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Welcome to episode 3 of the Mynah Podcast, brought to you by Mynah Magazine! Editors Ruby and Karen are joined by Syazwan Majid, or Wan, to discuss his project Wan’s Ubin Journal and his heritage work on Pulau Ubin. We talk about Wan’s family history on Ubin, nature conservation at Chek Jawa and Sungei Durian, islander values vis-a-vis contemporary interpretations of “kampung spirit” and “gotong royong”, and more. Syazwan (Wan) is a descendant of an Ubin Orang Pulau and through his online social platform, Wan’s Ubin Journal, he advocates for the conservation and celebration of the Ubin Orang Pulau community, culture, heritage and identity.
To learn more about Wan’s work and for more context on this episode, check out our newsletter at mynahmag.substack.com
Some notes on the podcast and additional resources:
Wan’s Instagram post on the 2021 incidents of indiscriminate foraging on Changi Beach and the traditional foraging practices of the indigenous people of Singapore https://www.instagram.com/p/CQEAMIYhJqQ/
The Channel News Asia article about the 8,000-tree OCBC Mangrove Park due to open in Pulau Ubin in 2026 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sustainability/pulau-ubin-mangrove-park-2026-nparks-ocbc-sungei-durian-3032241
Wan on Chek Jawa and its place in Ubin Orang Pulau history as an important source of sustenance https://www.wansubinjournal.com/post/chek-jawa-and-how-it-provided-for-the-ubin-orang-pulau
Biology lecturer and longtime Singaporean ecologist Sivasothi N on Chek Jawa in 2001, noting the irony of resettlement of “‘squatters who are affected by reclamation work’ that has finally allowed easy public access to Chek Jawa” https://chekjawa.nus.edu.sg/articles/AG/AGart4.htm
Orang Laut SG is a platform founded by Firdaus Sani, a fourth-generation Orang Laut/Pulau descendant from Pulau Semakau. Pulau Semakau and neighbouring Pulau Seking were acquired from the islanders by the Singapore government in 1987 to build Semakau Landfill: https://oranglaut.sg/
A Facebook page collecting memories of life on Pulau Brani run by Izyan Nadirah, a second generation islander: https://www.facebook.com/memoriesofpulaubrani
In 2023, Firdaus of Orang Laut SG and Asnida Daud, whose family lived on Pulau Sudong, collaborated on the performance Air Da Tohor, staged at the Esplanade’s Pesta Raya festival: https://www.straitstimes.com/life/arts/remembering-singapore-s-disappearing-south-islander-cultures-in-air-da-tohor
On the restoration of House 6J on Pulau Ubin: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/watch/developing-dedicated-kampung-house-restoration-programme-pulau-ubin-4429141
Mynah Magazine started as a print magazine for untold Singaporean stories in 2016. We’ve published four issues to date. Our fifth issue will be published in the second half of 2025.
Find out more about Mynah Magazine on our website: mynahmag.com
Subscribe to the Mynah newsletter: mynahmag.substack.com
Follow Mynah on Instagram: instagram.com/mynahmag
The music for The Mynah Podcast was written and recorded by Daniel Seah.
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Welcome to episode 2 of the Mynah Podcast, brought to you by Mynah Magazine! Editors Ruby and Darren are joined by a long-time contributor to the magazine, Faris Joraimi, to discuss the Malay world. We talk about the different approaches to this concept over the last three centuries and how understanding diversity and migration within the Malay world sheds light on race, and particularly the place of Peranakans, in Singapore today.
Faris is currently a PhD student in History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. His essays on Singaporean history and the Malay world more broadly have been published in a range of outlets, including Mynah, where he holds the record for the most bylines of any of our contributors. His latest piece for us was issue 4’s “Eating the Malay World: Singapore’s Peranakan Amnesia”.
To learn more about Faris and for more context about this episode, check out our newsletter at mynahmag.substack.com
Some notes on the podcast and additional resources:
Speaking of the obsession with Peranakan culture in Singaporean media, a Little Nyonya spinoff will be released in March 2025. It's called The Little Nyonya II: Emerald Hill, a nod to an area long associated with Peranakans as depicted in Stella Kon's play, Emily of Emerald Hill (1983). For a history of the term “King's Chinese” or “Queen's Chinese” as a description of Peranakans, refer to“Not the Emperor’s, not the King’s, but the Straits Chinese” by Ann Ang. Ruby misquoted Lee Kuan Yew as calling Mohamed Jufrie bin Mahmood an “enlightened Malay” during the proceedings of the Select Committee on the Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Bill in 1988. He actually called him a “very modern Malay”. If you're interested in Faris's work, check out Raffles Renounced: Towards a Merdeka History, which he co-edited.More information on the sources and scholarship discussed in the episode can be found in the Mynah newsletter.
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Mynah Magazine started as a print magazine for untold Singaporean stories in 2016. We’ve published four issues to date.
Find out more about Mynah Magazine, including where to purchase a copy of our latest issue, here: mynahmag.com
Subscribe to the Mynah newsletter: mynahmag.substack.com
Follow Mynah on Instagram: instagram.com/mynahmag
The music for The Mynah Podcast was written and recorded by Daniel Seah.
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Welcome to episode 1 of the brand-new Mynah Podcast, brought to you by Mynah Magazine! Editors Ruby and Karen are joined by Lim Jialiang to discuss the political economy of hawker culture in Singapore. We talk about how hawkers were unfairly handed the responsibility of ensuring food security in Singapore, people’s expectations of (and delusions about) hawker food, and what the future of hawkering looks like. We also talk a lot about hokkien mee.
(This episode is marked Explicit because of occasional coarse language. We'll swear less next time.)
Jialiang is the founder of the beer distribution company Watering Hole. Before that, he managed a hawker stall in Chinatown for four years. To learn more about Jialiang and for more context about this episode, check out our newsletter at mynahmag.substack.com
Some notes on the podcast and additional resources:
We recorded this episode in September 2024, when Old Airport Road Food Centre was still under renovation. It reopened on October 1.
Speaking of (upsetting) 8days coverage of corporates turned hawkers: https://www.8days.sg/eatanddrink/hawkerfood/ex-engineer-who-sold-his-company-25mil-now-sells-hokkien-mee-cooked-robot-wok-ai-838261
“Hawkerpreneurs: hawkers, entrepreneurship, and reinventing street food in Singapore” by Nicole Tarulevicz, for a brief overview of the history of hawkering in Singapore
Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in an exchange with MP Lily Neo in Parliament in 2007: “Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?”
Key findings of the 2023 Minimum Income Standards report
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Mynah Magazine started as a print magazine for untold Singaporean stories in 2016. We’ve published four issues to date.
Find out more about Mynah Magazine here: mynahmag.com
Subscribe to the Mynah newsletter: mynahmag.substack.com
Follow Mynah on Instagram: instagram.com/mynahmag
The music for The Mynah Podcast was written and recorded by Daniel Seah.
