Malaysia circa 1900
Monday, 15 June 2009
I often visited museums when I was young as part of educational field trips. Like every other 10-year-old boy, my mind was more preoccupied with pranks than history. However, there were sections of the museum where I was afraid and would remain silent and obedient - such as the section on Malay customs including ‘bersunat’ (a seemingly painful circumcision done with barbaric-looking utensils not unlike the ones from your local dentist) - but there were sections where I would be completely mesmerised, immersed in the sea of phographic evidence of Malaysia’s rich and colourful history. Today, I stumbled across a whole series of photographs that really reminded me of my childhood: