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Aceh’s contribution to modern Malay identity began when one of the families from Paloh Gadeng, North Aceh (Cunda), migrated to Penang. His name was Teuku Nyak Puteh bin Teuku Karim (1902-1955). This figure was the father of Teuku Zakaria bin Teuku Nyak Puteh, who later became known as P. Ramlee. Teuku Nyak Puteh arrived in Penang in 1923. P. Ramlee’s father lived in Jalan Buckingham.
Two years after settling in Penang, Teuku Nyak Puteh married Che Mah binti Hussein (1904-1967) in Kubang Buaya, Butterworth. Four years after their marriage, on March 22, 1929, Teuku Zakaria was born on a holiday.
The artistic blood in P. Ramlee can be traced to his father’s ability to be a playwright in Aceh. The theater group is Asmaradana. In Aceh, the term drama follows the opera pattern among European nobles. This opera was usually performed at night.
The characters will play a role according to the storyline. Usually, the play lasts for days. This follows the desired storyline so the audience wants to come every night.
This play is similar to a soap opera or telenovela in the current era. In North Aceh, the actors are usually ordinary people. Sometimes, they move the event from place to place.
Until the 1980s, theatrics could still be found in North Aceh. It is important to note that this play is both drama and interspersed with music and comedy. Teuku Zakaria imitates this theatrical pattern in each of his films.
Until now, Teuku Zakaria has become a legend in the Malay world. He is known as a versatile artist. Until his death on May 29, 1973, Teuku Zakaria had starred in 63 films, most of which were self-directed. As many as 356 songs were created, both sung by himself and other Malay artists.
After 17 years of his death, in 1990, Teuku Zakaria was awarded the title of Tan Sri as a form of honor and service in Malaysian culture that “remains unique and inimitable.”
In 2005, the University of Malaya awarded Teuku Zakaria the honorary degree of “Doctor of Performing Arts” as “a recognition and symbol of service by UM to P. Ramlee, who has made many contributions to the country’s art world.”
Five things show the impression of Malay identity in P. Ramlee’s films. First, P. Ramlee portrays the Malay identity as a tribe that constantly struggles in their lives but can also adapt to modernity at that time.
Secondly, the Malay language’s identity is powerful, and its grammar and humor are more indicative of the archipelago’s nature than of Malaysia.
The dialogue in the film is entirely different from the latest Malaysian film dialogue, such as the word ‘a ‘, which changes to ‘e’ at the end of some syllables.
Third, Malays are perceived as ‘marginalized people’ and sometimes as “domestic helpers” who want to change their destiny like their masters.
Fourth, Islāmand Malayness in P. Ramlee’s film is not very strong. For example, there were hug scenes and love stories with Malay cosmopolitan nuances.
Fifth, the social setting of upper and lower class society is very evident in the life of the Malay community. Here, the Malay faces of “Agong” and “all-Kingdom” are not very prominent, except in the Malay history film, Hang Tuah.
The Malay appearance in the film Pendekar Bujang Lapok differs from the love story’s appearance in Qasim Seulamat and Madu Tiga. In Pendekar Bujang Lapok, a Malay figure is shown who is still illiterate, good at playing silat, and bullying in the village area. Loyalty and love are tested to get the girl, a teacher, by fighting the villains.
Here, the main character is P. Ramlee, who always puts his name as the leading actor. In the film Qasim Seulamat, the figure of love and sacrifice of the Malays is shown with the figure of a young man who is blind in order not to want to see his lover taken by others.
Malay mothers are seen as materialistic and willing to pawn their daughters’ love to an ophthalmologist here. The painful story of the Malays in this film can also be seen in the movie Penarik Becak. Joel S. Kahn said:
Instead, we can find articulated in the film, music, and choreography associated with the Ramlee name a version of Malay-ness that is much more open and cosmopolitan than was that of the new generation of nationalist leaders, and yet at the same time more localized and indigenous than those who dismiss them as purveyors of western values would have us believe.
For Joel, the figure of P. Ramlee seems to be the seed of cosmopolitanism in Malaysia. In some of P. Ramlee’s films, the songs, dances, and poems are more Western than Eastern.
The film Qasem Selamat shows a Malay girl who is infatuated with a saxophone player. Because of this skill, the girl is willing to marry Qasem Selamat without her mother’s blessing. However, this film also describes the nightlife in Malaysia during the P. Ramlee era.
Likewise, with the musical tastes of the Malays at that time. However, this film depicts that a Malay girl will not have a guaranteed future if she marries a musician. Then, in the mother-in-law’s scenario, her daughter was invited to go home to be married to a young man who works as an ophthalmologist.
Here, the figure of a musician is still admired by Malay women, so Cumi, the girl with a broken heart, feels alive again after hearing the trumpet blast from Qasem Selamat. This instrument revived Qasem’s life, leading him to his first wife.
However, Qasem, who had blinded himself after being operated on by his first husband, again blinded himself because he could not bear to see his only child and first wife remarry without his knowledge. This is the Malay style of love.
In other films, the figure of the Malays is always shown as ‘low class’ or Malays who like to marry, as in the movie Madu Tiga. The same thing happened when Joel reviewed the film Semerah Padi and Pedicab Puller.
Here, Joel, in addition to showing how the construction of Malayness that P. Ramlee wants to highlight, also describes the connection between dance originating from Europe and Joget, a Malay cultural art. It is again shown, as stated by Joel: ,
As evidence of a conflict between Western musical and dance styles on the one hand and authentic Malay cultural forms on the other.
In other words, P. Ramlee’s film wants to show how Malay cultural heritage must be considered, in addition to foreign cultural pressures. Besides that, P. Ramlee’s films always show the landscape of daily life between the rich and the poor among the Malays.
Wealthy people are depicted living in luxurious homes and eating with spoons and forks. In several other films, they are also shown always using a Salary Person or a Housemaid.
Meanwhile, the Malay Poor is always depicted with a simple life, if not destitute. Several of P. Ramlee’s films often show how the Malay-Poor always “successfully attracts” his idol from the Malay-Rich children.
The Malay girl is captivated by the handsomeness of the Malay youth, which P. Ramlee always plays, and his singing skills.
According to Joel, the Malay description sketch by P. Ramlee above is because:
Was the product of an industry distinctly multicultural in its makeup? The project of Malay cultural decolonization, to which Ramlee’s work was contributing, was being pushed along by a popular entertainment industry controlled by Chinese finance and marketing networks, involving directors, many of whom had come from India, with influences from contemporary filmmakers in Hollywood, Japan and India, and under pressure from Malay nationalist intellectual to produce suitable Malay language films.
Moreover, Ramlee’s films attracted an enthusiastic multicultural audience of Chinese, Indians, Malays, and Indonesians. As such, the production of Ramlee’s work provides a kind of exemplar for successfully managing inter-ethnic relations.
It seems that Penang witnesses the contribution of the people of Aceh to strengthening Malay or even Malaysian identity. The role of the Acehnese in building and filling the Malay identity is seen from the side of the trade and the role played by Seyyed Hussein al-Aidid and P. Ramlee.
Seyyed Hussein performed a Malay transformation during the British occupation of Malaya. He has helped build a union of Malays and Aceh in the Lebuh Aceh area.
At the same time, P. Ramlee contributed to Malayness from the art perspective after Malaysia became independent in 1957. The figure of P. Ramlee, who can be categorized as a “versatile” artist, has enabled Malaysians to appreciate the Malay identity.
However, Penang’s role in Aceh’s history cannot be denied. This is seen in Aceh’s efforts to seek support in trade and diplomatic efforts when fighting the Netherlands. Penang has also become a historic site, the “Second Jeddah,” for the people of Aceh before leaving for Mecca.
Of course, through the Penang route, the scholars of Aceh can seek their knowledge in Mecca. In addition, the mobilization of the spirit to expel the colonizers was also carried out in Penang, namely the role of the Eight Commission.
Therefore, Aceh’s relationship with Penang could not be severed, even though Aceh had joined Indonesia, and Penang became a state without a sultan in Malaysia.
From the results of the investigation of Malay identity in the history of Penang and Aceh, it can be concluded as follows:
First, Aceh is not Malay because the Malays’ origins come from the waters of Jambi/Palembang. However, Aceh’s role was to “Islamize” the Malays, who were initially non-Muslim. The marital relationship has become historical evidence of how Samudera Pasai made Melaka the first Malay kingdom to be Muslim.
Second, the Malay identity full of Islamic spirit was later defended again by the people of Aceh when the Portuguese attacked Melaka. In this period of history, Aceh tried to drive out the colonizers. It took control of the Malay Peninsula, especially in the era of Sultan Iskandar Muda.
Third, while maintaining the Malay identity based on Islam, Aceh once again contributed to the world of science for the Malay World, which can be seen in the role of scholars from Aceh, such as Sheikh Nurdin Ar-Raniry, Sheikh Samsuddin al-Sumatrani, and Sheikh Abdur Rauf al-Singkili.
Fourth, when the historical episode of the Malay Peninsula was colonized, Aceh made a significant contribution to the world of trade in Malaya, at least as seen from Seyyed Hussein al-Aidid’s role.
Although Aceh was experiencing government turmoil, trade efforts strengthened the Malay identity, especially in Penang. However, what is of concern to this day is Sheikh Hamzah Fansuri’s contribution to the world of Malay literary art.
Fifth, Aceh has contributed to building a Malay-Modern identity through the figure of Teuku Nyak Puteh’s descendants, namely P. Ramlee.
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