernity and re-discovery of Malay ‘local’ intersect with TV fiction.
“Strategizing” the Re-localizing of Malay ‘Local’: Locating TV Fiction in Malaysia’s Mediascape
The growth of modern TV works may provide insights into the transplantation of modernity and Malay locals through which different values and elements are subsequently meshed and embedded within the Malaysia mediascape broadcast primarily for TV viewers. In Malaysia, 1Malaysia, one of the “sociopolitical arrangement” vehicles (Kraidy, 2002, p. 317) upon which cultural globalization is premised renders it possible to delineate why TV fiction in Malaysia encompasses modernity. Modernity as displayed in TV fiction can be defined in many ways, but the most consistent thread commonly found linking modernity to TV fiction is that it expands viewers’ “imagination beyond the constraints of personal lives, physical locales and cultural boundaries” (Syed, 2011a, p. 83), orchestrating sense of freedom of choice, “upward mobility, and unhindered interaction” (Syed, 2011a, p. 85). The basic tenet foregrounding modernity is consumer culture, encouraging viewers to change their lives, often progressed through TV’s direct advertising in addition to “showing urban lifestyles, setting, and modern cityscape”
(Mattelart, 1990, p. 47). When studied in relation to TV fiction, modernity exposes viewers to urban lifestyle and fashion, drawing attention to “ideal fashion and glamour” enhancing “urban life and consumption” (Matsuda and Higashi, 2006, p.19). Most importantly, luxurious lifestyles serve as a backdrop against which TV is made available for viewers to “indulge in the consumer culture freely available in the market” (Syed 2011a, p. 85) that offers “spectacular images of
foreign and glamorous settings” (Geraghty, 1991, p. 127). By virtue of modernity, issues manifested in TV fiction are topical and figure as “repertoires of images and social discourses that influence popular perception of larger issues to be current and contemporary” (Syed, 2011a, p. 95), probably leading viewers to feel connected with the larger, global society they live in.
In turn, the resulting increase in more visible TV fiction of Western and modern-Asian themes has already begun to surround TV series’ viwers. One of the changes that harmonize viewers’
daily TV consumption experience is the predominance of nativized or adapted TV fiction. Kim (2010) maps out the broad TV stations and concludes that at least 65, 872 minutes have been accommodated for the broadcast of these nativized TV fiction, making up 53 percent of the total broadcast hours (Kim, 2010, p. 26). 13.8% of urbanized, imported TV content has also been reported to help establish TV series as the second highest TV programs aired subsequently in 2012 (Juliana, Kim, and Sharifah, 2013), while viewers aged 15 to 25 are described as “loyal”
TV fiction audience who accept the “inflow of foreign programs on local TV stations”
(Samsudin and Latiffah, 2011, p. 9). For instance, critically acclaimed TV fiction, Ugly Betty and Yo Soy Betty La Fea are adapted as Manjalara in Malaysia, drawing over 1.8 million audience each episode (Budiey, 2010) in addition to Cinderella and Mayang Mengurai that furnish young Malay viewers with its Malay adaptation of Rapunzel (Raja Intan, 2010), strengthening the position of the melting of “other” TV fiction. Even more so, RM200 million have been invested in TV fiction content (Media Prima, 2012), often serving as a means to centralize issues that present antithesis to Malay cultural traditions. From scenes that show infidelity to poor professional morality, directness, exorcism, alcoholism, cohabitation, binge drinking, fornication, and lewdness, these issues have led to diverse manifestations of issues, in one sense a global dramatization of modernity.
However, also existing side-by side with the many TV programs that have encountered and embraced modernity as a result of liberalization of mediascape is the increased observance by a number of ‘gatekeepers.’ This mandate, which encompasses regulation, promotion, and legalization (Mohd Muzhafar, Ruzy, and Raihanah, 2014a, 2014b, 2014c, 2015b) harkens to TV series that focus more on the agency of Malayness that, according to these scholars, politicians, and directors, give purpose and direction to viewers’ local, cultural identity. Specifically, they call attention to the ways in which content in TV series are to re-focus to reflect more issues that engage “Malay (ethnic) agenda” (Barr and Govindasamy, 2010, p. 294), that simultaneously signify “Islamic Arabian glorious past” (Hoffstaedter, 2011, p. 106). The mandate, under the microscopic guidance and patronage of local leaders and media senior officials accompanied by the hands of lawmakers, set up a number of ‘gatekeepers’ to meet the requirements of this mission of re-calling youth’s attention to their cultural routes. Siti Zanariah (2011) references the gatekeepers to five layers of forces at work: the King, ministers, mass media laws, governmental agencies, and council for media-screening. The tasks, among others, are to enable local TV industries to orient themselves to “30 percent participation” of Malays in the proliferation “of world, commercial, and industrial practices” (Foo, 2004, p. 29) while at the same time adhering to the framework of Rukunegara (National Ideology), which is oriented towards fostering national and racial unity and harmony, deeply rooted in the beliefs of a united and democratic nation (Foo, 2004; Malaysia Merdeka, 2013). It has also been noted that as this re-call to Malay
‘local-ness’ grows strong, many TV industries are also compelled to realign viewers with various local, familiar values and identity so that viewers’ integration of local aspects are balanced,
rather than only on elements of liberal, foreign, Western culture. The re-enactment of cultural TV stations and proliferation of Asian popular programs, including Korean, Taiwanese, and Japanese TV series have interwoven viewers into the receptacle of recognizable, local discourse.
Our reading above, which is only one among the many that can be told concerning Malaysia’s mediascape’s project of modernity, enables us to highlight a fraction of examples of viewers’ re- engagement to their own, local platform. One can undeniably find similar conditions of media priorities in media industries that transfer their priorities and values to a more familiar, local, intertwined in other countries and nation-states, ‘doing’ their identities (Blackman, 2005). At the same time, however, one needs to be informed of the fact that although media in the world is becoming more diverse and de-territorialized, media also provides strong avenues for viewers to re-integrate themselves to their local, often forgotten cultural values. It is through these symbolic interactions where issues of modernity and locality intersect in TV fiction are brought to the fore.
But does this alternative way of looking at TV fiction’s texts that exist in liberal, global platform and the re-discovery to familiar, often neglected Malay past upset our culturally diverse understanding of viewers in Malaysia? Will the concept of Malay values as demonstrated by TV series’ narrative exchanges become fossilized one day? Perhaps not, as the following pages will show that they will mutually work to reinforce and reify Malayness. The ensuing discussion shall attempt to engage this line of inquiry by using TV series as a platform and examining specifically on the ways in which TV fiction’s narrative exchanges imagine the re-localizing of Malayness.
Methodology
This section provides information pertaining to methods used in our study concerning how TV fiction is employed as a means to seek respite from cultural, social and modern, contemporary ambivalence. We begin by describing general characteristics of TV fiction selected for our study.
Subsequently, we will link these characteristics to Julia, On Dhia, and Adam & Hawa as well as describe conversation analysis employed for this study. A synopsis of these three TV fiction will also be given. By addressing the background of each methods of analyzing narrative exchanges, we reveal how culture, discourse, and TV overlap.
TV Fiction
In the context of the current study, TV fiction has been linked to its themes, episodic forms, and narrative structure. Issues in stories are narrated in many episodes, leaving the viewers grapple with continuation and contemplation of subsequent stories, resulting in series of episodes. For instance, the use of superstitious elements by Azwan’s mother in Julia in order to oust Julia from Azwan’s house stirs another level of Malay belief system resulting in a newspaper forum established and dedicated to discussing such issue (Julia Forum, 2013). On another note, themes of love dominate the plots, and almost always the good is pitted against evil, rich against poor, and ultimately the good always wins. In TV3’s TV fiction, for instance, elements of wealth surrounding middle-class Malays are staged against the backdrop of luxury cars, subserviant housekeepers, immaculate security, and big houses, with protagonists demarcate themselves between being rich and greedy, poor and generous, or authorial bosses and obedient staff. Most
locally-produced TV fiction are shown in the evenings as families gather from work (Media Prima, 2012). Commercials are regular during breaks.
But most importantly, the choice of TV fiction selected for this study is due to its popularity and recency. Specifically, the periods of 2009 though 2013 see increasing number of viewers of TV fiction in TV3’s Lestary, Zehra, and Akasia with each ranked 2nd, 9th, and 20th respectively in the top 20 programs across all TV channels in Malaysia (Media Prima, 2012). TV fiction in Lestary is reported to have drawn 2.96 million viewers, Zehra with 2.08 million, and Akasia with staggering 1.67 million viewers respectively (Media Prima, 2012). Today, the sheer popularity of Julia and On Dhia is reflected by over 11 million viewers (Media Prima, 2013), constituting one of the most watched segments on Media Prima. Adam & Hawa, a TV adaptation of the novel of similar title has more than 600,000 readers (Wahba, 2013), bringing Adam & Hawa’s popularity to a whole new level. Such recency and popularity ultimately lead to online reruns (Tonton, 2013), where viewers pay for one or whole episodes simultaneously, luring over 120 million online TV viewers (Tonton, 2014). Considering these praises and accolades, we now draw our attention to how issues of re-discovery of Malay ‘local’ in TV fiction are signified using conversation analysis I have alluded earlier.
Conversation Analysis
Firstly, narrative exchanges in Julia, On Dhia, and Adam & Hawa were transcribed following conversation analysis (CA) framework (Hutchby and Wooffitt, 2008). Complete focus on the power of these narratives was firstly practiced. This means that in the process of transcribing, no analysis of any aspects was conducted. Such ways of capturing textual corpus rendered it possible to exhibit Malay cultural identity issues (Dersley and Wootton, 2000; Wong and Hansun-Warring, 2010). Another reason for keeping analysis separate from transcription was to allow detailed scrutiny on the kinds of intonation, registers, and the whole convention of talk in everyday narrative exchanges. But the question remains- why CA?
This study may be characteristic to applied CA, given its focus on specific talk, conversation units, and turn-takings. The conversation episodes were transcribed in its entirety after which they were reviewed, with dominant themes identified and isolated. Consistent with the CA methodology, we sought to let the corpus ‘speak’ for the findings and interpretation. Putting it differently, we retained the contents or general conversational structure, departing from any reworking of the content or units for semantic purposes. CA was chosen for this analysis of narrative exchange because one can see the sequences as the interaction unfolds immediately.
Goodwin (1986, 1997), on CA, has succinctly summarized that CA provides a framework in a narrative exchange that can form a structure through two ways- the recipients and the recipients’
interpretations. DeFina & Georgakopolou (2012) have underscored that CA allows us to work on narrative structure as part of "social practices" while drawing from methods of empirical studies
"through specific coding categories that allow analysts to analyze narrative as an organized set of resources" (50 & 51). Putting it differently, in this study, we wanted to show that sequences, turn-takings, overlaps, and interruptions display ways of how Malay ‘local’ fragments are re- localized in the TV fiction’s narrative exchanges.
The use of CA in studying protagonists’ everyday experiences in TV fiction has been used to show two areas. Firstly, CA is used to glamorize images of everyday scenarios. From personal dilemmas, relationships, to images of hospitals, office, police stations, CA as a tool to analyze TV fiction can exploit our shared knowledge about the different types of people (Wang, 2012).
Wang (2012) succinctly argues that using CA to study TV represents “real conversation. It’s about ordinary people and their everyday life” (341). Secondly, CA is used to highlight lexical and grammatical features, reflecting everyday realities. Grant and Starks (2001), for instance, has argued that the authenticity of TV fiction has been validated, consistent with the literature on conversation analysis. Al-Surmi (2012) compares the result of lexical and grammatical feature study to unscripted American conversation and finds that TV fiction reflects everyday, naturally- occurring talk. Convinced by the use of CA, Brennan (2012), for instance, has recently examined cultural, social, and nation’s identities on Brazilian TV fiction, concluding that values transcending community and society are all conflicting in TV fiction and that the identity of Brazilian culture is intricate that warrants no-single explanation as they are fluid and not static (Brennan, 2012). All of these readings suggest CA can be used to scrutinize TV fiction as it exemplifies the different kinds of narration, exploiting our shared cultural knowledge (From, 2006). Moving on from these studies, we believe a similar application of CA can be made to illustrate the behavior of everyday discourse as exemplified in selected exchanges in Julia, On Dhia, and Adam & Hawa. From cultural identity preservations and conflicts to cultural confusions and struggles over Malay traditions and modernity, CA may delineate protagonists’
experiences.
However, critics aver that CA has several limitations. They maintain that there is no way to systematize generalization in narrative exchange that can be gained from fine-grained analysis.
Other critics argue that the extent to which participant structures and individual strategies can reflect discourse is unknown. Our argument is that the work in narrative structure can present a more specific study that forms the larger part of cultural practices. In our study, this is the kind of analysis that uncovers issues concerning the unconscious, everyday Malay social practices.
Although they argue that there is no “yardstick” to measure participant structures and individual strategies in interactions, typically, CA’s specific coding categories can be used as a systematic set of discourse elements to uncover the discourses used to establish re-localization of Malay cultural identities as seen in TV fiction. Appendix A lists CA’s transcription symbols.
Adam & Hawa
Adam & Hawa introduces us to the main protagonists- Ain and Adam. After completing her secondary school examination, Ain works part-time for a kindergarten. While working at the kindergarten, Ain becomes acquainted with Adam Mukhriz but Ain does not take part in seeking Adam’s attention after seeing Adam’s wild encounters with multiple women in local bars; Ain continues to work instead. In one of the nights, Ain is unfortunate; Ain is caught in bed with Adam by the authorities and local towners. Shortly after, Ain is arrested for charges on close proximity and later forced to marry Adam. Ain further develops a sense of revenge for Adam, questioning Adam’s silence the night she is taken to police. Years later, Ain still despises Adam and has difficult time accepting Adam as her husband and in the months that follow, Ain decides to pursue higher education, a dream she has kept for a long time. Separated by thousands of miles from Adam, Ain, however, starts to lose her affection towards Adam and distances herself
afterwards. When Ain leaves, Adam repeatedly finds ways to look for Ain in Australia.
Eventually, when Ain later goes for pilgrimage in Mecca, she accidentally meets Adam. After series of repentance, apologies, confrontations, and unpleasant verbal exchanges, Ain relents to Adam’s wish of having his wife back.
On Dhia
On Dhia introduces viewers to a tragic love entanglement involving Zikir, Rafie, Azmi, Melli, and Dhia. While Rafie secretly falls in love with Dhia, Dhia ignores Rafie and accepts Azmi’s marriage proposal instead. Brokenhearted, Rafie deals with this rejection very poorly. Rafie starts socializing with the girls he meets at a bar at a local town nearby, a bar that Melli frequents. As Melli is envious of Dhia, Melli sets up a plan to tackle all the men Melli dates, including Rafe. Rafie begin dancing, and later, Melli and Rafie get home and sleep in the same bed. After successfully capturing Rafie’s attention, Melli furthers her second plan- to retain Azmi. This time she plans on having Azmi sleep with her, resulting in Azmi and Melli getting caught in bed unlawfully by the authorities and local town leaders. As Dhia’s days of marriage with Azmi are approaching, Dhia discovers the news but forgives Azmi for his conduct. Melli who gets pregnant months afterword, becomes more aggressive; she gate crashes Dhia’s wedding and demands that Azmi be responsible for the baby she carries. After hours of verbal altercation and unpleasant encounters with Melli, Dhia gives up and asks that Melli be married off to Azmi instead. While having to give up her future with Azmi, Dhia is introduced to Zikir.
Zikir quickly turns his attention and affection towards Dhia and immediately ties the knot with Dhia. However, months later, the relationship turns sour. Dhia’s mother-in-law who regards Dhia as foolish and ignorant influences Zikir to either oust Dhia from his house or have Dhia enter into an agreement to a polygamous relationship with Zikir. Dhia ultimately chooses to enter into such agreement and Dhia’s world, as expected, breaks into pieces. Later, after Zikir learns that his mother has resolved to using witchery to possess him into ill-treating Dhia, he leaves his mother and seeks Dhia for forgiveness. Shortly after, however, Dhia falls ill, diagnosed of an untreatable cancer. Before she dies and before On Dhia ends, Dhia blesses Zikir’s future marriage engagement.
Julia
In Julia, we are introduced to two central characters, Julia and Amir who gain admission to a university. After commencement, returning home poses more problems ending in discord and frustrations for both Amir and Julia. Tensions arise when Julia reunites with her parents, having to confront issues concerning marriage and career. While her parents insist on marrying Julia to a prospective suitor they admire, Julia follows through with her decision to work and advance her career as an engineer. Amir, on the other hand, after not seeing Julia for months, decides to initiate conversations with and later marries Nurain who happens to be a flower seller at the place where he works. Upon hearing Azmir’s marriage, Julia is left between returning to live with her parents and living alone. She chooses the latter and months later befriends and marries Azwan. But her marriage to Azwan does not last long. Her mother in-law, however, despises Julia and decides to use black magic against Julia. Azwan also physically abuses Julia, leading Julia to file for divorce. Acting as an accomplice to Julia’s shattered marriage, Azwan’s mother plays the role of a culprit, forcing Julia to move out of Kuala Lumpur to a place where Amir,
Azwan, and her parents has no knowledge of. Eventually, Azwan and his mother regret their wrongdoings and apologizes, and after forgiving Azwan and his mother, Julia leaves, packs her bag, and rides in a car to an unknown place.
Analysis
Previously, we encounter Adam in Adam & Hawa as a party-goer and an alcoholic over the course of the start of his career. While forming the belief that a man is to live with a woman and while convincing Ain to be his bride proves to be difficult, the final scenes of Adam & Hawa display the return to the fragments of Malay adat. In what follows, Adam accidentally meets Ain while finishing their prayers at the entrance of a mosque, in Mecca, where both happen to be performing umrah (a pilgrimage that can be taken at any time of the year by Muslims). After repeatedly refusing to see Adam, Ain eventually agrees to have a conversation. Table 1 expands on their conversations.
TABLE 1 Adam & Hawa
This scene describes how Adam surrenders to fate, having been separated from Ain for a few years before accidentally meeting her in Mecca. While stating the cause of action by his mother, Adam responds by informing that Ain’s education is his priority (lines 1-12). In response to this, Ain quickly retaliates by asking the recency of the information and stating her feelings about the
1 Adam: ((follows through behind Ain))
2 Mama kata sejak jumpa Ain kat Australia tu, dia selalu 3 paksa Am CONTACT Ain (0.0) AM je tak nak. Sebab tak 4 nak ganggu Ain kan. Dan Am redha dengan kemahuan Ain 5 la::Am tak nak jadi penghalang kepada Ain. Demi mengejar 6 cita-cita Ain(1.1) I WANT YOU TO SUCCEED.
7 {Mommy said since she saw you in Australia, she
8 repeatedly forced me to contact Ain. I don’t want to bother 9 Ain. And I accept your decision:: I don’t want to be 10 the reason you fail, Ain. I did not contact you so you can 11 pursue your dream. I want you to succeed.}
12
13 Ain Kenapa baru Am nak cerita sekarang? Am tau tak apa Am 14 dah buat kat diri Ain? Ain hampir putus asa kerana Am 15 berdiam diri macam tu. Am buat Ain macam tak de harga
16 diri langsung.
17 {Why do you tell me now? Do you even know what you 18 have done to me? I have almost given up because you were 19 went quiet.You treated me as if I have no self-worth.}
20
21 Am: Am mintak maaf, Am takde niat pun nak buat Ain macam 22 tu. Dee yang nak sangat kahwin dengan Am.
23 {I am truly sorry, I don’t have the intention to do that to you 24 you. Dee was the one who was dying to get married to me.}
whole situation, leading her to feel stepsided (lines 14-20). But because Adam has consented to fate (redha; as he says in the exchange), he asks for forgiveness (lines 22-25).
While Adam, or Am, relegates his mistakes and seeks redemption before the eyes of Ain, the narrative exchange above can signify two interrelated areas. Firstly, the use of capitalization (read: CONTACT and I WANT YOU TO SUCCEED) and the use of such code-switching is reflective and suggestive of Adam wanting to negotiate (Myers-Scotton, 2002; Myers-Scotton &
Bolonyai, 2001) the potential for Ain to reconsider Adam, who is seen as yearning to have Ain as his life partner. Secondly, and on the level of positioning, Adam is seen as an apologizer, negotiator, and coordinator, whose turn-takings can reflect this point. In the first turn, he thinks aloud and approaches the topic, pushing his two agendas to firstly have Ain forgive him (read: I am truly sorry) and secondly to have Ain re-examine the possibility of reclaiming their pasts (read: CONTACT Ain). While he seeks for redemption, he also negotiates against the prospect for reminiscing their ‘good old’ memories. Ain, on the other hand, is signified as an actor, unveiling her agency by having her voice heard (read: Why do you tell me now? Do you even know what you have done to me?). By having her voice heard, Ain further supplies the schemata (Brown & Yule, 1984; Mandler, 1984) for Am to further re-apologize and tell the truth behind his silence (read: berdiam diri). Seeing it this way, the schemata helps to prompt for Adam’s apologetic reactions towards his own atrocities. Thus, we can identify instances of Adam’s divergence from and convergence with Ain’s voice through understanding these positioning and linguistic units.
This change and interaction to Malay local values are subsequently followed through by Azwan and Azwan’s mother in Julia. Previously, while Azwan is depicted as cruel, insane, and irresponsible, her mother is described as a villain and an accomplice - a planner to Azwan’s divorce with Julia. In the following scene, both Azwan and his mother seek forgiveness from Julia. We can refer to table 2 for the narrative exchange.
TABLE 2 Julia
1 Julia: YOU tau kan YOU tak sepatutnya datang sini. Apatah lagi YOU
2 dan mak YOU.
3 {You know you’re not supposed to be here. You and your
4 mom.}
5
6 Azwan: Ju:: I tau I memang tak sepatutnya datang sini. Kalau YOU nak 7 panggil polis sekali pun, I tak boleh buat apa-apa. Tapi I nak 8 mintak satu je Jue, tolong lah izinkan I jumpa dengan anak I.
9 {Ju, I know I’m not supposed to be here. If you want to call the 10 cops, I can’t do anything. But all I’m asking is Jue, please let
11 me see my baby.}
12
13 Azwan’s MAMA tau, MAMA banyak buat Ju menderita. MAMA banyak 14 mother: berdosa MAMA datang dengan satu niat, Ju. MAMA nak minta 15 Ju. Mintak ampun dan kalau MAMA nak sujud pada Ju, MAMA 16 boleh buat, MAMA boleh sujud ampun dari Ju.
17 {Mommy knows, Mommy has made your life difficult.
18 Mommy’s committed a lot of sins, I’m here for one thing, Ju.
19 I want to say sorry, Ju. I’m really sorry and if you want, I can go 20 on my knees, Ju. I can do that. I can bow down asking for your
21 forgiveness.}
22
23 Julia: Jangan la cakap macam tu. Semua manusia tak boleh lari dari
24 kesilapan.
25 {Don’t say that. As humans, we can’t run away from
26 mistakes.}
27
28 Azwan’s Disebabkan mak lah, Ju tak boleh hidup bersama dengan Azwan.
29 mother: {Because of me, you can’t be with Azwan.}
30
31 Azwan: MAMA mintak maaf banyak-banyak dengan Ju.
32 {Mama’s really sorry, Ju.}
33
34 Julia: <Dah memang jodoh kami memang setakat tu je:: Wan, I Cuma 35 nak cakap dengan YOU. Apa-apa yang berlaku antara kita::
36 Semua telah ditetapkan oleh tuhan. I nak YOU belajar dari 37 kesilapan. Tolong la:: jangan buat benda yang sama pada
38 Catrina.
39 {That’s as far as our marriage is to last. Wan, I’ve something to 40 tell you.Whatever that has happened between us, are all fated. I 41 want you to learn from your mistakes. Please don’t do the same
42 thing to Catrina.}
43
44 Julia: ((carries her baby)) 45
46 Azwan: Siapa nama dia?
47 {What’s her name?}
48
49 Julia: Risa Erina Binti Azwan.
50 51
52 Azwan’s: Boleh MAMA pegang BABY? ((cries hard))
53 mother Muka dia mirip Azwan. Ampunkan nenek ya, sayang. Nenek
54 jahat.
55 {Can Mommy hold her? She looks like Azwan. Please forgive 56 me, love, Grandma’s the evil one.}
57
58 Azwan: Andai I boleh undurkan masa, Ju. I takkan sia-siakan peluang.
59 {If I can turn the hands of time, Ju. I won’t let you down. } 60
61 Julia: Setiap yang berlaku tu ada hikmahnya, Wan. Walaupun kita tak 62 dapat bersama da::h, YOU tetap ayah kepada Nisa. Dunia dan 63 akhirat. I harap sangat dengan apa yang berlaku ni akan
In an overview, the narrative exchange reflects equal turn-taking, displayed in a manner where no overlaps are seen. While the scene takes place at Julia’s front house, Amir and his mother arrive with an intention to visit Julia; Amir and his mother arrive for his child’s (Risa) frequent visitation.
When studying the narrative exchange above in relation to conversational structure, two surmises can be made. Firstly, with respect to turn-takings, Julia seems to have dominated the scene, shown through seven turns as opposed to Azwan’s and his mother, with each operating around five and three turns respectively. The predominance of Julia in the turn-takings in this exchange constructs Julia as the agent who controls the situation (Hutchby, 2006; Hutchby & Wooffitt, 2008; DeFina & Georgakopolou, 2012; Wong & Zhang-Waring, 2010). Another way of showing her agency can be demonstrated by the salient feature- stress on the clauses (read: underlined clauses) (Hutchby and Wooffitt, 2008). This agency lies in Julia’s assertive and demanding style in speaking about her personal space and her representative of her own residence (read: You know you are not supposed to be here. You and your mom) and, thus, when she takes control of the situation by having more chances to speak, her agency perhaps is not surprising. Secondly, the employment of apologies (four times) in different turn exchanges such as maaf (sorry) reflects the preoccupation of forgiveness, while the repeated words of silap (wrongdoings) (three times) and dosa (sins) (2 times) further enhance this notion. Reading these repetitions reveals the kinds of ways and the many possibilities the Malay protagonists’ experience the moment-by- moment and turn-by-turn of the inherent discourse of reconstructing their routes to re-localize themselves with the Malay masses as the above narrative exchange shows.
That being said, two levels of positioning can further be delineated. Azwan perhaps wants to be understood as a redemption seeker and a negotiator. While he seeks to remind Julia of his wrongdoings in the past, he also plays around with the concept of negotiation principles in order to convince Julia for a reconsideration (read: Andai I boleh undurkan masa, Ju. I takkan sia- siakan peluang). Azwan’s mother, whose conduct we previously encounter as despicable towards Julia, now apologizes to Julia for such behavior. Not only is she positioned as apologetic, she further confesses to Julia’s baby girl for her outrageous behavior, simultaneously seeking for apologies from her as well (read: Ampunkan nenek ya, sayang. Nenek jahat). By informing of her wrongdoings, she submits to Julia her entire forgiveness to which Julia recognizes (read: Jangan la cakap macam tu. Semua manusia tak boleh lari dari kesilapan).
Julia, on the other hand, shows herself as an advocator, reminder, and forgiver. Not only does 64 mematangkan you, dan I harap you akan bahagia dengan
65 Caterina selepas ini.
66 {Everything happens for a reason, Wan. Even though we are not 67 together, you are still Nisa’s father. For this world and next, I 68 do hope that above all things that have happened, you’ll be 69 mature enough, and I hope you’ll be happy with Caterina after
70 this.}
71
72 Azwan: Baiklah Ju, nanti I datang sini lagi, kalau YOU izinkan. I pergi
73 dulu.
74 {Ok, Ju. If you let me too, I’ll be here again. Till then.}
she inexplicitly forgive the two, but she also reminds them of the adat-Islamic values (read:
Setiap yang berlaku tu ada hikmahnya, Wan. Dunia dan akhirat), generating the rhetorics of fard al-kifaya (Hooker, 2000; Mustapha, 2005; Kurzman, 2005) and gesturing towards “the communal duty of all Muslims to bring the community forward by “enjoining good and forbidding evil” (Schottmann, 2011, p. 359). Furthermore, her referencing towards reminding both Azwan and his mother the concept of repentance (read: forbidding evil and enjoining good) can be linked to the following opening speech by Mahathir (1984):
Let us provide our service to society, and let us make a success of the effort to improve the conditions of Muslims (memperbaiki nasib umat). Remember, in Islam, even though we have carried out our fardhu ain, (individual religious obligations) we are not free from sin until fardhu kifayah has been taken care of by any one member of society. But fardhu kifayah is not for other people alone to carry out. If everyone waits for someone else, nobody will perform it. And then all of us will be in sin (Mahathir, 1984).
Thus, on the one hand, while a Malay subject is prone to divergence away from religious fragments, any Malay subject, on the other hand, can function as a responsible Malay by doing good deeds and spreading acts of kindness. Through these readings, we are open to the many ways the Malay protagonists accentuate the multiple ways of forgiveness and repentance that benefit their social and cultural relations. These two ways of re-discovery the Malay local and cultural fragments apply to the TV fiction’s narrative exchanges above.
Conclusion
This paper provides several examples of the return to adat-Islamic values by the Malay subjects that reveal the extent to which Malayness diverges and converges. This essay, however, shows that the TV fiction’s narrative exchange ultimately land themselves with the discourses of forgiveness and repentance, two notions that almost always intersect with Malay subjects as seen in Adam & Hawa, On Dhia, and Julia. Analyzed within the theory of cultural hybridity, TV fiction’s exchanges reveal that they showcase a clear desire of Malay project with a regress towards adat-Malay values. Centered on the notions of forgiveness and repentance, the TV fiction’s texts demonstrate the importance of god, its conceptions on religion, and the vulnerability of human beings towards sins, taboo, and mistakes in the protagonists’ everyday, unconscious experience. As an implication, the greater notion of Malayness and its cultural subjectivities, as illustrated in the narrative exchanges above, place them against a map that sketches a territory that is most often forgotten, dismissed, and neglected in their encounter with global, modern, and, therefore, liberal issues. Thus, while the TV series depict Malay culture at risk due to global influences and trends precipitated by commercialization, the closures in each of the TV fiction, specifically underscoring the tenets of repentance and forgiveness, illustrate the agenda of bringing back the viewers to overarching Malay/Muslim precepts. The TV fiction themselves show various Malay worlds in chaos, but the TV fiction’s narratives demonstrate negotiation between risky behavior and acceptance of traditional Malay norms.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia under Research Acculturation Collaborative Effort (RACE) Grant, RACE/F3/SSI2/USIM/5. We thank two anonymous reviewers. Errors are our own.
REFERENCES
AB, Sulaiman. (2013). Sensitive truths in Malaysia: A critical appraisal of the Malay problem.
Petaling Jaya: Strategic Information and Research Development Center.
Al-Surmi. (2012). Authenticity and TV shows: multidimensional analysis perspectives. TESOL Quarterly, 46(4), 671-694.
Bakri Musa. (2013). Liberating the Malay mind. Kuala Lumpur: ZI Publications.
Barr, M. D., & Govindasamy, A. R. (2010). The Islamisation of Malaysia: Religious nationalism in the service of ethnonationalism. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 64(3), 293–
311.doi: 10.1080/10357711003736469.
Blackman, S. (2005). Youth subcultural theory: A critical engagement with the concept, its origins and politics, from the Chicago School to postmodernism. Journal of Youth Studies, 8(1), 1-20. doi: 10.1080/13676260500063629.
Brown, G., & Yule, G. (1983). Discourse analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brennan, N. P. (2012). The Brazilian television mini-series: Representing the culture, values and identity of a nation (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). London School of Economics, London.
Budiey. (2010). Sekitar sesi temu ramah mesra bersama drama pelakon (Welcome event with drama’s actors and actresses). Sensasi Selebriti. Retrieved on September 19, 2014 from:
http://www.budiey.com/sekitar-sesi-ramah-mesra-bersama-pelakon-drama-tiramisu/.
Campbell, C. (2013, February 6). Sabah standoff: Diplomatic drama after Filipino militants storm Malaysia. Time. Retrieved on January 6, 2015 from:
http://world.time.com/2013/02/26/sabah-standoff-diplomatic-drama-after-sulu-militants-storm- malaysia/.
Casey, B., Casey, N. Calvert, French, L., & Lewis, J. (2004). Television: Key concepts. London : Routledge.
Cho, C. H. (2010). Korean wave in Malaysia and changes of the Korea- Malaysia relations.
Malaysian Journal of Media Studies, 12 (1), 1–14.
Chong, T. (2005). The construction of the Malaysian Malay middle class: The histories, intricacies and futures of the Melayu Baru. Social Identities, 11(6), 573-587. doi:
10.1080/13504630500449150.
Dahlia, M. (2010.) Identity politics and young-adult Malaysian Muslims. Eras Journal, 12(1), 1- 29.
Dahlia, M. (2012). Redefining ‘Malayness:’ Expectations of young-adult Malaysian Muslims. In Hopkins, J., & Lee, J. C. H. (Ed.), Thinking through Malaysia: Culture and Identity in the 21st Century. (pp. 31-50). Malaysia: Strategic Information and Research Development Center.
de Fina, A., & Georgakopolou, A. (2012). Narrative and sociocultural variability. In de Fina, A.,
& Georgakopolou, A. (Eds.), Analyzing Narrative: Discourse and Sociolinguistic Perspectives.
(pp. 52-83). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dersley, I., & Wootton, A. (2000). Complaint sequences within antagonistic argument. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 33(4), 375-406.
Drichel, S. (2008). The time of hybridity. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 34(6), 587-615. doi:
10.1177/0191453708090330.
Eswari, C. N. (2014). Role of television in the formation of transcultural identities. SEARCH:
The Journal of the South East Asia Research Center, 6(1), 25-39.
Featherstone, M. (1995). Global and local cultures. In Bird, B., Curtis, T., Putnam, T., &
Tickner, L. (Eds.), Mapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change. (pp.169–187).
London: Routledge.
Foo, T. T. (2004). Managing the content of Malaysian television drama: Producers, gatekeepers and the Barisan Nasional government (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Ohio University, Ohio, United States of America.
From, U. (2006). Everyday talk and the conversational patterns of the soap opera. Nordicom Review, 27(2), 229-244.
Geraghty, C. (1991). Women and soap opera: A study of prime time soaps. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Giddens, A. (1991). The consequences of modernity. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
Goodwin, C. (1986). Audience diversity, participation and interpretation. Text, 6(3), 283-316.
Goodwin, C. (1997). By-play: Negotiating evaluation in story-telling. In Guy, G. R., Feagin, C., Schiffrin, D., & Baugh, J. (Eds.), Towards a Social Science of Language: Papers in Honor of William Labov: Vol II: Social Interaction and Discourse Structures. (pp. 77-102).
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Government Transformation Program. (2014). Reducing crime NKRA. 1Malaysia Government.
Retrieved on January 6 2015 from: http://www.barisannasional.org.my/en/reducing-crime-nkra- 0.
Grant, L., & Starks, D. (2001). Screening appropriate teaching materials: Closings from textbooks and television soap operas. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 39-50.
Hasan, N. (2009). The making of public Islam: Piety, agency, and commodification on the landscape of the Indonesian public sphere. Contemporary Islam, 3(3), 229-250. doi:
10.1007/s11562-009-0096-9.
Heng, B., S. (2013, February 24). Deadline for ‘Sulu soldiers’ to leave. New Straits Times.
Retrieved on January 6 2015 from: http://www2.nst.com.my/nation/general/deadline-for-sulu- soldiers-to-leave-1.223704
Hoffstaedter, G. (2011). Modern Muslim identities: Negotiating religion and ethnicity in Malaysia. Copenhagen: NIAS Press.
Hooker, V. M. (2000). Writing a new society: Social change through the novel. USA: Allen &
Unwin.
Hussain, O. (2010). Semantic analysis of the Malay Islamic concept of man and the universe.
Journal of Islam in Asia, 7(1), 87-107.
Hussin, M. (1993). Islam in Malaysia: From revivalism to Islamic state. Singapore: Singapore University Press.
Hutchby, I. (2006). Media talk: Conversation analysis and the study of broadcasting. Glasgow:
Open University Press.
Hutchby, I., & Wooffitt, R. (2008). Conversation analysis. Manchester: Polity Press.
Izutsu, T. (2002). God and man in the Qur’an: Semantics of the Qur’anic weltanschauung.
Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust.
Johan, J. (2014, May 4). Juvenile delinquency rises. Berita Harian. Retrieved on January 5 2015 from:
http://www2.bharian.com.my/bharian/articles/Peningkatankesjenayahjuvanamembimbangkan/Ar ticle/index_html.
Jones, R. (1999). Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai. Kuala Lumpur: Yayasan Karyawan and Penerbit Fajar Bakti.
Julia. (2013). Forum. Retrieved on February 25 2014 from:
http://english1.cari.com.my/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=675840 [25 February 2014].
Juliana, A. W., Kim, W. L., & Sharifah Shahnaz, S. B. (2013). Asian dramas and popular trends in Malaysian television industry. Malaysian Journal of Communication, 29(1), 159-174.
Khoo, G. C. (2007). Reclaiming Adat: Contemporary Malaysian film and literature. Singapore:
Singapore University Press.
Kim, W. L. (2010). Consumers, citizens and copycat television. In Guan, Y. S. (Ed.), Media, Culture, and Society. (pp.1-20). UK: Routledge.
Kraidy, M. (2002). Hybridity in cultural globalization. Communication Theory, 12(3), 316–39.
doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2885.2002.tb00272.x.
Kraidy, M. (2005). Hybridity: The cultural logic of globalization. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Kurzman, C. (2005). Modernist Islam 1840-1940: a sourcebook. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Kusno, A. (1998). Beyond the postcolonial: Architecture and political cultures in Indonesia.
Public Culture, 10: 549–575. doi: 10.1215/08992363-10-3-549.
Liow, J. (2009). Piety and politics: Islamism in contemporary Malaysia. Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press.
Mahathir Mohamad. (1984). Speech at the opening of the 3rd International Seminar on Islamic Thought. Kuala Lumpur. 26 July.
Mahathir, Mohamad. (1970). The Malay dilemma. Singapore: Times Book International.
Malaysia Merdeka. (2013). Rukunegara. Retrieved on November 21 2014 from:
http://www.malaysiamerdeka.gov.my/v2/ms/malaysiaku/kenali-malaysia/rukunegara.
Mandler, J. (1984). Stories, scripts, and scenes: Aspects of schema theory. Lawrence Erlbaum:
Hillsdale, New Jersey.
Matsuda, M. & Higashi, N. (2006). Popular culture transcending national borders and genres in East Asia. Journal of Environmental Studies, 9(1), 15-22.doi: 110006425863.
Mattelart, M. (1990). The carnival of images: Brazilian television fiction. New York:
Greenwood Publishing Group.
Martinez, P. (2004). ‘Perhaps he deserved better:’ The disjuncture between vision and reality in Mahathir’s Islam. In Welsh, B. (Ed.), Reflections: The Mahathir Years. (pp.28–39). Washington, DC: Southeast Asia Studies Program, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.
Maznah, M. (2008). Malay/Malaysian/Islamic: Four genres of political writings and the postcoloniality of autochthonous texts. Postcolonial Studies, 11(3), 293-313. doi:
10.1080/13688790802226702.
Maznah, M. (2011). Malaysia: Contending imaginations of Malayness. In Maznah, M., &
Aljunied, S. K. (Eds.), Melayu: The Politics, Poetics and Paradoxes of Malayness. (pp.34-67).
Singapore: National University Press.
McLeod, J. (2000). Beginning postcolonialism. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Media Prima Sdn. Bhd. (2012). Financial and Business Review. Retrieved on March 13 2013
from: http://www.mediaprima.com.my/investorcenter /ibq/2012/IB%20Q1%202 012.pdf.
Media Prima Sdn. Bhd. (2013). Annual Report. Retrieved on June 10 2014 from:
http://www.mediaprima.com.my/investorcenter/annualreport/2013/MPB_AR%202013-bursa.pdf Milner, A. (2008). The Malays. United Kingdom. Wiley-Blackwell.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (2015). South East Asia. Retrieved on January 8 2015 from:
http://www.kln.gov.my/web/guest/bd-south_east_asia.
Ministry of Home Affairs. (2015). Development of strategic monitoring: A move towards safe neighborhood and communities. 1Malaysia government. Retrieved on January 6 2015 from:
http://habinovasi.mampu.gov.my/laporan_inovasi/636-sistem-pemantauan-bandar-selamat- spbs.pdf.
Mohd Muzhafar, I., Ruzy, S. H., & Raihanah, M. M. (2014a). Imagining alternative modernities:
Negotiating Islamic-ness and Malay-ness on popular TV fiction. Asian Economic and Social Review, 4(12), 1798-1811.
Mohd Muzhafar, I., Ruzy, S. H., & Raihanah, M. M. (2014b). Handbook on business strategy and social sciences. Kuala Lumpur: PAK Publishing Group.
Mohd Muzhafar, I., Ruzy, S. H., & Raihanah, M. M. (2014c). Power, adat, and TV Fiction imaginary. Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 3(4), 186-196.
Mohd Muzhafar, I., Ruzy, S. H., & Raihanah, M. M. (2015a). Malay cultural identities: A review. Humanities and Social Sciences Letters, 3(1), 1-9.
Mohd Muzhafar, I., Ruzy, S. H., & Raihanah, M. M. (2015b). Followership: Boosting power and position in popular TV Fiction. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 15(1), 207-224.
Mustapha, P. (2005). Malay nationalism before UMNO: The memoirs of Mustapha Hussain.
Kuala Lumpur: Utusan Publications and Distributors.
Myers-Scotton, C., & Bolonyai, A. (2001). Calculating speakers: Codeswitching in a rational choice model. Language in Society, 30 (1), 1-28.
Myers-Scotton, C. (2002). Frequency and intentionality in (un)marked choices in codeswitching:
“This is a 24-hour country”. The International Journal of Bilingualism, 6 (2), 205-219.
Nieuwkerk, K. V. (2008). ‘Repentant’ artists in Egypt: Debating gender, performing arts and religion. Contemporary Islam, 2, 191-210. doi:10.1007/s11562-008-0061-z.
Norman, Y. (2011). Sepet, Mukhsin, and Talentime: Yasmin Ahmad’s melodrama of the melancholic boy-in-love. Asian Cinema, 22(2), 20-46.
Norman, Y. (2013). Contemporary Malaysian cinema: Genre, gender and temporality (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Sydney, Australia.
Peletz, M. (2005). Islam and the cultural politics of legitimacy: Malaysia in the aftermath of September 11. In Hefner, R. W. (Ed.), Remaking Muslim Politics: Pluralism, Contestation and Democratization. (pp.240-272). Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Pieri, Z. Woodward, M., Yahya, M. Hassan, I. H., & Rohmaniyah, I. (2014). Commanding good and prohibiting evil in contemporary Islam: cases from Britain, Nigeria, and Southeast Asia.
Contemporary Islam, 8(1), 37-55. doi: 10.1007/s11562-013-0256-9.
Provencher, R. (1972). Comparison of social interaction styles: Urban and rural Malay culture.
In The Society for Applied Anthropology Monograph Series: Issue 11. Washington: Society for Applied Anthropology.
Raja Intan, D. R.A. (2010). Mayang Mengurai, Rapunzel Melayu (Mayang Mengurai is Malay’s Rapunzel). Utusan Malaysia. Retrieved on December 5, 2014 from:
http://ww1.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2010&dt=0118&sec=Hiburan&pg=hi_03.htm.
Rosya, I. S. (2011). Understanding the Malaysian localisation of global format TV: An audience analysis of Akademi Fantasia. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). RMIT University, Australia.
Rosya, I. S., & Morris, B. (2014). ‘No hugging please, we are Muslims:’ Akademi Fantasia, Malay television audiences and the negotiation of global popular cultural forms. Asian Journal of Communication, 24(2), 142-157. doi:10.1080/01292986.2013.839725.
Ruzy, S. H., & Shahizah, I. H. (2010). Facets of women in Malay romance fiction. Kunapipi Journal of Postcolonial Writing and Culture, 32(1&2), 67-88.
Ryan, L. (2014). ‘Islam does not change:’ Young people narrating negotiations of religion and identity. Journal of Youth Studies, 17(4), 446-460. doi:10.1080/13676261.2013.834315.
Samsudin, A. R. (2010). Regenerating youth development: The challenges for development communication. Journal of Development Communication, 21(1): 17-27.
Samsudin, A. R., & Latiffah, P. (2011). Democratization of information in Malaysia: A response to globalization. Asian Social Science 7(2), 3-11. doi: 10.5539/ass.v7n2p3.
