Lee Kok Liang and Return to Malaya

• Name: Lee Kok Liang
• Year of Birth: 1921
• Year of Death: 1992
• Profession: Lawyer, Former member of the Penang State Assembly, Writer
• Famous Works include Mutes in the Sun and other stories (1963), Return to Malaya (1944), Death is a Ceremony and other short stories (1992) and Flowers in the Sky (1981).

The late Lee Kok Liang was one of the most prominent English short story writer in South East Asia. Born in Alor Star, Kedah in  pre-independence Malaya, Lee's father was in his description, a stern follower of the British raj whilst his mother a fourth-generation Straits-Chinese and a sarong-woman with a mixture of Siamese, Chinese and Malay culture. In retrospect, his lineage oozes that of the multi-cultural fusion that Malaysia is known for and as such is what makes his writings so enjoyable and unique. Added to that his distinctive curriculum vitae of being educated in the Malaya's Chinese, Japanese and Malay schooling system of the 1930s and 1940s, Lee seems to embody the historic richness of Malaysia. 

He later attended University of Melbourne, Australia in the 1950s on a literary internship where he wrote and published short stories which later culminated into a collection, The Mutes in the Sun and other short stories (1963). Lee later studied Law at London's Inn, London and returned to Malaya to practise law.  

Lee published a documentary-like story entitled "Return to Malaya" in 1944 in the journal Encounter. This short story shall be thoroughly discussed in the latter part of this post. The diversity of his educational experiences had important repercussions for him as a Malaysian writer who wrote in English. His writing muses over the private lives, phobias, and passions of Malaysians from differing ethnic backgrounds. In situating his characters in a Malaysian scene, Lee was mindful of the politics of multiracism. The influence of his family background is also discernible in his fictional studies of Chinese family life and the tenacious traditions and dynastic tradition that have shaped it. 

His 1981 novel Flowers in the Sky which comprised of four related stories makes a thorough examination of the belief systems embedded in Malaysia's multicultural society. It's theme of the conflict between spiritual values and acquisitive, corrupting materalism is also etched in many of his short stories' plots. 

Politics permeates most of the human activity and relationship of the fictional world Lee created whereby his works touches on issues such as sex, marriage, religion, family life, promiscuity, prostitution, the colonial club, racial identity, violence (of psychological and political nature), class hierarchy and the shadowy nation-state. It is note-worthy to mention Lee's extensive experience with politics as he was a former member of the Penang State Assembly and a Barrister who represented the oppressed work groups.  

1963's Mute in the Sun and other short stories presents alarming, powerful profiles of individuals brutalized, ostracized and alienated by authority figures or fellow victims. These dark effects, paradigms of social evils yet mitigated by gestures of compassion and love makes many to believe that Lee is the one responsible in introducing relevant adaptations of Dickens, Hawthorne and Dostoevsky in South East Asian literature. 

London Does not Belong to me was written by Lee during his return to Malaya from England by sea in 1954 and was only published posthumously in 2003. It was partly based on his experience as a student in London. The novel has a nameless Chinese protagonist whose love for an Australian woman is unfulfilled. This novel resonates a post-colonial themes and inclinations which echoed in subsequent international anglophone literature.

Return to Malaya (1944)

Below are excerpts from Lee's short story "Return to Malaya" published in the journal Encounter in 1944. The first couple of pages are missing unfortunately and I do apologize for the lack of quality of these images. 

This documentary story lays the foundation for Lee's fictional method: detached-observer narration and a meticulous rendering of physical, social and behavioral detail. 

Source: Encyclopedia of Post Colonial Literatures in English, Edited by Eugene Benson and L.W. Conolly. Published Novermber 30, 2004 by Routeldge. Page 833 and 834