Malaysian Chinese new villages are often characterised by its bad town planning and enormous traffic congestion. They were, after all, built as concentration camps of sorts, emerged in the helter-skelter years of the Emergency period, peopled by ‘victims’ of both communist insurgents and the colonial power. It became a part of a larger combat strategy, The Briggs Plan, introduced to severely limit local support for communist insurgence.

The name ‘Kampung Baru’ or the new village masks a sorry settlement. After independence, the government assumed the new villages had sufficient facilities and paid little attention to these areas until the 2nd Malaysian Plan (1971-1975).

Growing up in such a settlement, residents have grown accustomed to a degree of submissiveness, to authority, to luck or spirituality. Often they remained helpless but hopeful. As the saying goes: “人无横财不富, 马无野草不肥” (men will not get rich without luck, horse will not live without grass), it was a common belief among Chinese that becoming rich is a far-fetch destiny unless you strike lottery. Even the metaphysics of the Chinese prayers end up revolving around fortunes, prosperity, longevity or getting distinctions in exams. On the altar sits a guardian receptionist who takes down all our prayers and wishes of betterment.

Today, changes have taken place where stereotypes work solely by giving a surfaced and sometimes fabricated imagery; It was amusing then to look at the vernacular calligraphy and typography, the sole canvas where the communities will publicly communicate and propagate. Whether it is a commercial message, spiritual, abstract or instructive, these forms of communication attest to the villagers’ expressiveness that had in the past being suppressed and left unnoticed.

These are the interesting ones collected pell-mell. Considering the social background aforementioned, these become poetic;

1.Hand-written/painted

Hand-written type is the most common form of visual communication found. This instantaneous text is seldom pre-planned, therefore aesthetic lies in its imperfection. It is the most direct, intuitive and prompt.

This is a stall selling newspaper, pau, coconut drink, shoes, custom made kites and provide photocopy service, a peculiar hybrid business. Stall owner 江日桦 (Kong Yik Wah) has a keen interest in documenting riddles and idioms, despite the moth-eaten stall equipment, some were revitalised by his DIY skills, beautified by his typographic wits. Unwilling to abandon some redundant pieces of wood, he wrote riddles or idioms on them. Some idioms greet, some are sneaky, some served geomantic purpose to welcome fortunes. He was also involved in the Entry Points exhibition in 1948 Artspace, together with Lim Kok Yoong (aka Wing), he conducted a kite-making workshop.

That’s him. Guess a Chinese word. Don’t over think.

Expression through type: Uncle Kong pointing at his petite little shoes drawn on the word “鞋” (shoe). The word on the left is “賣(卖)” (sell), reminds me of Johnnie Walker.

This is “鳥(鸟)” – bird. There’s a visual of small little birds waiting to be fed, like a pictogram.

A table decorated with texts and graphics found in his stall.

This is a more common example, hand-written on bonnet, a trend amongst the workshops in the village. Take note at the black board on the right, achieving information hierarchy through differentiation of size and thickness. While some trained designers fail to do so, they managed to figure it out.

I am actually pretty surprise to find a casual hand-written text on a temple’s signage.

Look at the acrophobic M!

Car Wash service is another prominent “cultivator” of the hand-written. It has to be uniquely rendered to differ themselves from competitors. It is very common to have multiple signage, I found some with three or four. Another common trait is the words are all in capitals, clumsily placed abreast only worsen the readability.

Most prefer “A” with a crooked crossbar. Anybody has any idea why?

Illegible “C”, a little lopsided “S”, “E” with single serif. All the typographic idiosyncrasies you can get in vernacular arts.

If hand-written is too generic, graffiti can be an option. Designed by Kong Yik Wah. *He doesn’t provide car wash service, this car wash is located beside his stall.

Lunch hour? “Ditutup”. By Kong Yik Wah too.   What genius!

Both from the same car wash service. Fancy spot is considered new.

It was durian season so I decided to include some of the typography found on labels. A seasonal business; some labels were new, some reused.

Stencil work. Fluid typography in fluorescent pink, stood out among the durians.

Layman’s calligraphy: “紅虾”, “貓皇” written in traditional form, “虾” was simplified due to its complexity of strokes.

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(TZH)