The Trengganu ‘rodat’
M. C. ff Sheppard, a colonial administrator serving in Trengganu, published this ethnographic account in 1938 documenting the ‘Rodat’—a traditional male performance combining Arabic religious chanting with popular song and graceful dance—then practised exclusively in Trengganu and on the verge of disappearing from the wider Malay Peninsula. Sheppard’s central thesis is that the Rodat is a direct descendant of the Arabic-Achinese ‘Rateb’, specifically the ‘Rateb Sadati’ and ‘Rateb Pulet’ varieties, which reached Trengganu in second-hand form via Sambas (Borneo) traders.
Summary
Sheppard provides a vivid, scene-by-scene description of a Rodat performance as observed at Kemaman in 1936, using it as the basis for a broader argument about the form’s origins and genealogy. The performance is structured around an alternation of semi-religious Arabic chanting and popular entertainment: a line of boys, arranged meticulously by height, perform graceful hand-and-body movements in time with a chorus of Arabic verse, while four costumed “princes” and “princesses” (all boys) provide comic relief through a Music Hall-style song and pantomime antics. The orchestra consists solely of four or five men playing the ‘Tar’, a hand-struck drum with brass attachments, which produces a surprising variety of tone and rhythm.
The historical argument proceeds by elimination and comparison. Sheppard notes that local performers themselves had no knowledge of the Rodat’s origin, but recalled that Sambas traders had danced it in Trengganu many years prior. He then traces the form back through the ‘Rateb’ tradition documented by Snouck Hurgronje, identifying specific borrowings: the ‘pantomime fairies’ derive from the ‘Rateb Sadati’ (where a single boy dressed as a princess was called ‘Sadati’), and the tambourine orchestra comes from the ‘Rateb Pulet’. The name ‘Rodat’ itself is explained as a corruption of the Arabic ‘Raddad’ (repeater or answerer), a title given to skilled chanters in the original Rateb tradition.
Sheppard is careful to note what the Rodat is not: it has no real religious significance in Trengganu, the Arabic recitations are meaningless to the performers, and unlike the Sumatran Rateb there is no competitive rivalry between rival troupes. The form has been adapted to local sensibilities—replacing the Achinese pantun and dialogue with a single Bangsawan song, and dropping the sitting Rateb entirely in favour of the standing movements.
Key Findings
- The name ‘Rodat’ derives from the Arabic ‘Raddad’ (repeater/answerer), a title for skilled chanters in the original Rateb tradition (p. 110).
- The ‘pantomime fairies’ (princes and princesses) are borrowed from the ‘Rateb Sadati’, in which a single boy dressed as a princess was called ‘Sadati’ (an Arabic word used in a lover’s lament) (p. 110).
- The orchestra of ‘Tar’ drums (hand-struck, with brass attachments, top covered in skin) was borrowed from the ‘Rateb Pulet’ (p. 110).
- The Rodat reached Trengganu via Sambas (Borneo) traders who visited annually in the fine weather and performed the dance during their stay; local people then learned it from them (p. 110).
- In the original ‘Rateb Sadati’ there were 15–20 men called ‘Dalem’ (without instruments) and one boy dressed as a princess; the leader was called ‘Che’ (Arabic: Shaikh) (p. 110).
- The performance alternates between semi-religious Arabic chanting and popular Bangsawan song; a single movement or chapter lasts ten to fifteen minutes, and the performance continues far into the night (pp. 108–109).
Conclusion
Sheppard concludes that the Rodat, though stripped of its original religious significance and adapted to local Malay aesthetic preferences, represents a living link to the Arabic-Achinese Rateb tradition and “well deserves its local popularity” as a graceful, colourful, and restful form of entertainment. He closes with a wry observation that the only remaining opposition comes from the local schoolmaster whose pupils, after a midnight session, tend to play truant or attend in a comatose condition—a far cry, he notes, from the days of what Wilkinson called “the infamous Sadati.”
Context
- Sheppard was a colonial administrator (M.C.S.) in Trengganu; the article reflects the ethnographic interests of the colonial service, documenting a local custom from the perspective of an educated outsider with access to both the performers and the scholarly literature (Snouck Hurgronje).
- The study’s historiographical contribution lies in its genealogical linking of a peripheral Malay Peninsula performance form to the broader Arabic-Achinese Rateb tradition, a connection not previously made explicit in the literature.