Biography p ramlee on history of africa

By Jan Uhde

Spring Issue of KINEMA

P. RAMLEE AND NEOREALISM

P. Ramlee was one of the legendary filmmakers of Southeast Asia a multifaceted artist considered to be the most important creative asset of the "golden age" of cinema of Singapore and Malaysia in the s and 60s. Born Teuku Zakaria bin Teuku Nyak Puteh in Penang, the Straits Settlements (now Malaysia) in , he spent most of his professional career in Singapore, then a regional film production centre, working for the Shaw Brothers' Malay Film Productions. In he returned to Malaysia to work for its fledgling Merdeka (Independence) Film Productions in Kuala Lumpur. During his lifetime, directed 34 features and acted in more than 60 films.

The singular contribution of P. Ramlee to the development of cinema and other art forms of Singapore and Malaysia is unquestioned. In his time, he was tremendously popular and today, four decades after his premature death in at the age of 44, he has become an icon with a considerable cult following by both the old and young generations in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and beyond.

From among 's numerous and diverse artistic activities, which included being a film director, actor, writer, producer, editor, singer, composer, songwriter and publisher, it is his filmmaking career which is the most conspicuous today. His films embraced and synthesized almost all the facets of his creative spectrum and allowed him to display his talents in story-telling, directing, acting, singing and composing. Not without reason, this universal artist is often called the Asian Charlie Chaplin. He is, however, almost un known in Europe and America, beyond narrow professional circles.

Like most of his activities, the filmmaking of was a colourful affair, blending the director's creativity with outside influences and stimuli. He integrated elements from diverse sources including his Malay heritage, Singapore's cosmopolitanism, India's old culture and European cinem

"ORANG MELAYU"

In general, definition of "Malay people" or "orang Melayu" described by Federal Constitution of Malaysia in Article as someone born to a Malaysian citizen who professes to be a Muslim, habitually speaks the Malay language, adheres to Malay customs and is domiciled in Malaysia, Singapore or Brunei. That is the "nearest" or best definition of "orang Melayu" although at the same time, there are several other definitions depends on what context it is referred to. Meanwhile, according to Baker (), Malay people has inhabited the Malay archipelago for at least years and "originally" the Malays were a mixture of the indigenous people of the archipelago and also known as Malayo-Polynesians and can be seen as far west as Madagascar, off the coast of Africa, as far east as the South Pacific and as far north as Taiwan. Later on, especially in the seventh and eighth centuries, the population grew and influenced by a significant migration from Sumatra and brought with them settled agricultural pursuits, such as wet rice farming and their village cultures (Ibid). After that, saw further migration in the form of Muslim Indians, Arabs and Persians where those migration came along with many different factors, mainly economic and religious expansion. Between the 15th and 18th century there was continued migration from across the Melaka Straits. The Minangkabaus from central Sumatra settled in the areas now known as Negeri Sembilan and Melaka, and some later moved across the peninsula to Pahang. The other sub-ethnic group, Bugis also migrated from the eastern archipelago as a result of Dutch interference in their traditional trading patterns. The Bugis took up residence in Johor, Selangor and Pahang. Two other groups from the Malay cultural area also left their imprint on Malaysia in this area, albeit on a much more limited