[ad_1]
Poet, essayist, playwright and actor Salleh Ben Joned passed away this morning, but the unrivaled legacy of 79 years in Malay literature lives on in his work, family, friends and fans.
Known as the “bad boy of Malay literature”, he is famous as much for his sharp wit and critical opinions as for his controversial antics.
Born in 1941 in Malacca, Salleh left Malaysia in 1961 on a scholarship from the Colombo Plan to study Arts at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
He later moved to Hobart, Tasmania, after marrying his first wife Ariel Salleh. After more than a decade at Down Under, he returned to teach at Universiti Malaya.
It is at the university that Malachi Edwin Vethamani met Salleh in 1975 when the latter was his professor of English literature.
Now that he himself is a professor of English literature, partly due to Salleh’s influence, Malachi recalled how the poet was the most unconventional and refreshing of the lecturers.
“He was usually late for class, but he did. It was always very exciting, very intriguing, very unconventional.
“In those days smoking was allowed on campus, so he would sit there and suddenly ask his students for a cigarette. Then he will be sitting at his (conference) table, smoking and sharing his thoughts on what he was reading, ”Malachi shared with Malaysiakini.
“I didn’t have reading notes to read (from), I had it all in my head. It was nice to have a very stimulating speaker who would make us think about what he was saying, ”he added.
The student and the teacher later became friends. He even named his book on Malaysian poems after Salleh’s poem. Malchin Testament. Malachi’s other favorite poems of him are Spirit of the Keris, Estuary, Scent of scarum Y A hymn to my sarong.
“There will always be the one and only Salleh Ben Joned. Certainly inimitable. A Malaysian we can be proud of, ”he said.
Unwillingly
Salleh, who wrote in both English and Malay, is known for challenging racial, religious, sexual, and cultural norms as well as power structures in his work.
He published several books, including The Amok of Mat Solo Y Sajak Sajak Salleh: Sacred and profane poems. In the 1990s, he had a long-running and sincere newspaper column in the New times of the strait, noble As i please.
He also acted in several films, including Paper tiger (1975), Night star (1991) and Crazy (nineteen ninety five).
In 1974, Salleh ruffled his feathers when he publicly urinated at the opening of the exhibition “Towards a Mystical Reality” by artists Suleiman Esa and Reza Piyadasa. Apparently in protest of the artwork.
Like Malachi, Thor Kah Hoong met Salleh in the early 1970s when he was an undergraduate student at the Universiti Malaya.
In his six years at the institution, they would become close friends and, as he called it, “fellow intellectuals.”
“Salleh was a force of nature, an amazing intellect who had no patience with hypocrisy or hypocrisy. And he had to defy bullshit.
“He has been labeled of many things, including ‘apostate’, ‘blasphemous’ and ‘sacrilegious’ for his writings on religion.
“In his defense, Salleh was always willing to quote hadith Y sura and Muslim scholars to respond to intellectual challenges, but usually all I got was an emotional rejection with no compromise of ideas, ”lamented Thor.
In her podcast on her father’s life, Anna Salleh said that she suffered from manic depression and self-doubt in her later years.
“In the years that followed, my father sometimes panicked about getting old, feeling like he hadn’t accomplished anything,” she said.
He finally found respite from city life upon returning to his hometown in Malacca.
The tributes arrive
On Twitter, Malaysians began to pay tribute to Salleh, many citing his works.
At 1 p.m., his name was a hot topic, indicating that many were tweeting about him.
On a Facebook page run by Anna, she said she had been experiencing breathing difficulties since Tuesday at her home in Subang Jaya and was later taken into custody at the University Malaya Medical Center.
He died at 1:21 am this morning, of heart failure.
Only close relatives will be able to perform the final rite prayers due to the regulations of the conditional movement control order.
Salleh will be buried at the Tanah Perkuburan Islam at USJ 22, Subang Jaya, Selangor.
Salleh’s life story was recently produced in a two-part podcast series titled Salleh Ben Joned: an unlikely Malaysian by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Listen here.
Anna also created a blog chronicling her father’s works here.
[ad_2]
