Whatever you call it: Eid al-Fitr, Hari Raya Aidilfitri or Idul Fitri (or more simply, “Lebaran”), the end of the Ramadan fasting month is a major holiday for both Malaysians and Indonesians. This is unsurprising when you consider that 61% and 87% of our respective populations are Muslim. Both our capital cities – Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta – experience a huge exodus of people as millions head back to their “kampung”, or hometown. Indeed, it’s estimated that some 15 million people leave Jakarta in the weeks leading up to Lebaran – returning a few weeks later, in ever greater numbers.

Tash Aw is a successful, international prize-winning Malaysian novelist. He is also a sophisticated and well-travelled essayist with an intuitive grasp of the zeitgeist and mood of wherever he is. Born in Taipei forty-seven years ago, he has lived and worked across the globe: from Shanghai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Paris to London, where he is currently based. And yet Tash’s writing only really comes alive – literally crackling with verve and shot through with a combination of both poignancy and menace – when he turns his attention to the gritty working-class milieu of his extended family back home in Malaysia.