SHAHNON AHMAD: MAlAY AUTHOR

SHAHNON AHMAD: MAlAY AUTHOR*
Harrv Aveling
(halleling@holmail.cOmJ
Monash University. Australia
Abstract
Shah non Ahmad's recent autobiographical volume, Weltanschauung:
Suatu Perjalanan Kreatif (2008), covers many topics in its 748 pages.
Interestingly, the word "Malay" is not to be found in its index. Yet
Shahnon is often constructed by critics, especially non-Malaysian
critics, as the quintessentially "Malay author". The paper will study
"insider" (emic) and "outsider" (etic) views of how Shahnon is
perceived as "Malay" by various critics and how his "Malayness" is
encoded in other, different ways in his own work.
Keywords: emic, etic, Malay author, Shahnon Ahmad, Malayness.
Introduction
Sasterawan Negara Dato' Professor Emeritus Haji Shahnon Ahmad (b.
1933, Sik, Kedah) has been a towering presence in Malay literature for
over forty years. His first short story, "Bingung", appeared in Majafah
Guru on 24 May 1956; his first novel, Rentong, was published in 1965,
almost a decade later. He has been much admired, at home and
abroad, and, at various times, much reviled as well, especially after the
• This paper was originally presented to the workshop on "Race and Nation. Family
and Economy", sponsored by the Asia Research Institute and Department of Malay
Studies, National University of Singapore, 20 - 21 January 2009.
39
MALAY LITERATURE
publication of his political satire, Shit (1999). His views on Islam and,
in particular its relationship to Malay literature (Shah non, 1981), have
also been extremely controversial (see especially Kassim Ahmad and
Shahnon Ahmad, 1987), although they arguably mark a significant stage
in the development of Malay literature. His works move, as the title of
Ungku Maimunah's book puts it, Antara Kampung dan Kota (1998),
between the Malay rural countryside and the contemporary city, from
the narrow limits of family and rice-growing to the broader concerns of
race and nation.
In this paper, I am interested in making a preliminary comparison
between Shahnon's views of Malay society, himself and his work, as
presented in his recent diverse collection of essays, Weltanschauung:
Suatu Perjalanan Kreatif(2008), and how literary critics have characterised
those topics on the basis of his various short stories and novels. In
order to do this, I will particularly rely on the distinction developed by
Kenneth Pike (1954/1971) and Marvin Harris (1979) between "emic"
and "etic" (insider and outsider) categories. Pike defines these terms
as follows:
It proves convenient - though partially arbitrary - to describe behavior
from two different standpoints, which lead to results which shade into
one another. The etic viewpoint studies behavior as from outside of
a particular system, and as an essential initial approach to an alien
system. The emic viewpoint results from studying behavior as from
inside the system. (Pike, 1971 :37)
Harris provides slightly different definitions of these terms, arguing
that an outsider may in time be able to see what the insider sees, and
that the objective insider may also, by virtue of this quality, become an
outsider to his/her own community:
Emic operations have as their hallmark the elevation of the native
informant to the status of ultimate judge of the adequacy of the
observer's descriptions and analyses. The test of the adequacy
of emic analyses is their ability to generate statements the native
accepts as real, meaningful, or appropriate. In carrying out research
in the emic mode, the observer attempts to acquire a knowledge of
the categories and rules one must know in order to think and act as
a native ....
Etic operations have as their hallmark the elevation of observers to
the status of ultimate judges of the categories and concepts used in
descriptions and analyses. The test of the adequacy of etic accounts
is simply their ability to generate SCientifically productive theories
about the causes of sociocultural differences and similarities. Rather
than employ concepts that are necessarily real, meaningful, and
40
HARRY AVELING
appropriate from the native point of view, the observer is free to
use alien categories and rules derived from the data language of
science. Frequently, etic operations involve the measurement and
juxtaposition of activities and events that native informants may find
inappropriate or meaningless. (Harris, 1979:32)
Let me admit from the outset that I have some hesitations in using
these two categories, being potentially aware, as Roger Keesing has
suggested: "none of the cognitive anthropologists whose work I have
been reading in the last ten years use those terms any more ... [The
concept] lives on [only] in the periphery ... I just don't think emic and etic
is a relevant distinction any more" (cited in Headland, Pike and Harris,
1990:23). Nevertheless, I also understand that many other contemporary
social scientists do still find the distinctions of "insider" and "outsider"
relevant to their own concerns (see, for example, Miller and Glassner,
1997) and hope that the perspective the terms offer may be useful in
our present discussions.
Non-Malay Literary Criticism of Shah non Ahmad
Although literary criticism has a different approach to language and
culture from linguistics and anthropology, the need for the objective
description and analysis of literary texts, as texts and in wider contexts,
is generally recognized as a priority by most literary scholars. In Pike's
and Harris's uses of the terms, the criticism of Shahnon's fiction by
Malays and non-Malays alike is an etic, scientific, knowledge seeking,
process. Malay critics may, of course, bring certain emic insights which
are not immediately available to outsiders as part of this process. In this
section of the paper, I will briefly consider the construction of Shahnon's
major themes made by three major non-Malay critics, Professors A.
Teeuw, A.H. Johns and Edwin Thumboo.
Shah non's work seems to have attracted little critical attention until the
appearance of his two novels Rentong and Terdedah in 1965, despite the
steady publication of short stories in the early 1960s, and their collection
into two anthologies, Anjing-anjing (1964) and Oebu Merah (1965) (see
the list "Apa Orang Kata" in Shah non 2006:235 - 36). Chronologically,
the earliest paper in the critical anthology Tanggapan: Pembicaraan
Karya-karya Shahnon Ahmad (1986) is a study of Terdedah by Yahaya
Ismail (first published in Berita Minggu, 14 November 1965); the second
is a study of Terdedah and Rentong by the visiting Dutch scholar A.
Teeuw: "Dua Novelet Karangan Shahnon Ahmad" (1966).
Teeuw's article was written in Indonesian/Malay and first published
in Dewan Bahasa, March 1966 (reprinted in Safian et at. 1986:32 - 40
and Hamzah and Zeti 2007:32 - 42). The use of the Malay language
41
MALAY LITERATURE
indicates that he was speaking to a Malay audience but Teeuw
consciously positioned himself as an etic commentator: "an outsider
... a foreigner who is fully interested in the Malay world and culture"
(sebagai orang /uar ... orang asing, yang berminat penuh terhadap
dunia dan kebudayaan Me/ayu, Safian et at. 1986:36). Teeuw found
that there was little in Terdedah which might be considered "Malay"
(sedikit sahaja yang bersifat Me/ayu, 36), apart from the author's
social criticism (kritik masyarakat Me/ayu, 36). The novel is strongly
indebted to western techniques and ideas, in as far as it is reliant on
interior monologue and deeply influenced by an outdated Freudianism
(35-36). As a consequence, Teeuw therefore judged Terdedah to be
of little interest to him as a scholar of Malay society (dismissing it, in
fact, as offensively pornographic).
Rentong, on the other hand, provided an opportunity to understand
a specific Malay community (untuk berkena//angsung dengan orang
kampung Banggu/ Derdap, Pekan Sik di Kedah, 36). Teeuw used two
strategies in his search as an outsider to understand the rural world of
Shahnon and his characters. The first was to draw on his knowledge
of the Indonesian "New Generation" (Angkatan Terbaru) of the 1950s,
who deliberately sought to return Indonesian culture to its regional
roots, as a way of providing a parallel path into locating Shahnon's use
of rural themes. The second was the attempt to identify imaginatively
with the Malay perspective of his readers. Teeuw praised Shah non's
powerful use of a rich, tough regional language (Bahasa ini keras dan
kena, kuat kuasa, kaya pula dengan kata-kata /oghat Kedah yang
banyak sekali terdapat di da/amnya, 39), because of what it showed of
the Malay character - "the people of Kedah, who think and feel in that
language" (bahasa ini berkenaan /angsung dengan manusia Kedah,
manusia kampung yang berfikir dan berasa da/am bahasa itu dan yang
dilambangkan pula me/a/ui bahasa itu. Manusia tegang keras da/am
dunia yang tegang keras pula, 39).
Like Terdedah, Rentong also used the interior monologue technique,
but in such a way that it was able to bring the reader into the way of
thinking that is characteristic of Kedah (dikenakan dengan sanggup agar
memasukkan pembaca ke da/am cara fikir dan cara rasa manusia ini,
39 -40). Teeuw was thus able to recommend this book to Malay readers
for its use of authentic Malay materials in a reasonably modern form
(nove/et Rentong sudah tentu per/u diberi perhatian o/eh masyarakat
Me/ayu sebagai contoh penggunaan bahan-bahan yang betu/ Me/ayu
da/am bentuk yang agak moden jua, 38). Teeuw, we may conclude,
is a generous etic observer of Malay language and literature, who is
an emic observer with regard to western culture, and at the same time
keen to describe the emic insights of his insider informants for primarily
emic readers.
42
HARRY AVELING
After these two short works, Shahnon quickly established himself
as a prolific novelist. Ranjau Sepanjang Ja/an followed in 1966, Menteri
and Prates in 1967, and Perdana in 1969. The presence of a significant
body of work led to the second major "outsider" analysis of Shahnon's
work, A.H. Johns' paper "Man in a Merciless Universe: The Work of
Shahnon Ahmad" (1974). The paper is a critical survey of Shah non's early
work and was originally presented to the 28th International Congress
of Orientalists, held in Canberra in January 1971, a clearly etic setting.
Shah non was a participant at this conference (Shahnon, 2006:203),
and the article was immediately published in Malay as "Karya-karya
Shahnon Ahmad: Manusia dalam Alam Tanpa Belas Kasihan" in the
March 1971 edition of Dewan Sastera (reprinted in Safian Hussain et
a/. 1986:1-20).
Johns' conclusion to this paper defined some of the parameters within
which he himself worked as a critic. These parameters emphasised the
role of the author's personality in shaping the path in which his/her work
is to follow. "In approaching literary works," Johns wrote, "in attempting
to understand their structure, it is useful to make the effort to understand
the mysterious chemistry of an author's personality, and to discover the
way in which it has reacted with its environment" (1974:73). As Johns
had previously insisted elsewhere: "(t)he type of literature to which
we attach the unsatisfactory term 'modern' is a form of entertainment"
(and not of instruction, as we find in 'traditional' literature), which is
characterized by "the author expressing a standpoint of his own, giving
an individual critique and analysis of life around him .... There cannot
be for [the traditional author] any of that agonizing sense of doubt, that
questioning and criticism of the bases of social life, and the analysis and
presentation of the predicaments of individuals out of which Western
literature is made" (1963/1979:31).
"Man in a Merciless Universe" argued that the personality of the
mature writer is shaped by "a set of basic values and styles which inform
his work", and that at a certain pOint in time these "coalesce, set the
path he is to follow, and determine the field in which he is to achieve
significant work" (1974:73).The "ultimate question" is "one of identity"
(73) and language forms a significant part of that identity: "Language
itself is a strange alchemy," Johns wrote:
Part of the effectiveness of a language resides in the range of
imaginative writing it sustains, and the efficacy with which this writing
enriches both the minds and sensibilities of its native speakers and
those for whom it must become a language of cultural intercourse
and educational development. Indeed, what a person is, what it is
within his capacity to become, depend on the resources and scope
of the language through which his sense of the world, values and
43
MALAY LITERATURE
personality are formed. And once this formation has occurred, it is
almost impossible for experience gained in later life to modify it. By
the same token then, every extension to the compass of a language
is an extension of intellectual range and fecundity of the people to
whom it is native. (74)
The essay began with a description of the historical context which
allowed for development in 1946 of "a Malay elite with a clearly defined
national as opposed to group consciousness" (1974:59) and, related
to this, the emergence of the Singapore Malay group of authors, the
"generation of '50", who were for the first time able "to get to grips with the
difficulties involved in understanding and communicating the intimacies
of the individual consciousness" (61). Then the paper developed through
a consideration of Shahnon's understanding of himself "as an artist,
and all that this implies" (61, modified) as revealed in the various works
of fiction. The first collection of short stories, Anjing-anjing, revealed
"a certain vigour of style, social concern and a touch of melodrama ...
reflection, and perhaps hindsight, shows that a very distinctive literary
talent is at work" (62). The second, Oebu Merah, showed "a confidence,
a zest and enjoyment of writing as a craft", and "[e]qually important, the
narrative line no longer even begins with lip service to a social issue,
although it may be implicit in the plot; rather the story is the vesture, the
image one might say, of a comment on life and human nature" (63).
Rentong brings these qualities together, adding as well a far more
complex presentation of character than in the earlier stories. "Somehow",
Johns noted, "we are taken into the thoughts and emotions of the
principal characters ... ". Johns' "somehow" is, of course, Teeuw's
"interior monologue", but Johns was far more explicit than Teeuw in
his assessment of the novel, insisting:
While no one could claim that the analysis of character is profound,
these are real people. The description of the rural background is even
more effective; culturally there is not a false touch, and as for setting,
the landscape is vibrant with implicit life, whether under the radiance
of the sun or shrouded by the darkness of a moonless night. (65)
The "moral judgment on the human condition" (66) which Johns found
to be symbolized in the ending of Rentong is the basis for Shahnon's
next novel, Ranjau Sepanjang Ja/an. Johns noted the sociological
aspects of the novel - Malay poverty, rural indebtedness, the unequal
distribution of resources within Malay society, etc., (66), but these were
not what mattered in a final consideration of the work. Rather, the novel
is shaped by "a tight formal structure, and a cunning, if unconscious,
selection of archetypes and overtones" (67): time, structure, human
existence and the struggle against the elements for survival, which
44
HARRY AVELING
Johns suggested could, in this context, "rightly be called the dharma of
the rice-field" (67). This moral viewpoint was spelled out in the following
crucial statement:
Such is the vision of (Ranjau Sepanjang Ja/an): Man lives in a
merciless universe; created from the dust of the earth, his fate is to
wrestle with that dust in order to survive. The odds against which
he must struggle make death and insanity his lot. But he may never
surrender. (69)
We shall not follow Johns in his discussion of Terdedah, Menteri
and Prates (both 1967), and Perdana (1969), all of which indicate "a
shift in Shah non's interest from village life to the issues of political
responsibility at the national level" (71), and about which, in fact,
Johns had little to say. Rather, let us return to Johns' final assessment
of Shahnon's work and understanding of his sense of identity (74).
In his work and in his life, Johns claims, Shah non has successfully
positioned himself as a modern, self-aware individual, in touch with
traditional society and its archetypes. His characters embody aspects
of Shahnon's own interests - "personal morality, rural modernization
and political responsibility" - but beyond this, he has been able "to view
man from various aspects: as a creature oppressed by loneliness, as
a creature overwhelmed by a sense of inadequacy and bewilderment
at the birth of a new world - and in so doing to give a cosmic vision of
the human condition" (75).
In "Man in a Merciless Universe", Johns constructed a psychological
and social identity for Shahnon which was strongly reliant on a Romantic
understanding of the artist as a sensitive moral spokesman for a wider
society. The morality proposed, although referred to by the HinduBuddhist term dharma, was a universal morality, which constructed
the world as a malicious place of arbitrary but constant suffering.
For other readers, Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan was based on a
different morality, encapsulated in the profoundly Muslim message to
be found in the first two sentences and regularly repeated thereafter:
"Mati hidup dan susah senang dipegang oleh Tuhan. Dipegang oleh
Allah Azzawajalla" (Shahnon Ahmad, 1966: 1) - in Adibah Amin's
translation: "Life and death, dearth and plenty, are in the hands of
God. In the hands of Allah the Almighty" (Shahnon, 1972: 1). Edwin
Thumboo's article "Shah non Ahmad's No Harvest but a Thorn" (1979:
Malay translation in Safian et al. 1986:91 - 118) began by citing these
words, in English, and insisted that their "emphatic brevity outlines the
macrocosm governing the interlocking spiritual, emotional, and physical
environment inhabited by Lahuma and his family" (89).
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MALAY LITERATURE
Thumboo linked the theology of the novel to the shaping of character,
and then both to "every aspect of daily peasant life" (94). In accepting
that the central concerns of No Harvest but a Thorn were religious
and not moral or sociological, Thumboo provided a central link for
understanding the characters' motivations and actions:
The psychology of the chief characters is made acceptable by
functioning in terms that accord with the spiritual and social systems
they inhabit. The faith in Allah is not abstract or metaphysical merely.
It manifests as an active capacity to accept a life marked more by
tragedy - and the potential for tragedy - than the promise of joy.
There is a remarkable consistency in how Lahuma, Jeha and Sanah
respond to events, asserting a life-force in the face of immense odds.
(92)
Thumboo was not a scholar of Malay Studies but Professor of
English at the University of Singapore, working from Adibah Amin's
translation (Shahnon, 1972). His only references were to Adibah's
"Introduction" and "Man in a Merciless Universe". Unlike Teeuw's and
Johns' readings, developed within a framework of Malay Studies,
Thumboo's interpretation was shaped by his reading of English
Literature and other Literatures in English. We can see this different
disciplinary influence on the second page of his article, when Thumboo
writes: 'The theology of this macrocosm touches every aspect of life
by dictating the way the individual sees himself in relation to those
he loves, domestic responsibilities, work, and environment" (90).
"Theologies" and "macrocosms" provided excellent entries into "The
Elizabethan World Picture" for scholars in English Departments during
the 1960s (Tillyard, 1963); that world is very far from Shahnon's rural
Muslim world. Further, Thumboo's parallels were not to Indonesian
or Malay writing but to the canonical masterpieces of Commonwealth
Literature as it was taught in English Departments at that time: Chinua
Achebe's (Things Fall Apart, 91), Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's (A Grain of
Wheat) and Kamala Markandaya's (Nectar in a Sieve, 92). This is
a clear example of how etic descriptions can draw on emic material
but exist for their own sake and need not depend on emic validation
at all.
Two Malay Literary Critics, Insiders and Outsiders Both
Language is not, in itself, a decisive feature of insider status. Although
Teeuw's article was written in Indonesian/Malay, the translations of
the articles by Johns and Thumboo were not reprinted in Hamzah
Hamdani and Zeti Aktar Jaffar's later critical anthology, Shahnon Ahmad
46
HARRY AVELING
dalam Esei dan Kritikan (2007). The next two critics whom I wish to
discuss, Ungku Maimunah Mohd Tahir (1998) and Mohd Yusof Hasan
(1989), both Malays, from Johor and Kedah respectively, have written
significant book-length studies of Shahnon's works - in English. 1
The two studies are informed by a common methodology, which seeks
to view Shah non's writing in the light of its social context rather than
the abstract moral or spiritual relationship of the individual to the wider
universe. Perhaps not coincidentally, this methodology characterizes
Teeuw's essay as well.
Although Yusof's study is entitled Novels of the Troubled Years: A
Study of Shahnon Ahmad's Novels 1965-1978, the historical events
he describes range more broadly: from the independence of Malaya in
1957, the end of the Emergency in 1960, the formation of Malaysia in
1963, the efforts of the Malay community to create more opportunities for
itself, the struggle for the recognition of Malay as the National Language,
the racial riots of May 1969, to the economic problems which led to the
1975 peasant demonstrations in rural Kedah. Yusof describes these
"troubled years" as "a time of shaping a political, economic, social and
cultural Malay consciousness", and argues that Shah non's "own life and
works mirror the developments in Malay society from Independence to
the present" (xi).
Yusof lists and summarises each of Shahnon's many short stories
and ten novels in meticulous detail. At regular intervals, he pauses from
his consideration of "themes and characters ... language and literary
style" to present the background to these works in broad historical terms
as a way of conceptualizing Shahnon's "reaction to and reflection on
the development of Malay society" (231). The overall narrative which
emerges reveals Shahnon's disillusionment with the moral failures of
the nationalist Malay elite and his sympathy for the suffering of the
rural masses (xx).
Yusof finds a common theme for Shahnon's earliest short stories,
1956 -1960, which is only minimally related to sex; they are focused on
"the abuse of power" (6). The stories criticize "the lifestyles, appearances,
and the hypocrisies of what might be termed the 'fat cats' of society" and
reinforce "a sense of commitment to the country and the Malay race"
(11). Rentong, on the other hand, is politically more positive: it presents
a picture of a wise village leader who is able to restore harmony to a
disturbed situation through his "patience and selflessness" (48). Ranjau
Sepanjang Ja/an is less about the conflict of man with man and more
1 Both books are based on doctoral theses completed in Australia at the same time,
1980-1984. Both candidates received their degrees from the Australian National
University, although Maimunah's work was undertaken under special arrangements
at the Flinders University of South Australia.
47
MALAY LITERATURE
about the conflict between man and nature, with the associated need
to trust completely in God, but it too has an underlying sub-theme of
the exploitation of poor Malays, not only at the hands of Chinese but
also at those of rich Malays (64). Terdedah shares in the criticism of
hereditary titled groups which arose in the wider society during the
early 1960s and a common disappointment with the abuse of power
by "some politicians and [political] leaders" (66 - 7), contrary to what
had been expected after Independence. It develops around the sexual
problems, misdemeanors and temptations of its characters, but, at a
deeper level, it also offers "an acid comment on the standard of social
and political morality in Malay society" (67, see also 71).
With the novels of the second half of the 1960s, a change takes place:
"character and social aspects, though still important, are secondary to the
political dimension" (95). Menteri and Perdana, were characterized by a
continued awareness of the ineffectualness of Malay leadership at both
the state and national levels and, in particular, their inability to improve
the community's economic position in a multiracial state (xvii). Yusof
discerns a new distinction in Shah non's perception of the elite between
devoted but frustrated party (UMNO) politicians and "the treachery of
government officers and civil servants" (107). If the party had more control
over bureaucrats, there would be a greater focus on the wellbeing of
Malays and less talk of Malaysia which only benefits the other races
(108). Perdana dealt historically with the rise and development of Malay
nationalism, and gave special attention to the ideologies of the various
thinly disguised characters (124). These were, respectively, gradual
nationalism (Ketua Ahmad, perhaps based on Senu Abdul Rahman or
Mohd Khir Johari, 124 - 27), a conciliatoriness towards other races
which tended to betray the Malay community (Lokman, based on Dato'
Onn, 128 - 29), a pro-Malay and manipulatively pro-Islamic attitude (Pak
Nik, Dr Burhanuddin Helmy, 129 - 31), and, finally, a commitment to
Special Rights for Malays but also to multiracial harmony (Abdul Rahim,
Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, 131 - 33). Of the two novels, Menteri "is
more consistent and subtle in its portrayal of Malay political issues in
the period after attaining independence" (138); in particular, it "poses
questions about the economic survival of Malays in their own country
and with great frankness and courage reveals the racial tensions and
prejudices within the Malaysian community at that time" (138).
Yusof's time frame enabled him to continue his study of Shah non's
political and nationalist literary analysis of the Malay dilemma into the
1970s, which earlier critics had obviously not been able to do. He saw
Shah non's period in Australia, 1968-1972, as an intermediate time,
when Shah non "underwent a wide range of unsettling and disconcerting
experiences" (140). Yusof mentions a significant range of works Srengenge (1973); Sampah (1974); and the short stories, some of which
48
HARRY AVELING
were eventually collected as Se/esai Sudah (1977) - and described the
years 1974 and 1975 as a time of "renewed social commitment" (the title
of chapter 6). Yusof baldly lists some of the reasons being advanced
at this time to explain Malay rural poverty: "multinational investment,
corruption among politicians and government officials, lack of rural
development, inadequate rural education facilities and the absence of
social justice" (185). However, Shah non's novels and short stories from
this time were based on actual contemporary events: Kemelut (1977) on
the industrial pollution of fishing waters south of Butterworth 2 ; Seluang
Menodak Baung (1978) on the farmer and student demonstrations held
in Baling, Kedah and at the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang in 1974.
Yusof concludes: "With these novels, Shahnon has returned to earlier
themes and issues of social concerns, but his literary skills are now
more mature. These two novels, especially, combine old themes of rural
struggle, urban social problems, political issues, and human tension with
the new social realities read about, seen and experienced by Shahnon
Ahmad" (230). For Yusof, the depiction of the Malay community in
Shah non's work is immediate and unproblematic.
Maimunah also saw Shahnon's work as reflecting a particular
contextual reality. The task she set herself was more complex than that
to which Yusof aspired. As she wrote:
It is a premise of this book that a study of Shahnon's works necessarily
involves placing them within the context of the totality which gives
them birth. The environment in which he was nurtured, the social
reality which surrounded him and the literary climate with its attendant
biases and allegiances are forces which act upon him and upon which
he acts. A product of this totality, his works take on a distinct character,
based on his choice and selection of material, the perspective he
gives it and the consciousness which underpins it. Recurrent themes
and preoccupations, presented from different angles for purposes of
clarification and reinforcement, become evident in his works. This,
in turn, reflects Shahnon's own commitments, idealism, indeed, his
personal vision and uncompromising pursuit of this vision. (87)
More complex, but also narrower. It was Maimunah's argument that:
"Shah non utilizes and modifies on the basis of his own experience the
perceptions and world-view which characterize modern Malay literary
culture. It is this process of dynamic interaction with the tradition of
Malay literature which produces the framework of ideas that structures
his novels" (10 -11). She in fact made little effort to describe the major
2 This matter was described in detail in a pamphlet published by the Consumers'
Association of Penang, Pollution, Kuala Juru's Battle for Survival, 1976.
49
MALAY LITERATURE
political or social events which concern Yusof, although these were
accepted as being the wider context for Malay literary history (10).
Section 1 of the book presented "A Brief Survey of Modern Malay
Literary Culture", surveying in detail the growth of Malay Literature from
the coming of British colonialism in the 1870s to the writers of the 1970s. 3
Maimunah discerned certain common themes running throughout the
whole of modern Malay literature. From Abdullah Munshi on, authors
have acted as social critics, articulating "their thoughts and perceptions
of their surroundings" (35), most commonly "the values and mores
closely associated with their rural background and education" (38).
These values have associated rural life with "moral excellence, good
conduct and positive values such as honesty and diligence", and the
city as "a negation of both Malay culture and religion" (40). Maimunah
suggests that there was also a class dimension to these views: 'The
poor and oppressed were assigned positive qualities and virtues, while
the elite and the rich were denied any good at all ... Malay leaders were
callous, uncaring of their own people and guilty of betraying their own
"race". The Western-educated bureaucrats ... were usually presented
as irreligious, steeped in vice and obsessed with the pursuit of sensual
gratification. Like their urban counterparts, the authority figures in the
villages were similarly cast as hypocrites who used their own positions
to further their own selfish ends" (51).
The rest of the book built on these foundations. Section 2 traced the
preliminary formation of this "world-view" in Rentong and Terdedah, which
is the "consolidated" in the future novels from Ranjau Sepanjang Ja/an
to Kemelut, and "concretized" in Se/uang Menodak Baung. Section 3
discussed the "rural bias" of Shahnon's works ("a bias towards sympathy
with the rural environment") and the ways in which literary critics have
responded positively to the obvious dichotomy between "village and
non-village" preoccupations in his work (234).4
Like Yusof's work, Maimunah's study found that the relation between
text and context was immediate and unproblematic. Neither Yusof nor
Maimunah engaged in primary historical research in their description
of the wider context of Shah non's writing, although Maimunah's
3 This first section was published separately in 1987 as Modern Malay Literary Culture:
A Historical Perspective. Research Notes and Discussion Paper. No. 62. Singapore:
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
4 This distinction is also made in Novels ofthe Troubled Years. Yusof suggests that the
village represents traditional values, sound leadership and religious faith, while the
town represents the modern aspects of society, in which "leadership is represented
by administrators, members of parliament and ministers from the Malay middle and
upper classes who pursue their own interests rather than those of the people they
represent" (241 ).
50
HARRY AVELING
presentation was far better grounded in secondary sources than is
Yusof's. Neither presented a theoretically sophisticated explanation of
the way in Shahnon's writing "mirrors" (Mohd Yusof Hasan, 1989:xi),
or "articulates" (Maimunah, 1998:35), the reality by which it is created.
The possibility that his views represent one particular perspective within
the multiple positions provided by socially and geographically diverse
Malay culture, was never considered. Both accepted that what matters
in Shahnon's writing is his participation in, and articulation of, a wider,
monolithic "Malay consciousness [which is] the determining factor within
the historical events" (Maimunah, 1998: 171). Shahnon's fiction is a
nonobjective, fully emic, presentation of Malay reality, they suggest,
because what he writes is his own physical and mental reality. It is
sufficient to assert this reflective process to understand his works.
Weltanschauung: Shahnon's Creative Journey
Weltanschauung: Suatu Perjalanan Kreatif is a massive collection
of very diverse essays. The essays are mainly autobiographical and
include literary reviews, spiritual reflections, and even a few outlines of
the university courses Shahnon taught. The papers are divided into six
sections: (I) Early village life, (II) Friends and works, (III) Grief and sorrow,
(IV) Organisations, courses and literary activities, (V) Literature and
foreign authors, (VI) Meaning, spirit and works, and (VII) Creativity.
The book's title indicates Shahnon's fondness for what many would
consider "strange words" (including perhaps those from Kedah Malay).
Several definitions of "weltanschauung" are provided. A minimal definition
refers to "attitude and values" (sikap dan nilai, 245, 722, 725, 732, 733,
734). For the devout Muslim, such a perspective of reality necessarily
considers the interaction of each entity with God, the world and other
human beings (untuk menuju individualiti mukmin da/am perjalanan
hendaklah senantiasa berlandaskan weltanschauung atau pandangan
semesta tentang realiti mengikut perspektif Islam yang tentunya
mencakupi keseluruhan tanggapan terhadap entiti dan interaksi Tuhan,
a/am dan manusia, 478, 493).
Where is Shah non in all this? Everywhere, obviously. Not explicitly
as a "Malay"; although the book is written in Malay, the word does not
occur in the index at all and makes only an infrequent appearance,
usually attached to the word "literature" (340 - 41, 381, 436). But he
is there as himself - as an individual human being, a villager, author,
friend, organizer, teacher, reader and writer, Muslim, and creative
being. We may very briefly sketch the primary emic units in Shah non's
self-reflection as follows.
The book begins with Shahnon the villager. When he reflects on the
village of his birth, Kampung Banggul Oerdap, his first impressions are
51
MALAY LITERATURE
of nature: "rivers, hills, mountains, canals and ravines, winds and rains,
fortresses of rock and floods, and long dry seasons" [sungai, bukit bakau,
gunung-ganang, paritdan caruk, angin dan hujan (hutan?) be/antara dan
kota raya batu bata dan kebanjiran, serta kemarau panjang, xv-xvi]. But
this is the external reality. He continues: "I do not just see nature with all
of its roughness and problems in physical terms. I am more interested
in its fineness and its secrecy" (a/am dengan sega/a keserabutan dan
kerunyamannya tidak kulihat dari fisika/nya sahaja. Aku /ebih berminat
melihat keha/usan dan kerahasiaannya ... , xvi).
The first villagers he sees are his own parents. He several times
describes the more violent aspects of his father's personality and his
mother's gentleness. An example is to be found early in the book: "My
father was born with various external characteristics such as a hot temper
and a sense of sadism which it is sometimes impossible to imagine ....
And my mother had a limitless patience, a sense of shyness and her
own hardness" (8apaku /ahirda/am berbagai-bagai citra dengan beba/an
dan sifat sadismenya yang kadang-kadang sukar dibayangkan ... Dan,
ibu dengan kesabarannya yang tidak terkira itu, dengan sifat ma/unya
dan sifat kerasnya, xvii).
The next persons described are two brothers who (as far as I
know) are never mentioned in his works: Puteh ancf Dereh. The two
brothers, orphans although blessed with a large extended family, lived
in a small hut beside a clear flowing stream; they owned a number of
tiny plots of land and two water-buffaloes. What he most admired about
the brothers was: "the simplicity of their attitudes, the simplicity of their
values and the way they acted under all circumstances ... they were
in such harmony with the world around them that it was as if they and
the world had one heart and one soul" (kesederhanaan sikap mereka,
kesederhanaan ni/ai dan pembawaan mereka da/am serba sega/anya
... mereka begitu harmonis dengan a/am sekefifing, bagaikan a/am dan
mereka itu sehati sejiwa, 50).
Despite this idealized image of the simple Malay farmer, at one with
the surrounding world, it is precisely because he was not like Puteh and
Dereh that he was able to become a writer: "Unfortunately, Puteh and
Dereh's attitudes and bearing did not infiltrate into me and become an
intimate part of my own nature. I was rich in conflict and disagreements
and I feel that my creative journey would not have developed without
the presence of conflict in my life" (Sayangnya, sikap dan pembawaan
Puteh dan Dereh tidak menyerap masuk ke da/am diriku sehingga
tersebati dengan jiwaku seterusnya. Aku menjadi kaya dengan konflik
atau pertikaian dan aku rasakan perja/anan kreativitiku ini tidak akan
dapat diperkembangkan andai pertikaian tidak wujud da/am hidupku,
53).
52
HARRY AVELING
In Weltanschauung: Suatu Perjalanan KreatifShahnon has much to
say about his own creative processes, as one might expect, although
little specific on his different works. Writing is a search to understand
oneself: "to find one's own individuality, one's own self-meaning; both the
meaning of the human circumstances one chooses and the way of offering
those circumstances in certain artistic forms" (mencari individualiti diri,
mencari makna diri; baik makna dalam pemilihan keperihalan manusia
mahupun makna dalam gaya menghidangkan keperihalan manusia ini
dalam bentuk-bentuk seni tertentu, 469), to find what he describes, in
English, as "the individual self' (521). It requires the use of the intellect,
and Shah non argues in a number of places that the writer should be as
well-informed, in as many fields, as possible (584,597,613 -17).
When Shahnon describes himself as a person, he acknowledges
and dismisses his body: "My body is like everyone else's: it begins
small, grows bigger, shrinks, becomes knotted, wrinkled, and will finally
decay" (Tubuh badanku ini sama dengan tubuh badan orang lain:
kerdil, membesar, mengecut, renggeh, kedut dan akhirnya reput, ix).
In a more theological mode (complete with Qur'anic references), he
describes human nature, and presumably himself, as being: "hasty ...
inconsiderate of the earth ... prone to quarrels and given to opposing the
truth ... proud ... oblivious to the pleasures God gives ... unrighteous
... complaining ... egotistic ... And a thousand and one other features"
(tergesa-gesa ... tidak mengenangi bumi ... membantah dan suka
menentang kebenaran ... sombong ... mengingkari nikmat Allah ...
za/im ... keluh-kesah ... egoistic ... Dan, seribu satu lagi, 552 - 53).
What interests him most are his own emotions. On the one hand, he
is lonely and unpopular (begitu terpisah dari orang lain, terasa begitu
asing dan tidak disukai orang, xvi, see also 65). On the other, he easily
moved to anger, foolish acts and violence (radang, bengis, kurang ajar,
pongah yang sukar dikawallagi, xi). He is especially impatient with
idle chatter and "human foolishness which erodes humanity" (gelagat
manusia yang sudah terhakis manusiawinya, xii).
His writing proceeds from these emotional qualities:
To this day, this restlessness and the pressure of [inner] conflict so
imposes itself and constricts me that the words burst out in prose
forms which are often rebellious and cruel, which form huge waves
and great storms. I hurl my words out in words which are often utterly
exposed and without meaning. And when I think about those words
again I can feel how much tension they bear, as if my heart and chest
are fields of conflict or battlefields. For the various armies I have
created within myself.
(Hingga kini pun kegelisahan, tekanan daripada konflik begitu terus
53
MALAY LITERATURE
mendesak dan menghimpit diriku ini sehingga tercetus/ah kata-kata
da/am bentuk prosa-prosa yang sering bersifat pemberontakan dan
keganasan, yang sering berge/ombang dan bertaufan besar. Aku
/ontarkan sahaja kegelisahanku itu ke/uar me/a/ui kata-kata yang
kadang-kadang tidak ber/apik /agi, tidak ber/apisan makna /agi. Dan,
apabi/a kurenung kemba/i kata-kata itu, terasa benarpertentangannya
da/am diriku ini bagaikan dada dan hatiku ini ia/ah medan perjuangan
atau ge/anggang peperangan antara berbagai-bagai pasukan yang
aku ciptakan da/am diriku ini, xi).
Shah non does not write from a tranquil contemplation of the universe
or a deep mystical sense. He is well aware that in his own case:
Everything in the creative journey depends on mood or the inner
atmosphere, because mood can shift the mind in any direction at all or
shift one's values and attitudes to display any type of awareness which
seems logical. But which is more solid and fierce if we compare logic
and mood on this challenging journey? Logic depends on reason, is
based on facts, but mood holds more tightly to feelings. In a creative
journey like this one, feelings determine everything: both the choice
of the original premises, their orchestration and their balancing, their
external and internal opposition, their transitions, crises, climaxes,
and their resolution.
(Sega/a-ga/anya bergantung kepada mood atau suasana hati da/am
perja/anan kreativi ini karena mood bo/eh menggerakkan mentaliti
untuk ke mana-mana sahaja atau menggerakkan ni/ai dan sikap
untuk memper/ihatkan sebarang kewarasan yang /ogika sifatnya.
Tetapi, apakah yang /ebih kenta/ dan garang ka/au dibandingkan
/ogika dengan mood da/am perja/anan penuh cabaran ini? Logika
ber/andaskan ak/iah, bertonggak reason, ber/andaskan fakta, tetapi
mood /ebih berpegang kepada rasa. Da/am perja/anan kreatif yang
seumpama ini, rasa menentukan sega/a: Baik da/am pemi/ihan
premis asa/ mu/anya, orkestra atau keseimbangannya, pertentangan
/uaran dan da/amannya, transisinya, krisisnya, klimaksnya atau
reso/usinya, 700).
The problems which oppress him and drive his creativity by provoking
these strong responses are all indeed social ones:
The poverty of the working class; the dangerous condition of national
politics, and the quickly spreading social diseases - which often
weigh heavily upon me, torture me, oppress my feelings, chain my
thoughts and trap my creative powers. And in the situation of being
weighed down, tortured, oppressed, enchained, and ensnared,
my creative powers protest and automatically gather strength and
prepare to rebel.
54
HARRY AVELING
(Kedaifan rakyat bawahan, kegawatan politik tanah air, dan penyakit
social yang cepat merebak - yang kerap benar mendesak, menyeksa
diri, menekan perasaan, membelenggu fikiran, dan menjerat daya
kreativiti. Dalam keadaan desakan, seksaan, tekanan, belenggu,
dan jeratan inilah daya kreativiti memprotes dan dengan sendirinya
bertenaga dan siap untuk memberontak, 377).
There is much more to Weltanschauung: Suatu Perjalanan Kreatif
than I have room to discuss here, particularly Shah non's religiosity.
Alongside the anger and violence, Shah non is also a person of prayer:
"very diligent in drawing near to God through diligently listening to 'His
voice', 'speaking' with Him, following His 'commands, accepting the 'life'
He has set out for me, rejecting the 'life' He has forbidden, and ready to
change whenever He convinces me that I should" (begitu rajin merapati
diri dengan Allah melalui kerajinan mendengar "suara-Nya", "bercakap"
dengan-Nya, mengikut "suruhan"-Nya, menerima 'hidup' yang ditetapkanNya, menolak 'hidup' yang ditegah-Nya dan sedia pula berubah apabila
tiba keyakinan daripada-Nya, xiii). But I have said enough to show that
the ernic self Shahnon describes is neither the stoic calm of the patient
farmer, silent in the face of a merciless universe, nor the single voice of
the Malay people, who are most compassionate and whole when living
in traditional society and most disturbed when imprisoned in the city.
Conclusion
The etic Shahnon is a scholarly construct which helps us to talk about
his literary works. The emic Shahnon is a very different person. How
far the two match, how far they should match, is a question for further
discussion. The last word, most appropriately, belongs to Shahnon. In the
essay "Khalayak Teristimewa" (637 - 43), he writes of his special readers,
literary critics and academics. One of the most important members of
this tribe is Mohd Yusof Hasan (whom we have discussed above). We
should hear this story first in Malay:
... kerana sebahagian besar perjalanannya, hanya diriku melalui
karya-karyaku yang terlalu banyak dijenguknya, sehingga jengukan
itu melarat kepada hal-hal yang terlalu rahsia, terlalu personal; malah
kata orang secara berseloroh, Mohd Yusof Hasan ini mengenali
Shah non lebih daripada Shah non mengenali diri Shahnon sendiri.
Pernah aku sanggah, secara berseloroh, pendapat orang ini dengan
mengatakan kepada Mohd Yusof Hasan bahawa yang benar-benar
mengenali Shahnon luar dalam, atas bawah, bawah sedar, separuh
sedar, sedar tidak sedar, langsung tidak sedar; baik melalui teori
Sigmund Freud atau teori Mana Sikana ialah isteri Shahnon Ahmad.
Mohd Yusof Hasan tidak boleh isytiharkan dirinya sebagai tokoh
55
MALAY LITERATURE
berautoriti tentang Shah non. Mohd Yusof Hasan ketawa terkekehkekeh apabila mendengar selorohku. (640)
For the most part of his journey, Mohd Yusof Hasan has only studied
me through my various works, so much so that his gaze has spread
itself across some very secret matters, very personal matters; so
much so that people have joked that Mohd Yusof Hasan knows
Shah non better than Shah non knows himself.
I disagreed with this opinion once, in a joking way, telling him that
the one who really knew Shah non inside and out, under and over,
subconscious, semi-conscious, consciously unconscious, whether
by way of the theories of Sigmund Freud or Mana Sikana the literary
critic, was Shah non Ahmad's wife. Mohd Yusof Hasan had no right
to register his claim to being an authority on Shahnon Ahmad. Mohd
Yusof Hasan laughed mightily when he heard my joke.
The joke, one can't help feeling, is on us all.
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