Writers' group: Only author can revise 'Interlok'
Published: Jan 7, 2011 11:30 AM | Updated: Jan 7, 2011 11:33 AM
Interlok , the required Malay literature text for Form Five can only be revised if the author, Abdullah Hussain, agreed to do so, Union of National Writers Association (Gapena) secretary I Zainal Abidin Borhan said.
Interlok, the required Malay literature text for Form Five can only be revised if the author, Abdullah Hussain, agreed to do so, Union of National Writers Association (Gapena) secretary I Zainal Abidin Borhan said.
He said only the writer had the right to change his work and it could not be done under duress.
“If the author agrees to change the words deemed sensitive in the book, we will abide by it. But if it is due to pressure and threat, Gapena will defend the work,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.
The Education Ministry special committee will study the use of a novel as a required text due to outcries from certain quarters as it allegedly contained sensitive words that might be offensive to the Indians.
Zainal said, however, changing the words or sentences in a literary work would affect the overall meaning of the work and the value of its social history.
“Abdullah Hussain wrote a widely known concept and through the social history context, not something invented. As such, if the words are removed, they will no longer represent the social context of history,” he said, adding that the sensitive words were found on page 211 and 220.
Published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Zainal said the novel depicted the racial integration of the Malays, Chinese and Indians in the pre-independence Malaya and the question of belittling the Indian community did not arise.
He said on the contrary, Interlok won an award in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of independence in 1967 and was first used as a required Malay literature text in the 1970s.
“Why after 30 years the book had been used as a required text, suddenly the issue is raised. Do not merely interpret the words but how the words are intertwined in translating a social issue,” he said.
On the Education Ministry’s plan to study the use of a novel as a required text, he said Gapena hoped it would look at the content of the novel as a whole.
- Bernama
He said only the writer had the right to change his work and it could not be done under duress.
“If the author agrees to change the words deemed sensitive in the book, we will abide by it. But if it is due to pressure and threat, Gapena will defend the work,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.
The Education Ministry special committee will study the use of a novel as a required text due to outcries from certain quarters as it allegedly contained sensitive words that might be offensive to the Indians.
Zainal said, however, changing the words or sentences in a literary work would affect the overall meaning of the work and the value of its social history.
“Abdullah Hussain wrote a widely known concept and through the social history context, not something invented. As such, if the words are removed, they will no longer represent the social context of history,” he said, adding that the sensitive words were found on page 211 and 220.
Published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Zainal said the novel depicted the racial integration of the Malays, Chinese and Indians in the pre-independence Malaya and the question of belittling the Indian community did not arise.
He said on the contrary, Interlok won an award in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of independence in 1967 and was first used as a required Malay literature text in the 1970s.
“Why after 30 years the book had been used as a required text, suddenly the issue is raised. Do not merely interpret the words but how the words are intertwined in translating a social issue,” he said.
On the Education Ministry’s plan to study the use of a novel as a required text, he said Gapena hoped it would look at the content of the novel as a whole.
- Bernama
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