The Malay Heritage Foundation (MHF) organised its fourth successful Cendekiawan Lestari Series (CLS) featuring Assoc. Professor Dr. Hadijah bte Rahmat as the guest speaker. She is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Asian Languages and Cultures Academic Group, National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. To add on, Prof. Hadijah is a prominent scholar in the Malay-Indonesian, as well as the literary and cultural studies. She is also a highly recognised literary writer.
The hybrid format event was the second CLS scheduled for the month of July. The third CLS was held just two weeks with Cikgu Maarof Salleh as the guest speaker. For this fourth session, Prof. Hadijah delivered a lecture entitled “Melayu Arif Budiman: Jejak Perjalanan Mencari Jatidiri dan Menerokai Visi Kebudayaan Melayu di Tengah Alam Jagatraya”.
Saturday, 17 July 2021 – The highly anticipated CLS welcomed a full live attendance this time, following the closing of online registration exactly a week before the lecture. Those in attendance comprised academics, students and the media. On-site participants were also joined by virtual audiences via live-streaming on Facebook, including our international followers from South Africa, Japan, Australia and Malaysia. The event was also attended by MHF’s Vice-Chairman, Dr. Azhar Ibrahim who delivered the opening address and moderated the session. MHF’s Chairman, Dr. Norshahril Saat was also in attendance.
Dr. Azhar opened the session by introducing his relationship with Prof. Hadijah, who is one of his most respected lecturers, became his mentor in NIE. Dr. Azhar continued his speech by providing context of the lecture, with understanding the concept of ‘Arif Budiman’ (a learned person who contributes to society – through excellent and exemplary service as an educator). Towards the end of his speech, Dr. Azhar shared with the audience about Prof. Hadijah’s endless contributions, awards and life’s work till today before inviting her up to the podium to commence the lecture.
Prof. Hadijah began her hour-long lecture by shedding some light on her choice of topic which aimed to discuss the question of identity, image and vision for Malay culture in the development of the Malay community in Singapore. She shared that the negative perception and image of the Malays, long shaped by Western colonialists, has spread to affect the mind and soul of the Malays and a multi-racial Singapore.
The process of uncovering the truth about our history and how the events in the past have shaped our culture is a historical process that is long-winded and endless, Prof. Hadijah explained. She added that in order to know and understand it, we must explore the literature of Malay scholars. Prof. Hadijah stressed that this topic is imperative to discuss in depth and very thoroughly before it is too late. This is especially so considering the rise in misunderstanding, confusion and even cultural crisis among the Malays themselves, and now further exacerbated by the emergence of racial tensions in Singapore and around the world in recent years.
Prof. Hadijah then gave an introduction of her book, ‘Kilat Senja’ (2005). It contains her extensive research conducted in the 1980s to understand and preserve the history of Singapore villages. Throughout the lecture, Prof. Hadijah shared a lot of accompanying visuals in her lecture that helped the audience to visualize the past and studies from her perspective, which included pictures of her village in Bedok, Jalan Haji Salam and even moments of her at work, interviewing the locals.
Next, Prof. Hadijah revealed her motivated quest to make a study that can reflect on Munsyi Abdullah‘s writing and position so that we can better understand it objectively and fairly in order to resolve some of the main issues and problems about the controversial writer. She went on her own voyage to Europe and America in search of European and American connections to Malay literary developments. Through the personal images of her trips, Prof. Hadijah shared her discovery of some useful manuscripts found overseas that have helped to contribute to her research.
Moving on, Prof. Hadijah began to cite contributions from prominent local scholars, Syed Naguib al-Attas and Muhammad Haji Salleh. Prof. Hadijah emphasized that their scholarly contributions from the study of Islam and the study of English literature, are of paramount importance not only because they have unearthed our long-hidden and unknown treasures; but more importantly, the results of their study have rejected or challenged the assessment of Western scholars and corrected the general views formed by colonial and pre-colonial groups.
Changing the pace of her lecture, Prof. Hadijah invited Cikgu Asnida Daud from the audience to recite a dramatic reading of her cerpen (short story) titled ‘Renungan Dalam Kepompong Diri’ (Reflection in The Cocoon of the Self). The short story was written by Prof. Hadijah herself on October 16, 1997. Cikgu Asnida delivered an emotional reading for the live audience which lasted around 5 minutes. Prof. Hadijah proceeded to discuss the writings of 3 of our cultural gems – Pak Tenas Effendy, Pendeta Dr Muhd Ariff Ahmad (MAS) and Buya Hamka who are the sources of essential references and guidelines for superior philosophy and values.
Prof. Hadijah concluded the session by sharing her thoughts and views through a well-crafted speech on what the Malay community can do moving forward to keep the positive image of the culture. Several points raised during the lecture were reintroduced as well to summarise and finish the lecture on a very thought provoking and impactful note. She read a piece of poem she wrote in 1985, titled ‘Potret Pembangunan’ (Development Portrait) before introducing guest performer, Mohd Khair Yassin, to the stage to sing the ‘Kilat Senja’ and ‘Melayu Kita’ poems with his guitar in a captivating solo performance.
The session concluded with Prof. Hadijah addressing several questions posed by the participants on-site and online via a live Q&A app, Slido. More than 2,000 people reached the Facebook live-streaming, in addition to our participants on site. Two more CLS lectures have been scheduled in the later part of 2021. CLS is one of our new initiatives to provide a discursive platform in featuring ideas and perspectives from prominent figures and key thought-leaders in the Singapore Malay community.
Useful Links
- Full video
- Prof Madya Dr. Hadijah Rahmat’s paper
- Dr. Azhar Ibrahim’s opening speech
- BERITA Mediacorp — Pencerahan jati diri penting agar orang Melayu lebih yakin bersuara, perjuang hak by Hakim Irwan — 17 Jul 2021
- Berita Harian — Pupuk rasa bangga dengan tamadun Melayu by Irma Kamarudin — 18 Jul 2021
- Berita Harian — Jejak perjalanan sejarah mencari jati diri by Professor Madya Dr. Hadijah Rahmat — 20 Sep 2021