VII - Green is the Colour (1993)

Summary

The backdrop to Lloyd Fernando' second novel Green is the Colour (1993) is the aftermath of the racial riots in Malaysia on 13 May 1969. This historical fact is used to evoke the mounting oppression in Malaysian politics. Fernando, in Green is the Colour, extrapolates from the events during the May 13^th riots and their aftermath a scenario which could have been foreseeable in Malaysia if bigotry and race hatred had continued. The details of the violence that prevail in the novel are used to highlight the atmosphere and mood that permeate a society where there are racial and religious tensions. The third person narrator shifts the perspective through the perceptions and thoughts of four major characters to develop the theme of racial hatred and religious intolerance.

By shifting the viewpoint through multiple characters, the writer creates a multiplicity of voices engaged in an internal “dialogue” that deals with the thematic core of the discourse. This dialogue, while it gives the reader a fuller understanding of the main character Dahlan, reveals the attitude of each character towards the racial issues of the society. Dahlan is to be understood against the background made up of contradictory value judgments. The reader first hears Yun Ming' thoughts on Dahlan:

He' determined to be juvenile. It was easy for him to talk. Just attack everything. Just like the mat sallehs. Everything they want to say about us, you say for them. No need for them to say anything. Dahlan will speak. Just criticize everything we do. Dahlan was going on as if there had never been any change. There was no originality in him. He was just an imitation radical. A colonial product to the end.

The free indirect speech above is an interior monologue that forms the initial value judgment of Dahlan. Yun Ming' use of the Malay term mat sallehs, a derogatory term for the white man, is significant here, for Yun Ming transfers his hatred for the colonials to Dahlan, whom he sees as their mouthpiece. However, Sara gives a slightly different interpretation of Dahlan as she talks to Yun Ming: “He' quite frank, that I know. Even in school he spoke out.” (p. 12) In their conversation about Dahlan, Yun Ming says, Although Yun Ming tries to be objective here in his evaluation of Dahlan, the reader knows what he actually thinks.