TIGER ISLE ~ A GOVERNMENT OF THIEVES (BOOK REVIEW)

“If religion is the opiate of the masses, as it pretty much is in most of Asia and the Middle East, then Tiger Isle was the drug capital of the world. It did not help that most Tigerists lived in a state of denial, in particular about their religion.”

First-time novelist E.S. Shankar: encyclopedic erudition

E.S. Shankar is an erudite, articulate, Renaissance Man of multitudinous facets. A UK-trained accountant and management consultant by profession, Shankar also maintains a satirical blog called Donplaypuks where he lampoons local politics with a generous dollop of schoolboy humor laced with sagacious insight.

Recently he published his first novel, Tiger Isle, A Government of Thieves – a highly engaging 380-page study of the evils of kakistocracy (defined as “governance by a clique representing the worst elements of society, from the Greek, kakos, meaning foul, or filthy”). I don’t know if he has found a local distributor yet but the book can be easily ordered online. I can assure you, nobody will begrudge Shankar the $13.49 price tag, considering the massive amount of brilliance and sheer hard work the man has invested in this epic read, replete with evil machinations, murder, sex, and apocalyptic mayhem.

Shankar’s spicy fiction is based on depressing facts anyone who has been monitoring Malaysia’s political milieu since 1969 will be familiar with: the bureaucratic apartheid created by artificially imposed racial and religious boundaries; the boundless avarice and power lust of a privileged coterie that wields a deadly stranglehold on the national psyche through absolute control of the mass media; the audacious and systematic plunder of a nation’s wealth and the methodical hijacking of its destiny for private gain and ego gratification.

Indeed, while the events and characters depicted in Tiger Isle appear to be broadly inspired by actual events and characters in Malaysia, the scenario is easily modified to fit any post-colonial Southeast Asian nation (indeed, dissemblance and hypocrisy are skills necessary to establishing and maintaining political power anywhere on Earth). As such, Shankar’s lovingly crafted debut novel sheds valuable light on the nature and internal workings of corruption, hubris and megalomaniacal delusions of grandeur – and deserves to be prescribed as supplementary reading in any meaningful political science curriculum.

It’s no mean feat to construct a parallel universe populated by doppelgängers of clearly recognizable personalities - and yet allow the characters sufficient autonomy to generate the tension and drama necessary to animate this fictional domain called Pulipore, or Tiger Isle. There is enough narrative momentum to keep the reader turning pages – although one requires a photographic memory to keep track of unwieldy names like Rekha Krishnasamy Roshan Prasad, Adhi Sri Dr Bhairav Oak Broad Leaf Sivan, Kapalin Blowfish Black Panther Chandran, Maitreya Blue Dolphin Suryan, and Sri Sanatkumar Mutthiah Muralidharan. Those in the know will smile at the inclusion of a few “ascended masters” in the colorful cast of characters.

Not only are the names extended, Shankar gleefully provides genealogies for a few of them, going back several generations – in the process adding a wealth of side commentary on the fascinating diversity of cultures to be found in the region. Place names like Pulijayam, Chandrapore, Shaktipore and Suryapore evoke a subcontinental aroma – hinting at the lingering influence of ancient civilizations like the Srivijaya and Majapahit Empires.

With an accountant’s eye for detail, Shankar delves into a morass of financial shenanigans conducted under the corrupt aegis of UNTA (United National Tigerists Association). Indeed, one might conclude that Shankar is merely making it all up - were it not for the fact that most Malaysians are already aware – thanks to the internet - of the endless list of dubious deals signed behind closed doors and labeled Official Secrets.

I couldn’t help but smile wryly at the irony of it all. Whenever Shankar relishes his role as novelist and puts effort into fleshing out his fictional characters, he succeeds in giving his narrative a measure of realism; however, his intimately reconstructed accounts of high-level wheeling and dealing come across as pure fiction because their outrageousness simply boggles the mind. We shudder at the realization that Shankar didn’t have to invent anything – merely switch a few acronyms and names around.

And, just as happens in real life, we are confounded by a plethora of acronyms: PACC (Pulipore Anti-Corruption Council), CCCP (Chandrapore City Center Plaza), PPC (Pulipetrol Corporation), PSA (Patriot and Security Act), PSB (Police Special Branch), and PITS (Pulipore Information Technology Service) – so much so the reader is at times compelled to refer to the acronym list on page 382.

As a writer, E.S. Shankar occasionally suffers from what may be called “the fisheye lens” syndrome – in effect, his omniscience and encyclopedic knowledge compel him to throw in too many asides and insider jokes. This slows the pace down – but only minimally. On the whole I was impressed by Shankar’s fluid syntax and flashes of literary virtuosity, for instance, when he begins a chapter with a killer line like: “The economic picture was pretty from far, but actually far from pretty.”

The story acquires a hint of Ian Fleming towards the end, when Shankar conspires to put all the biggest crooks of Tiger Isle together on board a private jet – and then leaves them at the mercy of seven female amateur ninjas and a couple of renegade pilots. Regime change through the ballot box is simply too banal and boring, I suppose. Or too unlikely. Or perhaps the eternal child in E.S. Shankar just felt like giving the plot a tiny twist of Quentin Tarantino.

Regrettably, Shankar’s magnificent effort will not qualify for the epithet “The Great Malaysian Novel” – simply because it’s all about Tiger Isle, heh heh, not Malaysia.

GOOD NEWS! Shankar has found a local publisher, Gerak Budaya, and Tiger Isle ~ A Government of Thieves will be officially launched at the Royal Selangor Club at 7PM on 20 November 2012.

[First posted 28 September 2012. Reposted 23 November 2014, 28 May 2015, 23 June 2017 & 23 June 2020]

From the Planet of the Monyets (once more with feelings of utter disgust)

Courtesy of Realscience.org.uk

NOT AGAIN! JAAIS RAIDS ANOTHER FACILITY AT SEPILOK

Report by Latthalilat Thamplom, Monyet News Network, 5 August 2011

Male proboscis monkey

Sepilok, 5 August. The quiet town of Sepilok in Sabah was shocked by a massive raid conducted by the Joint Animal Atrocities Investigation Society (JAAIS) at the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre this morning. Witnesses reported that a team of at least 100 JAAIS officials and local police accompanied by 5 male proboscis monkeys raided the primate conservation centre at about 10 in the morning, coinciding with the orang utan feeding time.

Young orang utan traumatized
by the incident

The Director of the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, Dr Agus Salim Moguring, expressed his shock and disappointment at the raid. “We are a conservation organization, committed to rehabilitating orang utans and returning them to the wild. All we were doing at that time was feeding the orang utans and long-tailed macaques with bananas when suddenly this large group of people claiming to be from JAAIS rushed in. They took away all the bananas, harassed our staff members and took photographs of the enclosures. They were loud and rude. They never told us why they were there,” said Dr Moguring.

Dr Salihin Gungat, a researcher working with the long-tailed macaques at the centre, told Monyet News Network “we are all very upset. These JAAIS fellows are morons with their heads stuck up their asses. What harm did our orang utans do ? What wrong did the macaques do ? Tell us. They are being victimized simply because they are different. This is not acceptable in multi-species society. Orang utans and macaques are also God’s creatures.”

An extraordinary EGM of the Proboscis Monkey Society of Kinabatangan
was convened two days before the raid

In a press statement released by the JAAIS later in the afternoon, the department’s director Tn. Hj. Hassan Ibrahim Ali claimed that they received a complaint from a group of proboscis monkeys in Kinabatangan that the orang utans were plotting to take over the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. “We cannot simply sit and wait. The proboscis monkeys lodged a complaint so we had to act before the situation got out of hand. The Orang Utans are evil, you know and we cannot allow them to control the Wildlife Sanctuary”

The proboscis monkey which lodged a complaint 

with JAAIS, accusing the orang utans of plotting 

to take over the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary

Hassan added: “During the raid we found evidence of the impending Orang Utan attack on the proboscis monkeys. Our enforcement team found stacks of banana peel and over 50 kg of Orang Utan poo which we believe will be used as weapons. So we confiscated all the peels and poo and took them back to our office. Our team also overhead the orang utans saying, “Eee ooook ouu, eeeeek” which I think means “we are going to f#*k you” – which was alarming. I think our raid was justified.”

Hassan also informed MNN that JAAIS is planning to conduct more unannounced raids at other orang utan sites in Sabah, Sarawak and Selangor. “It is our moral duty to protect all the other monkeys from the orang utans,” added Hassan before driving away to his next raid.

The Proboscis Monkey Society declined to talk to MNN’s correspondents.

Monyet News Network

Your most reliable source of unreliable news

[First posted 7 August 2011. Special thanks to
His Royal Hilariousness The Monyet King]

A loving tribute to the incredibly, amazingly, absurdly talented Jo Kukathas

I met Jo Kukathas 32 years ago when she was teaching literature at the Garden School. Apart from performing the occasional skit with her siblings or reciting poetry to entertain her ebullient and extremely eloquent father - the late K. Das, former bureau chief of the Far Eastern Economic Review, best-selling author, political commentator, and arguably the foremost authority on Mahathiritis (long before it acquired the status of a terminal, practically incurable disease) - Jo had never been on stage, except perhaps in a few school productions.

At our very first meeting, I noticed she had remarkable control of her voice, and asked if she had tried her hand at acting. "Not professionally," she replied, and I laughed and said Malaysia doesn't have any professional theatre yet, we're all amateurs, so she ought to give it a go.

And give it a go Jo did. In a matter of months I found myself applauding wildly after a theatrical performance in which Jo Kukathas featured - can't remember which play it was now. All I know is that Jo has never once disappointed - no matter what role she took on.

I don't want to make this a full-blown essay on the versatile, vivacious and vonderfully high-voltage Ms Kukathas - she deserves at least a 500-page official biography - and I can't possibly do the woman justice with a single blogpost.

Let it be known far and wide, nevertheless, that I absolutely adore and admire this feisty, brilliant peacock feather in the cap of Malaysian theatre. If she had chosen to be born in the UK or the USA, she would most certainly be vying for her share of the Oscars alongside actresses like Goldie Hawn, Whoopi Goldberg, Glenn Close, Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep.

Jo, please take as many bows as you please.

BEE-ENDGAME: Laugh Till You Fart!

(From Kavilan's YouTube Channel, posted 16 September 2008)

Who is this ingenious N. Kavilan fler who "did a 'bad' thing and made a parody of Bodohwi"? Kavi spent a few hours doing the subtitles for this video and then uploaded it to Youtube. It parodies Hitler’s downfall in the movie Der Untergang.

Kavi, you've got to be the Makkal Sakthi version of Namewee! Heartiest congratulations on a brilliant piece of video art - loved it!!! :-)

NOTE: EMBEDDING HAS BEEN DISABLED BY THE VIDEO OWNER.
CLICK ON THE VIDEO IMAGE OR THIS LINK TO VIEW ON YOUTUBE!