ON MALAYSIAN LITERATURE

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

MALAYSIAN NATIONAL LAUREATE

BIODATA ZURINAH HASSAN

ZURINAH HASSAN dilahirkan di tengah bandar iaitu Alor Setar tetapi dibesarkan di dalam kampung terpencil bernama Tikam Batu, Kedah. Beliau yang dilahirkan pada 13 Jun 1949 dipelihara oleh ibu saudara dan neneknya kerana ayahnya meninggal dunia ketika beliau berumur enam bulan dan ibunya meneruskan kerjaya sebagai seorang jururawat.

Zurinah mendapat pendidikan awal di sekolah Melayu Tikam Batu, kemudian memasuki Sekolah Inggeris Sungai Layar melalui Special Malay Class. Di peringkat menengah Zurinah bersekolah di Sekolah Convent Sungai Petani dan kemudian berpindah ke Sekolah Sultanah Asma Alor Setar. Pada tahun 1971 beliau melanjutkan pelajaran di Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang dan memperolehi ijazah Sarjana Muda Sastera pada tahun 1974.

Sebagai anak gadis Melayu yang dibesarkan di kampung, Zurinah merasa kurang beruntung kerana tidak berpeluang bergerak aktif di luar rumah. Dia juga merasa cemburu kepada orang-orang yang tinggal di bandar yang mempunyai bekalan elektrik terutama untuk membaca . Lalu apa yang dapat dibuat ialah mengisi waktunya dengan mendengar radio. Dari radio beliau mendengar lagu-lagu yang pada masa itu biasanya mempunyai senikata yang indah penuh bermakna. Dari senikata lagu beliau belajar untuk berseni dengan kata-kata. Beliau mengenali pantun dari lagu Melayu Asli seperti Siti Payung, Mas Merah, Gunung Banang, Seri Mersing, Bunga Tanjung dan sebagainya. Selain pantun, Zurinah mula menggemari syair yang didengar melalui rancangan Bangsawan Di Udara yang disiarkan dari Radio Malaya yang bersiaran dari Singapura.

Radio jugalah yang membuka ruang pertama untuk menghantar karya. Pada tahun 60han itu terdapat Rancangan radio yang bernama Taman Kanak-kanak . Rancangan ini mengajak murid-murid sekolah untuk menghantar karya yang berupa puisi dan cerita-cerita. Puisi-puisi karangannya mula mendapat tempat di rancangan tersebut. Selepas radio Zurinah menghantar sajak-sajak ke Ruangan Pelajar Berita Harian. Mulai tahun 1967 karya Zurinah mula disiarkan di akhbar-akhbar mingguan dan majalah bulanan seperti Utusan Zaman, Mingguan Malaysia, Berita Minggu, Dewan Masyarakat, Mastika dan sebagainya.

Apabila Zurinah memulakan pengajiannya di Universiti Pulau Pinang (sekarang Universiti Sains Malaysia), beliau bertemu Naib Canselor yang prihatin iaitu Allahyarham Hamzah Sendut dan Shahnon Ahmad yang berusaha membukukan sajak-sajak beliau. Pada tahun 1974 terbitlah kumpulan sajak Sesayup Jalan. Yang melakar sejarah sebagai kumpulan puisi wanita yang pertama.

Zurinah melanjutkan pengajian pasca ijazah tetapi gagal. Setelah impian untuk menjadi Pensyarah tidak kesampaian, Zurinah membuka lembaran baru sebagai Pegawai Kerajaan. Zurinah berkhidmat selama 15 tahun sebagai Pegawai Penerangan di Jabatan Perkhidmatan Penerangan Malaysia. Beliau bekerja sambil memilih untuk bersara bagi menumpukan masa di bidang penulisan. Sehingga itu beliau telah menerbitkan beberapa buah kumpulan puisi dan cerpen. Setelah bersara Zurinah menyambung semula kerja yang terbengkalai iaitu melanjutkan pelajaran ke peringkat Sarjana di Universiti Putra Malaysia dan ijazah kedoktoran di Universiti Malaya. PSajak telah banyak tersiar pen Dari sinilah saya terutama lagu-lagu Melayu Asli yang menggunakan diialah Sasterawan Negara Malaysia yang ke 13 dan sasterawan wanita pertama yang dianugerahi gelaran tersebut. Selain itu beliau menerima Hadiah Penulisan Asia Tenggara (SEA Write Award ) pada 2004 dan Hadiah Puisi Sunthorn Phu (Hadiah Puisi Negara ASEAN) pada 2013. Selain menulis, Zurinah giat dalam aktiviti membaca syair dan pernah mempersembahkan syair di India, Jepun, Thailand, Indonesia dan Brunei.

Zurinah menulis dalam pelbagai genre dan hingga kini menghasilkan kumpulan puisi, kumpulan cerpen, novel, kajian sastera dan memoir. Walaupun lebih dikenali sebagai Penyair, Zurinah juga pernah memenangi Hadiah Sastera Perdana, Hadiah Sastera Utusan, Hadiah Buku Perpustakaan Negara untuk cerpen dan memoir. Karyanya telah diterjemahkan ke beberapa bahasa, misalnya bukunya Menghadap ke Pelabuhan telah terbit dengan terjemahan Bahasa Inggeris, Bahasa Spanish, Bahasa Russia dan Peranchis.

Beliau pernah berkhidmat sebagai Pegawai Kanan Penerangan, menjadi tenaga Pengajar di Universiti Malaya dan Universiti Sains Malaysia selain Karyawan Tamu di Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Zurinah memperolehi ijazah Sarjana dari UPM dan Ph.D dari Universiti Malaya. Beliau dianugerahi Bintang Kebesaran Darjah Setia Diraja Kedah pada 2013 membawa gelaran Dato’.

Pengalaman Menulis:

Zurinah mula menulis sejak kecil. Penulisannya boleh dibahagikan kepada dua peringkat. Peringkat pertama bermula sejak masih di bangku sekolah rendah lagi. dengan mengirim pantun dan sajak ke rancangan Taman Kanak-kanak Radio Malaya terbitan Siti Hawa Zain. Dari sini beliau beralih ke ruangan Pelajar Berita Harian yang terbit setiap hari Rabu dan menyediakan ruangan untuk pelajar dari seluruh negara menghantar karya termasuk ruangan khas sajak-sajak pelajar. Zurinah menjadi penyumbang tetap Ruangan ini.

Peringkat kedua bermula pada tahun 1967 bila Zurinah tidak lagi berkarya di ruangan khas untuk kanak-kanak dan pelajar. Beliau mula berusaha gigih untuk menyiarkan karya di ruangan untuk penyair-penyair dewasa. Pada awal tahun 1967 sajak pertama (untuk ruangan peringkat dewasa) tersiar di akhbar Warta Mingguan bertajuk Tujuh Gunung Tidak Terdaki diikuti seminggu kemudian dengan sajak “perutusan’ di akhbar Utusan Zaman. Sejak itu Zurinah terus aktif berkarya dan menyiarkan puisi di akhbar-akhbar mingguan seperti Utusan Zaman, Berita Minggu dan Mingguan Malaysia di samping majalah bulanan terutama Mastika Dewan Masyarakat, Dewan Sastera. Cerpen pertama lahir pada tahun 1972.

Pada tahun 1971, Zurinah memulakan pengajian di Universiti Sains Malaysia (yang ketika itu dikenali sebagai Universiti Pulau Pinang). Tulisan2 beliau menarik perhatian Naib Cnselor Tan Sri Hamzah Sendut lalu menyarankan sajak-sajak beliau diterbitkan oleh USM Press. Hasil dari itu terbitlah kumpulan puisi beliau yang pertama, iaitu Sesayup Jalan. Penerbitan ini adalah satu sejarah di dalam perkembangan kesusasteraan Melayu moden kerana buku tersebut merupakan antologi sajak penyair wanita yang pertama di Malaysia. Walaupun sebelum ini nama-nama penyair Salmi Manja dan Anis Sabirin telah muncul terlebih dahulu mereka hanya berpeluang membukukan puisi dalam antologi bersama penyair-penyair lain.

Sasterawan Negara Muhammad Haji Salleh , di dalam bukunya, An Anthology of Contemporary Malaysia Literature, dbp. 1988 : 362, . “the really vocal and individual woman poet is a rare person. Her poems not only show that she is a different woman from other woman writers but also a person who finds in poetry the opportunity to speak out her innermost soul without the decorum of the past literary practices”

Mana Sikana meletakkan Zurinah Hassan sebagai di antara empat orang penyair yang terbaik di Malaysia di samping Muhammad Haji Salleh, Kemala dan Baha Zain Menurut Mana Sikana Muhammad Haji Salleh adalah di antara penyair terbaik Malaysia. Ini diikuti dengan Kemala, Baha Zain dan Zurinah Hassan. ZurinahHassan sebagai penyair terbaik, justeru di kalangan penyair wanita dialah yang paling terkemuka dan puisi-puisinya menjadi lambang kelembutan wanita Melayu. Mana Sikana “Penyair-Penyair Terkemuka Malaysia: Analisis Puitika Tekstual, Perisa (Jurnal Puisi Melayu) Bil. 3.1995:56)

Shafie Abu Bakar memberi pandangan bahawa Zurinah Hassan sesungguhnya mempunyai kedudukan yang kukuh di dalam perpuisian tanah air, bukan sahaja sebagai penyair wanita terbaik di dalam persajakan moden, tetapi salah seorang penyair terkemuka tanah air sebaris bersama Usman Awang, Kassim Ahmad, Latiff Mohidin, Muhammad Haji Salleh dan Kemala. (Shafie Abu Bakar, “Perjalanan Kualiti Persajakan Melayu dalam Peradaban Melayu (1997:163-166)

Sasterawan Negara Usman Awang menganggap Zurinah penyair wanita berbakat besar yang lahir selepas Anis Sabirin. ( Usman Awang, Ismail Ahmad Titian Zaman, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka: 97). Akhbar The Star, melaporkan: “Literary Laureate Usman Awang says “Zurinah has made a significant contribution to Malay literary development. She brings meaning to the Malay language, breathes life into her words. Her use of language is captivating, poetic and harmonious “.(The Star, 30 Jun 1988).

Sasterawan Negara Shahnon Ahmad berpendapat “Zurinah Hassan adalah penyair wanita yang besar bakatnya. Nada dan irama puisi-puisi Zurinah amat lembut dan manis terutama puisi puisi sepinya. Ini disebabkan pemilihan kata-katanya yang amat sesuai dengan gerakan sumber alam yang menjadi imej puisi-puisinya. ( hahnon Ahmad “Sastera sebagai Seismograf Kehidupan”, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka 1993: 226).

Arbak Othman menegaskan bahawa kekuatan karya puisi ZH diukur berdasarkan dua faktor, iaitu nilai estetik yang tinggi dan kualiti yang mengangkat puisi-puisinya sebagai genre puitik yang meningkatkan kesan pada aras kesedaran pembaca. Puisi-puisi yang beliau cipta berhasil mengekalkan kesatuan fikiran dalam sifatnya yang indah. Idea-idea yang diungkapkan kelihatan tersusun, menyentuh perasaan dan logik. Kata-kata dalam diksi dibentuk dalam susunan yang berseni. Unsur rasa dan emosi paling kuat memberikan sifat kepada puisi yang dicipta. Puisi dibentuk dengan menggunakan gaya yang tersendiri dengan kata-kata yang sesuai dan relevan dengan mesej yang disampaikan. Kebanyakan puisi beliau berhasil membentuk mesej yang berkesan. Kata-kata yang digunakan menyentuh perasaan dan akal budi.(“Idealisma Budaya dan Jatidiri Bangsa yang Tercalar” kertaskerja Seminar Bersama Tokoh Penulis Tanah Air, Zurinah Hassan, UKM. 23 Nov.2011)

Rahman Shaari menulis untuk blurb buku Puisi Melayu Tradisional: Pantun, Syair, Gurindam, Nazam, Seloka , Pekan Ilmu Publication 2012 “ Zurinah Hassan ialah penyair Malaysia yang telah mencapai kecemerlangan. Beliau juga merupakan sarjana Kesusasteraan yang berwibawa.”

Kuali Hitam yang cemerlang

Sajak Kuali Hitam dianggap salah sebuah daripada beberapa sajak ZH yang cemerlang. Sajak ini telah dipilih untuk antologi “ASEAN 20^th Century Literatures” yang merupakan satu Projek ASEAN COMMITTEE ON CULTURE AND INFORMATION (COCI), pada tahun 2013 . Sajak ini tebal dengan nilai moral. Zurinah Hassan sebagai penyair telah menghadiahkan sajak yang cukup baik untuk menjadi sempadan kepada penderhakaan.

Senarai Karya (Buku)

1. Sesayup Jalan. Minden: Universiti Sains Malaysia Press, 1974. (kumpulan puisi)

2. Di sini Tiada Perhentian. Kuala Lumpur: Penerbitan Pewarna, 1977. (kumpulan puisi)

3. Keberangkatan. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1985 (kumpulan puisi)

4. Sasterawan Negara Usman Awang, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka 1986 (Kajian Sastera)

5. Meneruskan Perjalanan, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur, 1989 (kumpulan cerpen)

6. Hatimu Aishah, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur, 1991 (novel remaja)

7. Nota Waktu, Kuala Lumpur, Citra Publishing,2000 (kumpulan puisi bersama Lim Swee Tin).

8. Menjelang Pemilihan, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur, 2004 (antologi cerpen)

9. Salasilah, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur, 2005 (kumpulan puisi)

10. Unsur Alam Dalam Puisi Melayu Moden. Bangi: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 2010 (kajian sastera)

11. Menghadap ke Pelabuhan/ Facing the Harbour, (kumpulan puisi dengan terjemahan Bahasa Inggeris), 2010. Kuala Lumpur. Institut Terjemahan Negara Malaysia

12. Puisi Melayu Tradisional- Pantun, Syair, Gurindam, Seloka , 2012, Kuala Lumpur. Penerbit Pekan Ilmu .

13. Menghadap ke Pelabuhan/Frente el Puerto 2012 Kuala Lumpur. Institut Terjemahan Negara Malaysia (kumpulan puisi dengan terjemahan Bahasa Sepanyol)

14. Menghadap ke Pelabuhan/(terjemahan B.Russia), ITBM 2013 Kuala Lumpur. Institut Terjemahan Negara Malaysia (kumpulan puisi dengan terjemahan Bahasa Russia)

15. Cerita Dalam Cerita,ITBM 2014 (Kumpulan Puisi)

16. Menghadap ke Pelabuhan, (dan terjemahan ke Bahasa Jepun), 2016 ITBM Kuala Lumpur.

17. Murka Lautan, Kuala Lumpur, 2016, ITBM (kumpulan cerpen)

18. Mestika Pantun (buku panduan menulis pantun), 2018, Shah Alam, Kuali Hitam.

19. A Journey Through Prose and Poetry, 2018 Kuala Lumpur, IIUM Press dan Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

1993, short story “Nenek” (Grandmother) in Antologi Cerpen Penulis Wanita Malaysia, Xiandai Publication, China, (translation into Mandarin)

2014, cerpen “Kerongsang Berlian Wan Tempawan” (Wan Tempawan Diamond Brooch) in Antologi Cerpen: Malaysia-Taiwan, Malaysian Institute of Translations and Books and Taipei Chinese Centre Pen International (translation into Mandarin ).

2016 Poetry “Puisi Cinta yang Lain” , Anthology in conjunction with India-Malaysia Writers Meet, 2016 (translated into Tamil)

Friday, March 20, 2020

MENERIMA WATIKAH PERLANTIKAN SASTERAWAN DI UNIMAP

zurinahhassan 2:28 AM 0 Comments

Pada pagi yang sungguh indah, 29.Oktober 2019, saya menerima watikah perlantikan sebagai Sasterawan Negara merangkap Professor Adjung di Universiti Malaysia Perlis. Watikah disampaikan oleh Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra, Raja Muda Perlis yang juga Canselor UniMap.

Ampun Tuanku Raja Bestari

Raja Muda Pewaris Negeri

Di sudut ini patik berdiri

Alangkah kecil rasanya diri.

Terima kasih Yang Berbahagia Naib Canselor Profesor Ir R.Badlishah Ahmad yang memungkinkan acara bersejarah ini berlangsung. Serentak dengan itu para seniman dari PERSATUAN PELUKIS PERLIS telah menyediakan lukisan-lukisan berdasarkan puisi-puisiku. Lukisan-lukisan itu diabadikan pada suatu sudut khas Sasterawan Di Universiti. Begitu tingginya penghargaan. Sesungguhnya ia adalah sesuatu yang yang tidak pernah aku mimpikan.

Sungguh cantik negeri Perlis

Bergelar negeri Indera Kayangan

Orangnya baik mulut pun manis

itu menjadi kenang-kenangan

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

POEMS FROM MALAYSIA

zurinahhassan 7:34 AM 0 Comments

THIS ORATION, BRUTUS

Was Ceasar wrong in his judgment, Marcus Julius Brutus

But whatever your words about Caesar be

He was a just and loyal friend to me

You did see your defeat in the battle of Pharsalus

Did Caesar not forgive you then

And lifted you to the circle of respected statesman

When the politics in Caesar’s bones strengthen

And the power in his blood thicken

You joined them to dilute Caesar’s crown

Sending the hands that lifted you to the burial ground

Do you not hear their words, Brutus

You were never a great thinker

For trivial reason you detest Caesar.

You argued to be torn between the power of devotion
what is right for Rome and your conviction
your feeling for Caesar and his fatherly affection.

I shall sow the seed of confusion in my funeral oration

Your honesty and Cassius’s be doubted by every Roman

I shall stir their hearts with agitations

with rhetoric and questions

you detested Caesar for having ambitions

So let me bend the feeling of our countryman

Towards the essence of my oration

And from the essence a fire will burn.

(II)

Yes me too, Markus Antonius

Who spill the blood of noble Caesar

And you call me a traitor

While my belief in truth
is tearing the character of my youth.
this is a cross road of doubts a terrible dilemma

it is not easy to be young and rebellious
in the waves of political surges. .

Forgive me Markus Antonius

I have to decide and choose my side.

_______________________________________

RAIHANI MOHD SAAID

original tittle: Pidato Ini Brutus

Apakah Caesar telah silap menghakimimu, Marcus Junius Brutus?
Apa-apa pun yang kalian bicarakan tentang Caesar
dia sahabat yang setia dan adil bagiku
ketika kau kecundang dalam pertempuran Pharsalus
Caesar memaafkanmu
dan mengangkatmu ke dalam lingkaran negarawan terhormat.

Ketika tulang siasah Caesar makin mengejap
dan darah kuasanya makin belikat
kau berganding mencairkan mahkota Caesar
tangan yang mengangkatmu telah kau kirim ke pusara.
tidakkah kau dengar bicara mereka, Brutus
kau hanyalah pemikir kerdil
yang membenci Caesar atas alasan kecil.
Hujahmu, kau terjepit antara teguhnya sebuah kepercayaan
tentang apa-apa yang benar bagimu dan Romawi
dengan setia kasih kepada watak kebapaan Caesar.

Aku akan menanam benih ragu dalam pidato pemakaman ini
kejujuranmu dan Cassius akan dipersoal warga Romawi
akan kugugah nuraga mereka
dengan soalan dan retorik.
Kaumurka kerana Caesar terlalu bercita-cita
laluku bentur pucuk nubari warga
ke arah zat pidatoku
zat ini akan menjadi api.

(II)
Ya, aku juga Markus Antonius!
yang telah mengucurkan darah Caesar Agung.
kau akan memanggilku pengkhianat
sedang kepercayaanku kepada kebenaran
sering mengoyak watak muda.
ini persimpangan maha keliru, dilema maha dahsyat
sungguh sukar menjadi muda dan pemberontak
dalam goncangan siasah yang berombak.

Maaf, Markus Antonius
aku harus bersikap dan berpihak.

A poem by Raihani Mohd.Saaid translated by Zurinah Hassan

The poet RAIHANI MOHD SAAID.

POEMS FROM MALAYSIA: WOMEN ISSUE

zurinahhassan 7:15 AM 0 Comments

Women issue . Several scholars have analysed what they called the feminist voices in my poems. One such paper is written by Dr Suzana Muhammad (Universiti Sains Malaysia), “The Development of Woman Identity: Feminist Approaches to Selected Poems of Zurinah Hassan.”. A poem often quoted is “Pesanan Puteri gunung Ledang Kepada Sultan Mahmud” (The Message From Princess of Mount Ledang To Sultan Mahmud) The Princess of Mount Ledang was a mythical character, unearthly, magical, mysterious, and of course described as exceptionally beautiful. She dwelt at Mount Ledang in the southern area of Peninsular Malaysia visible from the palace of the Malacca Sultan. As the story goes, the sultan was looking for a queen after the demise of his consort. This time around, the sultan was determined to marry someone or something different from an ordinary human princess as he wanted to be different and far above anyone else. That was how he got the idea of asking for the hand of the Princess of Mount Ledang.

The Sultan sent his men up the mountain to ask for her hand in marriage. He summoned almost every able bodied man, causing much hardship and unnecessary death to his subjects. It was a perilous journey. Many men fell off into the deep ravine or fell prey to the wild animals. Even Hang Tuah, the famous Malay warrior, failed to reach the top. Only Tun Mamat succeeded to the summit and entered the garden of the Princess. But he could not see the Princess, and only conveyed the Sultan’s proposal through Dang Raya Rani who was the princess’s chief lady in waiting. The beautiful princess sent her famous message to the Sultan through Tun Mamat.

The Message from Princess of Mount Ledang to Sultan Mahmud

Tun Mamat

Convey this message to the Sultan

Bring these as my dowry

If he wishes to marry me.

Build me a bridge of gold and another of silver

Bring me germs and mosquitoes seven trays of their hearts

Vessels full of tears and juice of young beetle nuts

From the king and his prince a bowl each of their blood.

Honestly

I knew from the start

That he is willing to construct the bridge of misery

Let the people carry the trays of agony

And bear the burden of heavy vessels of tears

Rack their life with flame of his own desire

Provided he could escape the fire.

Tun Mamat,

These conditions only show my rejection

As his queen I refuse to be

Seeing my life a murky reflection

I am not Tun Fatimah

With the skill to forgive cruelty

I am not Tun Kudu

Who could be forced to agree

It’s enough with Hang Li Po

Wrapped up as a gift, a commodity

Or Tun Teja who tripped and fell

The lover she followed was only a shadow.

Let Mount Ledang stand tall, a reminder to all

Of a flower that survived and remained free

Untouched by the royal fancy

Even a woman can choose to disagree

Even a king has his turn

to admit being beaten.

(Menghadap ke Pelabuhan/Facing the Harbour. 2013:20-21)

This proposal is an episode in the Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals). The story may not have been historically true. The princess may not have existed. But the writer of the Sejarah Melayu has constructed the episode as a medium to criticize the Sultan for his unjust rule of the country and his cruelty especially to women, treating them as if they have no heart and soul. The Princess of Mount Ledang proposed these conditions of the dowry as a way of refusing to marry him. As for the Sultan, this was the first time anyone said no to him. The princess was the first woman to succeed in showing the Sultan that he too must be able to accept rejection. The important point in “Message of the Princess of Mount Ledang to Sultan Mahmud” is the exertion of a woman’s right to decide and take control of herself and her life. That the princess was able to speak her mind showed that women have freedom of expression. As I put in my poem:

Let Mount Ledang stand tall, a reminder to all

Of a flower that survived and remained free

Untouched by the royal fancy

Even a woman can choose to disagree

Even a king has his turn

to admit being beaten.

Besides the “Princess of Mount Ledang,” there are more legendary figures in the Malay Annals, one of which is Princess Hang Li Po.

Princess Hang Li Po was the princess of China betrothed to the Sultan of Melaka as the show of support and protection from the much feared Empire of China to the newly founded nation of Melaka. The Princess was taken away at a tender age when she still playing around at home, cuddled by her mother. I imagined Hang Li Po’s tears dropping into the ocean, crying for the people she loved and missed so much. Her mother must have also cried in agony, but they both were women facing patriarchal oppression. As a mother I was very much disturbed and saddened by this mother-daughter separation. It would be heart-breaking for any mother to have her daughter taken away and sent to a place so far away. Given the condition of travel at that time, there was no guarantee of seeing each other again. More than that, Hang Li Po as a female, was being treated as a commodity shipped to Melaka. Marriage for queens and princesses was not a personal decision but a political mission. Her father, as a man and a king, thought and talked less about family happiness but more about his kingdoms.

Hang Li Po was not the only one sacrificed for the sake of the Malacca Sultanate. There have been others. There were famous beautiful suffering ladies of Malay Annals including Tun Teja, Tun Kudu dan Tun Fatimah. Tun Teja was the daughter of a statesman of Pahang, who felled in love with Hang Tuah and agreed to run away with him to Melaka. Later in the boat she found out that she had been deceived by Hang Tuah with all his talks of love. Hang Tuah at the time was sent to exile by the Sultan and abducting Tun Teja for a present was his mean of getting back into the Sultan’s favour.

Another pitiful woman in the Malay Annals was Tun Kudu. She was the consort of Sultan Muzaffar and a sister of Tun Perak, the man who saved Malacca from foreign attacks. Tun Perak rose up for his bravery that strengthened Melaka and it was rumoured that he was eyeing the position of Bendahara much to the dismay of the existing Bendahara, Tun Ali. Subsequently rivalry broke up between supporters of Tun Ali and Tun Perak. This threatened the stability of Melaka and the position of the Sultan. Someone came up with a solution that the widowed Tun Ali should be married into Tun Perak’s family. When offered to pick his choice, Tun Ali was adamant about desiring none other than Tun Kudu, the queen. The Sultan agreed supposedly for the sake of peace and stability. Tun Kudu was divorced and she became another woman who was asked to sacrifice for the sake of Melaka. Indeed Melaka was built on the sorrow and tears of women, but it eventually fell due to the greed and misdeed of men, as has been the case with so many other nationsI have written poems about women in the legends, but I am also concerned about the present situation. What happened to the legendry ladies is happening to many women in our time, though in different ways. Even today, marriages are not necessarily a matter of the heart. There are marriages of convenience, marriages for family honour, business arrangements, social commitments, and more often to save a woman and her family from the social stigma. A girl is brought up to preserve a good name so that she will be married into a good family. It is believed that no woman would remain unmarried by choice . There is a high and often unaffordable price of living alone and remaining true to one’s identity and carving one’s own destiny. My point is what I put in the line, “A woman has to be less herself, in order to be more a woman”. This is delivered in a poem entitled “Marriage”:

Marriage

-one woman’s opinion

Marriage is the difficulty

Of changing routines and priorities

That make you less yourself

And a woman has to be less her self

In order to be more a woman.

Marriage to a woman

Is a protection

For her who dares not live

On her own identity

It is too costly and too risky.

(Menghadap ke Pelabuhan/Facing the Harbour: 82-83)

Even up to the present time some young girls sacrifice advancement in career for a marriage prospect much to the loss of their nations. In a poem “Salam Perempuan Dari Penjara,” (A Woman’s Greeting From Prison, 2010) [S1] , I looked at a woman’s journey through life as a procession which no one dares to divert from. It is a procession where everyone walked to a fixed destiny:

She and her sisters

in a procession to their day

while within this wall

they have not lived at all.

(Menghadap ke Pelabuhan/Facing the Harbour: 60-61)

[S1]Please specify if these numbers indicate verses or pages.

A POEM READ IN SEA WRITE SHOWCASE

zurinahhassan 7:08 AM 0 Comments

READ IN THE NAME OF GOD

A book is a vehicle to ride

to places far and wide

a guide for all seasons

a freedom from ignorance

A library is an open sea

once you set your sail

the further you want to be

with rows books

where men have recorded

their knowledge

experience and stories

the more you read

the more you will agree

that men is full of creativity

and life is full of mysteries.

A book reminds us

that we are the only God’s creation

with the gift of language

to build up a civilization
- Zurinah Hassan

Poems by Zurinah Hassan

zurinahhassan 7:03 AM 0 Comments

Poems by Zurinah Hassan Malaysia national laureate

Friday, September 27, 2019

zurinahhassan 12:38 AM 0 Comments

Zurinah Hassan is Malaysia literary laureate (SASTERAWAN NEGARA), and the first female writer to be awarded the title. She had also received Southeast Asia Write Award in 2004 and the Sunthorn Phu Poetry Prize in 2013 (an award of recognition for outstanding poets in the ASEAN country). She reads syair at cultural events and has performed this traditional poetry in India, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei.

Zurinah had published collection of poems, short stories, literary studies, a novel, and a memoir. Although better known as a poet but Zurinah also won the Premier Literary Award, Hadiah Sastera Utusan (Utusan Literature Prize), National Library Book Prize for short stories and memoirs. Her work has been translated into several languages. Her book Facing The Harbor has been published in English, Spanish, Russian and French translation.

Zurinah Hassan was born on June 13, 1949 in Alor Setar, Kedah, received her early education in a Malay school in Tikam Batu, Sungai Petani Convent School and Sultanah Asma School , Alor Setar before studying at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang (Penang) . She had served as a Senior Information Officer in Ministry of Information Malaysia, a lecturer at the University of Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia in addition to Guest Writer at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Zurinah obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from USM, Master of Arts degree from UPM and a Ph.D from the University of Malaya.

Monday, September 23, 2019

POEMS BY ZURINAH HASSAN

zurinahhassan 7:28 PM 0 Comments

translated by Zurinah Hassan.

translated by Patricia Vazquez Marin

Both poems above were originally written in Bahasa Melayu. The first poem is Berdiri di Pengkalan, translated by the poet into Standing On the Jetty. The second poem is Perkahwinan translated into Spanish as Matrimonio by Patricia Vazquez Marin