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| Muhammad Haji Salleh |
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| Tunku Halim |
It
is interesting to write about these two Malaysian writers from two different
eras. The first one, Muhammad Haji Salleh is a well-known Poet Laureate which
his entire life has been spent as a writer. The second one is Tunku Hakim, a
successful lawyer with a profound enthusiasm in writing for fiction and
non-fiction. Muhammad Haji Salleh has proven to us that even a son of a
proletariat could become a great scholar, while Tunku HaIim in the other hand
has shown us how a person with the royal blood could also be a great writer
with his own effort.
Professor
Muhammad Haji Salleh was born in 1942 in Taiping, Perak. He received his early
education at the Bukit Mertajam High School and Malay College Kuala Kangsar
before he moved to the Malayan Teachers College, Brinsford Lodge, England. He
then furthered his studies at University of Malaya, Singapore and his Ph.D at
the University of Michigan, United States of America. In an interview session
with Mohammad A. Quayum which was published by the International Islamic
University Malaysia entitled 'On A Journey Homeward: An Interview with Muhammad
Haji Salleh', he revealed how he just spent RM 5.00 per month at that time
while most of his friends would receive seven times as he had. Even a prince
was receiving RM 300.00 for his allowance. He confessed that his writing
started a bit late actually, when he was in form IV in school. There was a
competition by that time and he wrote his essay because he wanted to win it for
the prize.
As
contrast to Muhammad Haji Salleh, Tunku Halim was born as the youngest son of
Tunku Abdullah, from the royal blood of Negeri Sembilan. He was born in 1964,
almost two decades after Professor Muhammad Haji Salleh was born. He lived in
Petaling Jaya, Selangor before moved to Hobart, Tasmania (Australia) together
with his wife, Suzanne and children: Tunku Kristina & Tunku Adam. Tunku
Halim received his education from St John's Institution, Kuala Lumpur,
Cheltenham College, Sussex University, City University and Inns of Court School
of Law, Britain. He left to study in Britain since he was thirteen.
Both
writers have written a lot of works, especially for Muhammad Haji Salleh who
has been writing since 1969. His works have been published by numbers of well-known
publishers like 'Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka', 'UKM Press' and 'Utusan Publication
and Distributors Sdn Bhd'. Most of his works are poems in anthologies. His
contribution in writing can be seen in more than 37 printed works until now.
Among them are 'Sajak-sajak Pendatang' (1973), 'The Travel Journals of Si
Tanggang II' (1979), 'The Mind of Malay Author' (1991) and '100 Sajak Malaysia'
(1984). Even though Tunku Halim's works are not as many as produced by Muhammad
Haji SalIeh, he has written for more genres compared to Muhammad Haji Salleh
who seems to be interested only in poems. Among his works are non-fictions like
'Everything the Condominium Developer Should Have Told You but Didn't' (1992),
'A Children's History of Malaysia' (2003) and 'History of Malaysia: A
Children's Encyclopedia' (2009). Two of his famous short stories are 'The Rape
of Martha Teoh & Other Chilling Stories' (1997) and '44 Cemetery Road'
(2007). He also has written short stories in multiple-author anthologies like
'Keramat' (2008) and 'In the Village of Setang' (2012). Three of his novels are
'Dark Demon Rising' (1997), 'Vermillion Eye' (2000) and 'Juriah's Song' (2008).
'Vermillion Eye' is used as a study text in the National University of Singapore's
Language and Literature course.
In
an interview with Charles Tan through the Apex-magazine, Tunku Halim claimed
that he tends to use dark and supernatural elements in his writings. Therefore,
he prefers novel than poem as his medium. He believes that the Malaysian
fiction is unique because the settings and the dialogues can be in English but
still representing the cultures from multiethnic diversity. He gives an example
where the sentence "Eh boss, pass me your handphone, lah" contains
words derived from Indian, Chinese and Malay cultures. He views Malaysian literature
in English situation as poor because books were published for profit rather
than for the sake of the craft of writing. Tunku Halim has spent many of his
years studying in United Kingdom. He admitted that his written Malay is not as
good as his English. Muhammad Haji Salleh on the other hand has proven his
ability to write greatly in both languages: Malay and English. Muhammad Haji
Salleh initially started his writings in English since he has been influenced
by most of British writers like Auden, R.S Thomas and Robert Graves. This is
contrast with Tunku Halim who was influenced by American writers like C. S.
Lewis and Stephen King. Professor Muhammad Haji Salleh's works were initially
written in English until he decided to only write in Malay in 1970s. In his
interview with Mohammad A. Quayum, he said that English itself cannot fully
express his personality but only with tones and connotations imported from the
Malay would it be able to convey more of him. For the Malay writings, Muhammad Haji
Salleh admires Amir Hamzah and Chairil Anwar from Indonesia. Others are Subagio
Sastrowardojo and Pramoedya Ananta Toer. Among the Malaysian writers that he
admires are A. Latiff Mohidin, Baha Zain and Anwar Ridhuan. When giving his
opinion regarding the term 'Bangsa Malaysia', Muhammad Haji Saleh said that
some people tend to think from their own cultural perspectives alone and are
very selfish. In the interview also he gave his opinion that politicians should
step aside and give space for academicians to decide about the language issues.
When talking about translating the works from Malay to English by the native
speakers, Prof Muhammad Haji Salleh said that the task of translating the works
from Malay to English should be made by writers or scholars. He claimed that
they are sometimes better than the native speakers because they have a sense of
the hidden echoes of culture, meanings and connotations. When commenting about
national literatures, he said that Malay language can only be used as national
literatures but he encourages people to write in both languages with one of
them is Malay to solve the problem. For him, writers should have a sense of
roots, national identity and pride in their language. He claimed that he did
not write because of money but merely a personal satisfaction. For records,
Prof Muhammad Haji Salleh gave up writing in English for creative writing but
still doing the translation work from Malay to English. By the time the interview
is made, he is working on translating the Hikayat Hang Tuah (The Epic of Hang
Tuah).
Like
any other writers, Muhammad Haji Salleh was never free from being criticized by
other critics. Wong Phui Nam, for example, used to criticize him in his article
entitled 'Muhammad Haji Salleh ed. An Anthology of Contemporary Malaysian
Literature' as published by Asiatic in 2010. Phui Nam criticized him by stating
that the anthology consists only the latest work until 1983 while it was
published in 1988. He also stated that the translation of the works could be
done better than what had been presented to the readers. Phui Nam also
mentioned about the argument of using only the Malay language as the national
literature but refused to debate much about it in his article. In his response
to Wong Phui Nam as he wrote in 'From the Cave of Denial and Discontent,
Darkly: Response to Wong Phui Nam's Review of An Anthology of Contemporary
Malaysian Literature', Muhammad Haji Salleh responded to him that national
literatures in Malaysia should be in Malay by giving an analogy that a poem
would surely not be included in an anthology of British national literature if
it were written in Punjabi. He also argued on why Phui Nam did not protest when
the 'Seven Poets: Singapore & Malaysia' was published in 1973 when there
were non-English poems by Malaysians and Singaporeans included in the
anthology. In his response to Phui Nam about the English position in Malaysia,
Muhammad Haji Salleh asserted that writers should be allowed to write in their
own national language, free from the dictates of the colonial language and its
values. He claimed that he did not judge literary works from the perspective of
English literature like Phui Nam did. For him, "British came as
imperialists and English was used as an instrument of subjugation and of
hegemony -- other languages have no real place, except in trade and
transaction, which brought them handsome profits. The language was imperial,
forced from above and has never belonged to the country, and not of the
land." He also mentioned that Malay was and is the biggest language of the
country which used to be the lingua franca of South East Asia for more than a millennium,
and has become one of the largest literary corpuses in Asia and beyond.
Professor Muhammad Haji Salleh believed that it is time for the Malay language
to rise especially after the colonizers have left for good. He also defended
the works in the anthology as he said that they had been recognized by our own
critics, foreign scholars and translators for they were able to speak to them
and convey a universal meaning and sense. Many of these scholars and
translators had studied Malaysian history, national language, the literary and
political context of the times and had been reading more closely and more
appreciatively than Phui Nam. He mentioned that these scholars: Harry Aveling
and Virginia Hooker (Australians), Monique la-Joubert and Lawrence Metzger
(French), Lisbeth Littrup and Vagn Vlenge (Danish), Kazuo Oikawa and Miyuki
Kosetsu (Japan), and Sermsuk Hussain (Thai) actually did not judge the works
from a British perspective. When giving the response about Phui Nam's critic
regarding the quality of the works in the anthology, he countered by stating
that he did not think that Phui Nam's works consist the quality, purpose,
commitment and the sense of identity as these works had shown. These works
carried the issues of the times, predicament of the people and celebrate their
language. These writers stand on a ground of tradition, pick metaphors from
their own times and cultures, but also experiment with the new variations and
varieties of language. They looked back into history and tried to use its prospective
and transport their meaning across time. Muhammad Haji Salleh admitted that
translation has its own special problems, not only in Malaysia but throughout
Asia. However, he had struggled all the time to find good renderings towards
the works. He claimed that he had chosen the best translators in and out of the
county since there were not many translators in the 1980s. He wishes that with
Phui Nam's mastery in English, he might be able to put together another
anthology of national literature not as an Anglophile, a colonial poet, but
from a Malaysian prospective and to celebrate the literary achievements of
Malaysia.
Aside
from the 'war' between these two writers, Tunku Halim is much interested to
explore the new genres in the Malaysian literature in English with the
influence of C.S. Lewis and Stephen king for his works. His horror short stories
and novels, and also the children's books have shown that these genres would
gain their readers if they were given the same space like other genres as
non-fiction and poem. In an article entitled 'Prince of Dark Fantasy' by Wong
Li Za, the writer mentioned that Tunku Halim had managed to write history as a
fairytale with the element of simplicity to draw the imaginations of his
audience back to childhood engendering feelings of romantic nostalgia. Tunku
Halim claimed that he got inspired by C.S. Lewis's Narnia Chronicles to write a
version of Malaysian history that he could remember. He managed to display
history of Malaysia in the world of fairy and depicted war during the Japanese occupation
in a seamless fashion to ensure that it is suitable for children. The article
also described Tunku Halim's perspective as leaning towards an elite
perspective with special emphasis on the kingship of each state. He is
described as a storyteller persona who is being keen to trace the activities of
kings directly linked to the Malacca Empire. Li Za also stated that Tunku Halim
had contributed to a 'royal' perspective of Malaysian history that is both
provocative yet rooted in the frameworks of Malay folklore and fairytales.
These
two writers, Muhammad Haji Salleh and Tunku Halim have contributed a lot to
Malaysian literature within all these years. Tunku Halim tends to view
literature from the aspect of ''Art for art's sake", while Muhammad Haji
Salleh views literature as "Art for society's sake". Even though Tunku
Halim's view for arts might not be as philosophical as Muhammad Haji SalIeh, he
was still being careful when presenting his works to the readers, especially
the children. He uses metaphors in conveying the meaning since he does not want
the minors to be influenced by the negative style of narration. Muhammad Haji Salleh
has thrived from being a son of a proletariat to a great eminent scholar while
Tunku Halim has proven that even a person from the royal family could also be
creative and humble when it comes to writing. Besides the two different genres
that are separating them which is poem for Muhammad Haji Salleh and short
story/novel for Tunku Halim, these two writers have shown that their
personalities are also different when it comes to the style of writing. While
Tunku Halim's style of writing could be provocative for his fictions, Muhammad
Haji Salleh's style of writing is viewed as provocative for his non-fictions
(as his response to Wong Phui Nam's critics). When commenting about some of his
works which are viewed as 'horror', Tunku Halim preferred to call it as 'dark
fantasy' or 'darkness and imagination' since he claimed that people expect fear
when they think 'horror' and that is not his intention. We can see that Tunku
Halim tends to incorporate the elements of supernatural in most of his short
stories and novels because he likes the readers to imagine the settings that he
uses in the stories. This is contrast to Professor Muhammad Haji Salleh, where
he tends to use metaphor in writing, so he chooses poems to express his
feelings. He said, "...poetry as a genre is the great house of the
imagination, closer to music and art -- it is felt rather than explained or
described". For him, literature deals with the core of human life and
meaning; it is close to philosophy, and complements the sciences. He sees that
through literature, a person is able to read the passions of a human heart, to
know of the shapes and colours of his dreams and ideas, and also his search for
meaning. Muhammad Haji Salleh feels that he was in between two cultures initially
before he finally decided to write only in Malay. No one has ever argued about
his ability to write greatly in both languages: Malay and English. This is
contrast to Tunku Halim where he is much closer to English even he was born as
a Malay. English is like his first language compared to the Malay language
since more than half of his life was spent in Britain. He admitted himself that
his written Malay is not as good as his English and wished that he could produce
his works in Malay one day.
In
conclusion, these two writers have truly made the world of Malaysian literatures
to be merrier with their works. Despite some of their works were written in
English, they did not write their works from the British perspective, but from
Malaysian perspective. They are also being responsive in presenting their works
to the readers. Even though there is an argument regarding English's position
at the side of national literature in Malaysia, none of these two writers is
denying the importance of empowering English for their social life.
References:
Bin
Mad Nor, Mohd Fahmy Izzudin. “Muhammad Haji Salleh: A Biography” mohdfahmyizzudinbinmadnor.blogspot.com
Web. 5 April 2014.
Haji
Salleh, Muhammad. “From the Cave of Denial and Discontent, Darkly: Response to Wong Phui Nam’s Review of An Anthology of
Contemporary Malaysian Literature” Asiatic 4:1 (2010): 156-160. Asiatic.iium.edu.my Web. 5 April 2014.
Lim,
Chee Cheang. “Fictionalized History: Initiating Changes in Malaysian Identity” The
International Academic Forum (2011): 96-106. www.iafor.org Web. 5 April 2014.
Quayum,
Mohammad A. “On a Journey Homeward: An Interview with Muhammad Haji Salleh” Post Colonial Text 2:4 (2006): n. pag. postcolonial.org Web. 5 April 2014.
Tan,
Charles. “Interview with Tunku Halim” Apex-magazine
Web. 5 April 2014.
Wong,
Li Za. “Prince of Dark Fantasy” The Star
Online Web. 5 April 2014.
