Literary Happenings!

Here are some of the other literary things you can find going on in the next few days in KL.

Tomorrow, Saturday 22nd November at 5.30pm at Silverfish Books (58-1 Jalan Telawi, Bangsar, KL) Kee Thuan Chye and friends Azmi Sharom, Animah Kosai, Helen Ang and Chacko Vadaketh will be reading excerpts from March 8th : The Day Malaysia Woke Up. There will be a discussion and Q&A after the reading and refreshments will be served. Free admission. (More information here.)

The Department of English Language and Literature (IIUM) will be hosting An Evening of Readings and Spoken Word on Tuesday 25th November from 8:00pm - 10:30pm in Ballroom 3, Crown Princess Hotel, City Square Centre, Jalan Tun Razak. This is an event held in conjunction with the international conference entitled ENGLISH and ASIA: First International Conference on Language and Linguistics 2008.

The evening will feature local poets and writers Dato' M. Shanmughalingam, Prof. Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof, Dr. Nor Faridah Abdul Manaf, the popular KL Slam's regulars and finalists, the active spoken word collective Poetry Underground and many more.

There will also be a performance by Ms Hardev Kaur, renowned Malaysian Hindi singer and local indie musicians ready to perform their original compositions. There may also be an open mic session.

The event is free for all Conference delegates. However, for non-delegates, there is a RM40 door fee inclusive of supper break by the end of the program.

Please reserve tickets now as places are limited. Contact Sheena 0129522094 nubian.crib@gmail.co to book your seats or if you have any enquiry! (The event also has a Facebook page.)

Please don't forget about Readings@Seksan on November 29th. I am just about to get the info out!

Censorship in UKM?

I learned about Shamsiah Fakeh's memoir when I was at the IIU seminar recently and Prof. Dr Ruzy Suliza Hashim was talking about the paucity of memoirs written by Malaysian women. She referred to Shamsiah Fakeh's book as one very important example: the author was former head of Communist Party Malaysia's Women's Wing. Dr. Ruzy mentioned that the book was now banned, and of course I was curious to hear another Malaysian banned book story.

But this time there's a twist - it isn't the KKDN (Ministry of Home Affairs) that's the villain of the piece, it was the Minister of Information who ordered the publisher UKM (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia) to withdraw the book from sale.

I realised when I started to read about the book online that I'm coming to the story rather late, but I'm unapologetic because I'm fathoming this banned book business out for myself and laying out all the pieces to try to see the whole story.

What is clear from recent bannings of works by and about prominent communists (recent examples being Amir Muhammad's film and the book about the Kathigasu family which still remains in KKDN limbo) is that alternative views of The Emergency are not permitted to become part of the official historical discourse.

This article from 2005 in online newspaper Malaysiakini (you need to be a subscriber to access the piece in its entirety) mentions:

... hostile critics who mounted a media campaign in the Umno-controlled Utusan Malaysia ...

So the deciders of what can and cannot be read or seen appear to be the Malay Language press, which then puts pressure on the government. In Amir's case, of course, it was Berita Harian who stirred the whole controversy up after his film had already been given the green light.

The Malaysiankini article continues:

Nowadays, it has become a fashion for many Malaysians to read what the conservative or even reactionary elites do not like to read or would not like them to read. It augurs well for the opening up of the Malaysian minds and challenging the secular monopoly of truth, including holy ones, by Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, RTM and some of their fellow scribes in the universities and think-tanks.

However, the memoirs are published only in the context of a series of other memoirs, including those of the very anti-communist Ghazali Shafie, a former Malaysian foreign as well as home minister in the 1970s and also a former British agent of special operations with the anti-Japanese Force 136.

Indeed, whether one finally agrees with Ibrahim Chik or Shamsiah Fakeh or not, the mere publications of their memoirs are indeed intellectually courageous acts which must be commended by all right-minded persons. The question that remains now is whether there would be rational and fair-minded public discussions on the contents of the memoirs.

Apparently not.

The UKM authorities were apparently pressured to withdraw sales of Shamsiah Fakeh's book. (Wouldn't one expect a bit more guardianship of knowledge from a university publisher??)

Meanwhile pirated copies of the book are circulating.

It's a tough job to keep a good book down ... and intellectuals in the dark.