Victor King

Victor King is a professor with a long professional history concerning South East-Asian Studies. His book about Malaysia covers a lot ob subjects, divided into nine chapters: Land and people - Values and attitudes - Religion and festivals - Meeting the Malaysians - The Malaysians at home - Time out - Travel, health and safety - Business briefing - Communicating. While most of the chapters were very interesting, there were some that were a little too detailed, which made it hard to grasp the show more essential aspects. It is also aimed a little more at expats and business travelers rather than tourists, which made some parts of the content not that interesting to me, but I skipped some of those (for example, how to behave at a business lunch).
All in all, though, the book was very interesting and made me understand some of things I experienced during the trip a little better: For example, seeing the foodcourts packed with people who gathered there with the whole family, everyone respectfully calling my husband "Sir" all the time, the stylish and chic clothing of most people in the cities. The chapter on Malay English was also very helpful - while most people spoke "normal" English to us, there were a few phrases I didn't know and because I had read this book I wasn't surprised and understood them at once.
Still, although this book is interesting and helpful, I cannot help but cringe a little because it was written by a British professor, explaining the culture of the Malaysian people to other (presumably) inhabitants of the global north. He comes across as a bit patronizing from time to time. And although I do read books like this I am wondering if it wouldn't be possible to find a Malaysian or someone of Malaysian heritage to write this, and to make these books "own voices books" in general.
The author also seems to be a bit absolute sometimes, making very clear statements that leave little doubt or room for questioning (all Malaysians are like this... if you do this, then that and that will happen...) - I am criticizing this style of writing because I think that culture is not that absolute, and it is a bit daring to write like that especially if you are not writing about your own culture. It would have been better to add an In my experience... from time to time.
To conclude, despite these flaws this book was helpful and I do not regret reading it. show less