1. Malaysia and Indonesian Literature

2. they have a single common linguistic ancestor. Before the coming of Islam to the region in the 14th century, Javanese had been the language of culture; afterward, during the Islamic period, Malay became the most important language—and still more so under later Dutch colonial rule so that, logically, it was recognized in 1949 as the official Indonesian language

3. Early Malay literature was influenced by Indian epics, such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana Hikayat Mara Karma, HikayatPancaTanderan and HikayatGulBakawali Malay romantic tales were also sourced from the Panji cycle of Hindu Java By the 19th century, oral literature on the Malay peninsula was superseded by written literature

4. Works during this time ranged from theological literature and legal digests, to romances, moral anecdotes, popular tales of Islamic prophets and even animal tales, which were written in a number of styles ranging from religious to the Hikayat form.[ This was attributed largely in part to the introduction of Islam to the Peninsula by the 15th century and the adoption of the Jawi script. This tradition was influenced both by earlier oral traditions and Islamic literature from the Middle East

5. Division of Indonesian literature according to periods Chronologically Indonesian literature may be divided into several periods: Pujangga Lama: the "Literates of Olden Times" (traditional literature) SastraMelayu Lama: "Older Malay Literature" AngkatanBalaiPustaka: the "Generation of the [Colonial] Office for Popular Literature" (from 1908) AngkatanPujanggaBaru: the "New Literates" (from 1933) Angkatan 1945: the "Generation of 1945" Angkatan 1950 - 1960-an: the "Generation of the 1950s" Angkatan 1966 - 1970-an: the "Generation of 1966 into the 1970s" Angkatan 1980-an: the "Decade of the 1980s" AngkatanReformasi: the post-Suharto "Reformation Period" Angkatan 2000-an: the "Generation of 2000s"

6. The literature produced by the Pujangga lama (literally "the old poets") was mainly written before the 20th century, but after the coming of Islam. Before that time, however, there must have existed a lively oral tradition Genres In written poetry and prose, a number of traditional forms dominate, mainly:— syair (traditional narrative poetry) pantun (quatrains made up of two seemingly disconnected couplets) gurindam (brief aphorisms) hikayat (stories, fairy-tales, animal fables, chronicles) babad (histories

7. Works Some of these works are: syairSyairBidasari, Syair Ken Tambuhan, Syair Raja MambangJauhari, Syair Raja Siakpantun scattered items found all over the Indonesian Archipelago, and also incorporated in other works (e.g., SejarahMelayu) [4]hikayatHikayat Abdullah, HikayatAndakenPenurat, HikayatBayanBudiman, HikayatDjahidin, Hikayat Hang Tuah, HikayatKadirun, HikayatKaliladanDamina, HikayatMasydulhak, HikayatPelandukJinaka, HikayatPandjaTanderan, HikayatPutriDjoharManikam, HikayatTjenderaHasan, TsahibulHikayat

8. in the 1920s, Indonesian literature came to be dominated by fiction (both short stories and novels) and Western-style drama and poetry, which gradually replaced the earlier syair, gurindam, pantun and hikayat MerariSiregar'sAzabdanSengsara was the very first modern novel appearing in Indonesian, constituting a break with the Malay romance tradition.

9. Thai Literature Thai Traditional Literature is essentially religious Most of the literature in the old days consisted of works on Buddhism and Hinduism directly or indirectly Whatever culture the Thai people brought with them from their homeland in Southern China where they had been in contact with Chinese culture for centuries was adapted to its later conception of Buddhism, their adopted religion

10. Most of the works of emotive literature were written in veerse in various patterns.

11. Five prominent examples of such works 1. The Romance of Khun Chang KhunPhaen - 2. Ramakian 3. The Romance of Inao 4. Sam Kok. 5. PhraAphaimani. This is a romantic tale written in verse by one of the most famous and popular poets of Thailand.