Introduction to the Wayang Kulit in
M a l a y s i a
Background

Socio-economic life in Peninsular Malaysia may be seen in at least two very broad styles of existence; city life with a technology-based urban environment attached to a modern and growing industrial complex (found primarily on the west coast of the Peninsula), and country life with foundations in an agriculture-based rural environment dependentprimarily on rice (padi) cultivation and, more recently,on rubber and oil palm cultivation (found predominantly on the east coast, but to some extent in selective regions of the west coast). This dichotomy is also reflected in the social norms and cultural values found in each sector.

In Malay society, the rural kampong is where traditional values guide and determine one's mode of living and where, at least until the middecades of this century, traditional arts flourished. In this context, social and cultural life centres around the communal village with strong roots in Malay Islamic belief and, to some extent, in pre-Islamic belief and practice. In the late 1980s another strong tide in some regions of the rural sector is an Islamic dundamentalist fervour which adds yet another element to the contemporary outlook and value of the rural peoples. Strong adherence to adat (customary Malay law and practice) generally governs the family unit with regard to birth, death, marriage, and other aspects of social life and behaviour. In the villages, simple wood dwellings are built on stilts, raised about I metre above ground level with several houses clustered together in a small area, often surrounded by paddyfields. In the remote, poorer communities, travel by foot or by bicycle is still common, while in the more affluent villages motor bikes and cars are usually found. The village market-place is the centre of activity during the day. In an area in wich farming is the primary occupation, one's means of livelihood establishes close ties to the market where the Malay farmer defines his role as buyer as well as seller and trader of goods. The concerns of the market and of the village at large are the farmer's personal cencerns.

In contrast, the urban areas, especially those on Malaysia's west coast, offer a modern, Western-influenced lifestyle. In urban society there is still adherence to traditional mores governing social behaviour. However, adat, traditional norms, and traditional art tend to become buried in layer upon layer of modern values and behaviour patterns. The urban Malay is often a professional person, a civil servant, or a businessman. His dwelling is a modern cement structure built at the ground level and often equipped with the most up-to-date electrical appliances and gadgetry. His means of transportation is usually a car or motor bikes, and he lives in suburban housing complexes where fences define his territory. His own private concerns usually do not involve hte urban community in whole or in part. If a traditional, communal lifestyle characterizes the kampong, then a modern, individualistic mode is prominent in the urban areas.

Within these two broad socio-economic patterns, traditional Malay theatrical arts have developed and flourished in the rural, agriculturebased areas of Peninsular Malaysia. In some rural localities, particularly in the northern states of Kedah and Kelantan, the wayang kulit (shadow puppet theatre shadow play) remains as one form of entertainment. Not more than fifteen years ago, it was possible to see wayang kulit in certain rural areas on almost any night of the week except the eve of the Muslim sabbath. The shadow play was known and enjoyed by Malay who lived in those local areas, and both the dramatic and musical aspects of the form, existing only in an oral tradition, were passed on to the young performers. With roots in the rural villages, the tradition of shadow play was, and still is, one of the major Malay folk art forms in the states of Kelantan, Kedah, and Terengganu. The type of shadow play particularly popular and widespread in these states is known as wayang kulit Siam in the state of Kelantan and by the term wayang Kelantan in some regions outside of Kelantan, including the southern Thai states bordering northern Malaysia.

Since at least the 1970s the wayang kulit as a form of entertainment has been given keen competition, for even in the rural paddy-growing areas, the cinema, radio, and especially television (broadcasting from the urban areas) are increasingly prevalent and popular. By the mid- 1970s in many village areas in the Kota Bharu and Tumpat districts, for example, small coffee-shop installed a television set which was prominently placed inside the shop to make viewing easily accessible to all patrons who stopped by. Most evenings saw the shop packed full of people, young and old, who watched old series of programmes from American television as well as Malaysian drama or variety shows with the then current pop singers.

In addition, the 'travelling' cinemas were popular in the villages during the 1970s. A high cloth fence would be temporarily erected in a given locality of the countryside, a large screen put up, and admission charged to see Malay, Indonesian, or Hindi films. This outdoor cinema would play in one place over a period of one or two nights and then move on to another location until its planned circuit was completed. These films, which were usually well attended, affered yet another form of competition, for a dalang (puppeteer) knew that if a film was being shown in his local areas, then attendance at the wayang kulit would be poor. In the 1980s and 1990s televisions are commonplace in the villages. Furthermore, in the rural areas where there are now better roads and easy modes of transportation into the town, the preference of theatregoers tends towards the subject-matter and medium of film (or perhaps occasionally live modern drama) rather than shadow play.

In the urbanized west coast of Malaysia, the shadow play has traditionally held little significance as a form of entertainment. Althought most city dwellers know about the Malay shadow play tradition, many of them also acknowledge that they have never seen or heard a performance. Under British colonial rule, and since 1957 under Malaysian rule, there has been no attempt to provide a growing, nurturing environment throughout the country for the traditional performing arts from the rural areas. Instead, other forms of popular entertainment, such as the dancehalls, the bangsaawan (Malay opera), boria (popular theatre), and modern (or contemporary) dramatic productions predominated in urban Malaysia, reflecting the strong influence of external elements from non-Malay cultures, particularly those of Persian, Indian, and Western or European origin. In addition, traditional drama and music have never been systematically taught in public or private schools and have not been depended upon as major forms of entertainment by the large segment of the population who are urban or suburban dwellers.

In the late 1970s, howeever, at least two contemporary Malaysian theatre directors took a keen interest in the shadow puppet theatre. Early in 1979, at a major drama seminar held in Kuala Lumpur, the play entitled Tok Perak (by the Malaysian playwright Syed Alwi) was produced. An abstract version of the play was performed, in part, as if it were shadow play using a dalang and traditional music. The drama was acted out in mime and dance by human actors instances in which the use and adaptation of shadow play has been seen in a contemporary theatrical setting.

The late 1970s also saw the development of a wayang kulit troupe in Kuala Lumpur, the federal capital of Malaysia. The troupe, known as the Kelana-Phoenix Company, was initiated through the co-operative efforts of a noted director of modern Malaysian theatre and a young Kelantanese dalang. The troupe of musicians and the dalang of the Kelana-Phoenix Company comprised mainly Kelantanese migrants who had settled in and around the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur. The younger musicians of the troupe were taught by the young dalang who learned his art not by serving a formal apprenticeship with a teacher, but by imitation. The young dalang, in this case, is placed in the tradition of dalang tiru (dalang by imitation), in which there is no formal instruction from a teacher. Instead, the would-be dalang, if he is talented enough, pick up performance techniques by observing and copying other master puppeteers. The musical and theatrical style of the Kelana-Phoenix Company stemmed directly from the wayang kulit Siam type of shadow play performed in the village of Kelantan.

Also in an urban environment, a new interest in the shadow play grew in the academic world of the Universiti Sains Malaysia (Science University of Malaysia) in Penang. By the late 1970s the programme in performing arts, providing a focus on traditional Malaysian theatre, engaged teaching faculty and students in research effortts to understand the various aspects of the shadow play, as well as other Malay theatrical forms. The academic programme utilized the knowledge and skill of a practising professional puppet master, Dalang Hamzah bin Awang Amat of Kampung Gerong, Kelantan, thereby focusing on the wayang kulit Siam type of shadow puppet theatre. With student and, at one time, staff wayang kulit groups in occasional performance on the campus, the academic community, as well as the public in the around urban Penang, had, and continues to have, some contact with the shadow play tradition.

In general, however, Peninsular Malaysia presents an environment in which a very small segment of the total population knows and experiences the wayang kulit. In the urbanized west coast areas, some interest in the shadow puppet theatre has been realized in professional theatrical circles, while in select rural areas of the west and east coasts of the Peninsula, traditional theatre, including the shadow play, still exists as a form of entertainment. Nevertheless, the rapid influx of urban-oriented mass media and the increasigly better means of communication between the urban and rural areas point to fast-paced changes in the traditional theatrical form in its rural setting.

^{Types Of Wayang Kulit}

In Malaysia four main types of shadow play are (or have been at one time) performed in various regions of the Peninsula. These are Wayang Kulit Jawa, Wayang Kulit Gedek, Wayang Kulit Melayu (also known as Wayang Jawa), and Wayang Kulit Siam.

[Wayang Kulit In Kelantan][Wayang Kulit In Malaysia][Main]

More on Wayang Kulit

Source : Malaysian Shadow Play And Music : continuity of an oral tradition.
by : Patricia Matusky
Kuala Lumpur : Oxford University Press, 1993