I have to say that when it comes to Singlit, I definitely am enjoying the older works more. And not just the older works – the stories written by the first generation of Singapore politicians. I previously wrote about reading S. Rajaratnam’s short stories and this time, I managed to read a collection of ghost stories by Othman Wok, Singapore’s first Minister for Social Affairs (and the first Malay minister as well).

Translated from the original Malay, A Mosque in the Jungle is a collection of the various ghost stories written by Othman Wok through the years. Ng Yi-Sheng gives a pretty good introduction to Othman’s literary career and legacy and then we are off.

The stories are short and punchy. While I did not find most of them very scary, I did find all of them entertaining. A few stories that stood out to me were:

• The Sound in the Wall – a short story that combines a murder mystery worthy of Edgar Allen Poe with a romance
• The Mad Artist – truly chilling and I could imagine this story of an artist being inspired by suffering being turned into a TV series.
• Visitor from the Coffin – the story of a mysterious customer at a photo studio, I found this story more tragic than scary and a good reminder not to let work take over our lives
• Monster Catch – the story of an old man who catches frogs to supplement his income, this one was quite creepy and vividly written; I could visualise the ending very well and it was unnerving.

What I enjoyed most about these stories was their local flavour. The stories are set in Singapore’s past and feature a variety of characters. While most characters are Malay, we see people from all ethnic groups in Singapore and even a few Japanese and Europeans. It’s a very Singaporean point of view, and I think the lack of politics in the stories makes them refreshing.

Overall, I would recommend these to anyone who’s interested in reading Singlit and who are interested in ghost stories that overall aren’t too scary. Scaredy-cat me had a lot of fun reading them!

Featured Image: Photo from Canva