Budi Kritik: Expanded Edition

by Mohamed Imran Mohamed Taib (Editor), Nurul Fadiah Johari (Editor)

Why is it important to imbibe a thinking culture? What can contemporary Malays contribute by way of an active intellectual and social life towards reform and progress? Where are the loci of critical thought in Malay public life?

In a revealing book of essays edited by Mohamed Imran Mohamed Taib and Nurul Fadiah Johari, writers from various backgrounds—academics, researchers, community organisers, and social activists—offer insights and critical reflections into contemporary Malay society. These essays span wide-ranging fields—from culture to religion, identity to literature, faith to sociopolitics—with a shared objective: to promote the will to think and challenge dominant perspectives.
By actively engaging in the identification of problems in society, defining and diagnosing them, ​Budi Kritik offers ways to overcome these problems through deep thinking, cogent analysis, perceptive insights, and an unwavering commitment to lasting peace and progress. This is a necessary and urgent book for anyone asking where the Malay voices are in public discourse.

230 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Fadzeera Fadzully · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took my time to finish this because I felt like I finally found a series of essays that absolutely resonate with me. I cannot take off my lens of being a Malay person in Singapore when reviewing this selection but the careful selection is really a good way-in to the themes explored in the book. The essays were succinct, clear and highly engaging.

Readers should be mindful that the essays do not delve too deep, possibly because they were condensed for the purposes of this compilation. But they serve to give a good overview of the issues and the arguments pegged around them and educate readers that yo, these issues actually exist.

[Hakim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was ecstatic to read about essays, written by Malay academics, poets, essayists and activists, about contemporary issues of the Malays in Singapore as a Malay person myself, or at least someone who should identify as one. However, the various essay centers islam more than it centers Malays. Therefore its cultural plurality (stories, traditions, language, ethics etc) were sadly sidelined. The incredibly reductionistic colonial definition of Malay (as in the CIMO) and Muslim is used interchangeably, almost without question nor hesitation.

Most saddening is the caricature of “secular feminism”, the poor attempt to reinterpret and justify patriarchal injunctions as well as to reconcile the non-overlapping magesteria of science and religion. Strikingly and upsettingly, an author used “female genital cutting” instead of “female genital mutilation”, a phrase many international human-rights bodies use. Furthermore, the false tone of objectivity and refusal to name this act as a gross violation of a women’s, especially of a child, bodily autonomy and rights is deeply troubling.

Not all is gloom, essays like the importance of language, feminism in early Malay literature, the burdens Malay Muslim women face in particular and critical race theory brings up incredibly profound insight to the uniqueness of Malay culture, life and history. Well-written and thoughtful.

Perhaps I am being incredibly harsh. Even though I am disappointed with the overall book, I am still ecstatic about the future of intellectual thinking in the Malay community. This book is just the first step of a long, and hopefully fruitful, journey ahead.

[Rebecca Goh · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with most books which are collections of essays, there will be some I like more than others. In this book, I found myself thoroughly liking very few essays. Many of them are short and of digestible length, though many also left me feeling like they were too ambitious for their short length.

I give this an additional star because I do feel like it is an important work and a commendable collection! Thanks BooksActually for including this in the super membership - I would not have chose to read this otherwise.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great anthology of diverse topics challenging the perceived homogeneity of Malay and Islamic scholarship. There are good intersectional topics on feminism and religion in there - I particularly enjoyed the chapters on identity, race and gender and specifically Siti Hazirah's piece on stereotyping Malay youths. Highly recommended for those looking for an entry point to better understand the contemporary Malay society.

[sands · Rating 3 out of 5]

A needful text to kickstart the conversation about establishing decolonial scholarship in the Malay world. Budi Kritik provides a good overview of the main contentions and issues relevant, although parts of the prose do not follow through with clarity of ideas. Nonetheless, I believe this is a step forward towards the larger goal.

[Sabrina Aokira · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 round up!