A POST-COLONIAL PERSPECTIVE OF PHILIP JEYARETNAM AND BETH YAHP

Abstract

I will be looking at the post-colonial perspective of the books written by Singaporean writer Philip Jeyaretnam and Malaysian-born writer Beth Yahp. These two up-and-coming Southeast Asian writers are suitable subjects because they truly belong to the post-colonial generation. They have no memories of the colonial days and have no colonial hangups. They are well-read and well-travelled, and see the East-West relationship as being an unequal one.

The West has long reserved the right to "mythologise" their superiority, often through belittling the non-European world. This is done through their literature that helps formulate ideologies which boost their image, unfortunately, usually at the expense of non-Europeans. This has given the imperialists the justification to take over distant lands that never belonged to them in the first place. They feel obliged to rule those they considered “inferior” and bring western civilisation to them. This strategy which was initially started to help sustain empire building is carried over to modern times. It has made the White man take for granted that his culture is "superior". What is worse, is that, the East has imbibed what is said about them by the West.

The emergence of writers like Philip Jeyaretnam and Beth Yahp is timely as the Eurocentric Western writers have already done much damage to the Asian psyche. It is time for more space to be given to Asian perspectives and voices. These two writers attempted to demythologise the "superiority" of the white men by making them ordinary. For instance, Philip Jeyaretnam tells us in his books that it is not true that all Caucasians are good or good-looking. They are just like people of other races: there are ugly, irresponsible and even drunk ones. They do not have exclusive rights to all the virtues and good looks. They have also been guilty of using questionable methods that violate human rights to put down oppositions towards them - like using "detention without trail" mentioned in Abraham's Promise.

In Crocodile Fury, Beth Yahp suggests that the white colonists have used the education system to perpetuate in the children of the indigenous people, a preference for western tastes and standards. This ensures that they continue to look up to the white man and his culture. However, those who have inculcated a taste for western culture may not fit into their own culture again. This situation can be further aggravated, since so many bright Asian scholars can go overseas to get an education nowadays. The solution to this problem is to advocate "hybrid" cultures. "Hybrid" cultures appreciate the benefits from the influences of both East and West. The writers also challenge the notion that western culture that came with the colonialists is so "superior" that it does not have any flaws. They point out in their novels, some of the bad "aspects" or effects of western culture, thus in the process further demythologising the "superiority" of the West.