1 Advertisement in Tanah Malayu, no. 8, June 1934.

2 There is an ongoing debate about how the economic crisis affected Malaya and other parts of Southeast Asia. The image of the crisis as a terrible ordeal that weighed much more heavily on the people of primary producing countries than on the industrial economies of Europe and the United States has undergone revision and differentiation ever since the 1970s. However, the revisionist argument that the Depression had a fairly minimal impact on Southeast Asian countries has recently been contested in works such as Boomgaard, Peter and Brown, Ian, ‘The economies of Southeast Asia in the 1930s Depression. An introduction’, in Weathering the storm: The economies of Southeast Asia in the 1930s Depression, ed. Boomgaard, Peter and Brown, Ian (Singapore: ISEAS, 2000), pp. 5–9Google Scholar; Huff, W.G., ‘Entitlements, destitution, and emigration in the 1930s Singapore Great Depression’, Economic History Review, 54, 2 (2001): 290–323CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Loh Kah Seng, ‘Beyond “rubber prices” history: Life in Singapore during the Great Depression years’ (M.A. thesis, Department of History, National University of Singapore, 2004).

3 Most of the materials used are available in the Jawi Transliteration Project (JTP). This Project is an initiative of Mark Emmanuel and Timothy P. Barnard and contains the transliteration of a selection of articles from four major Malay Peninsular periodicals from the 1930s. The provisional results are searchable through Ian Proudfoot's database at http://mcp.anu.edu.au/ (last accessed on 3 Sept. 2009), while an electronic publication of the material is planned with NUS Press. Mark Emmanuel has provided me with soft and hard copies of the materials for which I am most grateful. I have added the letters JTP behind references that may be found in that source; other references to Majlis or other newspapers are to microfilmed copies of the periodicals.

4 For general introductions into the theory of popular culture, see Storey, John, Cultural theory and popular culture: An introduction, 5^th edn (Harlow: Pearson Longman, 2009)Google Scholar and Strinati, Dominic, Introduction to theories of popular culture (London and New York: Routledge, 1995)Google Scholar.

5 There is an extensive literature on bangsawan, most of which is the result of Tan Sooi Beng's seminal work on this subject. For a discussion of the localisation of bangsawan see Beng, Tan Sooi, ‘From popular to “traditional” theater: The dynamics of change in bangsawan of Malaysia’, Ethnomusicology, 33, 2 (1989): 229–74Google Scholar.

6 Beng, Tan Sooi, ‘From folk to national popular music: Recreating ronggeng in Malaysia’, Journal of Musicological Research, 24, 3–4 (2005): 287–307CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 Kyvic, David E., Daily life in the United States, 1920–1940: How Americans lived through the “Roaring Twenties” and the Great Depression (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2004)Google Scholar; Ashby, Leroy, With amusement for all: A history of American popular culture since 1830 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006)Google Scholar; and Barnard, Rita, The Great Depression and the culture of abundance: Kenneth Fearing, Nathanael West, and mass culture in the 1930s (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995)Google Scholar.

8 Ashby, With amusement for all, p. 144.

9 Ibid., p. 222.

10 In 1929 the average price of a radio set was $133, which fell to only $48 in 1932, by which time about 60 per cent of the American households owned a set; in 1929 this figure was only 31.2 per cent, while by 1940 it had risen to 80 per cent (ibid., p. 245).

11 Ibid., p. 250.

12 Baudrillard, Jean, The mirror of production, trans. with ‘Introduction’ by Mark Poster (St. Louis: Telos Press, 1975), p. 144Google Scholar.

13 Kyvic, Daily life in the United States, p. 188.

14 Barnard, Great Depression and the culture of abundance, p. 21.

15 Ashby, With amusement for all, p. 194.

16 The print runs of Malay-language periodicals in the 1930s given by William Roff range from a few hundred copies to 4,000 for a popular weekly at the end of the decade; Roff, , Bibliography of Malay and Arabic periodicals published in the Straits Settlements and Peninsular Malay States, 1876–1941 (London: Oxford University Press, 1972), pp. 22–3Google Scholar. For more information on the print runs of the periodicals, see Proudfoot, Ian, ‘Pre-war Malay periodicals: Notes to Roff's Bibliography drawn from government gazettes’, Kekal Abadi, 4, 4 (1985): 1–28Google Scholar; and Mark Emmanuel's article in this issue.

17 Huff, ‘Entitlements, destitution, and emigration’, p. 295.

18 Ashby, With amusement for all, p. 168. The designations of ‘Chinese’, ‘Indians’ and ‘Malays’ are of course all colonial categories and do not, for example, differentiate between Hokkiens and Teochews or Tamil and Gujerati. The inverted commas used for ‘indigenous’ allude to the fact that many people categorised as ‘Malay’ had their origins in ethnic groups living elsewhere in the Malay World, such as Bugis, Mandailing, Acehnese and Gayo.

19 Based on an economic model of the distribution of entitlements and endowments, W.G. Huff has calculated that Malays represented the segment of the population that was least affected by the economic downturn of the early 1930s. Malays also seem to have owned only relatively small enterprises which did not take part in the export economy and demanded less capital. The losses incurred because of the Depression, therefore, were relatively limited for this part of the population, although Malay rubber smallholders in particular certainly felt the brunt of the Depression. See Huff, ‘Entitlements, destitution, and emigration’, pp. 311, 315. Roff, Origins of Malay nationalism, paints a gloomier picture of the situation of the Malays in the countryside (pp. 204–6).

20 Kahn, Joel S., Other Malays: Nationalism and cosmopolitanism in the modern Malay world (Singapore: Asian Studies Association of Australia in association with Singapore University Press, 2006), pp. 37–43Google Scholar.

21 Kratoska, Paul, ‘Imperial unity versus local autonomy: British Malaya and the depression of the 1930s’, in Weathering the storm, ed. Boomgaard, and Brown, , pp. 278–84Google Scholar; and Kahn, Other Malays, pp. 142–3.

22 Joel Kahn argues that the firm identification of Malays as indolent and traditional kampung (village) dwellers may have been largely a discursive construction of Malay nationalists in concert with colonial policy which was developed in the early twentieth century and had reached its full realisation by the time of independence (Kahn, Other Malays, esp. ch. 5).

23 Roff, Origins of Malay nationalism, p. 166.

24 Roff, Bibliography of Malay and Arabic periodicals, p. 8. For a bibliography of Malay magazines in Malaya in the first half of the twentieth century, see Adnan, Hamedi Mohd., Direktori majalah-majalah Melayu sebelum merdeka (Kuala Lumpur: Penerbit Universiti Malaya, 2002)Google Scholar.

25 Roff, Bibliography of Malay and Arabic periodicals, pp. 18–19. For more information about this first Malay film magazine, see Timothy P. Barnard's article in this volume.

26 On the erotic nature of Hikayat Faridah Hanom, see Campbell, Christine, ‘The thread of eroticism in Faridah Hanom, an early Malay novel by Syed Sheikh Al-Hadi’, in Lost times and untold stories from the Malay world, ed. Putten, Jan van der and Cody, Mary Kilcline (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2009), pp. 257–67Google Scholar; For information on Egypt's influence on popular culture in Malaya see Othman, Mohammad Redzuan, ‘Egypt's religious and intellectual influence on Malay society’, KATHA – The Official Journal of the Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, 1 (2005): 26–54Google Scholar.

27 Nik Ahmad bin Haji Nik Hassan, , ‘The Malay press’, Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 36, 1 (1963): 60–1Google Scholar.

28 Roff, Bibliography of Malay and Arabic periodicals, p. 9; for more information on Abdul Rahim Kajai, see Henk Maier's article in this issue.

29 Roff, Origins of Malay nationalism, pp. 171–4.

30 ‘Pendahuluan Majlis’, Majlis, 17 Dec. 1931, p. 1.

31 ‘Nasib orang-orang Melayu di Bentong’, Majlis, 7 Apr. 1932, p. 6; Encik di Bentong; JTP.

32 ‘Conference atau Congress Melayu’, Majlis, 1 Sept. 1932, p. 5; JTP. For more information on this emancipatory movement in the early 1930s, see Bakar, Abdul Latiff Abu, ‘Akhbar Melayu dan penubuhan persatuan-persatuan negeri Melayu, 1926–1941’, Malaysia Dari Segi Sejarah, 9 (1980): 93–5Google Scholar.

33 ‘Giliran umat Melayu: Tangga kemajuan sedang terbuka’, Majlis, 14 July 1932, p. 1; JTP.

34 ‘Seruan kita kepada anak-anak Melayu’, Majlis, 11 Apr. 1932, p. 1; JTP.

35 Roff, Origins of Malay nationalism, pp. 204–5.

36 ‘Hendak seribu daya: Jika tidak seribu bencana’, Majlis, 25 Sept. 1933, p. 8; JTP.

37 ‘Kemajuan perniagaan Melayu’, Majlis, 1 Sept. 1932, p. 8; JTP.

38 ‘Melayu dengan perniagaannya’, Majlis, 21 Sept. 1933, p. 1; JTP.

39 ‘Kehibaan dan kesayuan mengenangkan nasib orang-orang Melayu’, Majlis, 8 Sept. 1932, p. 8; JTP.

40 ‘Perniagaan Melayu’, Majlis, 21 March 1932, p. 4; ‘Perniagaan telur ayam Melayu’, Majlis, 12 Sept. 1932, p. 3; JTP.

41 ‘Seruan kita: Hidupkanlah perusahaan bangsa kita’, Majlis, 5 Jan. 1933, p. 5; JTP.

42 ‘Kemajuan membuat sabun bertambah lagi dikeluarkan di batu 6 Gombak’, Majlis, 17 July 1933, p. 1; ‘Sabun buatan bangsa sendiri’, Majlis, 4 Jan. 1932, p. 4.

43 ‘Perniagaan dan perusahaan Melayu layu’, Majlis, 31 Oct. 1932, p. 5; JTP.

44 Advertisement for ‘Dobi elektrik Melayu’, Majlis, 10 July 1933, p. 2.

45 Paradoxically, the most loyal of these advertisers during the first few years was Mrs Mawatari, a female Japanese dentist who focused her services on women because they would feel more comfortable with her.

46 Announcement in Majlis, 17 Dec. 1931, p. 6.

47 An example of such a news item concerns the Singapore soap manufacturer Sabun Buatan Bangsa Sendiri; the piece contains the name and address of the company to be contacted for further information and orders (Majlis, 28 Dec. 1931, p. 3). There are also several small items and advertisements by Muhammad Din bin Al-Haji Muhammad Arif who opened his business as rubber dealer in Teras on 28 Mar. 1933.

48 See announcement ‘Tolong Perhatikan’ in Majlis, 10 July 1933, p. 5.

49 The Malay text of the advertisement reads ‘Itulah dia yang bapa saya minum minuman itu membesar dan menguatkan badannya’, while the illustration shows two bottles of different size with a few Malay boys clad in sarongs and songkok caps pointing at the larger bottle.

50 See the advertisement in Majlis, 30 Oct. 1933.

51 Lion cigarettes campaign in Majlis occupying page 4 in every issue during the months of March and April 1933.

52 The Tiger Beer campaign in Majlis started on 2 November 1933 (see ad on p. 3) and continued until the end of the month.

53 Malay Mail, 2 Jan. 1930; the advertisements mentioned appear on pp. 1, 2, 13 and 14.

54 See, for instance, the advertisement in Majlis of 5 July 1934 in which Robinson Pianos offered a portable HMV gramophone for only $18.50. The wooden, standing gramophones were still much more expensive. Advertisements for records are also scant in the columns of Majlis in the early 1930s, as well as in other Malayan newspapers. In 1934 the record business began to pick up again, and two new Malay labels were launched; Beng, Tan Sooi, ‘The 78 RPM record industry in Malaya prior to World War II’, Asian Music, 28, 1 (1996/97): 1–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

55 The Empire Talkie Theatre began its announcements on 26 January 1933 by stating that the quality of its sound and screening was good (wayang hidup bertutur dengan fasih dan cukup terang gambarnya). On 15 February it announced that all cinemas in Kuala Lumpur had converted to sound movies and that the newly established Empire Cinema would start showing silent movies. It would start the next day with the screening of the famous Moon of Israel (Majlis, 15 Feb. 1933, p. 4). However, in the other announcements for this cinema there was no mention of this film or any indication that it had reverted to showing silent movies.

56 In 1931 Malay Mail did not seem to carry advertisements for any cinema other than these three theatres; other cinemas in Seremban and Klang that did advertise in early 1930 may have closed (temporarily) because of the Depression. The Coliseum closed its doors for a period in early 1931, so that new equipment to screen sound movies could be installed; ‘Stop press – KL's second talkie theatre Coliseum equipped with Western Electric sound system opens Saturday January 24^th’, Malay Mail, 22 Jan. 1931, p. 6.

57 Shing, Yung Sai and Bun, Chan Kwok, ‘Leisure, pleasure and consumption: Ways of entertaining oneself’, in Past times: A social history of Singapore, ed. Bun, Chan Kwok and Kiong, Tong Chee (Singapore: Times Editions, 2003), pp. 155–6Google Scholar, gives a model of this commodification process in four stages. Hannerz, Ulf, ‘The cultural role of world cities’, in Humanising the city? Social contexts of urban life at the turn of the millenium, ed. Cohen, Anthony P. and Fukui, Katsuyoshi (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1993), pp. 78–80Google Scholar, provides an insightful illustration of this process.

58 See Barnard, The great depression and the culture of abundance, pp. 19–25, for similar developments in the United States.

59 ‘Permenungan semingu (oleh Student), Selum atau meleset’, Majlis, 28 Dec. 1932, p. 5.

60 See Rudolph, Jürgen, ‘Amusement in the three “Worlds”’, in Looking at culture, ed. Krishnan, Sanjayet al. (Singapore: Artres Design and Communications, 1996), pp. 21–33Google Scholar; Yung and Chan, ‘Leisure, pleasure and consumption’, and Wong Yunn Chii, and Tan Kar Lin, , ‘Emergence of a cosmopolitan space for culture and consumption: The New World Amusement Park – Singapore (1923–70) in the inter-war years’, Inter-Asia Studies, 5, 2 (2004): 279–304CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

61 See advertisement in Majlis, 12 Sept. 1932, p. 6.

62 See advertisement in Majlis, 4 Apr. 1933.

63 See advertisement in Majlis, 24 Apr. 1933, p. 2.

64 See advertisement in Majlis, 1 May 1933.

65 See Beng, Tan Sooi, Bangsawan: A social and stylistic history of popular Malay opera (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1993)Google Scholar; Bakar, Wan Abdul, Budaya popular dalam masyarakat Melayu bandaran (Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia, 1988)Google Scholar; and Cantius Leo Camoens, ‘History and development of Malay theatre’ (M.A. thesis, Universiti Malaya, 1981), for detailed studies of bangsawan. The relationship between bangsawan and the burgeoning film industry is discussed in Timothy P. Barnard's piece in this issue.

66 Each of these titles refers to a tale from classical Malay literature or history; Tan, ‘From popular to “traditional” theater’, pp. 252–3.

67 See advertisements in Malay Mail, 22 Aug. 1930, p. 6; Straits Echo, 3 Dec. 1929, p. 11; Majlis, 7 Apr. 1932, p. 4; and Tan, ‘From popular to “traditional” theater’, illustrations 1 and 2, pp. 232 and 234.

68 The potential of bangsawan plays to carry moral lessons is also emphasised in an article in Warta Malaya (‘Wayang bangsawan Melayu’, 24 May 1934, p. 5), but unfortunately the journalist can only be very critical about how the plays are realised. Still, again we see the appropriation of bangsawan as belonging to the Malay community.

69 ‘Malay Opera’, Majlis, 11 May 1933, p. 1.

70 Wilkinson, R.J., Papers on Malay subjects: Life and customs, part II, Malay amusements (Kuala Lumpur: FMS Government Press, 1910), pp. 22–9Google Scholar. For an extensive description of the practices in Java, see Brakel-Papenhuyzen, Clara, ‘Javanese taledhek and Chinese tayuban’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 151, 4 (1995): 545–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

71 Wan Abdul Kadir, Budaya popular, pp. 131–3; the translation is from ‘Menari kebangsaan (ronggeng)’, Saudara, 28 Mar. 1931, p. 131.

72 See Majlis, 18 Aug. 1932, p. 6, which argues against not only expensive marriage celebrations but also the ceremonies that follow a funeral. It also refers to the situation in Perak, where an injunction against certain Islamic traditions was imminent. Reformist Islam was gaining ground.

73 Tan Sooi Beng describes how ronggeng was instrumental in the development of irama Malaysia, a state-promoted re-traditionalised sound of modern Malaysia (‘From folk to national popular music’, pp. 301–5). Ronggeng also has been preserved as part of Chinese Peranakan culture in the Peninsula.

74 See Hannerz, ‘The cultural role of world cities’, pp. 80–82 for a discussion about the flow of cultural products between centre and periphery with respect to world cities, which to a certain extent is applicable to the Malayan situation in the 1930s.

75 At least such was the ideal as envisioned by colonial officials and Malay nationalists; see Kahn, Other Malays, pp. 144–53.

76 See Majlis, 16 Mar. 1933; in the advertisement the company that was ‘built with true Malay capital and effort’ (dibangunkan dengan modal dan usaha Melayu sejati) called for people to bring their rice to the mill; it said, ‘we trust that all of us understand that supporting a company of our nation is similar to helping oneself’ (Kami percaya yang kita semua telah faham bahwa menyokong peruasahaan bangsa itu serupa adanya dengan menolong diri sendiri).

77 Roff, Origins of Malay nationalism, pp. 183–235.

78 Asley, With amusement for all, pp. 148–50.

79 ‘Orang Melayu kampung dan permainan’, Majlis, 5 June 1933, p. 1. The image evoked here is quite far from the ‘traditional kampung’ image, where children passed their happy childhoods playing games and exploring the countryside.