A Father's Love

Since June is the month where we celebrate father's day. I am highlighting a  touching story between a father and son that I have done and was published in theSun newspaper on June 18, 2013 


Headline : Precious Time Together 
By Bissme S 

It is  never easy for a son to bury his father. But when the situation is reversed, the pain can be far more excruciating. Jimadie Shah Othman, 33, knows well this emotion. He recently lost his eldest son, Adam Azfar, who was only six, to brain tumour.
He suspected that something was not right last November when he saw that Adam was walking unsteadily. It was discovered that Adam had a 3.5cm tumour in his brain. As Adam was too young to have surgery and chemotherapy, the only medical solution was 30 sessions of radiotherapy.
“I was ignorant and thought Adam will be completely cured after the 30 sessions,” he says.
The doctor did not have the heart to tell the hopeful father that his son would not live long. But Jimadie did his research on the internet and learnt that people with his son’s illness had only six to seven months to live.
“After the doctor had confirmed what I learnt to be the truth, I broke down and cried,” he said. “Out of the blue, an African guy who was a patient in the hospital came and hugged me. I didn’t know him and he didn’t know me. He could see that I was in pain and he just wanted to console me.”
Jimadie hid his sadness so he could be strong for his son. Adam’s health deteriorated to the point where he could not use his legs and hands.
“All he could do was to sit, sleep and watch television,” Jimadie says. “He could only consume liquid food and it broke my heart whenever he begged me for KFC and his favourite biscuits.”
Adam’s illness brought Jimadie closer to God. Initially, he was angry with God over what had happened to his son.
“I prayed but I felt God had not listened to me,” he says. “I felt God did not help me. I was questioning why people had to fall sick. I was questioning why people had to die.
“I have not found the answers. But I have learnt to accept that some things are fated.
“Looking back now, I think God has been more than fair and kind to me. He had given me six years of happiness with Adam and only six months of sadness.”
In the hope of finding a cure for his terminally ill son, Jimadie even sought the help of bomohs.
“I am not the types who believe in the bomohs,” he says. “But when your son is ill, you become desperate and you are willing to believe in anything that will cure him. I read all kinds of silly mantras and followed rituals that made no sense. You can believe in alternative medicines and herbs but I would suggest that you stay away from the bomohs.”
Many of his friends and even strangers had contributed money as well as support to Jimadie when his son was ill. There was one stranger who’d heard about Adam’s situation in Facebook and travelled several times from Seremban to Kuala Lumpur just to visit Adam.
“I saw a lot of kindness,” Jimadie says.
It was on May 27 around 10am that Adam took his last breath.
“The previous night my son was not breathing properly,” he says. “I had to call the doctor to the house.”
The doctor informed Jimadie that he had two choices – either to put Adam on life support system or let him die peacefully.
Not wanting to prolong his son’s misery, Jimadie chose the second option and 13 hours later, Adam was no longer around.
“He died in my arms,” Jimadie recalls. “Adam was my first born and I learnt the art of fatherhood through him. It will be difficult to forget him. The first four months when Adam was born, I dared not hold him in my hands because I was afraid I will drop him.
“He was very close to me. He was like my best friend. Whenever I was free, I used to take him on my motorbike and we would have fun roaming around the neighbourhood.”
One wonders how his wife, Emme Nurelyanna Sazali, 32 and his two other children – Iman, five and Sophie, nine months old – are coping now without Adam.
“My wife used to run a tudung business online,” he says.
“But she stopped because she was too busy with her full time teaching job and her duties as mother and wife. After Adam’s death, I asked her to go back to her online business. When your mind is occupied, you grieve less.
“As for my two children, I think they are too young to understand the concept of death and sadness.”
The assistant editor with the news portal Malaysiakini has plans to write a book on his  experience with Adam in the future.
“I hope the book will be a guide to fathers who are in the same shoes as I am,” Jimadie says. “I wish to share my experience with them.”

Usman Awang

Today I am highlight a story that focuses on a well known poet, the late  Usman Awang from the eyes her daughter Haslina Usman. This interview appeared on Friday June 14 … two days away from June 16 which is father’s day.  

Haslina with her father when she was 16 year old.


Headline: A Daddy  Girl 
By Bissme S

THERE is a saying that no man can love a girl the way her own father does and Haslina Usman can testify to this.
The way she talks about her father, the national laureate, and late Datuk Usman Awang, one can see that he had been a great influence in her life. One of her most beautiful memories of her father was the many conversations they had on the swing in the garden of their home.
"He was the first person who exposed me to the world of arts," says the eldest child of the well known poet and writer.
"He took me to my first ballet performance and my first art exhibition. He would always ask for my opinions and my views on what I had seen and heard."
Another beautiful memory was when her dad watched her perform the traditional Malay dance performance called Puteri Sadong.
"I was so proud to have my father in the audience," says Haslina who now runs a bakery business called Cakes By Lyna.
"He always made a point to be there when his children needed him, no matter how busy he was."
From the late 60s to the early 70s, her dad was constantly travelling to various countries in Europe and America, as a guest poet and a writer.
"I was just a kid then, and I missed him very much whenever he was away," she recalls. "He missed me, too so he would send me postcards where ever he went. I loved rings and I would ask him to get me rings that reflected the culture of the countries that he had visited.
"Dad would take the trouble just to fulfil my request. Once, he even went to a Red Indian settlement in America, just to get a ring for me."
When Haslina was a teenager, her father would keep a hawk eye on her movements.
"My two brothers enjoyed greater freedom than I, and I was angry at my father for treating us differently," she says.
"Looking back now, I understand his reasons better. Fathers are always over protective of their daughters compared to their sons because they do not want anything unforeseen to happen to them, being girls. He was just looking out for me."
Strangely enough, Usman never wanted any of his four children to follow in his footsteps to become a poet or a writer.
"He always told us that a writer's life is a difficult life, and that he did not want any of us to have that kind of life," she says.
Since her father passed away in 2001, Haslina has been writing poems. But she has no intention of publishing her works.
"My works are not important," she says. "What is important is that I keep my father's legacy alive."
She has taken over the publishing company - UA Enterprises Sdn Bhd - that her father had set up in the 70s. The objective of the company is to promote her father's works which comprise of more than 300 poems and 100 short stories.
She is utterly sad to learn that younger generations have a vague idea of who her father was.
"My father has contributed a lot to the literary world and I did not want him to fade away," she says.
As part of reaching out to the young and hip readers, she has collaborated with Fixi publication to publish Yang Nakal-Nakal which features her father's works - 17 short stories and eight poems. The book will be officially launched and sold this Sunday, June 16 at 2pm at The Annexe Gallery, Central Market.
"Fixi has a steady set of young loyal readers who are always buying books that they published, she says, eager to expose this new generation of readers who might not have heard of her father.
Her other project is to publish another book entitled Kekasih featuring 40 of her late father's poems. She is also getting visual artists to translate her father's poems into art.
"It will be their interpretation of my father's work," she says.
If everything goes well, Kekasih will be launched at an event known as Hari Usman Awang on July 20. For this event, Haslina will be collaborating with two artistic bodies - Sebudi and Kelab Athma Jiwa.
She cited the pillar of strength in her father's life to be her mother. When her mother passed away in 1999 from an asthma attack, her father was not the same person any more.
"My mother's death was really unexpected," Haslina says.
"Dad did not have the mood to write after that. He became very sick without my mum around and his health deteriorated further."
Three years later, on Nov 29, 2001, Usman finally succumbed to heart complications.
When asked to name one thing that many people do not know about her father, Haslina laughs and says: "During his last days, when he was sick, my father loved to watch cartoons with my two children. One of his favourite cartoons was Tom & Jerry. It was nice to see him laugh."

The cover of the book that was recently launched

Haslina Usman ... wants to keep her father's legacy alive among the the young generation

Anthony Chen At Cannes

Singapore film director Anthony Chen recently created waves at the recent Cannes film festival with his debut film Ilo Ilo . I had opportunity to pose him several questions to the talented film maker after his  huge success at Cannes. The  interview had appeared in the sun newspaper today ( Tuesday June 11 Page 18) . Please click on the link to read the article 

http://www.thesun-epaper.com/tue/11062013/index.html#/30/zoomed


 Now the full article is here : 

Suggested Headline: Life After Cannes 

BY BISSME S

It is an honour for a filmmaker to receive a 15-minute standing ovation after the screening of his film. This honour is even greater if it takes place at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
Singaporean Anthony Chen, 29, not only received a standing ovation but his debut film, Ilo Ilo, also fetched him the coveted Camera d’Or prize (best feature film debut) and became the first Singaporean feature film to win a prize at the recent Cannes Film Festival.
Set in Singapore, Ilo Ilo centres on the relationship between a Singaporean Chinese family and its new maid, Teresa. Like many Filipino women, Teresa has come to the Lion City in search of a better life. The young and troublesome son in the family, Jiale, forms a unique bond with Teresa and this friendship ignites jealousy in his mother.
Chen, who is currently based between London and Singapore, talks to theSun after his success at the Cannes Film Festival.

* Did you always want to be a filmmaker?

“I wanted to pursue filmmaking since the age of 15. While everyone
was busy mugging for ‘O’ levels, I was at the library reading up on
film directors and film  schools.I learnt that film schools overseas were expensive and I could not afford them. I also learnt that there was
only one film school in Singapore (Ngee Ann Polytechnic)
and decided that is where I would start building my portfolio.
“Most of my schoolmates pursued their ‘A’ levels but I took the slightly rebellious route of going to film school at the age of 17. I can’t explain why I wanted to be a filmmaker. I would say it is a subconscious decision.
“I remember that the first film I saw on the big screen was Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor and when I was growing up, I was attracted to the early films of Zhang Yi-mou and Ang Lee.”


* Who are the directors you admire?

“I’m interested in filmmakers and cinemas that explore the human
condition in a sensitive, delicate way. I admire greatly the works of
Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang, Yasujiro Ozu, Hirokazu Koreeda, Lee Chang Dong, Jacques Audiard, Andrea Arnold and Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
“But in terms of my biggest hero, it will have to be Ang Lee. I can’t imagine a better role model for a filmmaker and as a person. His humility and dedication to life and work deserves admiration.”

* You wrote the script for Ilo Ilo. Where did the inspiration come from?

“The movie is very much inspired by my childhood years. When I was young, we had a Filipino maid who was with us for eight years. We called her Auntie Terry. Somehow, in the last few years, she kept surfacing in my memory and I realised that I am literally part of an entire generation of kids
in Singapore that was brought up by foreign helpers. That was the starting point for the film.
“When Auntie Terry returned home for good, it was hard to bear. Eventually, we got used to her absence but somehow lost contact. The one thing that stayed with me after all these years is the name of the place she was from (Iloilo, a province in the Philippines). That is how the title of the film came about.”

* What is the biggest challenge you faced as Singaporean filmmaker?

“Funding. I had to work with a tight budget, especially if the film isn’t a mainstream horror or comedy film, which translates to less resources and less shooting days.
“So, it is literally a lot of blood, sweat and tears in order to not compromise on the vision you have and still retain your ambition.”


* What are your next projects and are you afraid that there will be higher expectations after your win at Cannes Film Festival?

“I am developing a few projects in United Kingdom and Singapore. It will take some time before they mature into something more concrete, so I am keeping a tight lip for now.But I am always interested in human dynamics and the human condition, so whatever I undertake, it is always steering in that direction.
“I do think it is a tall order to follow in the success of Ilo Ilo but I always believe that every film has a life of its own, so all I can do is
work hard and give the dedication and sincerity it needs.”

* Do you have any advice for budding filmmakers?
“Always maintain integrity in your work. It is a tough and rather painful journey, so it is important to have a genuine passion for cinema.You need to ask yourself, “Are you really in love with films or with the idea of being a film director?”

* What are some of the greatest misconceptions people have about you?

“That I’m an arrogant brat who only wantsthings his way. I think very few people really understand me and I no longer see a point in just pleasing everybody for the sake of having  people to like you."

  

Ten Moments in Yasmin Ahmad's Life

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She is no longer among us. But she will always be remembered. I am taking about the genius film maker Yasmin Ahmad. As I was doing some spring  cleaning, I found this interesting  article on her. So today I am highlighting this article that was published in theSun newspaper on April 4, 2006  

Headline : Captured Moments
By Bissme S

For Yasmin Ahmad, making movies is akin to recording snatches of life on celluloid. Whether she is shooting for commercials or movies, the results are never far from the realities of living.
They speak to us of moments that touch our hearts. Watching them, we cry a little and we laugh a little. Her uncanny ability to capture this has been recognised in a series of awards for her Petronas commercials and for her critically acclaimed 2005 movie Sepet.
The director has also completed a sequel to that movie. Gubra, whichopens on Thursday, continues where Sepet ended. The audience will finally learn the outcome of the love story between Orked and Jason.
Yasmin, who is a busy creative director of one of the country’s top advertising firms, advises the audience to stay on for the credits at the end of that movie. Her creative energy seems to have no bounds. It makes us wonder how much of her own life experiences have influenced her work.Here, Yasmin recounts 10 significant incidences in her life that have shaped the person she is now.

1) “The day when I was carted off to a place I had never beenbefore. There, I found many people of my age who were wearing the same (kind of) clothes as I. We were herded around by the authorities of that place. Some were brandishing ‘weapons of torture’ in their hands.Some of us were crying and some even wet their pants out of fear. “Oh, I am referring to my first day at school!”

2)“The day I went abroad (England) to further my studies. A bunch of usarrived at a strange place in the dark of the night. It was cold and there was some confusion as to where we were supposed to spend the night.“I never felt so lonely or homesick in my life. That terrible feeling of abandonment almost never left me for the next 10 years of my stay abroad.”

3)"The day I telephoned my fiance’s mother and found out that he had died in an accident. I was only 19."

4) “The night I won my first advertising award. I had only joined the industry for few months and it was my first commercial.”

5) "The day when I got married. After the akad nikah ceremony was over, my husband and I went to our bedroom to perform our first prayer together. At the end of it, we held each other’s hand and wept with joy.”

6) “The day our divorce was finalised. Just after the divorce, we sat on the bench outside the religious office, looked at each other and wept with sadness.”

7) “The day I woke up and saw the world spinning. I got my then boyfriend to take me to the doctor. My blood pressure had shot up. I was hospitalised for a week. Thankfully, my blood pressure is normal now.”

8)The day I married my present husband. The akad nikah was conducted in a small mosque in Subang Jaya. It was drizzling outside. I remembered gazing at the greenery surrounding the mosque and feeling at peace with the world.”

9)“The day I performed the haj with Dr Jemilah Mahmood, now one of my best friends. It took place just before my second marriage. As the plane approached the holy land, we were asked to call out to God: ‘You have summoned me, O Lord, so here I am’. I broke into tears.”

10) “The night Sepet won the top award at Creteil International Festival in Paris. Sepet was up against films selected for the Venice Film Festival (which were made) by directors who had been nominated for Oscars.My mother hugged me on stage, then turned to the audience and waved the bouquet of flowers presented to her.My father remained seated in the audience but I could see him wiping his tears of pride. The joy on my parents’ faces made all the struggles worthwhile.”

Me, My Body, My Mind

As I was doing some spring cleaning around my house. I found this particular interesting article I have done in 2008  where I interviewed  Pang Khee Teik and Angela M. Kuga and Yuenmei Wong . They talked about the event they were organizing called Seksualiti Merdeka. And the first Seksualiti Merdeka was held in somewhere in  August 2008 and this article appeared in theSun sometime in October 2008  Below  is the full article. 

Headline : Me, my body, my mind
By Bissme S 


"NOBODY can tell you what you can do and what you can’t do with your body," says Pang Khee Teik, art programmes director of The Annexe.
"When one person manages the most inner part of you which is your sexuality and your desires, then you are a nobody.
"When you give someone else the power to tell you what you can do with your body, you’re ultimately giving that person the power to control your mind."
His voice was one of many heard at Seksualiti Merdeka in late August. The three-day event included workshops and forums addressing sexual identity issues.
Interestingly, it was not just what academicians and activists had to say but also common folk speaking about their personal experiences and tragedies.
"We wanted the public to hear voices and stories of those who have been discriminated against and whose lives have been a living hell," says Pang, who initiated the event with Jerome Kugan, The Annexe’s media manager.
"There has been lot of injustice and unfair treatment of fellow Malaysians in the name of morality.
"In the end, the public still have the right to disagree with them.
"But let us hear their story first before making any judgment. We want to create compassion and promote understanding."
One seminar, "To Live Without Fear: Dealing With Violence Against Transsexuals", highlighted the prejudices against this community.
The event’s success prompted Pang to make Seksualiti Merdeka, a yearly event.
He said sexuality rights is not only about the right to have sex with whomever you want but also the right to be responsible.
Angela M. Kuga, a trustee with KYRSS (Knowledge & Rights with Young People through Safer Spaces), says, "When two adults have consensual sex, it should not be considered a crime.
"We are also under the impression that all religions reject people of different sexuality.
"There are religions which have no position on people of different sexual orientation and there are some religions that do. Interestingly, the same text is interpreted differently."
She felt the event also gave people the opportunity to know more about sex education.
"More young women are worried about unwanted pregnancies than AIDS, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. All these concerns were addressed in the event."
She also felt the scope for sex education has to be widened.
"Sex education is not about learning about your bodies and preventing diseases," says Angela.
"It should also be about building your self-esteem, handling peer pressure and appreciating your lover."
Not so long ago, Angela gave a talk in a university and was surprised to find many of the female students were gullible. She said that some of the students even believed that they would not get pregnant if they had sex at a certain time of the day.
Next year, Seksualiti Merdeka intends to target parents with children of different sexual orientation.
"Society is so negative towards people of different sexuality and it is only natural for the parents to worry about their children’s welfare," says Angela.
"We want to provide a platform where the parents can talk about their concerns and their anxieties.
"We are searching for parents who are willing to talk and discuss these issues."
Pang said that they want to work closely with the media.
"We want the media to report fairly when they are doing stories on people with different sexuality," he says.
"If the media quotes someone saying people of different sexual orientation are promoting moral decay, it should also get the other side of the coin."
Yuenmei Wong, a volunteer at the event and recipient of the 5th Research Award from the Southeast Asia Consortium on Gender, Sexuality and Health wants to highlight companies willing to hire transsexuals.
"We want these companies to be role models for other companies," she says.
Yet, Seksualiti Merdeka may have raised some eyebrows and ruffled more than a few feathers. "I am not doing anything wrong," says Pang.
"I am simply allowing people to talk about their sexuality and to be confident about their bodies.
"I would not deny that I had some fears when I wanted to organise this event.
"It is my dream that one day I will organise this event without having any kind of fear at all."
He dismissed the notion that the event promotes homosexuality. "It is not lifestyle that you can promote," he says.
"You are either homosexual or not. I feel we are promoting people to be responsible."
His personal vision is that the country will recognise them for who they are and their contributions, and not who they love and sleep with.

Legends on Motherhood

Malaysian celebrated mother's day on May 12. This time around I focused  onthe  folk stories that emphasis on mother's love  from three different race - Malay, Indian and Chinese.  The story appeared in the sun newspaper on May 10 on page 22 & 23 

The Full story here 

Headline : Enduring Tales Of Love 
By Bissme S 

A MOTHER’S love andaffection for her children is the stuff of legends that has lived on through the ages.In celebration of Mother’s Day, which falls this  Sunday, three experts retell some local legends – metaphors included – from  different cultures in Malaysia, that centre on a mother’s enduring love and 

Subhead : The Legend of Si Tanggang 

Saifulizan Yahaya of Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka (DBP) says the Malay culture has a  famous story called Si Tanggang to depict a mother’s love for her son and the  value of filial piety. Saifullizan, who is the language planning officer at  DBP’s Research Literature Division, hopes to share the moral of this tale with  the younger generation.
The story goes like this: When Tanggang was a young boy, he was always sick.  His mother, Deruma, took pains in ensuring her son would grow up strong and healthy. Later, the young ambitious Tanggang wanted to see the world. So when a ship docked at his village to reload supplies and take on additional crew members, Tanggang volunteered to go along.
His mother tried to stop him, saying she needed him to be with her in her advancing years but Tanggang told her he would go away for a few years and then return home a wealthy man so they can live comfortably together. Tanggang  eventually became a wealthy businessman. He also married a beautiful princess,  but has completely forgotten about his mother back in the village and the 
promise he had made to her.
One day, when his ship was docked at his village, his mother was so happy to  learn that her son has returned. She rushed to meet him. But embarrassed by  her poor appearance, Tanggang refused to acknowledge her as his mother in front of his royal bride.
Devastated and heart-broken, Deruma raised her hands to the sky and cried out  to God to make Si Tanggang recognise her as his mother.Suddenly, the weather  turned dark and stormy. There were flashes of lightning and thunder. When the storm subsided, Si Tanggang, his wife, his crew, and his entire ship had been
turned into stone.
“The story reminds us that we mustnever be ungrateful to our parents,” says Saifullizan. 
“This is a retribution for being unfilial.”
He points out that some believe that Batu Caves is the ship that had been turned into stone. Interestingly, there is a similar tale in Indonesia known  as Malim Kundang, where stones resembling human beings and a shipwreck can be found at Pantai Air Manis, in Padang, Sumatra Barat, while in Brunei, a folklore known as Nakhoda Manis also tells the same tale  with a rocky outcrop called Jong Batu, located off Kampung Ayer on the Brunei River, that resembles a capsized ship.

Subhead : Devaki, mother of Lord Krishna 

Shankar Kandasamy the head of Bharata Natyam Department of the Temple of Fine Arts, Kuala Lumpur, recounts the mythological tale of  Devaki, the mother to Lord Krishna.
The story centres on the evil King Kansa, who heard a prophecy that the eighth child of his sister, Devaki, would kill him. So he imprisoned  Devaki and her husband Vasudeva and killed all seven of the children she bore. 
However, divine intervention saw that the eighth child, Lord Krishna, escaped.  Years later, the mother and son were reunited. She asked Krishna why she was not given a chance to enjoy his childhood years as his mother. Lord Krishna  explains to her that in her past life, she was a great queen who was unfair to her servant girl.
She wanted the servant girl to give her all the attention and had prevented the servant girl from spending any  time with her own child.
“Lord Krishna told his mother that she had robbed the servant girl of her
motherhood,” said Shankar. “Therefore,she, Devaki in turn, had to suffer and  was unable to spend any time with her own child.”
Being a compassionate god, Lord Krishna made a miniature idol of himself as a child and gave it to his mother. The idol then came to life.
“Lord Krishna then told his mother that now she has a chance to enjoy him as a child,” Shankar said.


Subhead: The ghost mother and other tales

The Principal of KBU International College, Dr See Hoon Peow (right), says that there are many folk legends in the Chinese culture that highlights the greatness of a mother. See, who is also a trained folklorist, tells this interesting tale of The Ghost Mother.
“There are several versions to this story,” says See. 
“All the versions, however, indicate that a mother’s love is so powerful that even death cannot separate her from her child.”
One version, which happens during the Song dynasty, tells of a pregnant grieving widow who died and was buried. But then, she gave birth to a baby boy inside the coffin.
She appeared at the nearest provision shop to get the necessities to feed her baby. She told the shopkeeper that she was the daughter in- law of the wealthy Wong family and asked him to collect payment from her father-in-law.
At the end of the month, when the shopkeeper went to collect the
payment from the family, the father-in-law was shocked. He believed someone was impersonating his deceased daughter-in-law.
To find out who, he hid in the shop and when the woman appeared, the father-in-law was indeed shocked to see she was indeed his dead daughter-in- law. He then exhumed her body and found a healthy baby boy in the coffin
There is another version, linked to the famous Chinese poet, Su Dong Po, whose wife passed away after giving birth to baby boy. She returned as a ghost to the house every night to breastfeed her son.
She had to cross a lake to enter the house, so there were traces of water found around the baby’s cradle.
“On realising that his wife had come back to breastfeed their child the poet built a bridge from the grave to the house so that his ghost wife didn’t have  to cross the lake and get wet," See says. 
“Unfortunately, in the Chinese culture, there is always a god guarding every bridge, and because of this, the ghost wife was stopped from crossing.
“The ghost remained a tortured soul because she could no longer breastfeed her baby.”
Another popular tale centres on the famous Chinese philosopher and scholar  Mencius and his mother (below) who lived in ancient times. Mencius’ father died when he was young. According to Confucius teachings, the family should mourn  for three years. She and her son then moved to live near the grave of her  deceased husband. But Mencius’ mother decided to forgo the tradition when she found her son  imitating what took place at  the funeral procession.Wanting something better  for her son, the two moved again to a new home near a market.
“She soon found this location unsuitable because her son began to
take to the ways of the merchants,” says See. 
“In those days, merchants were considered low class and she did not want her  son to take up this trade.”
She moved again, this time to a home near a school. Inspired by the scholars there, Mencius began to study and his mother was content.
Then, one day, his mother found outthat he had been playing truant from school. Instead of beating him, his mother simply took a pair of scissors and cut up the cloth she was weaving.
Shocked, Mencius asked: ”Why did` you do that, mother? Now, you have to start all over again.”
His mother replied that what he did was no different from what she had done, as playing truant meant he had wasted his effort studying and now must pick up  where he left off all over again. Mencius learnt his lesson and never played truant again.

Sasterawan Negara : Baha Zain

I had the opportunity to interview the recently elected Sasterawan Negara (National Laureate). He shares his views on the Malaysian literature scene and The Malaysian National Language. This article appeared in theSun newspaper on Wednesday April 3. Here is the full article.   

Writing for unity
By Bissme S 

DATUK Baharuddin Zainal, better known as Baha Zain, was recently honoured as the 12th Sasterawan Negara (National Laureate). Prior to this, the 74-year-old poet, short story writer and literary critic has been the recipient of such prestigious awards as the SEA (Southeast Asia) Writer Awards in 1980 and the Anugerah Penyair Gapena (The Federation of Malaysian National Writers Associations Poet Award) in 1988.
In this exclusive interview, Baha Zain talks about the recognition bestowed upon him, the literary scene in the country today and what inspired him to become a writer.

* What was your first reaction on being named Sasterawan Negara?

"I was grateful to God. My generation is different from yours. All we wanted to do was to contribute without expecting anything in return. We wanted to enrich the national language and the Malay literary scene. However, if the title was given to me five years ago, I would have rejected it.”

* Why is that? 

“I was against the PPSMI (the teaching of Science and Maths in English). I am not against the English language. If I was, I would not have sent my three children to further their studies in England. 
“I just want to develop the Malay language as a language of knowledge. If you do not teach Science and Maths in Malay, how do you expect the language to be developed as the language of knowledge?  
“Japan and Korea are so much more advanced than us and yet they do not teach Science and Maths in English. If you want Malaysian students to master the English language, this is not the way. 
“I’m happy to see the government has decided to have Science and Maths taught in Malay, again. 
“I will not deny that a lot of scientific terms in Malay are borrowed words. But even in English, there are many borrowed words from the French and German language. There is nothing wrong in enriching the vocabulary by borrowing words.”  

* No women writers have won the Sasterawan Negara title. Do you think there is a Malay male dominion for the award?  

“I was on the selection panel for the candidates for this award for several years. We did not base our selection on gender or race. We looked for candidates who have contributed significantly not only towards the development of the language and literacy but also towards society.   
“For example, Keris Mas, Arena Wati, Usman Awang, and A. Samad Said were journalists who fought for independence through their pen. 
“They should not be spending all their time in the library, living in their own world and forgetting about the society around them. They should be socially-committed writers. They cannot just write about nostalgia. Their works should spark critical thinking. As a writer, you need to be connected with the society. You write because you want to express yourself.”

*Some people think you do not deserve this title. What are your comments?    

“I can be equally cynical and hit back at my critics but I will not do so. It can be counter-productive. In Islam, you are encouraged to be patient. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.”   

*What changes would you like to see taking place in the Malay literature scene?  

“We should find ways to incorporate more non-Malays in the Malay literature scene. The national language is no longer the language for Malays. I am happy to see that Karim Raslan (who usually writes in English) is now contributing to Dewan Sastera (a leading Malay literary magazine). 
“In the 70s, there were conscious efforts among artistes of different races to use the national language in literature to cut across the racial barrier. If you read Dewan Sastera in those days, you will find many non-Malay artistes like Krishen Jit and Redza Piyadasa contributing articles in Malay. In fact, a handful of non-Malay artistes have translated my poems into visual form. But today, I see less of such collaborations between artistes of different races.”  

*Why do you think there were more collaborations between artistes of different races back then?   

“The May 13 incident (1969) just took place, with the whole nation confronted with the tragedy. Artistes of all kinds, from writers to painters, believed they should come together and use their art to promote unity … to understand each other. Today, we have taken our peace for granted. What’s happened in Lahad Datu (Sabah) recently could be a wake-up call to teach us not to take anything for granted.”   

* What do you see lacking in our society today? 

“Our moral and ethical development are not on par with our physical and economical development. For example, we will not think twice about throwing rubbish on the road, polluting rivers, cutting down trees that provide oxygen, etc.” 

*What inspired you to become a writer?  

“I was born in 1939. I have lived through the traumatic times in our history – from the Japanese Occupation to the communist and Emergency period, right through the racial riot of May 13, 1969. 
“I had experienced eating rice only with potatoes and bananas. I did not have running water in my house. Poverty was everywhere. 
“I wanted to write about these difficult times to create an awareness. I wanted to tell people not to take our peace for granted and be grateful for what they have today. 
“But today is not the era of literature. People do not give importance to literature – they are too busy chasing wealth. One must remember that ultimately, it was literature that made us human.”