MY MOTHER THE LITERARY ICON BY AINUL HUDA MOHAMED SAAID

Author: Ainul Huda Mohamed Saaid / AHS PR

                MOTHER'S DAY

In celebrating Mother's Day Bernama's journalist Ainul Huda Mohamed Saaid

writes about her mother Datuk Dr Zurinah Hassan, a literary icon.

   

KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 (Bernama) -- On the night of April 26 at Putrajaya JWW Marriot grand ballroom, I watched with full pride my mother Zurinah Hassan going up the stage to receive the coveted title "Sastrawan Negara".

Moreover, she is the first woman in the country to receive the distinguished

Anugerah Sastera Negara award for her contributions in the literary realm for

more than half a century. 

    Though I felt a little disappointed that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was not

there to bestow the award that night, as usual mum was non-chalant as she

accepted the fact everything is on god's will.

   

    Mother's Day reminded me of the many things that I have learnt of her over

the years. She is proactive and the one who always looked forward in life, to

what the future has to offer.

    For those outside the family, my mother probably appears cool and jovial.

However to the family, she is always teased for being "penyedih" or the one who

easily gets downhearted over matters plaguing the family and society.

    She also has the tendency to delve on the past, but never gets consumed by

it. Interestingly her thoughts and emotions often translates into beautiful

phrases that many in the society had read and taken note.

   

    In my view, being emotional and passionate especially on issues regarding

the nation and the society is what makes her an exceptional poet and writer.

    She writes from the heart. Her poems are not a display of pompous wordings

or pretentious ideas. She expresses herself easily, about being a woman,

about family values, history and social issues, and she wants to see as many

people appreciate her literary works.

    Among her famous work "Kuali Hitam", a poem that won the 1996/97 Malaysia

Premier Literary Award, was actually inspired by a true event in the family

kitchen.

    According to my mother, my late Opah, my paternal grandmother, came to our

house one day. Being a person who never believed in idling, she started

scrubbing my mother's new pricey stainless steel pot with a wire brush!

    My father who was there wanted say something to Opah, but my mother stopped

him from doing so. For her, its better that the pot got scratched than break

Opah s heart. She knew Opah was doing it out of love for the family. 

   

    During her acceptance speech, she mentioned how easy it is nowadays for

anyone to become a writer, compared to the days when she started. With the

advent of new technology, namely computer and internet, as well as the growth of

independent publishing companies, just about anyone could finish a book and

publish their work.

    She recalled how she stained her hands with ink by writing and rewriting,

getting crammed shoulders and sometimes the whole body aching due to typing and

retyping. Going thorugh the limited resources at the local library for

information, then walking miles from the kampung to the nearest town to post the

work by mail. Followed by the painstaking wait, sometimes for months, just for a

response of 'yes or no' from the editor.

    The process of completing a masterpiece literary work requires a lot of

perseverance that only those with a burning desire for literary pursuit will

succeed.

   

    Speaking of new technology, I recall that mum is the earliest one in the

family to own a mobile phone as well as a lap top. 

    In fact in early 2000, my mother was the one who introduced me to

the little novel thing then called thumb drive.

    I was struggling with a floppy-disk to save my final year thesis when she

suddenly said: "What, you are still using floppy disks. Why not use mama's thumb

drive?"

    There was a time when I used to get annoyed by her countless utterance "kena

charge, kena charge", referring to the handphones and the laptop that has to be

recharged regularly.

           

    I believe my mother regards herself as the guardian of the Malay language

and culture. I see her disappointed because the Malay language is not treated

with the same value as the English language, even by the Malays.

    She is not against the English language. She bought English books including

a complete set of an encyclopedia for her five children. When we were in

school, she used to force us to speak English with her now and then at home.

    She likes to learn other languages as well. When she knew she is going to

Thailand to receive the SEA Write Award in 2004, she took the effort

to learnt a bit of the Thai language. This included daily informal lesson with

the next door neighbour's maid who was from the southern part of the kingdom.

    At one time, being the zealous fan of the Colombian's telenovela  Yo soy

Betty , she took the initiative to learn Spanish and even bought a

Spanish-English dictionary.

    However one thing about her that has always fascinated me is her ability to

see or to point something from a different perspective.

    One day I shared with her how irritated I was with the reaction I received

after people got to know that I was a daughter to a famous writer.

    I told my mother, "they said to me you are Zurinah's daughter, no wonder you

are good at writing. It appeared that I'm only good at writing because you are

my mother, not because of my own effort".

    She replied: "At least they say you are good. Would you rather hear them

say why you cannot write when your mother is a writer?"

    To that mama, I rest my case.

    Happy Mother's day. You are truly my inspiration.