Sastera Kebangsaan and 1 Malaysia

Joined a dialogue at DBP on the above out of curiosity.Many writers, critics and academics were present. KP chaired.I love this man.He seems to know what he's doing and seems pretty firm.I hope he delivers. Yang pasti Dato Hassan mcm biasa being blunt.Dia suka nak bagi pelempang kat orang ("saya kalau jumpa org yang dok kata dasar kita ni racist, nak je saya bagi pelempang" and he went on pointing faultlines often fwd-ed by minorities in Msia on kedudukan bahasa melayu, sastera kebangsaan, deb then, etc etc).

And secara selamba he asked why would UPM namakan one of the facs Fac Bahasa Moden. Bahasa mana yang tak modern? Selamba but big question.

Yang I suka dia kata menteri2 kita bukan ilmuan so macamana mereka nak buat keputusan yang bijak menangani masalah2? Bukan saja bukan ilmuan tapi takda pengalaman (some of them are so young! Ni I tambah)

Dr Hashim pointed to isu dasar sudah selesai dan kedudukan bahasa melayu/sastera kebangsaan pun sudah selesai.We ought to move fwd.I said selesai buat kita kelompok dbp and kelompok melayu but not for the minorities.Perkauman semakin menjadi2 di kalangan gen y (and I asked where do kids learn this if not from their parents.Amat2 bahaya!)

Zakir and Uthaya pun setuju memang kelompok bukan Melayu tidak dapat menerima kedudukan bahasa melayu or sastera kebangsaan sebagai mesti dlm bahasa melayu. Jadi nak buat mcmana? Mesti ada prog yang inclusive (let them write in lang of their choice but let the writings be translated into Malay..yang ini minorities tak leh nak challenge as long as the position of Malay as bahasa kebangsaan and dasar sastera kebangsaan mesti dlm bahasa melayu.Hey, we gotta have at least one language that we can communicate with...it can't be English.Hanya org bodoh yang akan ambik bahasa lain dan campakkan bahasa yang telah berakar umbi sebelum penjajahan! This kinda idea is often miscontrued as rejecting English altogether (or other languages).Apa ke bengap sgt tu??

Anyway, Zul, Zakir and I will meet on Facebook to discuss how to make lit. fashionable for our gen y.Harap2 tidak hangat2 taik ayam.If only they know sastera is a window (no! door!) to critical/creative thinking and a good training ground for effective communication.Sebab apa gen y cannot think,. it's becos' they were not taught to think and subjects like sastera je boleh do that (plus teach them empathy).You know don't you that part of the requirements to be in diplomatic service in Ireland is you must either be a grad of Literature or History or Philosophy? Hari ni ketiga subjects ini dilihat as takda nilai in Msia. Sebab kita sibuk nak buat duit.Enterpreneurshiplah, innovationlah.At the expense of stg bigger.Bila org attack nilai kita/negara kita, ternganga2 nak jawab sebab tak leh nak argue.Komunikasi and language and critical thinking skills takda.

Kerajaan pun mestilah jgn dok kupik sgt nak keluar budget to make lit important again.Ni konon nak 1 Malaysia tapi keluar belanja kedekut (with regard to supporting prog2 to include other groups to write for sastera kebangsaan..it includes costs to translate works written in other languages to Malay, training students/teachers to berkarya in Malay esp. creative writing, etc etc esp in Chinese and Tamil schools..can you imagine these kids tak tau Malay pun most of them? The Malays are not allowed to be chauvinists but they can? I think for 1 Malaysia to work, we must meet halfway dgn mematuhi perlembagaan dan semangat perpaduan.Dan jangan be selective perlembagaan mana yang harus diikut.There's a bit of earth for everyone.You must enter the playing field with utmost sincerity bukan dgn niat nak kick lawan and rampas bola tanpa ikut peraturan)

I dulu support Chelsea (masa Murinho) :))