Sunday October 25, 2009
Raising the literary bar
By ANDREW SIA
Our new National Laureate talks about the need for more serious works and an alternative media.
SOME politicians (and the public, too) claim that the “Internet is full of rubbish”, especially when it comes to websites and blogs that are not “agreeable”.
But Datuk Dr Mohd Anuar Rethwan (pen name Anwar Ridhwan) thinks it can help us improve our literature and, indeed, society’s thinking levels.
“The development of serious literature in Malaysia is inhibited because the level of discussion in society is not high enough. In general, we are not a reading society,” says the newly-named Sasterawan Negara (National Laureate) during an interview in Kuala Lumpur last week.
This is where the “alternative media” can help, he adds.
“That includes the Internet and even publications such as Harakah. All these reflect the undercurrent of the younger generation’s hopes and aspirations. They are questioning more, (creating) a more civil society and (developing our) civilisation. The Malay media is owned by the Government, so it is not brave enough to air opinions which differ from the mainstream.”
The malaise of Malay literature starts from schools, Anwar says. “In the school system, we don’t encourage too much serious discussions. It’s about following the format or scheme to answer questions. So when they grow up, there is the lack of a critical mind. ”
After writing for over 40 years, Anwar Ridhwan still believes in quality over quantity. When I ask him about The Star columnist Karim Raslan’s comment that Indonesian university students seem to be more articulate in discussing issues, he replies:
“We have to admit that we are lacking in that area. One factor hampering our students is the Universities and University Colleges Act, which limits their intellectual activities.”
Anwar has been writing for some 40 years. His first writings, mainly poetry and essays, were published in 1970 when he was a Malay Studies undergraduate at Universiti Malaya.
His first novel, Hari Hari Terakhir Seorang Seniman (The Last Days of an Artist), depicts a penglipulara or traditional storyteller, who wanders from one village to another. It is set just before World War II a period when this form of “people’s media” was threatened by war, changing lifestyles and the introduction of radio.
“The book is based on real storytellers from the East Coast,” he says. “But for the purpose of the story, I brought the character to my kampung.”
Anwar was born on Aug 5, 1949, near Sungai Besar, a small town in the quiet north-western corner of Selangor which received electricity and piped water only in the 1970s. His father was a padi farmer.
The National Laureate symbols of office that he received on Wednesday. “Our life followed the rainy seasons. I walked about 2km to school in the mornings. After school, I did my homework, then helped out with farm work, whether it was sowing, harvesting or whatever,” he recalls.
He developed his love for books when he saw his four older brothers reading a lot. His mother also loved reading syair (Malay poems).
Luckily for him (and the nation eventually), his primary school, SK Sg Besar, had a small library.
“There were only about six or seven shelves. I read all the books there. There were many story books which included Malay translations of Shakespeare, Western fables and the Arabian Nights, which had been published by the Pejabat Karang-Mengarang (Writing Office) of Tanjung Malim (which was attached to the Sultan Idris Teachers’ College in Perak). There were also novels from Indonesia.”
With his semi-rural background, it is not surprising that this soft-spoken writer is against the teaching of Science and Maths in English.
“Such policies should benefit all students, from Kuala Perlis (a small fishing town) to Long Pasia (a village in the mountains of Sabah). In many rural areas, many students don’t understand English and cannot catch up. ”
Anwar has been quoted in the press as saying that, “I believe Malaysians should learn as many languages as they can and it will be good for them. But in any country, there must be one national language that is used by everybody ... used in the school system ... used to unite people. Most people think I am ultra-Malay because I fight for this cause.”
Bahasa Malaysia being a unifier aside, is there any discrimination against non-Malays in the Malay literary scene?
Anwar does not believe there is, and points to how Malaysia Chinese writers Jong Chian Lai and Lim Swee Tin have received the SEA Write (South-East Asian Writers Award) even though all the judges on the panels were Malays.
“One day, they, or perhaps the Johorean writer Lee Tan Luck, may receive the Sasterawan Negara award,” he comments.
Anwar’s second novel, Arus (Current) is about a massive bank scandal and the issue of Malay Muslims calling each other infidels.It was written in the early 1980s during the RM2.5bil BMF (Bumiputra Malaysia Finance) scandal and the heated polemics between Pas and Umno about who were true Muslims.
Arus jointly won the Malaysia Literary Award 1984/85 with Daerah Zeni by Sasterawan Negara Datuk A. Samad Said.
Anwar won the same award again in 1992/93 for his play, Yang Menjelma dan Yang Menghilang.
The twin turbulence in 1998 of the Asian economic crisis and the Anwar Ibrahim saga inspired him to write his magnum opus, Naratif Ogonshoto, a magical tale of a fictitious kingdom torn by economic and political greed. Each of the 10 chapters was written as a distinct short story, yet they can be woven together, with a prologue and epilogue, as a novel.
The book won the Hadiah Sastera Perdana Malaysia 2002 and the SEA Write (which honours leading poets and writers in the region) and was the featured title in the session Anwar hosted yesterday at the ongoing Singapore Writers Festival (Oct 24-Nov 1).
Despite the social critique of his novels, Anwar was part of the system. After graduating from Universiti Malaya, he worked with Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP, the national language promotion agency) as a literature research officer. He remained there until he retired in 2005 as publishing director.
In between, he had time off to complete his doctorate with Universiti Malaya in 1998 and serve as a Resident Professor of Foreign Languages at Tokyo University (1997-2000). That stint opened him up to new perspectives and writing styles, and led to Naratif Ogonshoto.
Talking about publishing, he says it’s time for change at DBP.
The procedure now is that authors have to register their manuscripts with the organisation. These are then presented to a first committee, followed by a higher committee. Upon approval from both parties, the manuscripts are edited. Each step of the process takes a few months.
“They take more than two years to publish a manuscript, compared to private publishers who can bring out a book within three or four months. DBP should change the process or risk becoming a dinosaur.”
Anwar is the 10th National Laureate since the award was first given out in 1981 to Keris Mas. Other compatriots are Datuk Shahnon Ahmad (1982), Datuk Usman Awang (1983), Datuk A. Samad Said (1985), Arena Wati (1987), Muhammad Haji Salleh (1991), Noordin Hassan (1993), Abdullah Hussain (1996) and Dr Syed Othman Syed Omar (2003).
Are there too few of them?
“I think it’s okay.
In August, soon after he was announced as the new Sasterawan Negara, some quarters criticised the award committee (chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin), claiming that there were other more prolific and deserving writers.
Anwar was reported as saying: “I may not write as much as some, but perhaps the committee weighed the quality of my writings.”
His favourite Malay books are those by Keris Mas, Shahnon Ahmad and Pramoedya Ananta Toer. As for English authors, he favours Hemingway and Faulkner.
Looking beyond the country, how do we compare with, say, China and India, whose writers have gained international recognition?
Anwar underlines that we do have excellent Malay literary works but they need to be translated for foreign markets. His own works have been translated into English, French, Russian and Chinese, and several thousand copies have been sold overseas.
“But translation alone is not enough. Nowadays, no matter how good a product is, it won’t move if it’s not promoted,” he adds.
When asked about the role of the English media, he says, “If possible, they should review Malay literary works. Even works by Malaysian Chinese and Indians in their mother tongues should be written about too.
“I know of Faulkner and Hemingway but not my fellow Malaysian writers. There are no translations and there is no forum to get to know each other.”
Sadly, at the MPH bookstore in Mid Valley Megamall, where we met, I could not find a single copy of Anwar’s work. Three other branches had one or two copies of The Last Days of An Artist – yes, in English.
Anwar observes that many authors of Malay books prefer to write pop literature, such as romance and horror.
“That’s because nowadays writers want faster recognition, more royalities and so on. There were more serious works in the past.”
Which brings us back to the need to develop a reading society with a “higher level of discussion”.
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