For the ninth monthly online Wacana Warisan Series (WWS) organised by the Malay Heritage Foundation (MHF), Dr. Azhar Ibrahim conducted a 90-minute webinar on the topic of Cendekiawan Melayu yang Menawan dan Melawan Dalam Sejarah (Malay Intellectuals: Beauty and the “Beast” in History). He is a professor from the Department of Malay Studies, at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Vice-Chairman of the MHF Board. There will be three more webinars by Dr. Azhar before the WWS concludes in 2021. The webinar was delivered entirely in Malay.
Saturday, 25 September 2021 — The session was opened by Mr. Fadli Idris, Assistant General Manager, MHF by introducing Dr. Azhar and then inviting him to commence his webinar.
The webinar began with a short introduction by Dr. Azhar of his topic, mainly focusing on two Malay intellectuals, Kassim Ahmad and Rustam A. Sani. He emphasised how Malay intellectuals do not mean that they have to come from universities, or they have to come from a certain educational background, they can come from any background. Meanwhile, he mentions that Malay intellectuals are those who dare to speak and care for issues in the community, someone who is forward-looking, can analyse, and is also able to provide solutions or alternatives to the issues at hand. Hence, the two intellectuals he will be discussing, both carry these values.
He started talking about Kassim Ahmad, an intellectual from Malaysia who is described as a brave and controversial person. The community highly criticised Kassim Ahmad due to his literary works and even labelled him as an “Anti-Islam” despite being a Muslim who loves his religion. Dr. Azhar showed an example of Kassim Ahmad’s works, “Sidang Ruh” (1960), where he pointed out that one should not take Kassim Ahmad’s words literally at face value but to understand his works fully and the message he wishes to stress. From this example, Kassim Ahmad was only using Tuhan (God), as symbols where his main message was to bring up those who have lost their sense of direction and values to live humanely.
Moving on from Kassim Ahmad, he then talks about Rustam A. Sani, another well-known intellectual from Malaysia for not only his critiques and discussion on the Malays but also culture, political issues, and socio-economic issues. Dr. Azhar mentions how Rustam A. Sani is clear in his writings and is always straight to the point, concise and can discuss critical issues. In relation to the previous WWS #08, Dr. Azhar brought up how Rustam A. Sani is one of the very few intellectuals that pays close attention to the development of the Malay Language and culture in the community. His book, titled “Politik dan Polemik Bahasa Melayu” (The Politics and Polemics of the Malay Language) discussed his worries about how youths were unable to discuss abstract issues in the Malay Language. Dr. Azhar then concludes the segment on Rustam A. Sani on the importance of the intellectuals being creative to curb this “infertility” of intellectuals amongst youths where it is a problem when they look down upon the language itself.
In conclusion, Dr. Azhar mentioned two key characteristics of Malay intellectuals; they must be able to discuss and speak about social issues and they must care about what is happening in the society to give their analysis and suggestions to the issues. He hopes to get people into thinking about the ideas of the world and community that captivates them and to discuss them.
This session was then followed by a Q&A section, where Dr. Azhar addressed several questions from the virtual audience who tuned in on two platforms, via Zoom and Facebook live.
WWS is a series of lectures that aim to encourage the development of new and alternative approaches to the understanding of Malay history, economy, politics, society, and culture. Beyond the clichés and convenient mainstream narratives, lie many lesser-known facts about the Malay community in Singapore. It is a year-long programme (each lecture runs monthly), comprising 12 sessions from January to December 2021. Participants who register and attend via Zoom for at least 10 sessions will be given a Certificate of Attendance. WWS lectures will mostly be delivered in Malay.
Useful Links