ON MALAYSIAN LITERATURE

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

MY BOOK UNSUR ALAM DALAM PUISI MELAYU MODEN, 2010, BANGI, PENERBIT UKM

(Elements of Nature in Modern Malay Poetry)

COPY PASTE DRPD STATUS DR FAZILAH HUSIN: Dato' Zurinah Hassan, rasa macam saya sedang mengikuti kuliah Dato' semasa tahun pertama di universiti, kena hadami segala macam istilah berkaitan puisi sebelum memahami makna puisi itu.RAKAN2 BUDIMAN YG BERHAJATKAN BUKU INI rm45 termasuk pos.
Foto Fazilah Husin.

Reading the book I feel like following your lecture at the university. There are poetry terminologies that have to be digested before understanding poetry.

The book can be bought from me. RM 42 plus postage. I can also be contacted through fb

Saturday, May 28, 2016

INSPIRASI SASTERAWAN NEGARA

zurinahhassan 9:23 PM 0 Comments

Persatuan Kebudayaan Anak Soleh mengadakan aktiviti untuk meraikan dan memperkenalkan sasterawan negara. Bertempat di BATU MUDA, berdekatan Batu Caves Kuala Lumpur. 21 Mei 2016.

MALAYSIAN SHORT STORY IN TRANSLATION

zurinahhassan 8:50 PM 0 Comments

THE CURSE OF KUALA KEDAH

SUMPAH KUALA KEDAH- DEWAN SASTERA, OKTOBER 2011.

" The fort was still standing like a lonely monument, overlooking the estuary where blood had splashed and thousands of his predecessors tortured and killed. There was a scar that cannot be erased. But how many people passing by it had stop to recall the history and read the massage?"

Another issue that often appear in my stories and poems is the future of younger generation who are being lulled by the less worthwhile entertainments. Perhaps the most frightening is their madness to race on the road, getting killed or permanently disabled. An example of a short story bringing up this issue is Sumpah Kuala Kedah (The Curse of Kuala Kedah)

I built the story by adding another element of my interest that is history.The main character is from Kedah who was schooling in Alor Setar when the Japanese invaded. He was bitter with the Japanese who interrupted his schooling and more bitter with the Siamese police for kicking his grandfather who did not stand in respect when the Siamese anthem was being played. When the war ended Ayub was able to continue his study and even went to University of Malaya, then situated in Singapore. The second part of the story took place when Ayub had retired from his top government post and was celebrating his seventy fourth birthday at a restaurant in Kuala Kedah. The place held memories of the pain and miseries of his ancestors especially at the hand of the Siamese attackers. Now the land is free but he was sad that the youths are wasting their lives and inflicting their own injury on drugs and road racing.

SOME EXTRACTS FROM THE STORY.

1- Ayub had just started studying at Maktab Sultan Abdul Hamid when the joy of schooling was cruelly crushed by the Japanese invaders. The Japanese caused havoc in the country, committing atrocities everywhere. Everyone lived in fear.

In the middle of 1943 Siamese guards and police ware seen patrolling the town of Alor Setar. They heard that Japan had surrendered Kedah to Siam supposedly out of gratitude to the government of Thailand for allowing them to walk through to invade Malaya. Ayub felt bitter and sick over this He often grumbled " This is too much. How can you turn my state into a gift item. Are we mere slaves who must obey with no right to say anything?”. But he dared not speak out. The bitter words had to swallowed, stuck in his throat causing more pain in his heart. To Ayub, both Japanese and Siamese weree foreigners who had no right to do as they please in his inherited land.

2- They sat at a table with a nice table runner and flowers. "Today is uncle and father’s birthday." said Hisham and Kamal. "Oh so you plan this as a surprise?" said Hamid and Ayub almost simultaneously.

Datuk Ayub turned seventy four years old today. He felt grateful to Allah that he could still stand and walk on His earth, though his doctor had made it compulsory for him to be present at the hospital once a month for monitoring. Hamid, fourteen years younger, but he was thinner and with more health problems. Hamid was shorter and smaller than Ayub. People had made remarks about this but he took it in good face. He even joked, "It’s because I was born during Japanese occupation. My mother only had tapioca to eat when she was pregnant with me, so she did not have much milk”

Datuk Ayub certainly remember that today was his birthday and the birthday of his brother Hamid. Every time he faced this date he would be much disturbed. He could remember very well his grandfather moaning in pain as he was lying weak after being kicked by the Siamese guards in front of Alor Setar police station in 1943. He had repeatedly related the incidents to his son and nephews. He repeated the story again and again whenever he was invited to give a lecture or talk at Historical seminar and forums.

3-From the dining table they could clearly see the road, the estuary and the pier jutting out into the open sea. Unfortunately the beautiful evening view by the seaside was disrupted by irritating sound of screeching tires of motocycles being driven too fast on the road. It was a common sight of street racing by the youths , mostly local. Hisham who understood what was lingering in his uncle’s mind said. “ Look at them, what a show off, causing public disturbance. They are not afraid to die. The government widen roads but they misuse it to race for cheap thrills. Even the police fail to control. Yesterday Uncle Halim, our former chef came here crying because his son met with an accident. His son go racing all the time despite his mother’s plea and persuasions to stop. The accident was bad and his leg has to be amputated. Now he is causing more hardship and misery to his parents”

Ayub took a deep breath and sigh. He heard such news many times before. He felt very old and tired of hearing such news of youngsters wasting their live away, getting killed in road accidents due to ruthless driving and racing. Many more die or leading a useless live as drug addicts . There were also news of unmarried mothers abandoning their babies in garbage bins. So many Malay schoolboys were wasting their time at game stations in the shopping complexes. With this situation, how many left to defend or develop their homeland? Is his race heading for a defeat while other races are improving themselves and strengthening their position even sharpening their weapons.

Ayub eyes fixed on the fort of Kuala Kedah across the river. The fort was still standing like a lonely monument, overlooking the estuary where blood had splashed and thousands of his predecessors tortured and killed. There was a scar that cannot be erased. But how many people passing by it had stop to recall the history and read the massage? Ayub recalled the words of George Santayana "People who do not learn from history will be cursed by history to repeat their mistakes."

Thursday, May 26, 2016

WOMEN ISSUES IN MY WRITING-

zurinahhassan 5:37 PM 0 Comments

There are other short stories and poems that touch on obedience and submission as the symbol of decency, dignity and womanliness . A common stereotype phrase dedicated to women is “No matter how high you learn a woman’s place is in the kitchen”.

My novel Hatimu Aisyah recorded the life and experiences of Malay women in the thirties up to the eighties, covering the time of my grandmother, my mother and me. The little novel of 240 pages was inspired by true stories told by grandmother of her younger days . The protagonist Aisyah like my grandmother did not go to school and from a very young age she had to help with the chores at home and take care of her younger siblings, everything done for her own good since a woman’s only destiny is to be a housewife. In her later life Aisyah was under pressure and faced conflict of loyalties between her modernized husband who wish to send their daughters to secondary school and her old and sick mother who pleaded Aisyah to keep the daughters at home. At that time especially in the more remote areas it was even considered a disgrace to let young teenage girls to walk outside the house by themselves. I wrote the novel for the purpose of recording the customs, taboos, restrictions, hardship that Malay women had gone through. It is my hope that our younger generations will realize that they are luckier than their mothers and grandmothers and will use their time and opportunity wisely.

There are other short stories and poems that touch on obedience and submission as the symbol of decency, dignity and womanliness . A common stereotype phrase dedicated to women is “No matter how high you learn a woman’s place is in the kitchen”. This almost discourage women to pursue further studies. Mothers and grandmothers advise their girls to marry young. The elderly ladies are worried that their daughters remain single. Somehow they manage to instil fear and unnecessary worry among the girls causing some of them to forgo further studies and career opportunities for the sake of settling down. I depicted this in several short stories including Anita. Anita was brilliant and beautiful. While studying in the university she was active in community work including helping to teach voluntarily Malay students who were weak in Mathematics and Science. Her involvement made her too occupied to take up serious relationship with a boy, and boys prefer quiet and low profile girls for their potential wives. Anita graduated as a school teacher, determined to do her best to bring up good students and help her society. She organized programmes and asked for commitments from her fellow teachers. But Anita became a victim of prejudice and misunderstanding and even accused of trying to steal somebody’s husband. This happen because Anita is still unmarried

LAHUMA'S PADI FIELD. (translated to English and French)

Besides women issues I also write about the weakening of agricultural sector. One such story is Bendang Lahuma (Lahuma’s Padi Field). Padi land is diminishing as more land are being built over with factories and houses . Less people want to become farmers with meagre income, hard work and unglamorous life.

The country is producing less and less food while food production is crucial in the security of a nation. At about the same time we watched on television about people in Russia and Korea facing acute food shortage. Food production is a crucial issue in a country. If we go on depending on other countries for our food especially staple food like rice it would be a disaster if anything were to happen.

I purposely named the main character Lahuma to establish the link and remind the readers of the novel RAnjau Sepanjang Jalan. In this way I could remind the readers that the words of a writer like Shahnon Ahmad should be taken seriously.