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TEXT OF SPEECH BY Y.A.B. TAN SRI MUHYIDDIN YASSIN
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA
AND EDUCATION MINISTER OF MALAYSIA
(PRESENTED BY YB DR MOHD PUAD ZARKASHI
DEPUTY MINISTER OF EDUCATION II)
AT THE LAUNCHING CEREMONY OF THE BILINGUAL BOOK
“FROM THE WINDOW OF THIS EPOCH – AN ANTHOLOGY OF MALAYSIAN & SINGAPOREAN POEMS”
IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE 2009 SINGAPORE WRITERS FESTIVAL
ON 26 OCTOBER 2009 (MONDAY), 6.30 P.M., AT THE ART HOUSE (OLD PARLIAMENT LN.) SINGAPORE
GOOD EVENING, Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Acting Minister for Information Communications and The Arts ,
Mr Edmund Cheng, Chairman of the National Arts Council Singapore
MR. MOHD KHAIR NGADIRON, CEO, MALAYSIAN NATIONAL
INSTITUTE OF TRANSLATION
A VERY GOOD EVENING I BID TO OUR SPECIAL GUESTS, MEMBERS OF THE MALAYSIAN AND SINGAPORE LITERARY SCENE AND OTHER HONOURED GUESTS.
TERBANG RIANG SI BURUNG MURAI
HINGGAP SEBENTAR DI POHON BIDARA
SEBELUM KATA HENDAK DIHURAI
UCAP SALAM PEMULA BICARA
1. ASSALAMUALAIKUM WARAHMATULLAHI WABARAKATUH AND GREETINGS TO OUR NOBLE GUESTS. ALHAMDULILLAH, I AM IMMENSELY GRATEFUL TO ALLAH SUBHANAHUWATAALA FOR IT IS WITH HIS BLESSINGS THAT WE ARE ALL ABLE TO GATHER HERE TODAY TO LAUNCH THE BOOK FROM THE WINDOW OF THIS EPOCH – AN ANTHOLOGY OF MALAYSIAN & SINGAPOREAN POEMS. BEFORE I BEGIN MY SPEECH, I WOULD LIKE TO EXPRESS MY DEEPEST APPRECIATION TO THE MALAYSIAN NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TRANSLATION AND THE NATIONAL ARTS COUNCIL SINGAPORE FOR INVITING ME HERE TO LAUNCH A SIGNIFICANT WORK THAT SERVES AS A WITNESS TO THE CLOSE TIES BETWEEN OUR NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES.
RESPECTED GUESTS,
2. WE ARE ALL AWARE OF THE LEGACY LEFT BY OUR OWN LOCAL LITERARY LEGENDS, AL-RANIRI AND HAMZAH FANSURI. WE ARE ALSO WELL ACQUAINTED WITH HIKAYAT HANG TUAH, LONG CONSIDERED THE EPITOME OF QUALITY MALAY LITERATURE. IN THE PAST, WE VIEWED ALL SIMILAR WORKS AS PART OF MALAY LITERATURE BECAUSE THEY WERE CRAFTED BY MALAYS – EVEN IF THEY WERE CREATED IN MALACCA, ACEH OR IN OTHER PLACES SEPARATED BY OCEANS AND LANDS.
3. AS A RESULT OF COLONISATION, HOWEVER, MALAY LITERATURE BECAME A VICTIM OF THE DIVIDING LINES OF POLITICAL TERRITORIES SET BY OCCUPYING FORCES. HENCE, NEW NAMES AROSE IN REGIONAL LITERATURE SUCH AS MALAYSIAN MALAY LITERATURE, SINGAPORE MALAY LITERATURE, INDONESIAN MALAY LITERATURE AND BRUNEIAN MALAY LITERATURE. THOUGH THEY BEAR DIFFERENT NAMES AND ORIGINS, ONE FACTOR KEEPS THEM UNITED – THE MALAY LANGUAGE, OR THE LANGUAGE THEY WERE WRITTEN IN. BECAUSE OF THIS, OVER 140 MILLION PEOPLE IN MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE, INDONESIA AND BRUNEI ARE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE WRITERS’ IDEAS.
4. IT IS FOR THIS REASON THAT I BELIEVE IN THE GREAT POTENTIAL OF OUR WRITERS’ MASTERPIECES TO BE MARKETED TO OTHER COUNTRIES. IN FACT, THIS SITUATION HAS A POSITIVE IMPACT IN MAKING REGIONAL LITERATURE RESOUND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. NOW, IT IS NO LONGER IMPOSSIBLE TO ELEVATE OUR WORKS TO THE ATTENTION OF INTERNATIONAL READERS AS THE ROAD HAS ALREADY BEEN PAVED THROUGH TRANSLATION ACTIVITIES. I UNDERSTAND THAT THE MALAYSIAN NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TRANSLATION RECENTLY LAUNCHED A TRANSLATION OF THE CLASSIC MALAY WORK, THE EPIC OF HANG TUAH, AT THE FRANKFURT INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR. ALTHOUGH THIS WORK IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN 1849, IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO EXPORT OUR BEST WORKS TO THE REST OF THE WORLD. THROUGH QUALITY TRANSLATION, IT IS OUR HOPE THAT THE VALUE AND EXCELLENCE OF OUR LOCAL LITERARY WORKS CAN BECOME A FORCEFUL PRESENCE IN THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA.
ESTEEMED GUESTS,
5. one of the reasons i AM here TODAY Is THAT i recogniSe ACUTELY the INDIVISIBLE bond between malaysia and singapore THANKS TO literature OF the past. who HAS NOT HEARD OF our historic laureate abdullah munsyi, one of the pioneers of modern malay literature in the region? HE WAS born in malacca BUT relocated to singapore DURING the first half of the 19th century. despite leaving our shores long ago, the language of his time still speaks to US NOW due to the SIMILARITY of the malay language in malaysia and singapore. this convinces me of the capability and POTENTIAL of the malay language to increase ITS number of speakers to over 200 million people, and consequently become the lingua franca of the region. in spite of this, THIS GOAL will not SEE any progress if we, the people of malaysia and singapore, do not NURTURE the spirit and ambition necessary to advance the malay language through literature and daily conversations and writings.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
6. i firmly believe that OUR LITERARY works ARE NOT produced WITH the SOLE intention OF gainING awards, material wealth or social RECOGNITION. instead, i hope that FUTURE efforts such as the one undertaken today WILL CONTINUE TO BE based on OUR love for knowledge, artS and culture.
7. with that in mind, i would like to end my speech by once again expressing my gratitude to the malaysian national institute of translation and the national arts council singapore on their initiative to promote malay literature further through the publication of this WORK. with the recitation of BISMILLAHIRAHMANIRRAHIM, I AM PLEASED TO LAUNCH FROM THE WINDOW OF THIS EPOCH – AN ANTHOLOGY OF MALAYSIAN & SINGAPOREAN POEMS, A JOINT PUBLICATION BETWEEN THE MALAYSIAN NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TRANSLATION AND THE NATIONAL ARTS COUNCIL SINGAPORE.
THANK YOU.
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