Di Arkansas, saya tinggal dengan seorang Syrian-American Professor.Byk ilmu dia perturunkan kpd saya tentang penulis2 Muslim di Amerika.
Di Universiti Arkansas di Fayettevillle, saya bergambar dgn Senator Fulbright yang mempelopori Fulbright Grant ini.Beliau President pertama Universiti Arkansas (di sini juga Bill dan Hilary Clinton mengajar Law sebelum masuk politik)
Arkansas wilayah Selatan (ingat civil war Utara-Selatan mereka?) lebih mesra jika dibandingkan dgn daerah2 di Utara.Di sini agama Kristian masih kuat.Another universiti town.I did much work in the lib selama 3 hari di sini.
Spring dah mula di sini.
Bila balik ke Syracuse dan Ithaca, salji masih lebat.Bag saya tertinggal pulak dalam limo dari airport Syracuse balik ke Ithaca.Semua org kena gerodam dan 'dikerah' tolong saya kesan bag saya! (saya panik sebab dalam bag tu ada Visa saya, kerja kajian 3 hari di Arkansas, buku puisi Rumi yang baru dan sedang seronok saya baca, etc)
Akhirnya jumpa.Pihak Limo hantar ke rumah bag saya.Syukur!
5 comments:
Dr.Faridah
I was searching for info on Anak Rao(Rawa) - and I came across your I-Glass entry August 18, 2006. Saya sangat teruja yang Dr. want to write something about this keturunan and asking for more info on it. Someone gave you the www.jaro.com.my. Ya link ini baru saja - mungkin dibuat selepas perhimpunan Anak-anak Keturunan Rawa held in Raub last year. Accordingly the whole Dewan penuh dengan "Melayu keturunan Rao" from Gopeng, Selangor, NS and even K'tan. The prime mover of the gathering was the former Speaker of Dewan Negeri Pahang - Tengku Mustapha b Tengku Seti. Former KSN Tan Sri Sallehuddin was also involved. Upacara di rasmikan oleh Dato Sri Aziz Shamsuddin,the Minister,(keturunan Rawa from Gopeng)
Tg. Mustapha who had been to Rao a few times before, was also instrumental in bringing a few Rao VIPs (some ex-pembesar disana if I'm not mistaken) to the meeting. Saya percaya beliau mempunyai banyak info mengenai keturunan Rao ini. I plan to meet him soon. He is in Kg.Pintu Padang, Raub, Pahang - not far from my parents house (by the way I'm staying in Klang).
I had been tracing my keturunan (sebelah bapa) and thru JARO and my relatives I was able to "meet" my 8th generations grandpa , Merah Mas, in Tanjung Alai, Rao, Sumatera. However, I'm not so sure of its validity. Saya bukan orang "akademik" spt Dr.Faridah or Prof. Syamsul Amri (my good friend in UM - 1970, selalu nyanyi sama2 - but suara beliau lagi hebat) That is why I'm very excited about your intention. The info in JARO too is inadequate. Hingga kini saya belum berjumpa lagi satu penulisan "akademik" yang dibuat mengenai keturunan ini. It should be an exciting exercise.In the JARO data names like Long Jaafar & Ngah Ibrahim were also mentioned. (adakah sama dgn yg di Perak?)So Dr.Faridah if you are into this Rao-an thing please let me know, I may be able to help a little.
AC, thanks for dropping by.I hope you will update your blog on your findings.Every bit and piece we know of our history is impt for our anak cucu cicit.It will give them a sense of the past which will shape their today and tomorrow.Memang cliche tapi betul. :)
I think you shld also get in touch with your old friend, Prof Shamsul and see if he can give you any good lead.I'll try find something from the libs here (Cornell's Kroch Lib has a large collection of Southeast Asia materials).Will also write to another Prof friend of mine and see what he has to say of the Rawas.
Dr.Faridah
Sebenarnya saya tidak ada blog sendiri - hanya menumpang blog yg di sediakan oleh anak2/anak2 sdr/cucu2 sdr utk merapatkan hubungan kelurga kami.
Anyway I will try to see my old friend Prof S. Amri (we havent met for almost 30 years)and I do hope you will find something meaningful about the Rawas. And I hope too not only you, but other scholars (especially those with the Rawas blood) will come forward to do some meaningful research on the Rawas. I agree with you we are not doing this because we are racist or ethno-centric - but,to find out more about our roots (my anak/anak sdr/cucu were very excited about our family tree). Some may say we want to glorify our Indonesians origin. I totally disagree. To me, there were never Indonesian or Malayan (Malaysian) before. We were from the same geographical area and ethnic group - Nusantara & The Malay. Crossing over from Sumatera to Semanjung, then, is just like moving from Langkawi to Kedah now. Our ancestors did not migrate politically then. Thats why I always said I originated from Nusantara - not Indonesia/Sumatra.
TQ Dr.
oh yes, tell me abt family excitement.Kalau balik raya dan berkumpul..takda cerita lain..cerita rawa.My grandma stil retained some of these Rawa words for certain things (she's dead for decades now)and my sisters and I would talk about this.Tiap2 tahun cerita sama: Wan cakap bawang jasui for garlic.Or laskar for askar, etc.And when my uncles were still alive (my fav died two years ago.I miss him cos' he had lotsa Rawa stories everytime we visited him Raya time), they'd tell us how courageous the Rawas were (tapi if I go public on what they did..saya pulak mampos nanti dikejar musuh Rawa!)Kekadang rasa mcm Nazi!
Salam urang awak
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