ON MALAYSIAN LITERATURE

 MESIN BAHARU

Kerana Iklan yang tidak henti-henti

Kami yang tidak pernah puas hati

membeli mesin baharu

Yang laju menjimat waktu

Setelah ada mesin baharu

Yang lama tidak lagi perlu

Ia mengganggu pergerakan

Dan mesti dibuang

Kita pun akan menjadi mesin lama

Tersisih bila ada yang lebih canggih

Tinggal menjadi pencemar ruangan

Dan selonggok bebanan

Tiada siapa suka mesin lama.

AN OLD MACHINE

Lured by advertisements

And desire for better performance

We bought a new machine

 More sophisticated and time saving

The old one operate no more

It soon become an eyesore

It gets in the way

And must be taken away.

And  so are all of us

We will become old machine

When there is a better version

We become a stack of waste

And a pile of burden.

Nobody like an old machine

ZURINAH HASSAN

 SELUANG

(VERY SMALL FISH)

Tuhan

Berilah aku peluang

Untuk memahami

Mengapa sekecil seluang

Harus berjuang menentang pasang

Meredah batu-batu

Dan liku-liku

Hingga gugur sisik

Dari dadanya yang tercarik.

Setelah perjalanan yang panjang

Ia tiba di pantai asing

Hanya untuk dihempas rindu

Dan sesal

Lalu menghabiskan sisa usia

Melawan arus untuk pulang

Ke tebingnya yang asal.

Tuhan

Berilah aku peluang

Untuk memahami

Mengapa sekecil seluang

Sependek hayat

Sejemput nafas

Harus berhempas pulas

Di air deras.

THE SELUANG

Please GOD

Give me the wisdom

To understand it all

Why the seluang frail dan small

Made to fight the tide and to struggle

Braving the meanders

And pebbles

Tearing scales of his chest

And wounded breast.

After a long journey

He reaches and unfamiliar beach

Exhausted and lonely

Regretting and longing for home

Thus, with the rest of his life

He battles against the current

To make a return

Please God

Give me the wisdom

To understand it all

Why the fish so frail and small

With life so short

And body so tender

Must fight the odds

In the mighty water.

KOTA MELAKA

(A FAMOSA)

Perhaps we should destroy it

The bitter memory of our downfall

But on second thought

Let it remain here

To remind us that we were once defeated

And to keep on asking ourselves

What have we learn

From this humiliation.

KOTA MELAKA

(A FAMOSA)

Barangkali kita patut meruntuhkannya

Ini kenangan pada luka bangsa

Tapi barangkali lebih baik

Kita biarkan dia di sini

Bukti satu kekalahan

Untuk terus bertanya

Apakah yang sudah kita pelajari

Dari penghinaan ini.

____________________________________________________

RAJA KASSIM

I have been thrown out of the palace

Torn away from greatness

I went to the sea

To fish for my life

In the dark night I grope

Casting my net of hope

Sometimes I catch fish

At other time only wisdom.

I feel at ease here

Let Raja Ibrahim be there

All the land he can conquer

But the sea will not surrender.

This boundless water

Is no match for man

All the kings in power

And his furious warriors

Will bow down to ocean breakers.

Let Raja Ibrahim sit on his throne

As I sit in my boat alone

Under the throne there is no sea

But still there are waves and currents

In the sea there is no throne

Only water and the horizon

There is no king and no lord

Only God.

RAJA KASSIM

Aku telah dibuang dari takhta

Disingkir dari kebesaran

Lalu membawa diri ke lautan

Menjadi nelayan.

Pada malam yang gelap

Kutebarkan jala harap

Selalu mendapat ikan

Selebihnya bertemu pengertian.

Aku senang di sini

Biarlah Raja Ibrahim di sana

Seluruh daratan dapat ditakluk

Tapi lautan tak akan tunduk.

Laut ini terbentang

Kudrat manusia tak terimbang

Segala raja yang berkuasa

Segala hulubalang yang garang

Akan tunduk pada gelombang.

Biarlah Raja Ibrahim di takhta

Dan aku menyendiri di perahu

Di takhta tidak ada laut

Namun di bawahnya tetap bergelora

Di laut tidak ada takhta

Cuma air dan awan

Di laut tidak ada pembesar dan raja

Kecuali Tuhan.

 A NEWSPAPER INTERVIEW WITH ZURINAH HASSAN

AFTER RECEIVING NATIONAL LITERARY AWARD (ANUGERAH SASTERA NEGARA)

On 13^th of October 2015 I was announced  a receiver of Anugerah Sastera Negara, making me a Malaysian literary laureate. This  event was given more significance because I am  first female writer to be conferred the tittle of Sasterawan Negara . The announcement was made by Minister of Education in a press conference in Putrajaya. Several newspaper interview followed. This is an extract of one of them.

1) What and who inspired you to be a writer and poet? Tell me about your early years and your family?  

ANSWER:  

 I GREW UP in a village near Sungai Petani in Kedah. Start to love poetry from small. It all began with my hobby, that ia listenin to songs from the radio. I was touched by beautiful lyrics . Most songs use pantun (one of our traditional poetry) as their lyrics.  I listened and was attracted to the beauty of words and language. This lead me to a new hobby, that is writing short verses like pantun. I  began to write  poetry and send them to poetry pages in papers like Berita Harian which had special colomn for students. They call it Ruangan Pelajar or Students Page.  . In 1967 my poetry began to appear in news papers and magazines including Dewan Sastera, Dewan Masyarakat, Berita Minggu, Mingguan Malaysia. 

As to who encourage me? Several people, including my late uncle Ahmad Aris Eckhardt who was a writer himself . He sent me money to buy a typewriter so that I can write to newspapers. I felt committed to pay him back by producing good work. So I went writing and tried hard to improve.  This was  an obligation.  

This award will be bestowed by the Agung who is the Sultan of Kedah. That added more meaning and  happiness. As Sultan of Kedah he came to our school on Speech Day. The school held exhibition to highlight good work and talents among students. My Bahasa Melayu  teacher suggested that I wrote poetry to be compiled  in an album. After the big day,  my teacher said that the Sultan commented  my poetry. This give me much encouragement to go on.  

 2.  What is your reaction of winning sasterawan negara? 

Naturally I feel very happy to be the first female writer to hold the tittle of Sasterawa Negara. However this does not come suddenly or as a surprise. The newspapers in my country always play up the issue of who is to be the next sasterawan negara. There are usually debates and polymec. Several names (including mine) have been mentioned again and again.  My name has been mentioned and speculated  as among the writers that should be considered seriously for the award.  With the confirmation , I should say it ends up the tension . 

 Beside that I feel responsible to produce better work. The tittle comes with duty and responsibility.  I have to be more alert and more careful in writing to befit the tittle of sasterawan Negara.

 3.) What is the biggest change you like to see taking place in our society? 

 I wish to see  the general public  being  more literature conscious  or what we termed as "celik sastera". . The society should give more value and respect to literature and other arts. But our general public  are more attracted to entertainment. Because of this the entertainment industry are given priorities even by the authority.  Television stations are putting more time and money to organize maharaja lawak, and vaious singing competitions that could guarantee more viewers and advertisers. The winners will be loaded with  cash prize, much more than what a Sasterawan Negara can dream of. 

The world is reading the works of Japanese writers like Haruki Murakami, Yoko Agawa and Indian writers like Arudhati Roy. Why do you think the world is not reading the works of Malay authors yet?

ANSWER:  I hope the day will come when the world know us. Translation is very important . That is why I place much hope in Institut Terjemahan and Buku Malaysia.They are doing good job in publishing original tittles but I hope they do not slow down translating our original karya sastera into English, at least. Please go on bringing our work to the world. 

On my part,  translate my own work, some poems and short stories,  into English. Some of these have been published by ITBM  and Dewan Bahasa. Worth mentioning here is a dual language poetry book,  FACING THE HARBOUR/MENGHADAP KE PELABUHAN. What I considered significant is that the English translation version have attracted attention of other translators to put them from  English to other languages. The book is now in Spanish, Russian, French, Japanese.  

You have written short stories and novel but your favourite genre is poems. Why do you like poems better? 

ANSWER: My first encounter with literature was with poetry. This mostly came via children song an songs I heard over  the radio.  Songs that we sing in our childhood almost all of them are poetry.  Another thing, poetry is shorter. It was not possible to write  short stories and what more,  novels at that time when I did not hav a type writer.   We had to use a typewriter (if we are lucky to have one). Imagine the typing we have to do, to alter a word you need to re type the whole page. And if the page affect other page, that page also have to be repaired and retype. IIt  can break a few veins.Computer was unheard of.