By Nrl Liya
Atomic Jaya is a play written by a Malaysian man, Huzir Sulaiman back in 1998 a year after he created his own theatre group in Malaysia, the Straits Theatre Company. Atomic Jaya was his first full-length play written as a response to a fanatic of the Mahathirist of mega-projects that are dedicated to the nation's upbringing. The play revolved around a character ‘Dr. Mary Yeun’ a physicist who’s participated in a secret project of building an Atomic Bomb with other scientists, Dr. Saiful, and Dr. Ramachandran, and with the participant of other characters such as General Zulkifli, Noraini, Bala, Teng, and Otto. During the play, Dr. Mary Yuen faces a dilemma of whether she should really go into building a dangerous atomic bomb or sabotage it after debating the morality and sanity of Malaysia to secretly build a dangerous atomic bomb.
Settings can help the reader to understand the context of literature better by knowing where and when the story takes place. These elements are important to be discussed as Huzir Sulaiman wrote it as a way to show his love for Malaysia by introducing various ethnicities of characters. Since Malaysia has an interesting history behind the unity of Malays, Chinese, and Indians in building up the name, Malaysia. Hence, let’s look at the play Atomic Jaya based on its 1) Historical settings, 2) Geographical settings, and 3) Physical settings.
HISTORICAL SETTINGS
Historical settings are defined as a subcategory of setting in which it focuses on ‘when’(Allen,2022). This setting emphasises what era the events occurred and what era the characters live in as it would explain a story's social, cultural, economic, and political environment. In Atomic Jaya, the play takes place in Malaysia during the mid-late of the ’90s around the corner of the 2000s. During this era, other than the fact that Malaysia is slowly rising with its technological advancements and growing economy, the union between the three races Malays, Indians, and Chinese has strengthened with the ageing of Malaysia's independence. We could also see how each representative of culture is able to work Thus, we could say on ‘when’ the play was taking action, the three races are at peace and it is displayed in the play how the three races interacted with each other. Other than that, Huzir Sulaiman has never brought up any aggression between all the characters and their differences in ethnicities as a way to show how they all unite as one as Malaysian citizens.
GEOGRAPHICAL SETTINGS
Geographical settings definition is a setting that pertains to ‘where’ the fiction takes place. Before Malaysia could reach its independence, they were colonised by Britain for the sake of obtaining raw materials such as rubbers and gambiers from Tanah Melayu, Malaysia’s old name. Britain purposely encourages Indians and Chinese to come to the land and work as immigrant workers in a way to protect the Malay farmer from the changes Britain made on their own lands. As years go by, the three different races build their home and family in the same land and live under the colonisation of the British and Japanese. This is why now, Malaysia is known as a multiracial country. Moreover, Malaysia is able to obtain its independence with the help of the Indians and Chinese people even though at the beginning they refused to be involved in the matter as they are not the citizens of Tanah Melayu. A political party that united all three ethnicities, Barisan Nasional (BN) and United Malays National Organization (UMNO) helped to achieve independence by having an agreement with the British people. In this, we could observe why three different races with different cultures and religions are able to unite in order to be free from colonisers and build their own country to move forward into a greater future, just like Atomic Jaya.
PHYSICAL SETTINGS
Physical settings are used to manipulate the story’s mood and development. The play mostly takes place indoors in the Atomic Jaya Nuclear Facility and its office could show that they are always together and could be said ‘trapped’ with each other. In the play, the three physicists of three different races worked together in the same laboratory, indicating that they are comfortable working together in building the atomic bomb and thus exhibiting their unity as a multiracial country. During British colonialism, the opposite of working together happened under the British educational system in Tanah Melayu. Under the Britain educational system, the three ethnicities were divided from each other by using the Ethnic-based schooling system which is Malay Vernacular Schools, Indian Vernacular Schools, and Chinese Vernaculars School. The reason for this division is that Britain is afraid that the Malays, Indians, and Chinese would unite together and protest against British Colonialism. After Tanah Melayu gained its independence, mixed schools were available to all Malaysian citizens as a way to increase the spirit of multiracialism among all races. Moreover, the unity between the three-race has allowed Malaysia to move forward after independence just like the upsurge of technology-based development in the late 90s. This case is reflected in the play Atomic Jaya, where Dr. Ramachandran, Dr. Mary Yuen, and Dr. Saiful worked with each other and succeeded in building the atomic bomb for their country inside their laboratory.
In conclusion, the alliance between Malays, Chinese, and Indians while living in Malaysia, a multiracial country is visible in the historical settings, geographical settings, and physical settings. In my personal opinion of the drama Atomic Jaya, Huzir Sulaiman is able to properly depict his love of Malaysia by showing how multiracial characters interact with each other casually and enjoy each other's culture. The play conveyed the message of peace and unity between multiracial citizens in Malaysia.
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