Bridges, not books: Ninot Aziz’s mission to reawaken Southeast Asia
Award-winning writer is building a pan-regional literary movement rooted in shared heritage and forgotten histories
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (MNTV) — When Zalina Abdul Aziz a.k.a. Ninot Aziz speaks about books, she rarely calls them objects. They are bridges. Doorways. Portals.
Last year, at the Selangor International Book Festival 2025 (SIBF25), during a launch themed “Gema Hikayat”, the award-winning Malaysian author and cultural advocate marked a milestone that felt more like a cultural homecoming than a book launch, reports NST.
She unveiled the Mini Encyclopaedia Series and Beyond the Malay Archipelago: An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ancient Southeast Asia, both with forewords by National Laureate Muhammad Haji Salleh, alongside her historical fiction novel Kembara Leyla, now reaching readers far beyond the country’s shores.
Taken together, these works form more than a body of literature. They signal a reawakening, what Ninot describes as a pan–Southeast Asian cultural renaissance — one that draws from ancient knowledge, shared heritage and contemporary imagination, and places them firmly on the global stage.
For the passionate mother-of-five, literature has always been foundational. “A nation can build cities, economies and institutions,” she says, adding emphatically: “but without stories, memory and shared meaning, it cannot build a soul.”
As Malaysia’s turn as Asean chair drew to a close last year, Ninot says that she sensed a broader shift taking place. Across a region of more than 700 million people, over a thousand languages and some 25,000 islands, she saw the beginnings of a collective resurgence — one rooted not in uniformity, but in connection. “We are stronger together,” she says simply.
That belief underpins the Encyclopaedia project itself. The larger Illustrated Encyclopaedia Folio Series brought together some 20 world and regional experts — historians, archaeologists, scholars — sharing knowledge across borders and disciplines.
The response surprised even its creators: the Bahasa Malaysia edition sold out earlier than expected, while the English edition quickly followed as a bestseller. Demand soon grew for deeper yet more accessible explorations, giving rise to the five-book Mini Encyclopaedia Series.
Its first volume, Ensiklopedia Berilustrasi Mini: Tamadun Dunia Silam, reframes ancient Southeast Asia as a historic powerhouse; one whose influence stretched across oceans long before the colonial age.
“This encyclopaedia is our cultural bridge between the past and the future,” shares Ninot, who in 2021 co-founded Hikayat Fandom with her chief operating officer and husband, Rudy Daud.
More than a platform, it is a living movement, breathing new life into hikayat — Malay legends, folklore and oral traditions — through books, performances, exhibitions and storytelling, while weaving together artists, educators and scholars in a shared celebration of heritage and imagination.
Subsequent volumes will explore maritime legacies, language and literature, arts and cultural heritage and iconic historical figures.
In researching for the encyclopaedia, Ninot admits that she was repeatedly struck by how incomplete the dominant narratives of Southeast Asia remain.
Contributions from experts such as Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Ibrahim Komoo, who traced the formation of Sundaland and the Malay Archipelago, and archaeologist Dr Nasha Rodziadi Khaw, who wrote on discoveries at Sungai Batu, Sungai Mas and Lembah Bujang, revealed a region far vaster and more sophisticated than the simplified histories many learnt decades ago.
One revelation stayed with her: Southeast Asia’s maritime kingdoms were not merely trading hubs, but also centres of industry, governance and knowledge.
Codified laws such as Undang-Undang Laut Melaka governed navigation, trade, hierarchy and conduct at sea as early as the 15th century — hundreds of years before European maritime legal debates took shape.
For Ninot, the president of the National Oral Literature Association (Persalina), the issue has never been a lack of history, but a lack of voice.
“We have a responsibility to tell the story for our next generation to be proud of,” she says.
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