Lies, Spies, and a Guy Who Tries

Kam Raslan's “Malayan Spy” is the kind of novel that sneaks up on you. It spins espionage, history, and unadulterated humanity into a tangled, captivating web, leaving readers questioning what really drives the tides of geopolitical change: grand ideologies or good old-fashioned vices like greed, lust, and ego? (Spoiler alert: it’s probably the vices.)

Set in hazy post-war Britain and Berlin, with a lens that zooms into Malaysia’s pre-independence struggles, “Malayan Spy” introduces us to Hamid, an ambitious young man who is at once sharp and self-destructive. Told entirely through Hamid’s perspective, the narrative holds an intimacy that feels confessional. In this way, Raslan’s work is reminiscent of the brilliance of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s “The Sympathizer”; like Nguyen’s novel, “Malayan Spy” unfolds largely as an extended flashback as Hamid revisits the twists and turns of his past, bringing things back full circle to his present as an old man where his story — and the weight of his memories — comes to a quiet rest.

“The character of Hamid, he would be my father's generation,” Raslan says. “My father died when I was very young, so I never knew him. But I knew his friends. And so he is an amalgam of people like my father, my father's friends, but also older than my father, almost reaching toward my grandfather. And so I wanted to capture a generation.”

“[And] really, it was for me to try to capture my youth, to try to remember youth and the kind of crazy things you do.” Raslan adds. 

Make no mistake: Hamid is far from a polished James Bond. He’s messy, morally ambiguous, and, dare I say, a little too human for comfort. “We all have our foibles,” Raslan says. “With Hamid, his one thing is he just likes nice things. But he can’t afford them. So he has to go around to get money, and he’s constantly blackmailing people — but in a charming way. You don’t even notice you’re being blackmailed.”

His story is a deeply interior one, offering us an unfiltered view of his insecurities and vices as much as his schemes. It’s these flaws that make him such a compelling lens through which to explore the geopolitical tremors of the era. Raslan doesn’t just hand you the history; he makes you feel it — its betrayals, its bargains, and its body count. 

Hamid is someone who lives with the consequences of his own choices. He carries the weight of history, but he’s also markedly shaped by his self-interest and incompetence. This duality of the personal and political runs through the novel like a live wire, never letting you forget the stakes of the games Hamid plays. 

As Raslan remarks, “We think that things are decided upon through careful thought. But the actual impulses are just basic greed, lust. And lo and behold, there’s a nation’s destiny laid out by individuals.” 

And yet, Raslan doesn’t drown the reader in cynicism. His prose is sharp, often witty, and never wasteful. Beneath the political intrigue and personal flaws lies a deeper meditation on betrayal — not just as a plot device, but as the very glue holding the story’s structure together. From the opening pages to the closing twist, “Malayan Spy” unfolds as a loop of consequences, each more apt than the last.

“We are betrayed by time,” Raslan reflects. “We are fundamentally betrayed by time as the nation moves on. [Hamid] is betrayed by time in that in that he's relating this story to us now when he's in his 80s, and the land that he had invested in has turned its back on him. But the one area where he's not betrayed is by the woman who is just a great betrayer and she's just doing everything it seems to serve herself. But actually what she wants more than anything else is normalcy. And that's the one thing that he can offer. So he doesn't betray her and he doesn't go on to betray her in future either.”

In the end, “Malayan Spy” stretches beyond its genre, offering an intimate examination of the baser instincts that drive both individuals and history. Kam Raslan’s Hamid, with all his flaws, reminds us that behind the grand narratives of nations and politics lie deeply human stories fueled not by noble ideals but by the messy realities of desire, self-interest, and betrayal.

This is a story that lingers, inviting readers to look beyond the surface and confront the uncomfortable truths about power, loyalty, and time’s unforgiving march. It challenges us to question who truly pulls the strings in history — and at what cost.

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About the Author:

Kam Raslan is a Malaysian writer and broadcaster. Originally a filmmaker working in London, Los Angeles, Malaysia, and Indonesia, he has written for many publications including “The Economist,” “Mekong Review,” and a long-running column in “The Edge Malaysia.” He hosts two shows on BFM Radio: “A Bit of Culture” and “Just For Kicks.” Kam Raslan is the author of “Confessions of an Old Boy,” a collection of short stories, the various adventures of Dato’ Hamid from the 1940s to the 2000s. The book was first published in 2008 and has been re-issued in 2024.

Cover Photo: Courtesy of Penguin Random House SEA