One of the most interesting aspects of The Soul of Malaya is its homage to the pantun.

What (and I have to confess I had only the vaguest idea) is a pantun? Let me quote an expert:

"The pantun is an oral literary form of expression traditionally used among the Malays... [I]t had already been perfected to its current form by the 15th century at the latest...

"In its most basic form the pantun consists of even-numbered lines based on an abab rhyming scheme, with the shortest consisting of two lines... while the longest pantun, the pantun enam belas kerat, have 16 lines... [T]he most popular form of the pantun is the pantun empat kerat, ie the four-line pantun. This is most probably due to the fact that the "echo" effect of the rhyming lines is stronger in such a pantun, making the pantun more pleasing to the ear...

"What makes a pantun different [from other poetry] is the fact that it is divided into two halves. The top half is called pembayang maksud, literally, 'shade of meaning', while the bottom half is called maksud, or 'meaning'... To make a pantun, the two halves, while rhyming with each other, must carry different themes...

"Some scholars are of the view that the pembayang maksud, or the first half of the pantun, is only there to provide the rhyme for the second half... The other view ... is that the pembayang maksud, as its name suggests, actually functions as a hint as to the actual meaning conveyed in the maksud, the second half of the pantun...

"[This kind of verse] could be traded in friendly banter among friends during times of leisure or ... used to express delicate emotions and sentiment on issues not usually discussed openly and directly. Pantun was also used a lot to express romantic feelings and love... Sadly today, pantun usage is on a decline."

It is clear from the above that the pantun is a very sophisticated production. In The Soul of Malaya, the narrator's mentor, Rolain (who obviously inclines to the second school of thought with regard to the relationship between the pembayang maksud and the maksud), explains how "the first two lines of a pantun ... create the atmosphere without the crudity of metaphor".

He goes on to illustrate this proposition with a sample poem and a commentary:

"Nasi basi atas para
"Nasi masuk dalam perahu
"Puchat kaseh badan sengsara
"Hidop segan mati ta-mahu

"So short a poem needs to be read slowly as a still life should be looked at for a long while. Indeed it is a still life: stale rice left in a boat.

"We think of a voyage or of an adventure, of him who was in the boat, and cooked the rice, and was hungry at that time -- and the food is left untouched, and we scent a drama. Or perhaps this white rice that no one wants is in itself symbolic. The last two lines reveal the soul-state of the picture.

"Lividness of love, tortured flesh,
"Life is insipid and death distasteful...

"It is the expression of so deep a disillusion that no desire survives, not even the desire of death."

Lescale, the narrator, concludes: "All poetry is untranslatable, but in the translation of a pantun it is not merely the rhythm, the rhyme, and the assonances that are lost. It is the play on words, the equivocations, the tenuous allusions, that constitute their special charm for the Malays."

Lescale also finds that his growing familiarity with the literature of the pantun helps him understand everyday conversations that make no literal sense, but make perfect sense once the reference points are grasped. Quoting an allusive snatch of conversation as an illustration, he is awed by the degree of "literary training" it encapsulates. His awe is couched in terms of amazement at finding this degree of literary facility "in a still primitive people", and of course, this grates on our ears. Nevertheless, his admiration for the kind of "poetic joust" that his Malay companions engage in is very genuine.


"Smail was urged to sing" -- one of the illustrations by the author's brother, Charles

It's difficult, isn't it? Fauconnier's respect for this artistic form is reflected in the way he strews pantun liberally about the book, as dedication, chapter-opener, section-opener, didactic focus, and narrative decoration.

It is all a far cry from colonial administrator Frank Swettenham's dismissive comments about "love ditties" and "effusions".

And I -- who have lived in Malaysia for quite a while now -- became familiar with these exquisite little poems as a consequence of reading this colonial-era text...

But as Srilata Ravi points out, the focus on the pantun gives the Other an intellectual space and a poetic voice -- but the narrative does not actually allow this Other to express any identity of his own: "The pantun like the geographical map reduces the Malay to a literary space that can be viewed, analysed and eventually preserved."

Today we would probably characterize Fauconnier's use of the pantun as cultural appropriation...

I'll close with one beautiful example of a pantun, which sets the melancholy tone for the pivotal chapter "The Journey". Here it is in Malay, English, and French:

Kupu-kupu terbang melintang
terbang di-laut di-ujong karang
Pasal apa berhati bimbang
dari dahulu sampai sekarang

Butterflies flying here and there
Over the sea at the end of the coral reef
Why this trouble in my heart
That was here long ago and still is?

Papillons volant deci-delà
Volant sur la mer à la porte des récifs
Pourquoi ce trouble dans mon coeur,
Qui vient de loin, qui dure encore ?