MYTHS 1.0: A Spoken Word Play on ‘The Myth of the Lazy Native’ by Syed Hussein Alatas

“As colonial capitalism defined useful labour — the labour of traders, money-making through commerce, selling goods to and from colonial European countries, or later in the 19th century, managing cash crop plantations — the community which did not possess such a class was considered non-industrious.” — Syed Hussein Alatas

Introduction, Myth of the Lazy Native (1977)

Who is the Lazy Native? More importantly, why did the term come about? What if the West never came to Southeast Asia?

MYTHS 1.0 is the first in a series of experimental devised spoken-word plays that ruminate on the question, exploring the history and evolution of Malaysian identity via Syed Hussein Alatas’ seminal text: The Myth of the Lazy Native. The play has been devised in close collaboration with the author’s son, Prof Syed Farid Alatas. Ali Alasri, Amelia Jafar, and Khalish Jiwarey look deep into themselves, questioning who — and more importantly, why — is the ‘Malay’, in an attempt to find a tujuan.

MYTHS is a project that utilises the stage to study publications important to the Malaysian narrative. It combines research, theatre, and poetry to create new Malaysian poetic works in the form of devised spoken-word plays, while exploring poetry as a medium of communication and dialogue.

*Evening sessions will be followed by exclusive post-show talks with the performers and the team behind the production.