Gifts from a natural born humanist

Those are the last four lines of my best loved of Usman Awang's poems, Hadiah, a poem crafted in a gentle, beautiful language that conveys the message of peace and non-violence. It was written in 1960. Of course I only stumbled upon it many years later as a young man, as I was born only a year earlier.

The poem took on a more profound meaning after I became a father, now that I have a real responsibility of shaping my children into the kind of persons I would want them to be, nurtured with the values of love for humanity and the brotherhood of man. And I know it is going to be extremely difficult in a society whose humanly sensitivities have been numbed by affluence, Hollywood and MTV.

I have been carrying the poem in my head for years, as well as two others that I love, Bunga popi, another anti-war poem, and the very beautiful love poem, Kekasih. In my quiet, reflective moments, re-reading Hadiah seldom failed to make tears well up in my eyes. But when the great poet died, tears freely streamed down my face as I read and reread Hadiah.

Bunga popi's anti-war message is strong and direct, with its arresting opening verses:

Dari darah, dari nanah yang punah di tanah
Rangka manusia kehilangan nyawa disambar senjata...

It goes on to tell us of the damaged lives of survivors of war. . .maimed and disabled soldiers, widows and begging orphans, poverty and hunger, the destruction of civilised living. It ends with a repudiation of war and a yearning for peace:

... kami benci pada perang penuh pembunuhan
Kami rindu pada damai sepanjang zaman.

Boy soldiers

But I love Hadiah better, a poem that conveys a somewhat similar message but through the eyes and hopes of father on his son's birthday. The opening verses are equally arresting, but in a very graceful manner, in the way that Bunga popi shocks:

Anakku belum bisa berkata lagi
Putih hatinya putih wajah nabi
Senyum dan tangisnya adalah kata hati
Rekahan bunga di bawah sinar matahari pagi.

It is such an eloquent evocation of the purity and innocence of childhood. Watching our children grow up with joy and happiness, as they stumble on first steps and mutter their first words, with that innocent smile on their face, we also begin to become anxious how they will eventually take their place in this world, and how the world around will shape them.

Psychologists endlessly debate whether toy guns can lead to violent behaviour in adult life. There is probably no objective answer as psychology is not quite an exact science but I suppose most children grow out of them to become normal people. But for Usman Awang it is better not to corrupt their innocence by giving them toy guns on their birthdays and instead guide them to knowledge and character:

Ah, kenapa kau bawakan senapang,
Kereta meriam dan kapal terbang perang,
Meski sekadar barang mainan...
... Ah, berikan padanya, ia bisa senyum jua,
Meski sekadar sekerat pensil kayu cuma...

It needs no mentioning that the evils of 20th century like the fascism of Nazi Germany required a military response, but the poignancy of Usman's words "sebab kau mengajar kanak-kanak membunuh" will remain ever fresh, not so much in light of the boy soldiers of Africa, for, that is a rare example, but the willingness of young men to be part of state security apparatus that maim their own people, or to be part of an efficient killing machine sent to foreign lands that indiscriminately kill innocents and combatants alike.

Tributes

Not one who moves within the literati circle, I do not know the late Usman Awang personally, except through his poems, his only novel Tulang-tulang berserakan and the musical drama Uda dan Dara. My father told me something about him in admiring tones when I was a child and I read some of the poems in his collection of magazines. I am sure my father was equally saddened at his passing.

The details of his life have been recounted in the many tributes to the great man. PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali's, 'Usman Awang - the people's poet' is perhaps most helpful for an insight into the poet's life. His passing marks another great loss not only for the world of Malay letters, but the entire nation.

Usman is known for his sensitivity on the issues of poverty and exploitation of the weak, and this forms a recurring theme of many of his poems. Another theme close to his heart is the ugliness of war - the destruction and deaths, the misery and suffering, the poverty and brutalisation of man's soul that it inevitably brings.

But I think his singular achievement that puts him above other Malay literary figures is his desire to see the various races of this country live in peace and harmony.

Fellow columnist Lee Ban Chen wrote in 'Usman Awang akan hidup kekal abadi' that Usman has a special place in the hearts of his Chinese admirers for his gifts of expression and the richness of his message, which is anchored in universal values and transcend the barriers of ethnicity.

From Lee's tribute I learnt of Usman's initiatives in encouraging Chinese writers to master the Malay language and the setting up of Jawatankuasa Penyelarasan Penterjemahan Penulis-Penulis Berbagai Kaum at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. Consistent with his humanity, Usman is an internationalist, where according to Syed Husin, he formed and led the Malaysia-Palestine Friendship Association. Salam Benua is his poem in honour of the Palestinian struggle.

For me, someone who did not know him in person, he seemed to wear his humanity with such urbane sophistication that it is hard to believe he only had formal education up to standard six. But according to Syed Husin, "he is traditional but not conservative, modern but not westernised". I suppose we can say that he is indeed a natural born humanist.

Most beautiful love poem

As with his other admirers, I am as much mesmerised by his mastery of the Malay language as the themes he addressed. His poems are very accessible to non-literary persons like me, yet they also won the admiration of fellow writers. He crafted verses that are simple yet elegant, eloquent and rich. It is quite easy to memorise, at least in parts, some of his famous poems. For me, Kekasih ranks as the most beautiful love poem in the languages that I know. His reference to the heavenly bodies in the evocation of his love is exquisitely beautiful and sublime:

Akan ku petik bintang di timur
Menjadi kerongsang menyinari dadamu
Akan ku jolok bulan gerhana
Menjadi lampu menyuluhi rindu
Akan ku rebahkan matari
Menjadi laut malammu
Menghirup sakar madumu

Now that the poet is gone, I am left wondering what he meant by the last stanza of the poem.

Near the end of his life, the one episode that marred his reputation was a function organised by the Utusan Group that he was apparently deceived into attending in which he was proclaimed 'Seniman Agung'. The establishment then desperately needed the support of someone like Usman to counter Shahnon Ahmad's notorious novella Shit. Thankfully, now the circumstance of that unfortunate episode has been made clear to us.

At any rate, the publication of Dari derita bangsa leaves us in no doubt where the great poet stood in the still on-going shameful tragedy of our nation. Last week, a girl from an orphanage near Kuala Lumpur recited Jentayu yang luka (untuk Wan Azizah). I learnt that it is one of his last two poems he wrote before his death. The other is Saudara Anwar Ibrahim.

Usman Awang has passed on from this world into history, the history of our nation and of humanity.

Semoga Tuhan mencucuri rahmat ke atas rohnya.