By Pallavi Narayan

The Second Link: An Anthology of Malaysian & Singaporean Writing
Edited by Daryl Lim Wei Jie, Hamid Roslan, Melizarani T. Selva and William Tham
Marshall Cavendish (2023) / 320 pages / SGD 28

In a very curious mix of fiction, poetry, visual art, non-fiction and essays – corresponding to both creative non-fiction and scholarly writing – The Second Link is truly an anthology that is indefinable. That, as the editors mention in the introductory conversation – not a general introduction – could verily be its strength. While it took me more time than I had anticipated to read through this anthology, it was well worth the effort to expand my understanding of Singapore and Malaysia. Each text in this anthology brings forth fresh, though complementary, ways of perceiving the embedded, embodied, conflicted relationship between Malaysia and Singapore.

An engaging compilation, it harks to shared literary traditions of two neighbouring nations, featuring a diversity of genres and voices which bring together a not-so-cohesive, indeed sometimes rather jagged, narrative reflecting historical ties, contemporary experiences and the co-creation of a literary capital. This capital has been determined, in part, by the state and its literary institutions as well as the role played by literary champions and critics alike in recognising, promoting and sustaining the creative vitality of not only writers from the respective countries and their heritages, but also the voices of immigrants and the cultural baggage they carry or, alternatively, are seeking to put down.

What I found most intriguing is how this anthology can be read from the beginning, of course, as books usually are, but also from the essay titled 'In Lieu of a Conclusion' by William Tham. In this text the more elegant for its brevity, Tham reads Malaysia as not a singular entity but instead as "sets of practices, divisions at the level of individual states…"; similarly, with regard to Singapore he states: "Amidst skyscrapers and Supertrees, the effect of wandering a decontextualised city is uncanny. A sense of difference is immediately encoded in the language of street signs, exchange rates, and frequent public buses". This idea of an "ever-shifting" state, or states, reflects the influence of "Centuries of trade, migration, colonisation, and intellectual growth [that] have intersected in how we think about historical narratives and the idea of belonging". The concepts of belonging and identity in connection with decolonisation, which the book brings up every now and then, perform a rather clever play on the notion of the anthology itself.

The Second Link upends the notion of the form as a collection focusing on a particular genre, say poetry (where the idea emerged from), short stories or essays by including all genres within its ambit, thus providing a seeming clamour of voices which, when the reader settles in, may be viewed as an all-inclusive, collective project of decolonisation, featuring a variety of everything: languages, annotation methodologies, structures, techniques. While at first glance this decision may come across as confusing, as I went along with the suggested sequence I found myself intrigued by the narratives, for that is what I choose to term them. While each piece was unique in its offering, some resonated with me just a bit more while others stood out for introducing me to experiences I was heretofore unfamiliar with.

Each text offers a different way of seeing the two countries and their intertwined relationship. 'Circumambulations on Water' by Sreedhevi Iyer drew me in with its staccato words nevertheless dreamily expressed. "You first hear the bells. Then the smell. Smoke, frankincense, rancid ghee. Different island, same pattern. You walk in". Descriptions are beautifully interspersed with brief dialogue and even briefer definitions of rooms connected to sacred spaces and educational institutions from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Encyclopaedia Britannica. Benedict Lim's 'agency' starts off rather promisingly with "Tara keeps finding herself in glass boxes nowadays". It encapsulates the frustration of being eligible for permanent residency but being foiled by being unable to afford the assistance of an agency to accomplish this goal. Anna Onni's 'The Unexpected Effects of Eternal Summertime' is a futuristic ode to Malaysia's Agongs, replete with space capsules, a drying land, unsafe rainwater et al.

In Tse Hao Guang's poem 'SINGH RIDE MOTO', "singh is king" is for certain. This seemingly hilarious poem with a seamy undertone finds a place within a knot of poems which intentionally play with language. I also connected with Tse's other poems 'Moved' and 'Soya Bean Drinks', given the cultural connotations they bring up. In 'Annals', Joshua Ip conducts a day-by-day countdown for 30 iterations of the Malaysia-Singapore or Singapore-Malaysia War, bringing to mind the construction of nursery rhymes, a form which he utilises adroitly to assert important historical facts combined with his verse.

A visual essay by Noor Iskandar complements the pieces and adds depth to the narratives presented. Titled 'Fatamorgana: A visual cartography of the straits of memory between the Self, Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia', the "result" of the images is "a psychogeography, birthing seven digital image-text collages as footnotes" of the contributor's "time along the Coast". Black-and-white visuals occur in various narratives throughout the book, and are telling in particular in 'Green Man's Burden: Old Ghosts of New Nature' by Yu Kai Tan. Highlighting the Rafflesia flower in the context of the "ecological reality across the Johor Strait", this scholarly essay provides the much-needed environmental context to the work. While I would not categorise Brandon K. Liew's 'Effigies' as a visual essay, I would be loath to keep this definition away from it entirely as the poem written in the shape of a flower stresses on visual form to make its point. Such works thus serve to ground the literary works in a broader cultural context, inviting readers to engage with the themes on multiple levels. 'Leper' by Clara Chow is a masterful text, mapping, as it does, leprosaria all over Malaysia and Singapore. 'Belonging' by Anitha Devi Pillai is a tender evocation to family – those with one as well as those left behind – and redefines the word 'home' for the writer.

Capturing the complexities of identity, the nuances of migration, and the shared histories that continue to shape the lives of individuals on both sides of the causeway, the anthology does not shy away from addressing the tensions and differences that exist, particularly in light of their colonial past. However, it ultimately emphasises the potential for understanding and unity through shared literary expression. A sentence from Daryl Li's 'Causes and Ways' is a nice way to conclude: "I am searching for my own path, a way to bridge the distance between a place that seems, on paper, to be so directly connected to me. … I fill in the gaps with a host of reasonable guesses and deductions. It's all I can do". This is echoed by Melizarani T. Selva as she states: "We exist in an endless state of transit. … We are negotiating our ideas of a 'better' home". Finally, it comes down to the eternal question: where is home? Ultimately, The Second Link is a deep dive into the complex relationship between Malaysia and Singapore: two postcolonial nations with shared cultural history influenced by migration.

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