The Culture Review Mag

12/04/2022

Though not biologically related, phenomenal Singaporean artistes Mawar Berduri and Qis Maraj have forged a sisterhood in their music, and beyond!

Read the latest article in The Culture Review Mag now.

https://theculturereviewmag.com/2022/04/12/singaporean-artistes-mawar-berduris-and-qis-marajs-feminist-sisterhood/

By Leyasheena Panicker The moment the Zoom call connected, we were greeted by the bright and unapologetic personalities of Mawar Berduri and Qis Maraj. They animatedly chatted away while waiting fo…

19/01/2022

https://theculturereviewmag.com/2022/01/19/jesse-joy-the-sabahan-artist-who-articulates-politics-and-activism-through-his-embroideries/

In this interview conducted by Farhana Abdul Fatah, Sabahan artist Jesse Joy talks about the politics and activism that inform his embroidery pieces.

Intricate and beautiful, Jesse’s works is a love letter to Sabah. Jesse Joy is an artist, from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, who uses embroidery as a platform for personal and political exp…

30/09/2021

One of the best stories I've had the privilege to hear. Thank you Leha Brigitte for telling your story.
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'My first birthday was on the road. My parents had just escaped from Algiers with me and one suitcase of clothes. There was a roadblock manned by Algerian fellaghas with guns, and a row of men lined up against the wall to be executed. My father showed his identity card and said we were just going to visit my grandparents for the weekend. Apparently I smiled at the man, and he told my dad: “You’ve got a pretty daughter, get out of here!”. And so they drove straight to the ferry and the next day arrived in Marseille, and it was my birthday.'

, , , -Noir, ,

By Leha Brigitte My first birthday was on the road. My parents had just escaped from Algiers with me and one suitcase of clothes. There was a roadblock manned by Algerian fellaghas with guns, and a…

23/08/2021

Read Lawrence Pettener's interview of pioneer Malaysian poet Shirley Geok-lin Lim here in The Culture Review Mag. Newly published.

https://theculturereviewmag.com/2021/08/23/lawrence-pettener-interviews-malaysian-poet-shirley-geok-lin-lim/

I corresponded with Malaysian pioneer generation poet Shirley Lim in July this year. This interview was a written response to my emailed questions.   Shirley Lim was born in Malacca in 19…

18/08/2021

https://theculturereviewmag.com/2021/08/18/viralised-by-haters-for-her-gay-s*xuality-and-marriage-a-young-malaysian-woman-embraces-the-spotlight-to-promote-a-powerful-message-of-acceptance-2/

My story on Sarah Saiful, 31, who received hate for being public about her le***an s*xuality and marriage, is out now on my publication The Culture Review Mag.

Do give it a read.

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Sarah said she is merely using social media to tell her story. “I just want to tell my story and be honest about it and actually be the person that I needed when I was growing up.”

“I’m doing this for every little Sarahs out there,” Sarah said. “I want to show that there’s nothing wrong with me – yes, I’m gay, I’m married to a woman and I have this life. So at the end of the day, it’s normal. I wanted to normalise it. That’s it.”

A young Malaysian woman has publicly spoken up against the online backlash towards her le***an s*xuality and marriage, angering critics while also attracting support from others, in a country where…

22/06/2021

https://theculturereviewmag.com/2021/06/22/dutch-film-director-jos-stelling-my-movies-reflect-the-eternal-struggle-of-opposites/

"Although I started my career as a director with a film based on historical motives, I am intrigued by completely different things. To be honest, only a strong conflict can really touch me. I reflect on the struggle between good and evil, or how the human soul is torn apart by sensitivity and sensibility. This is how a story is born in my fantasy."

Celebrated Dutch movie-maker Joss Stelling speaks to Anastasiia Shkuro for The Culture Review Mag.

By Anastasiia Shkuro for The Culture Review Mag The maverick movie director Jos Stelling is from Holland. Ironically, he is least honoured in his homeland, and more celebrated at the best film fest…

12/05/2021

Our latest article - on Indonesian women fighting for their land - is up!

'Watching ‘Our Mothers’ Land’, one cannot help but feel inspired: the 55-minute documentary film, produced by Mongabay and The Gecko Project, offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of female Indonesian activists against the theft of their lands and the destruction of Mother Earth.'
https://theculturereviewmag.com/2021/05/11/our-mothers-land-spotlights-the-fight-by-indonesian-women-against-corporate-greed/

By Mohani Niza Watching ‘Our Mothers’ Land’, one cannot help but feel inspired: the 55-minute documentary film, produced by Mongabay and The Gecko Project, offers an intimate glimpse into the lives…

14/04/2021

https://theculturereviewmag.com/2021/04/14/masturah-alatas-what-is-malay-civilisation-and-why-call-it-a-civilisation/

'The notion of a Malay civilisation would all be good and fine if we were given a clear sense of what definition of civilisation Malay civilisation proponents are adhering to. A Malay definition? A Western definition? One of the Malay words for civilisation is tamadun, a loan word from Arabic. But how do Malays define Malay civilisation? Is there a body of Malay literature on the topic comparable to the works of Ibn Khaldun or Fernand Braudel or Romila Thapar? When we are using a big word like civilisation to talk about a big and slippery thing like civilisation, it doesn’t help to think big when the resources are small.'

Masturah Alatas on Malay civilisation.

By Masturah Alatas Over the years and not just recently, I have come across Malaysians of both scholarly and lay persuasion attempting to make a case for “the Malay civilisation” in their writings …

03/04/2021

Thanks to Lawrence Pettener for his brilliant interview wrap-up of Malaysian poet Wong Phui Nam.

https://theculturereviewmag.com/2021/04/03/a-conversation-with-malaysian-poet-wong-phui-nam-final-part/

By Lawrence Pettener (For the first part of the interview, click here). LP: You give us a lot of a persona in your poetry, or maybe the real you – like Western poets you give us your feelings. Ther…

11/03/2021

An opinion piece by TCR Mag's co-editor Nor Arlene Tan

'For its existential survival, the modern British monarchy reinvents itself as a fairy-tale symbol for young girls and a global cultural symbol of Britain. The monarchy is not just a marker of wealth and social status but also a symbol of soft power and prestige.

However, the British monarchy is not the only monarchy in the world. Except for a few nations with absolute monarchies such as Saudi Arabia and Brunei, most monarchies in Europe, Asia and Africa are constitutional monarchies where they are stripped of any kind of political power.

Unlike the global fascinations towards the British monarchy, most monarchs prefer to lay low from the media and the public radar. That is partly because the more people talk about the monarchy, the more ridiculous it sounds. British-American comedian John Oliver summed up perfectly when he referred to the British royal family as “an emotionally stunted group of fundamentally flawed people doing a very silly pseudo job”.

By Nor Arlene Tan It is like watching Netflix’s The Crown – the victimised couple, the racist royal in-laws, the vulturous press, the unwelcoming British public, the mysterious men in grey su…

08/03/2021

This International Women's Day, The Culture Review Mag looks into the difficulties that s*x trafficking survivors face in reintegrating into society, due to trauma.

In a 2015 report by The Lancet Global Health on the mental health of 1102 survivors of s*x and labour trafficking in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, 61.2 per cent reported depression, 42.8 per cent reported having symptoms of anxiety and 38.9 per cent reported symptoms of PSTD. Meanwhile, 5.2 per cent had attempted su***de in the past month.

https://theculturereviewmag.com/2021/03/08/what-freedom-survivors-of-s*x-slavery-face-mental-health-and-employment-challenges-due-to-past/

By Tara Abhasakun reporting from Bangkok Sophia Loibl was sold into s*x slavery when she was four years old. After a family bought her, they locked her in a room and s*xually enslaved her and force…

04/03/2021

Lawrence Pettener, Writer sat down with Malaysian poet laureate Wong Phui Nam in 2019, before COVID struck. In this poignant interview, WPN spoke of his roots, his views of the English language these days, among other things! This is part 1 of a larger interview.

"Even now, even though English has been a benefit, linguistically I still feel like a displaced person … I can’t claim Malay, even though I live here – it’s not my heritage, and I can’t claim Chinese either, because my lineage has been cut off from China so many years ago, so where do I stand? So I just take the practical view that this is my working language, English." - WPN

https://theculturereviewmag.com/2021/03/04/a-conversation-with-malaysian-poet-wong-phui-nam-part-1/

By Lawrence Pettener I was lucky enough to get a couple of interviews with national treasure, poet Wong Phui Nam in September 2019, just before our world was co-opted by COVID. Wong is not only a p…

22/02/2021

Sonia Singh writes why she thinks reading Tutu Dutta's 'The Blood Prince of Langkasuka' is important.

Excerpt: 'Reading folklore connects us with the culture or place we were brought up in […] Sense of belonging has always been a vital need among people. It is a psychological need we cannot run away from.'



https://theculturereviewmag.com/2021/02/22/the-blood-prince-of-langkasuka-by-tutu-dutta-why-i-think-we-should-read-this-12th-century-folklore-in-2021/

By Sonia Singh Since the 12th century, The Blood Prince of Langkasuka – also known as ‘Kisah Raja Bersiong’ – has been a well-known tale in Malaysia. Despite this, it never occurred to …

13/02/2021

Toh Hun Ping is a video artist who collects and uploads hundreds of old movies from Singapore and Malaysia. His Youtube channel 'Films of Singapore and Malaya Regularly’ includes movies that were produced by directing legends such as P. Ramlee and Hussein Haniff in famous production houses such as Cathay-Keris and Malay Film Productions (famously known as Studio Jalan Ampas).

Read more below.

By Terence Toh It has not been a great time for cinephiles. Like many other industries, COVID-19 has impacted the world of filmmaking, with many films scheduled for 2020 being postponed, or worse, …

29/01/2021

Alena Murang's new video is out now! Check out Meno' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4QOsQJunO8

(We interviewed Alena early last year - check out the article in the comment box below)

She wrote in an email to her fanbase:

"With a happy heart I share with you Meno’, a song inspired by the wistful tunes sung by my forefathers as they made long trading journeys to the coast, weeks of travel from home. A song of yearning, of longing, for the village and for the family.

I’ve been missing home a lot - I’ve lived away for over a decade but never been away for this long. Over a year since returning to the village - the very place and people that ground me and keep me on the right road.

I think many people around the world feel meno’ at the moment. As Josh, my producer put it - we’re all longing for something.

The village shots are from Long Lellang, a Kelabit village in the upper Baram river area of Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.

Sending love and light to all of you."

▶MENO' by Alena MurangMeno' in Kenyah language is a feeling of yearning for somewhere, something or someone.Meno' dalam bahasa Kenyah adalah perasaan rindu d...

19/01/2021

Standup comedy has not traditionally been a part of Thai culture. The very nature of standup, he said, is to set up events, and subvert them with a punchline. Thai comedians, on the other hand, tell humorous stories, however these stories don’t have the hidden punchline that Western audiences typically expect. However, he said that a new generation of Thai standup comedians is making big moves.

Chris Wegoda speaks to Tara Abhasakun about life as a biracial Thai comedian in Bangkok, for The Culture Review Mag: https://theculturereviewmag.com/2021/01/19/everything-is-material-thai-british-comedian-chris-wegoda-digs-deep-into-his-roots-as-a-luk-khrueng/

Comedian Chris Wegoda . Photo credit: Lee Cohen By Tara Abhasakun “In case you’re wondering which of my parents is Thai, my father is British, and my mother is not a prostitute,” comedian Chris Weg…

20/11/2020

"There’s a vitality in Deborah Wong’s work missing from that of many contemporary Malaysian poets with the exception of Chloe Lim; present, no doubt, in the work of many spoken word artists, but honed and anchored by Wong in her commitment both to this as her characteristic edgy voice and to the sheer hard work of continuous submission and publication in journals."

- Lawrence Pettener reviews Deborah Wong’s ‘Autopsy of Sentiments’ (Working Desk Publishing, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia 2020).

https://theculturereviewmag.com/2020/11/20/poetry-as-life-and-death-a-review-of-deborah-wongs-autopsy-of-sentiments/

By Lawrence Pettener Review: Deborah Wong’s poetry chapbook, ‘Autopsy of Sentiments’ (Working Desk Publications, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia 2020) This chapbook collection is a rollicking, l…

10/11/2020

Good news from Malaysia's very own Alena Murang.

Here is an interview we did with her early this year.

https://theculturereviewmag.com/2020/02/21/alena-murang-on-her-latest-music-video-midang-midang-and-how-her-kelabit-roots-influence-her-music/

So excited to be nominated in two categories at the Buenos Aires Music Video Festival : 1. Best International Video (alongside Madonna, omg!), 2. Best Styling.

We're particularly happy to receive the Styling nomination, as one of the things we set out to do through this music video was to showcase Malaysian heritage - in this case Sarawakian in particular, through fashion. All the pieces worn in the music video are from Sarawakian designers & almost all accessories were locally sourced!

Love to the entire team & everyone who made this project happen! So grateful to be able to share our heritage from our small community, with the world. Thank you everyone for your continuous support.

Watch the Music Video here if you haven't already!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZUf2hHq-EE

Artist: Alena Murang
Director: Sarah Lois Dorai
Executive Producer: Alena Murang / Fabian Wilfred Joseph
Director of Photography: Fabian Wilfred Joseph
Song from: Tepu' Ira / Sina' Radu
Music Producer: Josh Maran (PepperJam Productions)
Focus Puller/Lighting: U-Jinn Teh
1st Camera Assistant: Veknesuaran Thiagarajan
Production Coordinator: Annabel Michael
Production Assistant/2nd Camera Assistant: Pearly Choo Hui Wen
Production Assistant: Fara Emiera
Stylist: Sarah Lois Dorai / Alena Murang
Wardrobe Assistant: Sharifah Nur Hannah
Hair & Make-up Artist: Gebriel Padan
Hair & Make-up Artist Assistant: Aqeem Yusuf
MV Audio Mix: Yuen Yiet Soo
BTS Videographer: Candy Fredrick
Choreographer: Sarah Lois Dorai
Dancers: Sharabana Mala Ulun
Vivianna anak Jimbun
Amelia Usun Juing
Norina Anak Changan
Miri Production Runner: Amreetpul Singh
Daniel Sim Mong Say
Bario Locations & Production Runner: Zac Labang
Lian Naree
Food & Accommodation: Lucy Bulan & David Labang (Labang Longhouse Lodge)
Post Production
Post Supervisor: Fabian Wilfred Joseph
Post Producer: Teh U-Jinn
Offline Editor: Sarah Lois Dorai / Fabian Wilfred Joseph
Online Editor: Fjallraven Boy
Color by Company 3 Los Angeles
Colorist: Tyler Roth
Executive Producer: Ashley McKim
Producer: Mario Castro
Special thanks to:
Elle Sia
Gary Lionel
Julian Rang
Lawrence Lawai Lukas
Lynette Nicholas
Paul Anis Pian
Nazri Bin Mahari
Sharifah Nur Annissa
Nicholas Chin
Cinerent (M) Sdn. Bhd.
AV8 Media Pte. Ltd.
Special thanks to:
Sarawak Tourism Board
Miri Marriott Resort & Spa
Miri City Council
LANA
Maatin Shakir
Neng Kho Razali
Raben Beads
Tanoti
Von Jolly Couture
Wan Bynun
Gebriel Padan Makeup Artistry
Music Video Produced by Project Room & Kanid Studio

06/10/2020

https://theculturereviewmag.com/.../craving-for-the.../

Papa Roast Lamb, a family business operating in Ampang, Selangor, serves really nice premium roasted lamb shoulder imported from New Zealand. They also sell lamb puff pastries, a delicious treat to have with your evening tea. Read our review now.

By Mohani Niza Papa Roast Lamb, a labour of love by a family in Ampang, specialises only in roasted lamb shoulder and lamb puff pastry.The lamb has a nice flavour and texture to it, thanks to 8 yea…

18/07/2020

Finn See writes why they think gender-swapping apps promote transphobia and violence towards transgender people and non-binary people.

They quote an interviewee - Miles* - who said: “I think what cis people don’t realise is that our genders are not a costume. […] People like us have to live our whole lives questioning our gender identities, and so much time and energy have been used to navigate around that. When we finally do decide to live our authentic lives, we have to fight very hard for the body that we want.

“So when people just snap a photo and make fun of the outcome, it trivialises the transgender experience. People need to remember while you’re having fun with this app, there are actual trans people fighting every day in their lives to fit into a society that treats them like a joke.”
https://theculturereviewmag.com/2020/07/18/gender-swap-apps-arent-just-harmless-fun-for-trans-and-non-binary-people/

By Finn See FaceApp recently gained popularity for its supposedly fun gender swapping filter, using artificial intelligence (AI) to ‘swap’ a person’s face into female or male. This has caught the a…

22/06/2020

“Uprooting from one’s homeland is emotionally excruciating, but to do it a second time is to double the pain.”

Malaysian engineer Ai Sin writes for The Culture Review Mag. Read her story here: https://theculturereviewmag.com/2020/06/21/a-tale-of-bilateral-uprooting/

This story is a part of a series of essays submitted to The Culture Review Mag on the theme of (Malay for ‘journey’).If you have your own story to tell on this theme, whether as someone…

07/06/2020

A good read by Masturah Alatas (the daughter of the late sociologist Syed Hussein Alatas) on the topic of 'perantauan' (a journey which usually connotes going abroad). She challenges the term 'ex-Malaysian' and says that she identifies herself as a 'writer ex Malaysia' instead.

Excerpts:

"I, personally, would never identify as ex-Malaysian though I have been living in Italy for close to three decades now. My birth certificate and school-leaving certificates give me license to identify as Singaporean as well. This was why I wrote the story Causeway Love, because there are many like me who still see Malaysia and Singapore as one country. "

"For a long time, Palestinians did not have a state but they’ve always had a homeland. And many have left that homeland. Edward W. Said has never called himself an ex-Palestinian or been called one as far as I know. In fact, his entire intellectual oeuvre rests on his being Palestinian-American."

By Masturah Alatas Dear Mohani Niza, I recently saw The Culture Review Mag’s call for stories on the theme of ‘perantauan’, which I loosely understood as the condition of being temporarily ‘luar ne…

07/06/2020

By Masturah Alatas Dear Mohani Niza, I recently saw The Culture Review Mag’s call for stories on the theme of ‘perantauan’, which I loosely understood as the condition of being temporarily ‘luar ne…

30/04/2020

The Culture Review Mag (TCR Mag) sits down with Borneo singer-songwriter Zee Avi to chat about her new single 'Good Things', the song we need during this pandemic!

By Mohani Niza In March this year, Malaysian artist Zee Avi released her single ‘Good Things’. It is an apt song right now as the world battles against the coronavirus, and is an instant mood-lifte…

24/04/2020

Check out some of these cool events around Southeast Asia, including a celebration of Lenin's 150th birthday.

Exhibition showcasing reunification art available to view online The Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum (VNFAM) has launched an online exhibition of paintings and sculptures, including those by arti…

24/04/2020

Preeta Samarasan (author of 'Evening is a Whole Day') pens her thoughts about being a writer-in-exile in this special essay for The Culture Review Mag.

She writes: 'I would always care about Malaysia. I would always feel a painful unrequited love, always feel that I had a stake in Malaysia’s destiny. That fierce connection is still there, twenty-eight years on: no other place’s failures and successes elicit as passionate a reaction in me as those of the country of my birth. There is no other place about which I want to write in my fiction, and no other place I think about so much, not even the country in which I’m currently living, France."

By Preeta Samarasan for The Culture Review Mag I grew up in a middle-class family in Ipoh, Malaysia in the 1980s. My dad was a teacher, mum was a housewife. Neither one graduated from university, b…

25/03/2020

From South China Morning Post. A delightful anecdote by a westerner translating Chinese literature to English.

With 11 novels published, Nicky Harman hopes to promote contemporary Chinese literature.

24/03/2020

The Culture Review Mag interviews Austin-based singer-songwriter Molly Burch whose music is a haunting tribute to heartache and loss.

By Mohani Niza Molly Burch’s music has been described as “reflecting heartbreak and loss”. The Austin-based indie singer-songwriter agrees. “I love when people tell me that my music has helped them…

10/03/2020

Popular literary event Readings@Seksan - or Readings as it is also known - turns 15 and we had the chance to interview its curator for the past 13 years: Sharon Bakar.

https://theculturereviewmag.com/2020/03/10/malaysian-literary-event-readings-turns-15-we-interviewed-sharon-bakar-who-has-been-curating-it-for-the-past-13-years/

By Mohani Niza (Main picture by Tina Isaacs) In 2005, Malaysian novelist, poet and educator Bernice Chauly created a literary event called Readings where local and international writers alike could…

09/03/2020

Malaysia had her own women’s march on March 8 in conjunction with International Women’s Day.There were a lot of chanting, singing, fiery speeches, creative placards and over-all positive energy.

Malaysia had her own women’s march on March 8 in conjunction with International Women’s Day. While the turn-out was quite modest (around 400 people), the spirit of the protest couldn& #8…