Journal articles on the topic 'Folklore, malaysia'

Kajian membuktikan bahawa cerita rakyat yang terdapat di Malaysia sesuai dijadikan bahan bacaan untuk masyarakat Melayu. Berbicara tentang seni budaya berfi kir dan akal budi masyarakat Melayu dalam menyelesaikan suatu masalah merupakan medium yang paling berkesan yang diperoleh menerusi cerita rakyat yang dikarang menerusi bahan bacaan hingga kini. Lantaran kepesatan dan pemodenan di Malaysia, bidang teknologi memainkan peranan penting dalam memperkasakan dan membawa cerita rakyat di peringkat yang lebih tinggi dengan adanya pendokumentasian cerita rakyat menerusi platform multimedia yang pelbagai. Namun, cerita rakyat boleh membentuk budaya berfikir dan akal budi masyarakat Melayu dalam menyelesaikan masalah dan teknologi menyampaikan mesej yang berkesandalam membentuk jati diri Melayu yang sempurna. The study proves that the folklore found in Malaysia is suitable as a reading material for the Malaycommunity. Talking about the artistic culture of thinking and the mind of the Malay community in solving a problem is the most effective medium to be gained through the folklore authored through the reading material to date. Due to the rapidity and modernization of Malaysia, the technology field plays an important role in empowering and bringing folklore at a higher level with the existence of documentary folklore through diverse multimedia designs. However, folklore can shape the culture of thinking and the mind of the Malay community in solving the problems and technology delivers effective messages in forming a perfect Malay identity.

Mother's love doesn't matter, for the sake of her child she is willing to do anything. Including to support the decision of the child who wants to migrate to improve the family economy. A child who went abroad became successful because of his business outside the city and then forgot his mother who was alone at home praying for her child's safety. Although this story has often been heard by the people of Indonesia, it is about a child who disobeys his mother. However, it turns out that this theme is not only found in Indonesia. There are several folk tales with the same theme from various countries, such as Malaysia and Brunei. This is interesting to study because the three folklores are located in different areas with different socio-cultural and economic backgrounds, but have similarities or parallels in story motifs. This study aims to determine the similarities and differences between the folklore "Si Lancang" from Riau, Indonesia, with the story "Nakhoda Manis" from Brunei, and the folktale "Si Tanggang" from Malaysia. The study used in this research is a comparative literary structure study. This study uses a comparative description method. Through comparative literary structural studies, it can be said that these folk tales have similarities in structures such as themes and messages. There are also differences in characters, characteristics, plots, and folklore backgrounds. Keywords: Comparison, structural, folklore.

Abstrak Cerita rakyat berkembang dari generasi ke generasi dan disampaikan melalui lisan sehingga cerita rakyat dikenali sebagai sastera rakyat naratif nusantara. Cerita rakyat dianggap sebagai media hiburan pada zaman dahulu yang sarat dengan nilai-nilai pengajaran. Namun begitu, jika cerita rakyat difahami dan diteliti ia mempunyai hubung kait antara kehidupan masyarakat dengan kebudayaan masyarakatnya seperti kepercayaan, sistem kekeluargaan dan ekonomi. Namun, kini cerita rakyat semakin kurang mendapat tempat di hati generasi kerana kewujudan teknologi moden. Lantaran itu, kajian ini bertujuan mengenalpasti dan membincangkan ritual yang terkandung dalam cerita rakyat di Mukim Bebar Pekan, Pahang. Seterusnya, kajian ini juga menggunakan landasan teori fungsionalisme bagi analisis perbincangan. Metodologi kajian adalah secara kualitatif melalui kajian kerja lapangan iaitu kaedah temu bual berstruktur yang melibatkan tukang-tukang cerita di Mukim Bebar Pekan, Pahang. Hasil kajian mendapati ritual yang terdapat dalam cerita rakyat di Mukim Bebar Pekan, Pahang mempunyai hubung kait yang rapat dengan kebudayaan masyarakat Melayu dan masih diaplikasikan dalam kehidupan sesetengah masyarakat di kampung tersebut hingga ke hari ini. Abstract Folklore grows from generation to generation and is conveyed orally until it is known as folk narrative literature of the archipelago. Folklore was known as an entertainment medium in ancient times laden with teaching values. Folklore has a relation between the life of the community and the culture of the community, projected through beliefs, family system and economy. However, folktales are now less appreciated as among the younger generation, mostly due to the modern technology advancement. This study aims at identifying and discussing the rituals contained in the folklore collected at Mukim Bebar Pekan, Pahang. This study also uses the theoretical foundation of functionalism in the discussions and analyses. The research methods employed are qualitative and a fieldwork involving a structured interview method of the storytellers in Mukim Bebar Pekan, Pahang. It can be concluded that there is a close relation between the community and its culture where some rituals are still being practiced in the lives of some people in the village, even up to now.

Children and Adolescent Literature have yet to find its precise definition in the corpus of Modern Malay Literature. In this regard, the works whose characters consist of adults continue to be enjoyed by children until they eventually complicate the definition of Children’s Literature. Thus, many Western folklore works such as Cinderella, Rapunzel, and others have become the focus of children's reading in Malaysia. Something needs to be done so that reading materials that encounter the East and Islamic values are served to these young people. Therefore, Hikayat Literature through the text of the Hikayat Khoja Maimun needs to be highlighted to replace Western folklore. The objective of this study is to identify characters that communicate in Hikayat Khoja Maimun and analyze the adab of communicating between the characters based on six (6) communication methods in Surah Luqman. The methodology of the study is by text analysis with three main activities to complete the objective of the study which is; to explain the character that communicates in the text of Hikayat Khoja Maimun, to identify the framework for analyzing the communication in Hikayat Khoja Maimun and to analyze the communication between the main characters based on six (6) methods of communication in the Quran through Surah Luqman i.e. through the call, symbolism, repetition, explanation, attention, and selection of idols. The study found that Hikayat Khoja Maimun reserved six (6) adab communicating in Surah Luqman. This denotes that through well-mannered communication, all matters can be delivered easily and successfully. Indeed, Hikayat Khoja Maimun as one of the works in Malay Hikayat Literature serves not only to teach but also to entertain the audience. Finally, it is time that the child reading material in Malaysia being replaced by the magnum opus inherited from generations rather than relying on Western folklore which is far deviating the audience from adab and desired values.

In the folklore of emerging markets, there is a popular belief that bubbles are inevitable. In this paper, our objective is to estimate a state-space model for rational bubbles in selected Asian economies with the aid of the Kalman Filter. For each economy, we derive a possible picture of the bubble formation process that is implied by the state-space formulation. The estimation is based on the rational valuation formula for stock prices. Our results provide a possible way of defining the presence of rational bubbles in the stock markets of Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, and Malaysia.

Malaysia is rich in natural and herbal resources which have the potential to be used as traditional medicine as well as cosmetics. These plant sources are used by the folklore to help in enriching their beauty. Leaves, fruits, flowers and roots of medicinal plants in Malaysia are used in cosmetic formulations to get different biological effects. Health issues with particular reference to skin issues, such as acne, dry skin, dull skin and alopecia can be alleviated by using these plants. Since time immemorial, herbal products have been used in maintaining and enhancing physical appearance of humans. Herbal cosmetics have growing demand in the world market and is an invaluable gift of nature. This review is about ten commonly available medicinal plants in Malaysia used in the cosmetic formulations which includes Aloe vera, Curcuma longa, Cocos nucifera, Cucumis sativus, Melaleuca alternifolia, Punica granatum, Garcinia mangostana, Carica papaya, Lawsonia inermis and Hibiscus rosasinensis. These are the ten plants that are commonly used traditionally in treating many skin conditions and hair problems. Different parts of the plant may produce different beneficial effects to the consumers. Using the herbal and natural ingredients in cosmetics alleviates the side effects almost to nil. This is predominantly lower than the side effects caused by synthetic cosmetics.

The discovery of special collection of Malay language children’s stories at University of Leiden, Netherlands proves that the traditional Malay community cares for appropriate reading material for children. Based on Teuku Iskandar's note in the Catalogue of Malay, Minangkabau, and South Sumatran Manuscripts in The Netherlands, there are many stories of children in the archipelago that are stored in University of Leiden’s Library, Netherlands. However, in this study the researchers only examine three stories in the Children's Story 26 May 1862 Collection. The stories in the collection do not have specific titles, only known as Story 1, Story 2 and Story 3 and 2 stories are contained in the collection of Parable stories. This disclosure is made because there is an opinion that the folklore today is hardly recognizable by the younger generation. This universal issue encourages the researchers to look into old Malay manuscripts and their relevance in the context of children today. Hence the objectives of this study are to classify and analyze folklore functions towards children. Hence, the method of the study involves 450 children randomly chosen according to the zones, the north, south, east and west zones of Peninsular Malaysia, as well as the Sabah and Sarawak zones. The findings show that there are still folk tales that have certain functions that can benefit children. The findings also show that children today are less vulnerable to the stories of their ancestral heritage.

This article discusses the Sihan community and one of their traditional oral narratives, known as sangin. Sihan is an indigenous ethnic group residing in Belaga, Sarawak, Malaysia, and sangin is an activity that can be considered a folklore, narrative in manner, and performed for entertainment and native remedy. Data on the community in this study was obtained through interviews with 71 Sihan informants in Belaga, Sarawak, Malaysia. The sangin by one of its practitioners was recorded during the community’s leisure activities. The recorded sangin song, delivered in the style of storytelling, narrated for entertainment, not for remedy purposes. The description of the sangin indicates that the language in the oral tradition, called antu language (language of the spirit) is very different from the modern, every day Sihan language used by its speakers. In terms of usage, sangin can be considered extinct because of the reduced number of Sihan speakers (only 218 left) and lessening number of sangin practitioners (only three remain). Sangin as a native remedy no longer has a place in the community with the availability of modern medical treatment, the mass migration of the Sihans from their original area, and the change in the Sihans’ life style, from nomadic to community life.

Melastoma malabathricumL. (Melastomataceae) is one of the 22 species found in the Southeast Asian region, including Malaysia. Considered as native to tropical and temperate Asia and the Pacific Islands, this commonly found small shrub has gained herbal status in the Malay folklore belief as well as the Indian, Chinese, and Indonesian folk medicines. Ethnopharmacologically, the leaves, shoots, barks, seeds, and roots ofM. malabathricumhave been used to treat diarrhoea, dysentery, hemorrhoids, cuts and wounds, toothache, and stomachache. Scientific findings also revealed the wide pharmacological actions of various parts ofM. malabthricum, such as antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, antidiarrheal, cytotoxic, and antioxidant activities. Various types of phytochemical constituents have also been isolated and identifed from different parts ofM. malabathricum. Thus, the aim of the present review is to present comprehensive information on ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemical constituents, and pharmacological activities ofM. malabathricum.

Cerita kanak-kanak dalam penerbitan sastera kanak-kanak semakin berkembang pesat seiring dengan perubahan zaman dan kepesatan dunia dalam arus teknologi maklumat. Perkembangan pesat teknologi turut memberi kesan positif terhadap perubahan reka bentuk (design) kulit buku dalam penerbitan sastera kanak-kanak pada masa kini. Reka bentuk kulit buku kanak-kanak dihubungkan dengan konsep kearifan tempatan. Oleh hal yang demikian, makalah ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji sejauh manakah reka bentuk kulit buku sastera kanak-kanak di Malaysia menerapkan ciri-ciri kearifan tempatan? Kearifan tempatan merangkumi adat budaya, agama dan kepercayaan, cara hidup dan ilmu pengetahuan yang menjadi pegangan dari zaman berzaman dan identiti sesebuah masyarakat. Bahan kajian ini menggunakan reka bentuk kulit buku siri Young Aisyah dan Penulis Tunas Super yang diterbitkan oleh PTS Publishing House Sdn. Bhd. Justifikasi pemilihan ini kerana Syarikat PTS antara syarikat yang aktif menerbitkan buku sastera kanak-kanak di Malaysia. Kajian ini menggunakan konsep kearifan tempatan yang dikemukakan oleh Geertz (1973), Hiwasaki et al. (2014), Suraya Sintang, Khadijah Mohd Hambali @ Khambali (2015) dan The Center of Folklore Research (2007). Kaedah yang digunakan dalam kajian ini ialah kaedah perpustakaan dan analisis teks. Dapatan kajian memperlihatkan reka bentuk kulit buku sastera kanak-kanak terbitan Syarikat PTS masih mempunyai ciri-ciri kearifan tempatan walaupun tidak secara keseluruhannya. Kesimpulannya, reka bentuk kulit buku cerita kanak-kanak dapat menjadi medium untuk memperkenalkan dan mengangkat kearifan tempatan yang menjadi identiti dan kemegahan bangsa.

Folk literature initially existed among the people. In general, it refers to folk literature from the past, which has become the heritage of a society. Folk literature is part of the cultural life of ancient societies. For example, in the old Malay society, folklore is an important form of entertainment for the villagers. People's jokes are a form of stories that are popular among the people, which become an important entertainment in the society. In the Malay community, there are also various other types of folk stories such as animal stories, funny stories, comforting stories and stories of experiences. Malay joke stories are also an expression of a society's culture through speech that is directly related to various aspects of culture, such as religion and belief, law, economic activities, family systems, and the order of social values of the society. This research is attentions on two main aspects which are purpose and function such as definition, meaning and general characteristics. This research provides an understanding and structure, in addition to important documentation of Malay history and literature, especially in Malaysia.

The Mah Meri is an indigenous tribe in Malaysia, specifically located in the central region of the peninsular. As part of an ongoing research project to digitize their way of life, this article focuses on the aspects of documenting their wooden masks and statues that are carved by hand. They use these masks and statues in their animistic rituals, and each of these artefacts represents a folklore story in the Mah Meri culture and heritage. For a long time, these masks and statues have become a source of income for the Mah Meri carvers, as they get requests from collectors and enthusiasts. However, these days the craft not only faces the issue of dwindling number of carvers, but also the source of wood they use for carving the masks and statues. Thus, as part of the research in digitizing the masks and statues, we also collected the folklore stories of each artefact. Additionally, we used photogrammetry techniques to digitize the masks and statues formation process. The main idea is to create an experience that not only preserves and represents the art of the Mah Meri people, but also enables the users to interact with the carving process of the exact mask or statute. This is highly unlikely in the real world in an immersive form. In this project, we refer to this as ‘Digitization of States’, i.e. three-dimensional (3D) capturing of specific stages of the carving process before they are gone. The 3D-captured materials, combined with other forms of audio-visual data are used in creation of procedural and informative AR/VR experiences. To achieve this, a cross collaboration between the carvers and the researchers took place. More information about the entire process is provided in the article.

The Malay folklore is something that our ancestor inherits to us for so long now. Nowadays, Malaysian folklore is beginning to fade from the face of our country due to the western media that’s beginning to dominate the world. Youngsters nowadays prefer to watch western movies and western related stories rather than our own folklore. Not only that, youngsters nowadays is keen towards the western culture due to the innovation of modern technology such as tablets, smartphones, and other devices. There are three important objectives in this research. First is to determine the suitable Malaysian folklore to be converted into an interactive comic. Second is to give a new experience to the audience to enjoy and attract youngsters nowadays. The third is to test the effectiveness of this interactive comic to the young generation from age 13 to 15 years old. This interactive comic is for youngsters who nowadays don’t know about the Malaysian folklore and to prevent it from fading from the eyes of our country. As a conclusion, this research is to help preserve and protect our Malaysian folklore from extinction by using modern technologies.

AbstractCultural issues often become learning matters in the Indonesian as a foreign language (BIPA) program. In fact, ASEAN learners also face the learning experience. Hence, the use of folklores is an option to overcome the issue. The famous folklores from the learners’ country were considered on choosing Indonesian folklores as a learning material for BIPA learners. It regards the Gagne schema theory that emphasizes on the learner’s insight as the fundamental of understanding. This study elaborates the use of proper Indonesian folklores in learning BIPA, especially for ASEAN learners. The comparative literature focusing on the Aarne-Thompson motif-index was used to compare Indonesian folklores to target BIPA learners’. The result depicted that some of ASEAN folklores are identical to Indonesian folklores. The Indonesian folklores like ‘Ande-Ande Lumut’ or ‘Bawang Merah dan Putih’, ‘Si Kancil dan Pak Tani’ or ‘Raja Palsu (Petualangan si Kancil)’ have similarities in the Cinderella motif and the trickster motif to Thailand folklores like ‘Kao and the Golden Fish’ and ‘Xiang Miang and The Snail’; Vietnam folklores like ‘The Story of Tam and Cham’ and ‘The Peasant, ‘The Buffalo, and The Tiger’; Filipina folklores like ‘Abadeha’ and ‘Pilandok and the Sumusong-sa-Alongan’; and Malaysia folklores like ‘Bawang Merah dan Putih’ and ‘Kerbau and Buaya’. In brief, the Indonesian folklores having similarities to target learners’ can be considered as a cultural material in learning BIPA, especially for ASEAN learners.Key words: folklores, motif-index, BIPA. AbstrakMeski di ASEAN sekalipun, faktor budaya sering menjadi hambatan dalam pembelajaran BIPA. hal itu dapat dijembatani dengan memanfaatkan cerita rakyat Indonesia yang memiliki kesamaan dengan cerita dari negara asal pemelajar. Mengacu teori skema strategi pembelajaran bahasa asing Gagne, pembelajaran BIPA di ASEAN perlu mempertimbangkan dengan serius faktor budaya dalam pemilihan/penentuan bahan ajar. Kajian ini menawarkan teknik pemilihan cerita rakyat Indonesia yang akan digunakan sebagai bahan ajar BIPA dengan memanfaatkan metode sastra bandingan dan teori kesamaan tipe/indeks motif Aarne dan Thompson. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahwa cerita rakyat di ASEAN identik dengan tipe/motif Cinderella dan the trickster. Cerita rakyat Indonesia dengan tipe Cinderella seperti; ‘Ande-Ande Lumut’ atau ‘Bawang Merah dan Putih’, dan cerita bertipe the trickster seperti; ‘Si Kancil dan Pak Tani’, atau cerita ‘Raja Palsu’ (Petualangan Si Kancil) dapat dijadikan bahan ajar BIPA di ASEAN karena memiliki kesamaan dengan cerita rakyat Thailand; ‘Kao and the Golden Fish’ dan ‘Xiang Miang and The Snail’, cerita rakyat Vietnam; ‘The Story of Tam and Cham’ dan ‘The Peasant, the Buffalo, and the Tiger’, cerita rakyat Filipina; ‘Abadeha’ dan ‘Pilandok and the Sumusong-sa-Alongan’ dan cerita rakyat Malaysia; ‘Bawang Merah dan Putih’ dan ‘Kerbau dan Buaya’.Kata-kata kunci: Cerita rakyat, tipe, motif, bahan ajar, BIPA

AbstractThis article analyzes how intangible cultural expressions are re-scripted as national intellectual and cultural property in postcolonial nations such as Indonesia. The mixing of intellectual and cultural property paradigms to frame folkloric art practices as national possessions, termed “intangible property nationalism,” is assessed through consideration of Indonesia's 2002 copyright law, UNESCO heritage discourse, and the tutoring of ASEAN officials to use intellectual and cultural property rhetoric to defend national cultural resources. The article considers how legal assumptions are rebuffed by Indonesian regional artists and artisans who do not view their local knowledge and practices as property subject to exclusive claims by individuals or corporate groups, including the state. Producers' limited claims on authority over cultural expressions such as music, drama, puppetry, mythology, dance, and textiles contrast with Indonesian officials' anxieties over cultural theft by foreigners, especially in Malaysia. The case suggests new nationalist uses for heritage claims in postcolonial states.

Clausena excavata(Lour.), locally known as “Kemantu hitam,” is a common plant in Malaysian folklore medicine. This study evaluated the antioxidant properties of the solvent extracts ofC. excavataleaves and determined the acute toxicity of methanolic extractC. excavata(MECE) leaves in Sprague-Dawley rats. Harvested leaves were dried and subjected to solvent extraction using petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol in succession. The antioxidant activity of each extract was determined using the ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl dihydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity. The total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoids content (TFC) were estimated by Folin-Ciocalteu and ethanolic aluminium chloride method, respectively. The chloroform extract was found to be highest in flavonoid content, while the methanolic extract showed the highest TPC and antioxidant activity. There was no mortality in rats treated with MECE leaves even at a high dose of 5000 mg/kg body weight. However, the MECE leaves produced mild to moderate pathological changes in the liver and kidneys, shown by mild degenerative changes and leucocyte infiltration. The extract did not affect the haematological parameters or relative weights of the liver or kidneys. Overall, the MECE leaves have potent antioxidant activity and are presumed safe to be used orally as health-promoting product at low to moderate doses.

The aim of the present study was to extract and characterize bioactive components from separate body organs of Holothuria leucospilota. Preliminary qualitative assessment of the crude extracts was positive for phenols, terpenoids, carbohydrates, flavonoids, saponins, glycosides, cardiac glycosides, steroids, phlobatannins, and tannins in all body organs evaluated. Phenolics were the most abundant group of bioactives accounting for approximately 80%. The extraction solvent mixtures that yielded most compounds evaluated were methanol/acetone (3:1, v:v) and methanol/distilled water (3:1, v:v). In other analyses, GC-MS data revealed diverse metabolic and biologically active compounds, where those in high concentrations included 2-Pentanone, 4-hydroxy-4-methyl- among the ketones; phenol- 2,4-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-, a phenol group; and 2-Chlorooctane, a hydrocarbon. Among FA and their methyl/ethyl esters, n-hexadecanoic acid, 5,8,11,14-eicosatetraenoic acid ethyl ester (arachidonic acid), and 5,8,11,14,17-eicosapentaenoic acid methyl ester (EPA) were among the most abundant FAMEs accounting for approximately 50% of the subgroups measured. Data from GC-FID analysis revealed methyl laurate (C12:0), methyl myristate (C14:0), methyl palmitate (C16:0), and methyl stearate (18:0) methyl esters as the most abundant saturated FA, whereas cis-9-oleic methyl ester (C18:1) and methyl linoleate (C18:2) were found as the major monounsaturated FA and PUFA FAMEs, respectively, in the body wall of the species. Taken together, the extraction and characterization of different categories of metabolically and biologically active compounds in various organ extracts of H. leucospilota suggest that the species is potentially a rich source of cholesterol-lowering, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer agents. These substances are known to benefit human health and assist in disease prevention. These findings justify the use of sea cucumbers in traditional folklore medication and the current interest and attention focused on the species to mine for bioactives in new drugs research.

This article explores two stories told during the production of the transmedia documentary project <em>Big Stories, Small Towns: Bongkud-Namaus</em> in the Dusun villages of Bongkud and Namaus in Sabah, Malaysia. Both stories relate to hungry and sacred entities – an atomised, monstrous moon-eating spirit called the Tarob, and a sacred oath bound in blood, which eats anyone who breaks it. The article will introduce the<em> Big Stories, Small Towns</em> project, the process that underpins this project and the site of production in Sabah of one iteration of the <em>Big Stories, Small </em><em>Towns</em>, before analysing heterotopic conceptions associated with aspects of folklore in the Southeast Asian region. Providing a theoretical framework that reflects upon a key text by Evans (1953) – an early translator of Dusun folklore for Western audiences – aspects of Dusun culture will be explored that illuminate details of the two case study stories. An historical and theoretical treatment of the stories will frame a fusion of transmedia and folklore in manifesting liminal beings to emergence. This fusion of transmedia and folklore facilitates representation and remediation of cultural identities, thus enabling a wider society – in this case Malaysian society – to develop a more nuanced cultural awareness of itself.

Wound healing is a complex and dynamic process which follows the normal physiology trajectory through the phases of homeostasis, inflammation, granulation and maturation. Malaysia has a rich collection of plant based healing. A large number of plants are used for the treatment of cuts and wounds by folklore traditions in Malaysia. Tinospora crispa Miers. (Menispermaceae) is popular in Asian countries for its miracle of curing diseases. T.crispa differs slightly from T.cordifolia which is well distributed in India. Considerable researches have reported the activity of this plant possessing anti-malarial, diabetes treatment etc. In Malaysia, it is used traditionally for wound healing. Hence, the present study was aimed to evaluate its scientific validity. Stems of the plant were air dried after reduced into smaller size. Dried stems were then crushed into coarse powder. Then it was introduced into methanolfor extraction by cold maceration technique. The extract was filteredafter 7 days andfractionatedwith addition of chloroform. The methanol and chloroform fractions were made to evaporate until concentrated and formulated into ointments.Albino rats were separated into four groups of six rats in each group.All four groups were divided and served as a control, methanol fraction, chloroform fraction and standard drug (Betadine) respectively. The methanol extract and chloroform extract were investigated for the evaluation of its healing efficiency on excision wound model in Albino rats. Woundclosure in percentage was used to evaluate the effect on wound healing.The methanol fraction and chloroform fraction showed a significant wound healing activity which was well comparable with the standard drug used. Methanol fraction ointment showed greater activity than chloroform fraction. This study indicated that the methanol fraction ointment possesses wound healing property which substantiates the folklore claim.

Cancer is a complex disease and ranks as a leading cause of death globally. Despite many advances made in cancer therapeutics, adverse side effects and treatment resistance remain a great problem. In that sense, there are increasing demands to discover new anticancer agents from naturally-derived compounds. Medicinal plants represent a valuable source of new drugs with promising efficacy and safety. They produce various secondary metabolites, which exhibit unique structures and a pharmacological spectrum of activity, including antitumour activity. Clinacanthus nutans, Strobilanthes crispus, Ficus deltoidea, Curcuma longa, Centella asiatica and Piper betle are among the plants species commonly used to cure cancer in traditional medicine formulae in Malaysia. The present review aims to highlight the anticancer properties of the listed Malaysian herbs with a focus on their bioactive compounds and the mode of action. Overall, many studies have disclosed the presence of active metabolites in these plants, including phenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, saponin, curcumin and Asiatic acid. They possess significant cytotoxic or antiproliferative effects primarily via the induction of apoptosis, elevation of antioxidant activity and inhibition of cancer activating enzymes. Hence, further investigation into their clinical therapeutic potential may be noteworthy. Additionally, this review article also provides the reader with information concerning the conventional anticancer drugs and their limitations, recent developments and milestones achieved in plant- derived cancer therapeutics as well as different approaches to enhance the production of these anticancer molecules.

The genus Osbeckia of Melastomataceae was named by Carl Linnaeus, for the Swedish explorer and naturalist Pehr Osbeck. Osbeckias are native to Eastern Asia and found in China, Japan, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka and Australasia. Most species were documented as herbal remedies for curing many human diseases. In India the genus comprises about 22 species out of which 12 species are reported from Kerala. Most of the species are small shrubs and have gained medicinal status in folklore belief from India, China, and Indonesia. Ethnopharmacologically, the leaves, shoots, barks, seeds, and roots of Melastomataceae members have been used to treat diarrhea, dysentery, hemorrhoids, cuts and wounds, toothache, and stomachache. The coloured floral extracts of various genera also revealed wide pharmacological actions such as anti-nociceptive, anti-in?ammatory, wound healing, antidiarrhoeal, cytotoxic, and antioxidant activities. Many phytochemical constituents including anthocyanins were isolated and identified from different parts of Melastoma and Memycylon species. Thus, the aim of this survey is to present comprehensive information on ethnomedicinal uses and pharmacological activities of Osbeckia species from Kerala. Floral extracts of most of the Osbeckia species contain substantial levels of phenols and anthocyanin. This data validate the folklore use of various species to cure many human disorders. Future studies are planned to evaluate the biological potentialities in terms of anthocyanin profile using in vitro cultures of the species such as O. aspera and O. reticulata.

Ethno-ornithology is the study of the relationship between people and birds. It is a natural scientific approach that explains the relationship between people’s knowledge and the use of birds in their culture. Temuan community is one of the aborigine ethnics in Malaysia. They practice lifestyles that closely associated with nature. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the ethno-ornithology knowledge and practice by Temuan Community lived around the Gunung Ledang National Park, Johor, Malaysia. A set of questionnaires was distributed to 40 respondents from the Temuan community to gather the information of birds used in their daily activities. In addition, the information was also obtained from the interview session with the head of the village (Tok Batin). The identification of the birds obtained from the questionnaire and interview was further confirmed by using reliable resources. A total of 29 bird species was successfully identified. Temuan community used birds in their daily life in many ways such as, food, pet, folklore, entertainment, and many more. Understanding ethno-ornithology between local community and avifauna is good as it helps conservationists to keep track of bird species they use and identify the sustainable ways of this practice that align with the conservation of avifauna species.

Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel <em>Dracula</em> was enmeshed in the discourse of British Imperialism, both in its composition and its reception. Stoker drew on Imperial-era studies to lend his narrative verisimilitude, including material on history, folklore, and geography from all over the world. As the range of Orientalist studies grew going into the twentieth century, <em>Dracula</em> effectively became part of imperial discourse, both in its own portrayal of the exotic, dangerous East and for its association with the vampire motif that recurred in colonialist texts. This paper will examine the context of <em>Dracula</em> and vampiric tropes in imperialist rhetoric, focusing on the literature and ethnography of regions specifically cited in the novel. These include Britain’s tropical colonies in Malaysia and India, as well as the Empire’s sphere of influence in China. Special attention will be paid to the power relations inherent in the “imperial gaze,” as well as European fears of reverse colonialism and, more acutely, the problems of mimetic desire and “going native.”

Culture is embedded in the way of life of the society consisting oral traditions, languages, folklore, rites and faith, music and songs, performing arts, traditional herbal medicine, literature, traditional food as well as traditional sports and games. The culture of a society differs from one another. Value is a concept of culture that exists in the human mind and not in an object. Value can be defined as something that has benefits and interests shared by humanity. This study explores the culture of the diasporic community of Aceh in Yan, Kedah. The focus of the study are the cultural values of Aceh obtained from interviews, observations and library research. Aceh culture is filled with the diversity of prestigious values that are based from Islamic religious beliefs. This study will also describe the fundamentals of cultural values of the society’s present Aceh in dealing with outside influences in the era of globalization and the problems faced by the community in the context of the Aceh nation. Furthermore, the study will focus on moral values found in Aceh’s culture. The definition of the diasporic Aceh community is emotionally and politically committing oneself to their motherland however, this perception had changed and developed through movements and migration around the world including their current place situated in Malaysia. They brought along cultural values and world viewto be inherited by the younger generation who are the foundation for the expansion of Aceh culture in nowadays community.

As one of Malaysia’s intangible cultural heritages, it is admitted that Malaysian folktales are laden with identities and voices of the past generations. Such qualities of beckon it to be systematically preserved but it is noted that thus far, such endeavour is countable if not absent at all in this country. Therefore, to counter such issue, a study was conducted with an aim to safeguard such heritage via a structural classification of folktale systematically. However, before the classification took place, an identification of Malaysian folktales in a literary form as data is imperative. The identification is crucial because it determines whether the data collected in the form of folklore required for the study which is folktale. In the context of the study, such task was guided by an integration of two qualifying factors: an operational definition and an ownership of the folktales. As the centre of this article, the method of identification revealed the Malaysian folktales accepted and excluded to be structurally classified for systematic safeguarding.

In examining Malaysian literature in light of the global canon, one cannot miss the numerous parallelisms between literary works by Tunku Halim bin Tunku Abdullah and Edgar Allan Poe. Both writers are preoccupied with grotesque realities of mentally deranged individuals, and similarly visualize the darkness and animality of human consciousness. This article aims at conducting a comparative analysis of the dynamics of personality and of the psyche of fictional characters in selected short stories by the two writers. To this end, the study draws upon Jung’s notions of the Shadow and the Individuation to explore the key psychological motives behind the characters’ behaviour patterns, as well as to examine their level of subjectivity and agency in harnessing the same motives. Notwithstanding the seemingly different ways of presenting the narrative patterns of the characters’ journey towards Individuation, the selected stories are marked with similar examples of characters’ failures in the process of self-realization. While some characters remain trapped in the obscure and perplexing world of the Shadow, others achieve a minimal level of maturity as they begin to realize their own being. In the case of Halim’s stories, however, the characters are additionally held back by cultural and structural forces that constantly affect their realities. It is concluded that this particular difference accounts for Halim’s uniquely hybrid style of writing that merges Western horror genre with more local folklore.

There are several problems that continue to plague the Philippine health care system. The cost of branded drugs in the Philippines is 22 times more than international reference prices while generic drugs are 4 times more.1 Despite price reductions due to legislations such as the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2008, as well as the Generics Act of 1988, those in the lower-income brackets still cannot afford maintenance medicines for hypertension and diabetes as well as antibiotics.2 Access to medicines and care from physicians and other healthcare professionals is especially challenging for geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas wherein the people are physically or economically inaccessible. Filipino traditional medicine, of which herbal medicine plays a large role has been around for centuries and is wellaccepted in the rural areas. Validating the use of these traditional medicinal plants through research is essential in order to have an evidence-based practice of herbal medicine. The main areas of research can be defined as (1) herbal medicine quality and standardization, (2) preclinical pharmacological assessments and action mechanisms, and (3) clinical efficacy and safety assessments.3 These types of researches aimed at developing safe and efficacious, as well as low-cost Philippine herbal medicines, may well be a long-term solution to the obstacles to a healthy population cited above. Our Philippine medicinal plants are a valuable but often underappreciated resource with innumerable applications for non-communicable and communicable disease indications. Limited research in this field had long been ongoing in the Philippines. Support for this movement came with the passage of the Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act of 1997 which affirmed the commitment of the government towards the support and development of traditional medicine including herbal medicine.4 Another boost was the endorsement of the Department of Health of the Sampung Halamang Gamot in the 1990s.5 The World Health Organization has advocated the integration of Traditional Medicine within national health care systems and has urged governments to develop and implement national traditional medicine policies and programs especially with Universal Health Coverage.6 It was the National Integrated Research Program of the Philippines (NIRPROMP) who was at the forefront of this field and conducted the initial studies of these Ten Medicinal Plants.7 Many of them have been developed into modern formulations. These include Lagundi (Vitex negundo) tablet and syrup for cough and asthma, Sambong (Blumea balsamifera) tablet as a diuretic and treatment of urolithiasis, Tsaang gubat (Ehretia microphylla) tablet for gastrointestinal and biliary colic, Akapulco (Senna alata) lotion for cutaneous fungal infections, Yerba Buena (Mentha villosa) tablet as an analgesic, Ulasimang bato (Peperomia pellucida) tablet for the treatment of gout and hyperuricemia. Ampalaya (Momordica charantia) tablet was also developed as a glucose-lowering agent, but it is presently undergoing researches on the reformulated tablet.8 Several of the articles in this issue present evidence for the use of some of the mentioned medicinal plants. The NIRPROMP was the forerunner and is still an integral part of the Institute of Herbal Medicine. Lagundi and Sambong have been integrated into the clinical practice of physicians in the Philippines, even by specialists. They have both been scientific and commercial successes.9 Their production has contributed to the revenue and growth of the Philippine Pharmaceutical Industry, as well as improved the economic status of farmers cultivating these crops. Developing more herbal medicines needed for primary health care would decrease our dependence on the importation of medicines, and increase the accessibility of drugs even in geographically isolated areas. Bringing back the herbal medicine gardens to the barangays in the rural communities will also assist in empowering the population. The integration of herbal medicines into mainstream clinical practice will only be possible if the researches performed, both non-clinical and clinical, are as robust as those for synthetic medicine. Cecilia C. Maramba-Lazarte, MD Director Institute of Herbal Medicine National Institutes of Health University of the Philippines Manila REFERENCES 1. Paris J. Pharma Companies Offer to Cut Drug Prices [Internet] Rappler. 2019 25 October [cited 2020 Jan 15]. Available from https://www. rappler.com/nation/243372-pharmaceutical-companies-offer-cut-drug-prices. 2. Clarete RL, Llanto GM. 2017. Access to medicines in the Philippines: Overcoming the barriers [Internet]. Philippine Institute for Development Studies. 2017 [cited 2020 Jan 14]. Available from http://hdl.handle.net/11540/7967. 3. Zhang AL, Xue CC, Fong HH. Integration of Herbal Medicine into Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Current Status and Issues. In: Benzie IFF, Wachtel-Galor S, eds. Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects, 2nd ed. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press/Taylor & Francis; 2011. 4. Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act (TAMA) of 1997, Republic Act No. 8423, Approved: December 9, 1997. 5. World Health Organization. Report of the Working Group on Herbal Medicines Meeting, March 1997. 6. World Health Organization. WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy: 2014-2023. 7. Eusebio JE, Umali BE. Inventory, documentation and status of medicinal plants research in Philippines. In: Batugal PA, Kanniah J, Young LS, Oliver JT, editors. Medicinal plants research in Asia, Volume 1: The framework and project workplans. Selangor DE, Malaysia: International Plant Genetic Resource Institute-Regional office for Asia, the Pacific and Oceania (IPGRI-APO), Serdang; 2004. 8. Purificacion J, Maramba N. Research Proposal Phase 1 Clinical Trial: Safety and Efficacy of Lyophilized Momordica charantia (Ampalaya) leaf tablet among Normal Volunteer Subjects (2018 version). 9. From Herbal Folklore to Modern Medicine [Internet]. World Intellectual Property Organization. 2013 [cited 2020 Jan 14]. Available from https://www.wipo.int/ipadvantage/en/details.jsp?id=3661.

Introduction Many destinations promote culinary encounters. Foods and beverages, and especially how these will taste in situ, are being marketed as niche travel motivators and used in destination brand building across the globe. While initial usage of the term culinary tourism focused on experiencing exotic cultures of foreign destinations by sampling unfamiliar food and drinks, the term has expanded to embrace a range of leisure travel experiences where the aim is to locate and taste local specialities as part of a pleasurable, and hopefully notable, culinary encounter (Wolf). Long’s foundational work was central in developing the idea of culinary tourism as an active endeavor, suggesting that via consumption, individuals construct unique experiences. Ignatov and Smith’s literature review-inspired definition confirms the nature of activity as participatory, and adds consuming food production skills—from observing agriculture and local processors to visiting food markets and attending cooking schools—to culinary purchases. Despite importing almost all of its foodstuffs and beverages, including some of its water, Singapore is an acknowledged global leader in culinary tourism. Horng and Tsai note that culinary tourism conceptually implies that a transferal of “local or special knowledge and information that represent local culture and identities” (41) occurs via these experiences. This article adds the act of reading to these participatory activities and suggests that, because food writing forms an important component of Singapore’s suite of culinary tourism offerings, taste contributes to the cultural experience offered to both visitors and locals. While Singapore foodways have attracted significant scholarship (see, for instance, work by Bishop; Duruz; Huat & Rajah; Tarulevicz, Eating), Singapore food writing, like many artefacts of popular culture, has attracted less notice. Yet, this writing is an increasingly visible component of cultural production of, and about, Singapore, and performs a range of functions for locals, tourists and visitors before they arrive. Although many languages are spoken in Singapore, English is the national language (Alsagoff) and this study focuses on food writing in English. Background Tourism comprises a major part of Singapore’s economy, with recent figures detailing that food and beverage sales contribute over 10 per cent of this revenue, with spend on culinary tours and cookery classes, home wares such as tea-sets and cookbooks, food magazines and food memoirs additional to this (Singapore Government). This may be related to the fact that Singapore not only promotes food as a tourist attraction, but also actively promotes itself as an exceptional culinary destination. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) includes food in its general information brochures and websites, and its print, television and cinema commercials (Huat and Rajah). It also mounts information-rich campaigns both abroad and inside Singapore. The 2007 ‘Singapore Seasons’ campaign, for instance, promoted Singaporean cuisine alongside films, design, books and other cultural products in London, New York and Beijing. Touring cities identified as key tourist markets in 2011, the ‘Singapore Takeout’ pop-up restaurant brought the taste of Singaporean foods into closer focus. Singaporean chefs worked with high profile locals in its kitchen in a custom-fabricated shipping container to create and demonstrate Singaporean dishes, attracting public and media interest. In country, the STB similarly actively promotes the tastes of Singaporean foods, hosting the annual World Gourmet Summit (Chaney and Ryan) and Pacific Food Expo, both attracting international culinary professionals to work alongside local leaders. The Singapore Food Festival each July is marketed to both locals and visitors. In these ways, the STB, as well as providing events for visitors, is actively urging Singaporeans to proud of their food culture and heritage, so that each Singaporean becomes a proactive ambassador of their cuisine. Singapore Food Writing Popular print guidebooks and online guides to Singapore pay significantly more attention to Singaporean food than they do for many other destinations. Sections on food in such publications discuss at relative length the taste of Singaporean food (always delicious) as well as how varied, authentic, hygienic and suited-to-all-budgets it is. These texts also recommend hawker stalls and food courts alongside cafés and restaurants (Henderson et al.), and a range of other culinary experiences such as city and farm food tours and cookery classes. This writing describes not only what can be seen or learned during these experiences, but also what foods can be sampled, and how these might taste. This focus on taste is reflected in the printed materials that greet the in-bound tourist at the airport. On a visit in October 2013, arrival banners featuring mouth-watering images of local specialities such as chicken rice and chilli crab marked the route from arrival to immigration and baggage collection. Even advertising for a bank was illustrated with photographs of luscious-looking fruits. The free maps and guidebooks available featured food-focused tours and restaurant locations, and there were also substantial free booklets dedicated solely to discussing local delicacies and their flavours, plus recommended locations to sample them. A website and free mobile app were available that contain practical information about dishes, ingredients, cookery methods, and places to eat, as well as historical and cultural information. These resources are also freely distributed to many hotels and popular tourist destinations. Alongside organising food walks, bus tours and cookery classes, the STB also recommends the work of a number of Singaporean food writers—principally prominent Singapore food bloggers, reviewers and a number of memoirists—as authentic guides to what are described as unique Singaporean flavours. The strategies at the heart of this promotion are linking advertising to useful information. At a number of food centres, for instance, STB information panels provide details about both specific dishes and Singapore’s food culture more generally (Henderson et al.). This focus is apparent at many tourist destinations, many of which are also popular local attractions. In historic Fort Canning Park, for instance, there is a recreation of Raffles’ experimental garden, established in 1822, where he grew the nutmeg, clove and other plants that were intended to form the foundation for spice plantations but were largely unsuccessful (Reisz). Today, information panels not only indicate the food plants’ names and how to grow them, but also their culinary and medicinal uses, recipes featuring them and the related food memories of famous Singaporeans. The Singapore Botanic Gardens similarly houses the Ginger Garden displaying several hundred species of ginger and information, and an Eco(-nomic/logical) Garden featuring many food plants and their stories. In Chinatown, panels mounted outside prominent heritage brands (often still quite small shops) add content to the shopping experience. A number of museums profile Singapore’s food culture in more depth. The National Museum of Singapore has a permanent Living History gallery that focuses on Singapore’s street food from the 1950s to 1970s. This display includes food-related artefacts, interactive aromatic displays of spices, films of dishes being made and eaten, and oral histories about food vendors, all supported by text panels and booklets. Here food is used to convey messages about the value of Singapore’s ethnic diversity and cross-cultural exchanges. Versions of some of these dishes can then be sampled in the museum café (Time Out Singapore). The Peranakan Museum—which profiles the unique hybrid culture of the descendants of the Chinese and South Indian traders who married local Malay women—shares this focus, with reconstructed kitchens and dining rooms, exhibits of cooking and eating utensils and displays on food’s ceremonial role in weddings and funerals all supported with significant textual information. The Chinatown Heritage Centre not only recreates food preparation areas as a vivid indicator of poor Chinese immigrants’ living conditions, but also houses The National Restaurant of Singapore, which translates this research directly into meals that recreate the heritage kopi tiam (traditional coffee shop) cuisine of Singapore in the 1930s, purposefully bringing taste into the service of education, as its descriptive menu states, “educationally delighting the palate” (Chinatown Heritage Centre). These museums recognise that shopping is a core tourist activity in Singapore (Chang; Yeung et al.). Their gift- and bookshops cater to the culinary tourist by featuring quality culinary products for sale (including, for instance, teapots and cups, teas, spices and traditional sweets, and other foods) many of which are accompanied by informative tags or brochures. At the centre of these curated, purchasable collections are a range written materials: culinary magazines, cookbooks, food histories and memoirs, as well as postcards and stationery printed with recipes. Food Magazines Locally produced food magazines cater to a range of readerships and serve to extend the culinary experience both in, and outside, Singapore. These include high-end gourmet, luxury lifestyle publications like venerable monthly Wine & Dine: The Art of Good Living, which, in in print for almost thirty years, targets an affluent readership (Wine & Dine). The magazine runs features on local dining, gourmet products and trends, as well as international epicurean locations and products. Beautifully illustrated recipes also feature, as the magazine declares, “we’ve recognised that sharing more recipes should be in the DNA of Wine & Dine’s editorial” (Wine & Dine). Appetite magazine, launched in 2006, targets the “new and emerging generation of gourmets—foodies with a discerning and cosmopolitan outlook, broad horizons and a insatiable appetite” (Edipresse Asia) and is reminiscent in much of its styling of New Zealand’s award-winning Cuisine magazine. Its focus is to present a fresh approach to both cooking at home and dining out, as readers are invited to “Whip up the perfect soufflé or feast with us at the finest restaurants in Singapore and around the region” (Edipresse Asia). Chefs from leading local restaurants are interviewed, and the voices of “fellow foodies and industry watchers” offer an “insider track” on food-related news: “what’s good and what’s new” (Edipresse Asia). In between these publications sits Epicure: Life’s Refinements, which features local dishes, chefs, and restaurants as well as an overseas travel section and a food memories column by a featured author. Locally available ingredients are also highlighted, such as abalone (Cheng) and an interesting range of mushrooms (Epicure). While there is a focus on an epicurean experience, this is presented slightly more casually than in Wine & Dine. Food & Travel focuses more on home cookery, but each issue also includes reviews of Singapore restaurants. The bimonthly bilingual (Chinese and English) Gourmet Living features recipes alongside a notable focus on food culture—with food history columns, restaurant reviews and profiles of celebrated chefs. An extensive range of imported international food magazines are also available, with those from nearby Malaysia and Indonesia regularly including articles on Singapore. Cookbooks These magazines all include reviews of cookery books including Singaporean examples – and some feature other food writing such as food histories, memoirs and blogs. These reviews draw attention to how many Singaporean cookbooks include a focus on food history alongside recipes. Cookery teacher Yee Soo Leong’s 1976 Singaporean Cooking was an early example of cookbook as heritage preservation. This 1976 book takes an unusual view of ‘Singaporean’ flavours. Beginning with sweet foods—Nonya/Singaporean and western cakes, biscuits, pies, pastries, bread, desserts and icings—it also focuses on both Singaporean and Western dishes. This text is also unusual as there are only 6 lines of direct authorial address in the author’s acknowledgements section. Expatriate food writer Wendy Hutton’s Singapore Food, first published in 1979, reprinted many times after and revised in 2007, has long been recognised as one of the most authoritative titles on Singapore’s food heritage. Providing an socio-historical map of Singapore’s culinary traditions, some one third of the first edition was devoted to information about Singaporean multi-cultural food history, including detailed profiles of a number of home cooks alongside its recipes. Published in 1980, Kenneth Mitchell’s A Taste of Singapore is clearly aimed at a foreign readership, noting the variety of foods available due to the racial origins of its inhabitants. The more modest, but equally educational in intent, Hawkers Flavour: A Guide to Hawkers Gourmet in Malaysia and Singapore (in its fourth printing in 1998) contains a detailed introductory essay outlining local food culture, favourite foods and drinks and times these might be served, festivals and festive foods, Indian, Indian Muslim, Chinese, Nyonya (Chinese-Malay), Malay and Halal foods and customs, followed with a selection of recipes from each. More contemporary examples of such information-rich cookbooks, such as those published in the frequently reprinted Periplus Mini Cookbook series, are sold at tourist attractions. Each of these modestly priced, 64-page, mouthwateringly illustrated booklets offer framing information, such as about a specific food culture as in the Nonya kitchen in Nonya Favourites (Boi), and explanatory glossaries of ingredients, as in Homestyle Malay Cooking (Jelani). Most recipes include a boxed paragraph detailing cookery or ingredient information that adds cultural nuance, as well as trying to describe tastes that the (obviously foreign) intended reader may not have encountered. Malaysian-born Violet Oon, who has been called the Julia Child of Singapore (Bergman), writes for both local and visiting readers. The FOOD Paper, published monthly for a decade from January 1987 was, she has stated, then “Singapore’s only monthly publication dedicated to the CSF—Certified Singapore Foodie” (Oon, Violet Oon Cooks 7). Under its auspices, Oon promoted her version of Singaporean cuisine to both locals and visitors, as well as running cookery classes and culinary events, hosting her own television cooking series on the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, and touring internationally for the STB as a ‘Singapore Food Ambassador’ (Ahmad; Kraal). Taking this representation of flavor further, Oon has also produced a branded range of curry powders, spices, and biscuits, and set up a number of food outlets. Her first cookbook, World Peranakan Cookbook, was published in 1978. Her Singapore: 101 Meals of 1986 was commissioned by the STB, then known as the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board. Violet Oon Cooks, a compilation of recipes from The FOOD Paper, published in 1992, attracted a range of major international as well as Singaporean food sponsors, and her Timeless Recipes, published in 1997, similarly aimed to show how manufactured products could be incorporated into classic Singaporean dishes cooked at home. In 1998, Oon produced A Singapore Family Cookbook featuring 100 dishes. Many were from Nonya cuisine and her following books continued to focus on preserving heritage Singaporean recipes, as do a number of other nationally-cuisine focused collections such as Joyceline Tully and Christopher Tan’s Heritage Feasts: A Collection of Singapore Family Recipes. Sylvia Tan’s Singapore Heritage Food: Yesterday’s Recipes for Today’s Cooks, published in 2004, provides “a tentative account of Singapore’s food history” (5). It does this by mapping the various taste profiles of six thematically-arranged chronologically-overlapping sections, from the heritage of British colonialism, to the uptake of American and Russia foods in the Snackbar era of the 1960s and the use of convenience flavoring ingredients such as curry pastes, sauces, dried and frozen supermarket products from the 1970s. Other Volumes Other food-themed volumes focus on specific historical periods. Cecilia Leong-Salobir’s Food Culture in Colonial Asia: A Taste of Empire discusses the “unique hybrid” (1) cuisine of British expatriates in Singapore from 1858 to 1963. In 2009, the National Museum of Singapore produced the moving Wong Hong Suen’s Wartime Kitchen: Food and Eating in Singapore 1942–1950. This details the resilience and adaptability of both diners and cooks during the Japanese Occupation and in post-war Singapore, when shortages stimulated creativity. There is a centenary history of the Cold Storage company which shipped frozen foods all over south east Asia (Boon) and location-based studies such as Annette Tan’s Savour Chinatown: Stories Memories & Recipes. Tan interviewed hawkers, chefs and restaurant owners, working from this information to write both the book’s recipes and reflect on Chinatown’s culinary history. Food culture also features in (although it is not the main focus) more general book-length studies such as educational texts such as Chew Yen Fook’s The Magic of Singapore and Melanie Guile’s Culture in Singapore (2000). Works that navigate both spaces (of Singaporean culture more generally and its foodways) such Lily Kong’s Singapore Hawker Centres: People, Places, Food, provide an consistent narrative of food in Singapore, stressing its multicultural flavours that can be enjoyed from eateries ranging from hawker stalls to high-end restaurants that, interestingly, that agrees with that promulgated in the food writing discussed above. Food Memoirs and Blogs Many of these narratives include personal material, drawing on the author’s own food experiences and taste memories. This approach is fully developed in the food memoir, a growing sub-genre of Singapore food writing. While memoirs by expatriate Singaporeans such as Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan’s A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family, produced by major publisher Hyperion in New York, has attracted considerable international attention, it presents a story of Singapore cuisine that agrees with such locally produced texts as television chef and food writer Terry Tan’s Stir-fried and Not Shaken: A Nostalgic Trip Down Singapore’s Memory Lane and the food memoir of the Singaporean chef credited with introducing fine Malay dining to Singapore, Aziza Ali’s Sambal Days, Kampong Cuisine, published in Singapore in 2013 with the support of the National Heritage Board. All these memoirs are currently available in Singapore in both bookshops and a number of museums and other attractions. While underscoring the historical and cultural value of these foods, all describe the unique flavours of Singaporean cuisine and its deliciousness. A number of prominent Singapore food bloggers are featured in general guidebooks and promoted by the STB as useful resources to dining out in Singapore. One of the most prominent of these is Leslie Tay, a medical doctor and “passionate foodie” (Knipp) whose awardwinning ieatŸishootŸipost is currently attracting some 90,000 unique visitors every month and has had over 20,000 million hits since its launch in 2006. An online diary of Tay’s visits to hundreds of Singaporean hawker stalls, it includes descriptions and photographs of meals consumed, creating accumulative oral culinary histories of these dishes and those who prepared them. These narratives have been reorganised and reshaped in Tay’s first book The End of Char Kway Teow and Other Hawker Mysteries, where each chapter tells the story of one particular dish, including recommended hawker stalls where it can be enjoyed. Ladyironchef.com is a popular food and travel site that began as a blog in 2007. An edited collection of reviews of eateries and travel information, many by the editor himself, the site features lists of, for example, the best cafes (LadyIronChef “Best Cafes”), eateries at the airport (LadyIronChef “Guide to Dining”), and hawker stalls (Lim). While attesting to the cultural value of these foods, many articles also discuss flavour, as in Lim’s musings on: ‘how good can chicken on rice taste? … The glistening grains of rice perfumed by fresh chicken stock and a whiff of ginger is so good you can even eat it on its own’. Conclusion Recent Singapore food publishing reflects this focus on taste. Tay’s publisher, Epigram, growing Singaporean food list includes the recently released Heritage Cookbooks Series. This highlights specialist Singaporean recipes and cookery techniques, with the stated aim of preserving tastes and foodways that continue to influence Singaporean food culture today. Volumes published to date on Peranakan, South Indian, Cantonese, Eurasian, and Teochew (from the Chaoshan region in the east of China’s Guangdong province) cuisines offer both cultural and practical guides to the quintessential dishes and flavours of each cuisine, featuring simple family dishes alongside more elaborate special occasion meals. In common with the food writing discussed above, the books in this series, although dealing with very different styles of cookery, contribute to an overall impression of the taste of Singapore food that is highly consistent and extremely persuasive. This food writing narrates that Singapore has a delicious as well as distinctive and interesting food culture that plays a significant role in Singaporean life both currently and historically. It also posits that this food culture is, at the same time, easily accessible and also worthy of detailed consideration and discussion. 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Acknowledgements Research to complete this article was supported by Central Queensland University, Australia, under its Outside Studies Program (OSPRO) and Learning and Teaching Education Research Centre (LTERC). An earlier version of part of this article was presented at the 2nd Australasian Regional Food Networks and Cultures Conference, in the Barossa Valley in South Australia, Australia, 11–14 November 2012. The delegates of that conference and expert reviewers of this article offered some excellent suggestions regarding strengthening this article and their advice was much appreciated. All errors are, of course, my own.