Penghulu
Suratman Markasan
Singapore: Epigram Books, 2012
ISBN: 9789810735357

Pak Suleh cannot stop thinking about his island. He yearns for Sebidang, the island where he was the penghulu, the village head. But Pak Suleh was forced to relocate to a small high-rise apartment in urban Singapore. What is the price of the relentless onslaught of redevelopment? What personal stories get left behind in the inexorable march of progress?

Written by Cultural Medallion Award winner Suratman Markasan, originally in Malay, this poignant novel sheds light on the untold struggles of Malays in Singapore due to rapid urbanisation. Will Pak Suleh continue to live in the past? Will he be able to thwart the plans of his son-in-law, a newly elected Member of Parliament of the governing party? Will the penghulu return to his island?

Born in 1930 in Pasir Panjang, Singapore, Suratman Markasan completed his studies at Sultan Idris Training College in 1950, before joining the teaching service and enrolling in Nanyang University, where he majored in Malay and Indonesian Studies. He was appointed Assistant Director for Malay and Tamil studies at the Ministry of Education and lectured at the Institute of Education until 1995. He has received the S.E.A. Write Award, the Montblanc-NUS Centre for the Arts Literary Award, the Tun Seri Lanang Literary Award and Singapore’s Cultural Medallion.