Skip to main content

Faisal Tehrani on English Novels in HSKU.

Faisal Tehrani, prize-winning author of novels like "1511H (Kombat)", "Advencer Si Peniup Ney" and his most recent work, "Surat-surat Perempuan Johor", spoke of his thoughts on the introduction of the English Novel category in the Utusan Group Literature Prize (HSKU) in the Sunday edition of Kosmo! recently:
"Nilai tradisi bahasa dan sastera yang kita ada pada masa ini perlu terus dipelihara. Sudah 21 tahun Hadiah Sastera Utusan mengagungkan sastera Melayu dan ini suatu yang membanggakan dan patut dipertahankan," ujar [Faisal Tehrani].

Lantaran itu berhubung anugerah novel bahasa Inggeris dalam Hadiah Sastera Utusan yang baru diwujudkan mulai tahun ini, Faisal mencadangkan supaya ia diadakan secara berasingan, atau dengan kata lain, diwujudkan suatu majlis anugerah khas lain.

"Saya bukan anti bahasa Inggeris, tetapi selama ini, Hadiah Sastera Utusan cukup dikenali sebagai anugerah sastera yang memartabatkan bahasa Melayu. Saya kira, karya-karya Inggeris kalau ada yang teruja sangat dan rasa perlu sangat diberikan maruah serta pengiktirafan biarlah dalam satu majlis khusus yang berasingan, jangan campur," ujarnya.

(Excerpt found towards the end of this article, conveniently posted on Faisal's blog.)
Which translates into:
"The value of language and literature that we have now must continue to be preserved. It has been twenty-one years that the Utusan Literature Prize has revered Malay literature and this is something that is honourable and must be maintained," [Faisal Tehrani] says.

Because of that, regarding the English novel category in the Utusan Literature Prize that was added starting this year, Faisal suggests that it be held separately, or in other words, create another special prize ceremony.

"I'm not against the English language, but all this while, the Utusan Literature Prize has been renown as the literature prize that esteems the Malay language. I think, these English writings, if there are those who get too excited about them and feel that they really need to be honoured and recognised, let it be in a separate ceremony, don't mix them," he says.

Comments

  1. Now I understand why I had this feeling of the inaugural event being played down and a little chill in the air at the awards.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ted,

    I believe Faisal has no ill feelings towards fellow English writers. He just wanted to vent his frustations towards the present and future condition of Malay literature.

    At the moment, Utusan is the only media who has been rigorously supporting the Malay literature.

    I believe, being Malaysian, and Bahasa Malaysia as our national language,it is also our duty to support Malay literatures by buying the books.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cean: I wouldn't worry about it too much. Some people are just concerned about the Malay language, that's all.

    What's important is you're among the pioneer prize winners of the English category of HSKU. There might not even be an english category next year, if enough people kick up a fuss. *shrug shrug*

    Jiwa Rasa: Yes, I believe that too. I admire Faisal's writings and I think his worries that Utusan might slack a little in supporting Malay literature is justified. However, I do not think he has cause for concern as I believe Utusan will still strongly uphold Bahasa Melayu, as a language "yang terulung".

    I agree that we must support Malay Lit if we're Malaysian. In fact, I would suggest not only buying the books but also the lit magazines such as Dewan Sastera and Tunas Cipta to show your support. But I do believe literature is literature, no matter what language it is in. It is as simple as that.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lesson: Commemorative Covers are Lame.

Well, I got the first day cover that commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Except that it's not a first day cover, it's a commemorative cover, which is a slightly different beast. I guess I should read the news article properly next time! The difference between the two is that first day covers are specially-designed envelopes stuck on with specially-designed stamps, and marked with a specially-designed postmark. A commemorative cover is a specially-designed envelope... and that's it. All in all, it's an unremarkable affair, especially if you're used to well-designed first day covers (not that Malaysian first day covers are well-designed... but I digress). Oh sure, a commemorative cover has a stamp printed right on to it but that's just like an overglorified aerogramme. Lame. On the whole, what a disappointment. I haven't been collecting first day cover

HOWTO: Get Rid of Silverfish

The bane of every book collecting person: the Silverfish. DUN DUN DUNNNNN!!! How to get rid of them? If one book has been infected, place it inside an air-tight plastic bag along with some silica gel desiccant. The silica gel is important to get rid of moisture, because you will now place the sealed plastic bag with the book in it inside the freezer. Leave it in there for a couple of days so that those bugs catch their death of cold. If you're feeling particularly paranoid, (like I usually am) feel free to leave the plastic bag in there for a week. If they're not dead, then you might likely have an infestation of zombie silverfish , which is out of the scope of this blogpost. But what if a whole colony of silverfish decided to invade your whole bookcase? Then you have to make sure you're ready for war. Place a generous amount of silica gel (or if you can find it, diatomaceous earth) behind your books at the back of the shelves so that moisture levels remain low.

An Ipoh Ghost Story.

When I was growing up in Ipoh in the 90s, the only good bookshops around were Mubaruk's, which specialised in textbooks (and still does), and Novelhut, the second-hand bookstore that used to be in Yik Foong (and maybe still is there, but I haven't checked in years since I prefer going to their Ipoh Parade outlet when I'm in town). There was also a pretty good bookstore in the Parkson Grand in Ipoh Parade which could have been a Berita outlet, but I don't remember. This was in the days before they expanded Ipoh Parade into what it is today. (And temporarily causing the Convent school next door to consider moving.) I recall this because I was thinking of when exactly I started reading "serious" fiction, trying to pinpoint the years when I moved from young adult/fantasy/sci-fi books into non-genre fiction. I still can't remember, but it brought back memories of a book I bought from a short-lived bookshop in Old Town. Mum had brought me there, because she must