![1511H [KOMBAT]](http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1230225696s/2221542.jpg)
HANG TUAH & PENDEDAHAN
3 days ago
If This Was My Last Ramadhan...
...then I am grateful for the blessings to rediscover the serene joy and calmness of congregational prayers and mind-humbling prostration to God.
Tidak Perlu Menulis Kerana Duit
Saya kurang gemar ditanya, "Menulis ni dapat duit ke?" Apabila saya mengiyakan, si tukang tanya akan terbuntang dan menyambung dengan pertanyaan lagi, "Berapa?"
Saya barangkali kolot dan tidak berfikiran komersil. Saya tekad aktif menulis tanpa memikirkan pulangan kewangan. Barangkali, saya sejak kecil sudah ditanamkan doktrin agar bekerja makan gaji dan menulis di masa luar pejabat sahaja. Sewaktu bersekolah, saya tegar mengenepikan minat terhadap dunia penulisan dan taksub menghadap/melahap buku-buku pelajaran. Maka, saya tidak risau sekiranya menulis tidak mampu memberi saya makan.
Tetapi saya harus akui, duit honorarium yang diterima apabila karya mendapat tempat di media mempunyai kegunaannya yang tersendiri. Saya tidak pernah merasai duit honorarium sepanjang dua tahun pertama menulis secara serius. Sewaktu cek honorarium sulung diterima di rumah keluarga, saya berada di Amerika Syarikat dan hanya pulang dua tahun kemudian. Maka cek-cek yang diterima didepositkan terus bapa ke dalam akaun saya. Pernah terdetik di hati untuk membelikan emak sesuatu di tanah air sempena Hari Ibu, atau hari lahirnya, tetapi kerana cek tidak boleh ditunaikan melainkan oleh tuan empunya nama, maka wang honorarium itu dipendam sahaja dalam akaun bank.
Selepas dua tahun, alhamdulillah, jumlah yang terkumpul dapat menampung serba-sedikit kecanduan saya terhadap buku sementara mula bekerja tetap, serta sebahagiannya digunakan untuk menyediakan keperluan seorang pekerja di pejabat.
Setelah bekerja, selain disimpan dan dibelanjakan di toko-toko buku, aset persendirian pertama saya - sebuah rak buku - dibeli menggunakan duit honorarium. Pernah, tatkala keadaan kewangan sedikit sesak dan saya memerlukan beg tangan untuk menggantikan yang sudah koyak, cek honorarium diterima, lalu dibelanjakan untuk membeli beg baru (dan bakinya sebuah buku :D).
Alhamdulillah. Saya tidak menulis untuk pulangan dalam bentuk mata wang tetapi Tuhan telah banyak kali memudahkan lorong rezeki dalam definisi yang pelbagai, termasuklah makna yang sangat literal ini. Allah Maha Besar.
My Kind of Sci Fi Read
I am not a big fan of the sci-fi genre. Or maybe it's because I usually confused it with fantasy, but either way, I rarely would pick up a sci-fi book. But there are times when I venture out of my comfort zone and find gems from this particular genre. Among my previous finds are The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood) and Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes). And last week, I picked up Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
I see a pattern in my preference for sci-fi reading material. They are usually classics, which have stand the test of time.
The Handmaid's Tale for instance, speaks very coherently to me about feminism as I know it today (and I was born in the same decade they made it into a movie, starring the late Natasha Richardson). This either means Atwood is a writer who is beyond her time, or the cause of feminism has been static since she wrote the book.
Flowers for Algernon is about neuroscience and tackles the question of a person's "existence" despite his low IQ. I enjoyed it so much because I did not find the theme or the scientific methodologies described as obsolete. Most probably because no major breakthrough in that particular field of study has been made since Keyes penned it down.
I picked up Fahrenheit 451 without really understanding what it was about. I read the blurb and figured it was about a fireman who burns books after hours. Little did I know that it was set in near dystopian future when firemen burn books (and houses and people) for a living!
Not only that, reading a book was a crime, forcing scholars from the old days to be fugitives on the run. They reminisced about not too long ago when colleges were shut down because no youngsters wanted to learn anymore. You see, book-burning in the novel was an irony, because it was unnecessary. Nobody was reading anymore, anyway. Everybody was too absorbed with the larger than life televisions on their walls, the Seashells plugs in their ears and their high-speed beetles. The very act of burning the books was an authoritative gesture to exert fear and obedience by the power that be. It's creepy, and creates a shivering sense of dejavu.
But that's probably why I like it, because it's a foreshadow (Fahrenheit 451 was written more than 50 years ago and the first draft was completed in 9 days!) and gives me a wake up call.
I see a pattern in my preference for sci-fi reading material. They are usually classics, which have stand the test of time.
The Handmaid's Tale for instance, speaks very coherently to me about feminism as I know it today (and I was born in the same decade they made it into a movie, starring the late Natasha Richardson). This either means Atwood is a writer who is beyond her time, or the cause of feminism has been static since she wrote the book.
Flowers for Algernon is about neuroscience and tackles the question of a person's "existence" despite his low IQ. I enjoyed it so much because I did not find the theme or the scientific methodologies described as obsolete. Most probably because no major breakthrough in that particular field of study has been made since Keyes penned it down.
I picked up Fahrenheit 451 without really understanding what it was about. I read the blurb and figured it was about a fireman who burns books after hours. Little did I know that it was set in near dystopian future when firemen burn books (and houses and people) for a living!
Not only that, reading a book was a crime, forcing scholars from the old days to be fugitives on the run. They reminisced about not too long ago when colleges were shut down because no youngsters wanted to learn anymore. You see, book-burning in the novel was an irony, because it was unnecessary. Nobody was reading anymore, anyway. Everybody was too absorbed with the larger than life televisions on their walls, the Seashells plugs in their ears and their high-speed beetles. The very act of burning the books was an authoritative gesture to exert fear and obedience by the power that be. It's creepy, and creates a shivering sense of dejavu.
But that's probably why I like it, because it's a foreshadow (Fahrenheit 451 was written more than 50 years ago and the first draft was completed in 9 days!) and gives me a wake up call.
Akan Datang: Produk Mutakhir GKLN "Juzuk"
hari ini
juzuknya sudah lengkap untuk aku membenih
khusyuk cinta Nabi dan Ar-Rasul
tatkala risalah yang tersebar luas
pada bendera yang terpalitnya darah syuhada
tidak dikaburi dengan nafas alpa manusia
Lanjut di Antologi 2010
GKLN di Rumah PENA
Kredit foto: Firdaus Ariff
(Dari kanan: Shah Kang, Rebecca Ilham dan Hazwan Ariff Hakimi)
Grup Karyawan Luar Negara (GKLN) di Rumah PENA, Kuala Lumpur sempena Dialog Orang Muda Edisi Ogos 2010 yang mendiskusikan "Hadiah Sastera Perdana Malaysia: Perdana atau Tidak?"
(Dari kanan: Shah Kang, Rebecca Ilham dan Hazwan Ariff Hakimi)
Grup Karyawan Luar Negara (GKLN) di Rumah PENA, Kuala Lumpur sempena Dialog Orang Muda Edisi Ogos 2010 yang mendiskusikan "Hadiah Sastera Perdana Malaysia: Perdana atau Tidak?"
Kimono Ungu Bersulam Bunga Naskhah Ganding Baca Julai 2010
Pustakawan - penulis - pembaca tegar - pencinta buku (tanpa mengikut sebarang turutan) Najibah A Bakar telah mengelolakan program "Ganding Baca" di laman peribadinya, Buku Ria yang turut dijayakan oleh pembaca tegar dan pencinta buku yang bergiat melalui laman Goodreads. Untuk bulan Julai 2010, naskhah Kimono Ungu Bersulam Bunga telah dipilih.
Saya sangat berterima kasih kepada Najibah yang saya mesrai dengan panggilan Kak Ji, kerana selain memberi promosi percuma, turut giat menghidupkan perbincangan tentang kumpulan cerpen ini dengan menggunakan konsep kelab buku yang sangat popular di Barat.
Perbincangan oleh para peserta ini memberi peluang untuk saya menanggapi perspektif pembaca terhadap karya sendiri. Ada di antara persoalan yang dikemukakan bisa saya perjelaskan, namun berpegang kepada kata-kata Roland Barthes bahawa pengarang sudah mati dengan lengkapnya sesebuah karya, saya memilih untuk mengunci mulut. Bahkan sastera itu subjektif - berpolemiklah!
Pautan ke laman sebahagian peserta-peserta Ganding Baca bulan Julai 2010:
1. Najibah A Bakar
2. Isma
3. Al Ghazali (Bahagian I, Bahagian II)
4. Rollie The Odd
An Evening with Imam Suhaib Webb
The invitation came from Brother Yuzaidi, who I got acquainted with via Viva Palestina Malaysia (VPM). He also happens to belong to the Muslim Professionals Forum (MPF), an NGO that organized this one-night-only engagement with Imam Suhaib Webb, an Azhari from Oklahoma, USA. The title of the talk was simple enough. In fact, I heard it every year but had never dwelled to much on it. It was: "What If This Was Your Last Ramadhan?"
What if, indeed.
My best girlfriend, Afni, was going to I decided to hitch a ride. And we roped up Hanee in the process. This is life, of single girls in KL, and this is how we fill up our "free" time.
Anyway, the 300-seat hall at Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam (KGPA) in Damansara was packed when we arrived and Ms Azra could be heard informing the newly-arrived, eager participants that "it's standing room only now."
Who cares? We surely didn't and so many others, including Wardina Safiyyah of TV3 and husband who arrived later than us; she later sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor - how humane is that! And who cares about the monetary contribution to MPF either? On a funny note, when Hanee paid up RM60 for the three of us, the girl at the reception desk went, "it's only RM10 for students."
More on public-figure watch, Afni spotted her CEO walking into the hall after we did. I was soaking it all in, at how a busy corporate figure making time for a more subdued, religious event that started almost with no breathing time after work. And I believe he wasn't the only one. It was indeed an affair attended by mostly the upper middle and the upper caste of our (materialistically-defined) society. Quite a number of them were still clad in work attire, including two colleagues from the office that I recognized in the crowd.
In his laid-back, typically informal American-styled one and a half hour talk, Imam Webb stressed that Allah orders us to do things that bring benefits and protect us from harm. He did not rigidly focus on fasting per se, but he also brought up the fardhu ain (he likened it to the red blood cells of our society) and the fardhu kifayah. For instance, very very early into his speech, Imam Webb said, "if everyone wants to be an imam, then who are going to take care of the environment?"
Imam Webb also shared his observations (and research?) on de-humanization of Islam. He claimed that this is bad marketing because it creates gaps between the Islamic community of today with the teachings of Islam that originate from the days of the Prophets and His Companions. Islam is easy, he said, don't make it hard.
Apart from that, Imam Webb cautioned us about ilm (knowledge). He said, it is not that we do not have knowledge, it is the adb (manners) that we are lacking of. Knowledge these days comes from many sources, and only when equipped with manners that we would be able to distinguish the haq (truth) from the bathil, because adb provides sense of purpose and identity.
Imam Webb urged that we should always go back to the Qur'an. Not only It is the source of guidance and knowledge, but he reminded that the Qur'an is also the rain that can bring life to dead hearts.
Summing it all up, Imam Webb called for us to be good this Ramadhan - to Allah, to our family members, to everybody and everything around us. He also asked that we give up arguments about religion - about what is sunnat, what is bidaah, etc. Imam Webb said, as long as that particular something (e.g the tarawih prayer) brings benefits and prevents us from harm, the if we feel like doing eight raakat then do eight, if we feel like praying the whole night (as long as we are not worst off from it), then by all means do. To continue some never-ending arguments about religious matters, according to Imam Webb, is the sign that Allah is mad at us. To get His grace, we should be doers (me adding: NOT whiners!).
Oh, I also like his point about "there's no such thing as practicing and non-practicing Muslims. Nobody's perfect!"
What if, indeed.
My best girlfriend, Afni, was going to I decided to hitch a ride. And we roped up Hanee in the process. This is life, of single girls in KL, and this is how we fill up our "free" time.
Anyway, the 300-seat hall at Kelab Golf Perkhidmatan Awam (KGPA) in Damansara was packed when we arrived and Ms Azra could be heard informing the newly-arrived, eager participants that "it's standing room only now."
Who cares? We surely didn't and so many others, including Wardina Safiyyah of TV3 and husband who arrived later than us; she later sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor - how humane is that! And who cares about the monetary contribution to MPF either? On a funny note, when Hanee paid up RM60 for the three of us, the girl at the reception desk went, "it's only RM10 for students."
More on public-figure watch, Afni spotted her CEO walking into the hall after we did. I was soaking it all in, at how a busy corporate figure making time for a more subdued, religious event that started almost with no breathing time after work. And I believe he wasn't the only one. It was indeed an affair attended by mostly the upper middle and the upper caste of our (materialistically-defined) society. Quite a number of them were still clad in work attire, including two colleagues from the office that I recognized in the crowd.
In his laid-back, typically informal American-styled one and a half hour talk, Imam Webb stressed that Allah orders us to do things that bring benefits and protect us from harm. He did not rigidly focus on fasting per se, but he also brought up the fardhu ain (he likened it to the red blood cells of our society) and the fardhu kifayah. For instance, very very early into his speech, Imam Webb said, "if everyone wants to be an imam, then who are going to take care of the environment?"
Imam Webb also shared his observations (and research?) on de-humanization of Islam. He claimed that this is bad marketing because it creates gaps between the Islamic community of today with the teachings of Islam that originate from the days of the Prophets and His Companions. Islam is easy, he said, don't make it hard.
Apart from that, Imam Webb cautioned us about ilm (knowledge). He said, it is not that we do not have knowledge, it is the adb (manners) that we are lacking of. Knowledge these days comes from many sources, and only when equipped with manners that we would be able to distinguish the haq (truth) from the bathil, because adb provides sense of purpose and identity.
Imam Webb urged that we should always go back to the Qur'an. Not only It is the source of guidance and knowledge, but he reminded that the Qur'an is also the rain that can bring life to dead hearts.
Summing it all up, Imam Webb called for us to be good this Ramadhan - to Allah, to our family members, to everybody and everything around us. He also asked that we give up arguments about religion - about what is sunnat, what is bidaah, etc. Imam Webb said, as long as that particular something (e.g the tarawih prayer) brings benefits and prevents us from harm, the if we feel like doing eight raakat then do eight, if we feel like praying the whole night (as long as we are not worst off from it), then by all means do. To continue some never-ending arguments about religious matters, according to Imam Webb, is the sign that Allah is mad at us. To get His grace, we should be doers (me adding: NOT whiners!).
Oh, I also like his point about "there's no such thing as practicing and non-practicing Muslims. Nobody's perfect!"
OGOS 2010: "Seribu Burung Jenjang" di Tunas Cipta dan "Antara Dua Kaligrafi" di Dewan Budaya
Dada saya bergetar hebat tatkala Mak Cik Masako mengeluarkan serangkai senbazuru daripada tas yang dikeleknya dari tanah besar.
“Seribu burung jenjang?” Saya bertanya, memastikan sekaligus. Kamera besar di tangan yang teracu pada imejan lentera lama bergantungan di tiang-tiang bumbungan kairo saya matikan kuasanya. Dahi saya berkerut, seribu garis juga. Mak Cik Masako saya lihat menggigit bibir, melarikan senzaburu, seribu lipatan origami burung jenjang daripada washi pelbagai corak dan warna ke belakang tubuh.
“Kamu percayakan ikhtiar bukan, Sophia? Inilah usaha mak cik, untuk kamu.”
Seribu Burung Jenjang
oleh Rebecca Ilham
Tunas Cipta, Ogos 2010
“Sungguh pun begitu kak, tulisan rumi kini diterima sebagai media persembahan utama bahasa Melayu sehingga ia nazak di Malaysia dan telah lama terkubur di Indonesia. Tetapi di Jepun, tulisan romaji hanya digunapakai untuk memudahkan para pelancong asing sahaja. Sedang di Malaysia, tulisan jawi tidak pernah serius dinobatkan kedudukannya sebagai warisan bangsa dan budaya. Sebaliknya, ia diperkotak-katikkan pula statusnya oleh pihak penguasa.”
Gerabak digegarkan lagaan roda besi kereta api dan perubahan rel landasan. Koike mencuit, menuding ke luar tingkap lutcahaya yang dikelamkan balam langit sesudah senja. Nostril Kirana segera diterpa hanyir payau air laut. Kereta api telah meninggalkan Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kansai yang dibina di atas tambakan pulau sepenuhnya dan kini meluncur menuju ke daratan.
“Sungguh pun begitu kak, tulisan rumi kini diterima sebagai media persembahan utama bahasa Melayu sehingga ia nazak di Malaysia dan telah lama terkubur di Indonesia. Tetapi di Jepun, tulisan romaji hanya digunapakai untuk memudahkan para pelancong asing sahaja. Sedang di Malaysia, tulisan jawi tidak pernah serius dinobatkan kedudukannya sebagai warisan bangsa dan budaya. Sebaliknya, ia diperkotak-katikkan pula statusnya oleh pihak penguasa.”
Antara Dua Kaligrafi
Oleh Rebecca Ilham
Dewan Budaya, Ogos 2010
Alhamdulillah. Menjelang Ramadhan, pintu rezeki juga dibentangkan Tuhan. Ogos 2010, dua cerpen saya telah terbit di dua majalah terbitan Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Cerpen pertama adalah "Seribu Burung Jenjang" dalam majalah Tunas Cipta. Terima kasih kepada Puan Zaiton Abu Samah dari Bahagian Majalah, DBP yang menguar-uarkan berita baik ini di laman sosial Facebook pada minggu kedua akhir bulan Julai. Seminggu kemudian, kiriman majalah daripada bahagian editorial selamat saya terima. Terima kasih!
Sebagai latar, cerpen ini diinspirasikan kembara ke Hiroshima, Jepun tahun lalu. Saya ke Pulau Miyajima setelah disarankan oleh penumpang sebelah dalam kapal terbang (Los Angeles - Narita) yang berbangsa British tetapi telah lama menetap di negara matahari terbit. Katanya, pulau itu sangat cantik. Ketika itu, saya belum tahu bahawa Miyajima merupakan Nihon Sankei, iaitu satu daripada tiga panorama paling indah di Jepun. Namun itu bukanlah penghalang untuk jatuh cinta terhadap pulau 'suci' ini (lanjut tentang ke'suci'an Miyajima saya sentuh dalam cerpen Momiji Musim Rontok yang terbit dalam Berita Harian) lalu berasa di'tuntut' untuk mengabadikannya dalam karya.
Senbazuru sengaja saya pilih kerana perkaitannya dengan mangsa-mangsa tragedi pengeboman nuklear di Hiroshima. Ia juga tempias dunia sastera Jepun; salah satu mahakarya Yasunari Kawabata, penulis Jepun pertama yang memenangi Hadiah Nobel Kesusasteraan pada tahun 1968 menggunakan judul yang sama.
Manakala cerpen kedua, "Antara Dua Kaligrafi" pula terbit di Dewan Budaya. Tidak seperti cerpen pertama yang awal diketahui khabar gembiranya, saya baru mendapat tahu tentang penerbitan cerpen kedua sepulang dari pejabat sebentar tadi setelah majalah hadiah sidang editorial tiba hari ini. Alhamdulillah, cerpen ini mendapat tempat juga di Dewan Budaya - antara majalah terbitan DBP yang belum ditembusi.
Proses kreatif cerpen ini sedikit istimewa. Ia dimulakan di Osaka, Jepun pada hari ketiga akhir kembara ketika saya berteleku makan okonomiyaki - sejenis hidangan tradisi Osaka - seperti saranan Nori, petugas di hostel pengembara yang saya tumpangi. Mukadimah cerpen ini sebetulnya dicetuskan teguran teman yang belajar di sana, apabila saya salah menyebut mengikut ejaan romaji. Maka saya membayangkan, sepasang adik-beradik yang tersepit antara dua identiti budaya dan merasakan tidak mampu untuk menguasai kedua-duanya. Itulah Kirana Akira dan Muzammil Koike!
Begitulah, serba-sedikit tentang kedua-dua cerpen yang mendapat tempat di media pada bulan Ogos 2010 ini. Alhamdulillah, rezeki pra-Ramadhan barangkali. Juga menoktahkan cerpen-cerpen Jepun yang belum terbit (ada satu dalam simpanan tapi saya sendiri merasakan cerpen itu hampeh). Saya akan membawa latar dan tema baru, inshaallah. Doakan saya, dan semoga kedua-dua cerpen kali ini bermanfaat untuk kita. Amin.
(Tidak sabar menunggu ulasan Dr Siti Hajar Che Man untuk "Seribu Burung Jenjang" dalam Tunas Cipta bulan September!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)