Kamilah pembawa obor keamanan

Last day of my conference.My paper was after lunch.I thought it went well.Got a few nice questions from sidang hadirin and was sharing a panel (I was in the plenary session) with someone from KOMPAS dan someone from the publishing industry (wough...depa so advanced....promo novels mcm buat filem!)

Malamnya I was invited by Dato KP to join his team to a dinner hosted by one Deputy Minister (the Kedutaan Malaysia people also came).Nama restoran tu Nona Bola..Malaysian and Indian cuisine with an Indonesian touch.We had a nice time.I sat to this very strong lady who works at the Msian Embassy in Jakarta who's just lost her eldest son in a motor accident malam 27 Ramadan yang baru ni...he's a student at MCKK.My..so tough...may Allah grant her greater iman and may her son be placed in jannah.

Anyway, it was a business dinner.Kami bincang how to eratkan hubungan erat dua-hala Msia-Indonesia through budaya dan sastera.Nov. ini mungkin sesuatu besar akan dianjurkan bersama antara group Riau dan DBP.I harap UIA akan tompang semangkok. I dah offered IIUM hospitality. Kami ingin bersama membawa obor keamanan! :)

While I say nice things about the literary scene in Indonesia, our counterparts think we are so much better than them.

I enjoyed the sessions presented by non-native speakers from France, Holland and China today.Yang sorang tu presented a paper on ideologi sastra bugis.Katanya, orang bugis ini ada 3 teras falsafah dalam budayanya demi untuk meraih kemenangan (see how C4 fits in here)

ujung pisau (guna kekerasan)
ujung lidah (if kekerasan fails, guna diplomasi)
ujung penis (if all fails, guna perkahwinan untuk meraih cita-cita)

Satu bentuk sastera Bugis ialah elong.Bunyinya begini:

Lebbae paleq pawawa
patiwiq temmassengeq
mau ni sagala

maksudnya

sebab kecewa
aku tak rindu
sekalipun ia cantik

(elong ada 3 baris dgn sukukata 8-7-6...a bit like haiku, dak? cuma haiku ada bunyi alam)

Oh malam tadi we had another dinner (hosted by Pusat Bahasa).Semua pekerja mereka pandai nyanyi..jazz you..ada juga lagu2 rakyat/local.Group Malaysia ni buta music.Puan Salmiah malu2...walhal she can sing very well (I was willing to be backup gal with the others kalau dia nak nyanyi lagu raya.Hahaha).

I dah homesick ni (sebab sehingga ini, belum ada kesempatan nak keluar membeli telekong bersulam).Besok bermula pulak mesyuarat kami (another event yang berbeza from the conference).