Novel
The Big Businessman from Kuala Lumpur
Saudagar Besar dari Kuala Lumpur
Keris Mas · 1982
Synopsis
Encik Muhammad runs a prosperous business company in Kuala Lumpur, with his partners. He plans to open a tin mine in the Tualang valley, which means buying out the inhabitants of Kampung Pulai and resettling them elsewhere. But his son Rahim, a student abroad, finds the project unjust, and in the village some refuse to sell, such as Lebai Maarup, who wants to turn his land into a pious endowment.
Context
The novel appeared in 1982 (1983). Its author, retired since 1977, was then writer in residence at the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and at the University of Malaya. The book shows the Malays entering the world of business and sets the moral and religious ideal against the calculations of commerce. It was translated into English by Normala Othman and published in Kuala Lumpur in 2011; it also exists in Chinese.
Who it is for
A long novel of about three hundred and sixty pages in Malay, readable in English; it assumes some familiarity with post-independence Malaysia.
Prizes and reception
One of the best-known novels of the first Malaysian national laureate, cited among his major works by the country's libraries.
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