BOOKS

Title: Liberal, Malay and Malaysian
Author: Zan Azlee
Publisher: Gerak Budaya (2017)
Price: RM25
Synopsis: For some to be Liberal, Malay and Malaysian is to be a walking contradiction, to be pulled in more directions than your body can take. If you’re Malay you aren’t supposed to be liberal and of course you must be a Malay before you’re a Malaysian! Right? Not for Zan Azlee. In Liberal, Malay and Malaysian Zan passionately argues for a Malaysian and a Malay identity which moves beyond identity politics, fatwas, censorship and moral policing and which allows individuals to be who they want to be. Covering themes of politics, race, religion and protest, Zan records a nation in turmoil, caught between activism and apathy and counters this with an honest and open assessment of Malaysian life.

*The book can be found at any major bookstore or can be purchased online as below

By PayPal

Or

If you are in Malaysia, you can also purchase by transferring RM33.00 (includes RM8 for postage and handling) to Maybank account 1141 2365 9174 via Maybank2U or ATM. Please make sure to e-mail (purchase.fatbidin@gmail.com):
1. Name of item purchased
2. Transaction date/time and reference number
3. Your full name
4. Shipping address

 

Title: JOURNO-DAD! The chronicles of a journalist who happens to be a father
Author: Zan Azlee
Publisher: MPH Publications (2016)
Price: RM30
Synopsis: Zan Azlee never planned to be a journalist. But one day he just became one (he thought he was going to be a famous Hollywood actor and get to kiss beautiful women in movies everyday!). Zan also never planned to get married and have kids. But one day, he just became one (he thought he was God’s gift to women and an international playboy!). Those two transitional stages eventually led Zan to experience some of the most fulfilling and best times in his life. JOURNO-DAD! is a compilation of his column for The Malaysian Insider between 2009 and 2016 that has become an interesting snapshot of journalism and parenthood.

*The book can be found at any major bookstore or can be purchased online as below

By PayPal

Or

If you are in Malaysia, you can also purchase by transferring RM38.00 (includes RM8 for postage and handling) to Maybank account 1141 2365 9174 via Maybank2U or ATM. Please make sure to e-mail (purchase.fatbidin@gmail.com):
1. Name of item purchased
2. Transaction date/time and reference number
3. Your full name
4. Shipping address

 

Title: Guide to Independent Filmmaking (E-BOOK/PDF)
Author: Zan Azlee & Wan Chun Hung
Publisher: MPH Publications (2015)
Price: RM5
Synopsis: A guide book for those who have ambitions or even just initial ideas of wanting to make films. This book features interviews with a slew of established Malaysian independent filmmakers who share their experiences and advice.

*THIS BOOK IS IN PDF FORMAT

By PayPal

Or

If you are in Malaysia, you can also purchase by transferring RM5.00 to Maybank account 1141 2365 9174 via Maybank2U or ATM. Please make sure to e-mail (purchase.fatbidin@gmail.com):
1. Name of item purchased
2. Transaction date/time and reference number
3. Your full name
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Title: ADVENTURES OF A KL-ITE IN AFGHANISTAN
Author: Zan Azlee
Illustrator: Arif Rafhan Othman
Genre: Non-fiction graphic novel
Publisher: MPH Publications (2014)
Price: RM20.00
Synopsis: ‘Adventures of a KL-ite in Afghanistan’ is one of the many retellings of Zan Azlee’s travels in Afghanistan. He is a multimedia journalist who has been to many conflict zones including Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Turkey and Southern Thailand. Nevertheless, he still cowers like a coward when he hears gunfire!
Zan was keen to find out more about the war-torn country, and what it might be like to be there. Armed with only his camera gear and an open mind, he travels to Afghanistan with no idea what he is getting himself to. He ends up meeting many interesting figures, visits several ‘tourist spots’, and even gets embedded with the Malaysian army in Afghanistan.

*The book can be found at any major bookstore or can be purchased online as below

By PayPal

Or

If you are in Malaysia, you can also purchase by transferring RM28.00 (including RM8 for postage and handling) to Maybank account 1141 2365 9174 via Maybank2U or ATM. Please make sure to e-mail (purchase.fatbidin@gmail.com):
1. Name of item purchased
2. Transaction date/time and reference number
3. Your full name
4. Shipping address

 

 

Title: OPERATION NASI KERABU – Finding Patani in an Islamic Insurgency
Author: Zan Azlee
Publisher: ZI Publications
Year: 2011
Price: RM25
Synopsis: The news from Patani is like a movie: smoke, bombs, a near civil war. Yet just over our northern border, the people are Muslim, Bahasa-speaking, baju-wearing Malays, just like us. With this in mind, documentary-maker Zan Azlee set off to find the real Patani, trying to seperate the kedai kopi from the Humvees, the gunfights from the nasi kerabu. It’s hard to make new friends and man a camera while looking over your shoulder for suicide bombers. But he was determined to ask the question: how do people live their lives in a warzone? With his resulting film banned for political reasons, this is Azlee’s first chance to share what he found.

*The book can be found at any major bookstore or can be purchased online as below

By PayPal

Or

If you are in Malaysia, you can also purchase by transferring RM33 (additional RM8 for postage) to Maybank account 1141 2365 9174 via Maybank2U or ATM. Please make sure to e-mail (purchase.fatbidin@gmail.com):
1. Name of item purchased
2. Transaction date/time and reference number
3. Your full name
4. Shipping address

 

DVDs

KAMPUNG BARU ALAF BARU (NEW AGE NEW VILLAGE) (2010)
Director/Writer: Zan Azlee
Executive Producer: Ang Swee Poh
Producer: Zan Azlee
Music: Arif Rafhan Othman
Duration: 74 minutes
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis:
Kampung Baru is a traditional Malay village situated in the heart of the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. Traditional Malay houses are surrounded by huge concrete and steel skyscrapers that provide a juxtaposition of modern urbanisation and customs and tradition. Zan talks to several individuals who have close ties with Kampung Baru to try and capture the essence of the village.
Screenings:
– ntv7
BUY THE DVD!!
USD$5 (purchase via PayPal)

If you are in Malaysia, you can also purchase by transferring RM18 (free delivery within Malaysia if you opt for this method) to Maybank account 1141 2365 9174 via Maybank2U or ATM. Please make sure to e-mail (purchase.fatbidin@gmail.com):
1. Name of item purchased
2. Transaction date/time and reference number
3. Your full name
4. Shipping address

THE LIFE & TIMES OF AN ISLAMIC INSURGENCY
(AKA: I’M MUSLIM TOO! Heading to the border)
(2008/2009)
Director/Writer: Zan Azlee
Executive Producer: Ang Swee Poh
Producer: Zan Azlee
Music: Arif Rafhan Othman
Duration: 74 minutes
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis:
Zan Azlee is a Malay Muslim documentary filmmaker living in Kuala Lumpur. Being a lazy cook, he often has his meals in the many Thai/Kelantanese food stalls known as Tom Yam Kung stalls. While eating dinner one day, he remembers a news report saying that the South Thailand insurgency in Patani was mainly supported financially by Tom Yam Kung stalls in Malaysia (the Thai military government made the claim but the Malaysian government says it is absurd). The news story amused him and seeing that the people in South Thailand are Malay Muslims just like himself, he decides to pack up his video camera and head on up to South Thailand to see what is going on there.
Zan befriends a local journalist by the name of Tuan Daniya Meriking who brings him around the area (and keeps him safe!). He flirts with women at the hectic Patani market, prays at the 500 year old Krue Se Mosque which saw a bloody massacre in 2004, visited a village where more than half the population has left for Malaysia, attends a pre-marriage course, and also drops by several ‘sekolah pondoks’.
During the journey, Zan meets up with everyday people in Patani who are trying to lead their lives as normal as they can in spite of all the violence that is happening. He discovers that they are extremely content and happy people who have a strong sense of culture, religion and identity. All they want is to live as they always have since the 15th century when they were known as the Langkasuka Civilisation, the oldest Malay Islamic Kingdom in the Malay Peninsula.
(note)
The South Thailand insurgency is a separatist campaign by Islamist terrorists which is taking place in the predominantly Malay Patani region, made up of the three southernmost provinces of Thailand, with violence increasingly spilling over into other provinces. Although separatist violence has occurred for decades in the region, the campaign escalated in 2004.
In July 2005 the Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, assumed wide-ranging emergency powers to deal with the insurgency. In September 2006, Army Commander Sonthi Boonyaratkalin was granted an extraordinary increase in executive powers to combat the unrest. Soon afterwards, on 19 September 2006, Sonthi and a military junta ousted Thaksin in a coup. Despite reconciliatory gestures from the junta, the insurgency continued and intensified. The death-toll, 1,400 at the time of the coup, increased to 2,579 by mid-September 2007 and to nearly 2,700 by January 2008.
The South Thailand insurgency has made the area one of the most dangerous places in the world with an average of 5 people being killed and murdered everyday. It just hasn’t been given enough media attention.
Screenings:
– Freedom Film Festival 2009
– Islam Today Arts & Culture Festival 2010 (University of California, Berkeley)
– 6th World Islamic Economic Forum 2010 (Kuala Lumpur)
BUY THE DVD!!
USD$5 (purchase via PayPal)

If you are in Malaysia, you can also purchase by transferring RM18 (free delivery within Malaysia if you opt for this method) to Maybank account 1141 2365 9174 via Maybank2U or ATM. Please make sure to e-mail (purchase.fatbidin@gmail.com):
1. Name of item purchased
2. Transaction date/time and reference number
3. Your full name
4. Shipping address

I’m Muslim Too! (2007)
Director/Writer: Zan Azlee
Executive Producer: Ang Swee Poh
Producer: Zan Azlee
Music: Arif Rafhan Othman
Featuring: Ali Madarshahi, Hamed Azizi, Ali Sanaei, Mustafa Mohe, Mahmoud Abbas, Ghassan Saleh, Basem Asaad, Ghassan Ayasreh, Mohamed Salameh, Arsames
Duration: 73 minutes
Genre: Documentary
Synopsis:
Zan is a Muslim documentary filmmaker who was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Many see Malaysia as a moderate Islamic country that has found a unique and harmonious balance between religion, secularism and multiculturalism. And just like any curious Malaysian Muslim, decides to learn and find out more about Islam and his identity as a Malaysian Muslim. Zan decides to embark on a journey with nothing but his video camera and a bag full of instant noodles to the heartlands of Islam, the Middle-East. He meets a brutal heavy metal band in Iran, discovers a Syrian version of Low Yat Plaza in Damascus, hangs out with a couple of young Palestinian dudes in a camp in Beirut and learns about love and sex from a bunch of artists in Jordan.
Screenings:
– Culture Unplugged Film Festival India 2008
– ntv7
BUY THE DVD!!
USD$5 (purchase via PayPal)

If you are in Malaysia, you can also purchase by transferring RM18 (free delivery within Malaysia if you opt for this method) to Maybank account 1141 2365 9174 via Maybank2U or ATM. Please make sure to e-mail (purchase.fatbidin@gmail.com):
1. Name of item purchased
2. Transaction date/time and reference number
3. Your full name
4. Shipping address

R.A.H.M.A.N. and other short films
Director/Writer: Zan Azlee
Executive Producer: Ang Swee Poh
Producer: Zan Azlee
Genre: Short documentary
Synopsis:
Malaysia’s first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, is such a respected man. So much so that his name RAHMAN has been turned into a prophecy in determining all future Prime Ministers of the country; R – Rahman, A – Abdul Razak, H – Hussein Onn, M – Mahathir Mohamed, A – Abdullah Badawi. While N has yet to come, many predict that it will be the current Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Razak. How true is this prophecy? And what is in store for the country after R.A.H.M.A.N. runs its course? This documentary is a snapshot of the lives of several Malaysians during the country’s 2004 11th General Elections. (Other films include Popiahs, Murtabaks and a Patriotic Donkey and Tudung)
Screenings & Awards:
– 2006 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
– 2006 Hawaii International Film Festival
– 2007 Singapore Indie Documentary Film Festival
– Malaysian Video Awards 2004 (‘Best Short Film – Documentary’, Silver Award)
– 2004 Asian Film Symposium (Singapore)
– 26^th New York Asian-American International Film Festival 2003
– The Emergency Filmmaking Project 2003 (Singapore)
– Cyberjaya Digital Video Competition 2003 Gold Award (Humour and Spoof)
– 2004 Eksperimento Film & Video Festival (Philippines)
BUY THE DVD!!
USD$5 (purchase via PayPal)

If you are in Malaysia, you can also purchase by transferring RM18 (free delivery within Malaysia if you opt for this method) to Maybank account 1141 2365 9174 via Maybank2U or ATM. Please make sure to e-mail (purchase.fatbidin@gmail.com):
1. Name of item purchased
2. Transaction date/time and reference number
3. Your full name
4. Shipping address