Whatever has happened to Malay literature?

I was in Frankfurt in 2009 attending an invitation programme where one of the conditions of attendance was the compulsory 2-week period of seminars and forums. Not all were bad. One of the speakers and attendee was a gentleman from Haiti, one Mr Willems Edouard of Presses Nationales d'Haiti; a personable man, I must say. He spoke about a programme in Haiti to make books available to the masses cheaply by having a government organisation publishing and selling them directly. Most attendees were horrified. What will happen to the private publishers?  How will booksellers survive? How will the industry continue to exist? I didn't say much at the forum, because even if I was there on my own, I did represent my country in a way, and it would have been hypocritical. But I talked to him afterwards. We do the same in Malaysia, I said, and it is a disaster.

Fast forward to 2013. Malaysian authors in English and (I have been told) Chinese have attained considerable international recognition. But whatever has happened to Malay literature? There is some interesting work going on in the fringes (which is very encouraging), but they thrive despite the system, not because of it. And, it even appears, Malay literature is alive and well in Singapore! I tried to come up with the names of a few current Malay literary figures off the top of my head and came up with Faisal Tehrani, and ... er ... and what's that?  Ombak rindu? Cintamu-cintaku novels? Sorry, no comment!

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka was formed Johor Baru on June 22, 1956, as a department of the Education Ministry to promote Malay as the national and official language of the soon to be independent nation. I had just started school at that time and I remember the euphoria. We (the school children) were required to participate in all sorts of events and I remember one of my classmates collapsing dramatically on stage (due to nerves) just as he was about to start his rehearsed speech. It was fun.

Then in 1959, with the DBP ordinance, it be came a autonomous government statutory (what an oxymoron?!) body tasked with, one, determining and implementing its own policies, (two) implement programs to promote language and literature (in Malay), and, three, to get involved competitively in the book trade. There was much energy and enthusiasm in the early years. Malay literary luminaries who walked the corridors of DBP included Keris Mas, Baha Zain, Usman Awang, Kemala, Abdullah Hussein, Shamsuddin Jaafar, Anwar Rithwan, Syed Jaafar Husin, Suhaimi Haji Muhammad, Sutung Umar R.S. and Dinsman, amongst others and who were also writers in their own right. And as a schoolboy, I would hear many of those names and the likes of Arena Wati, S Othman Kelantan, Shannon Ahmad and A Samad Said, and recognise them as writers of awe and repute. That was the period before the nineties when Malay literature lived. The subject matter featured prominently in their work was mainly post-colonial angst and schmaltzy nationalism, which is understandable for the times.

"If we don´t succeed, we run the risk of failure"... George W. Bush

57 years later, in the new millennium, there are large numbers of Malaysians who still cannot (or will not) ask for the price of vegetables at the Bangsar night market in Malay. (Okay, maybe, Bangsar is different county. Still?)

Not long ago (I think it was about 2 years) Amir had this story to tell. He was on a television talk-show with some others, and the host asked a guest, a local university professor type, who his favourite author was. A Samad Said, came the reply. Amir said he almost fell off his chair. (The good author might have been flattered, but mortified too.) Hasn't he read anything else? He told the host that his was Sufian Abas of Kasut Biru Rubina fame. There would be many who'd object to that anecdote indignantly with a 'so what'. I have another story for that. A friend who claims that his favourite author is William Shakespeare, from whose work he'd spew quotes at the slightest provocation. He's weird, I used to think. Then, I learned that he had never read a play by the bard, not watched a performance. He, however, had memorised a book of quotes. Yes, you'd recognise him. He'd be the one trying to speak to the makcik selling pisang goreng at the night market in English or in really bad Malay!

So, whose fault is it? DBP? They have certainly failed in two out of their three objectives. Could it be they have they not been allowed to do their job? (That wouldn't be surprising.) Why do we have so many government and quasi-government bodies involved in the book trade, for such a small reading population, anyway? (DBP, MBKM, ITBM, Kota Buku ... But, the news coming out is not good: territoriality, empire building, back-biting, sabotage, you name it.)

If you have been given a job and have not succeeded after more than half a century, should that be considered failure? This is not about calling someone's baby ugly. This is about telling someone that the baby he or she is dandling is dead, and has been for a while, and no amount of stout denials is going to bring it back to life. Question is: should they even be allowed to look after babies anymore?

According to the Malaysian norm, for failed institutions in the country, DBP will be allowed another 50 years to do more of the same? Do they deserve the extension of time? Will they be allowed to change? To do the job they have been set up to do? To progress?

Why I hate some books

I was reading this story in Bookriot.com called What are your Book Dealbreakers when I wondered, "What is it about some books that I hate?" I am frequently ask, what I consider to be a good book, and find myself speechless for a while. Could it be something as simple as prejudice? In which case I would have wasted my entire life. There would be no difference between a child's scribblings and a Michaelangelo! No difference between an English 1119 standard essay masquerading as manuscript that I often receive and a Garcia Marquez! But that's another story.

When I was younger, I would read every book I started from cover to cover, but life it too short for that now. There are books I'd stop reading after the first page, after the first 10 pages, the first 50 pages or even after reading it half way through. I have even stopped reading after the first paragraph! (A bit drastic, you would think, but I prefer to trust my instincts.)

What would a book dealbreaker be for me? What would make me not buy a book, not continue reading it, or even toss it across the room part of the way through it. (I meant the last metaphorically, but I know of friends who have done that literally.)  Let me try to remember.

1. Train wrecks. Ah yes, A Fine Balance by Rohington Mistry was probably the first book I didn't bother to finish.  God, was it a train wreck?! One misery after another, it was relentless. I could here those mat sallehs going, "Oh, it's so-oo Indian." Yes, like a bad Indian movie! And I have seen enough of those as a kid. I gave up after the vasectomy turned castration scene (although I think I deserved a medal for even getting that far.)

2. Gratuitous rape scenes -- including boys. (No, rape is not entertainment). House of Blue Mangoes by David Davidar.  Imagine this: A group of girls are walking to the temple, and they come across a group of boys: result, rape. God!!! Another Indian movie plot. (Part 3 of Interlock was like that too.) Do western readers really like this shit?

3. Gratuitous incest and homosexuality. God of Small Things by Arundhathi Roy. What was that incest scene all about? I didn't toss this book, still I asked. (I asked a friend, a good reader, about it thinking it was perhaps only my hangup. She said she wondered about it, too. She is also the friend who told me that there are only good books and bad books.)

4. Bad research. Life of Pi by Yann Martel. First, there was a Tamil boy called Patel. What? Are all Indians Patels? Have you lived in London too long? Then, there was the corny dialogue between the imam, the pundit and the priest. I came this close to tossing the book.

5. Bad similes. Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. "... the weight of South African diamonds, so great, so heavy, that one day, from one ear, ear-ring ripped through, a meteor disappearing with a bloody clonk into her bowl of srikhand." Arghhh!!! Yes, I confess, I tossed that book.

6. Bad beginnings. This is really related to item 5 above -- bad similes. (No book title will be mentioned here though.) An island is like to a bubble escaping from a birds throat? I put this book quietly to one side. No, there was no need for drama. I simply decided not to read any further. Less said the better.

7. Bad genre labels. Chick Lit. How can I even get close to a book that describes itself as Chick Lit. (Like a restaurant that calls itself Papa Rich, which to me sounds way too close to Sugar Daddy!) I squirm just thinking about it. I'm going to need a bath after this! No genre has put me off like it has. How demeaning can you get? (Where are the women's libbers when you need them?!)

8. Exotic Asia. I avoid these like diseases after reading Joy Luck Club. "It is so-oo touching." Pul-lease.

Yes, most of them are books by Indian authors in who write in English, but this is just a list off the top of my head. I guess there are enough dumb mat sallehs who like this kind of exotic India to create an industry out of it. Now it's all about Fifty Shades of Grey and soft porn. I keeping away from them like I did with Chick Lit.

What? You still think the book industry is created for and by intelligent people? That only clever people read books? Think again. Just remember that the last best seller was a badly written soft porn. (The smart ones are those tip-toeing around the manure to pick the lovely flowers and fruits, trying not to step on the crap or get it onto their clothes.)

An Egyptian/Welsh author I met recently said, "I can't complain though; Fifty Shades is probably paying for my book."

Copyright makes important books disappear

This is not new, people have complained about copyright laws for a long time. Many customers coming into Silverfish asking for books published in the country in the 60s and 70s, which are now out of print. We would apologise and point them in the direction of antiquarian bookstores in London, and feel thoroughly stupid about it. These are Malaysian books, good books, and should be in print, even if only POD, and should be in the country.

"Why don't you republish it," they would ask. The reply to that, in a word, is 'copyright'. The publishers have disappeared and no one knows where the author is. Still, the work remains protected! Not unlike the dog in the manger story that we heard when we were children.

Copyright registration?

The copyright regime is a weird. Unlike patents, you do not have to register it, you do not have to prove it is yours, yet no one else can touch.

We understand that copyright laws are about allowing the author to exploit the full commercial potential of a book. But happens though if the author and his publisher are no longer interested in it, or even dead? Out of hundreds of thousands of books published every year, only a tiny fraction remains in print after five years. And, after ten years, next to none. Only the very famous will still sell their books in any numbers to make it commercially exploitable. So, imagine the situation after 30, 40 or 50 years. The tragedy is that thousands of very important mid-level works go unread and unpublished for generations, and are hence forgotten.

In the US and Europe a work is currently copyright protected for 70 years after the death of the author, and they are working on extending it. In Malaysia, the copyright remains with the author's estate for 50 years after the death of the author. (If there is anyone out there with better knowledge of Malaysian copyright laws, please butt in.)

If copyright were treated like private property, it would be a leasehold house, where the owner would be allowed in as long as he is alive. Then his heir(s) would inherit it, but only for the remaining duration of the lease. The heir might subsequently want to apply to renew the lease, subject to approval by the state. Under copyright laws, a new lease is automatically granted, even if he (or she) is not interested. Firstly, why do the heirs deserve this hand-me-down? What did they do? Secondly, does such work not belong to the people? Is it not the cultural heritage of a nation? (Am I beginning to sound like a communist here? Have to be careful these days.)

Life would be so much simpler if copyright had to be registered and renewed at regular intervals for a fee to the state (or other body) if any party still wants to keep his interest alive. If the Library of Congress can register every damned book ever published, why not copyright?  For scholars, researchers and the public, this would be a gold mine, even if the majority of the works might be nothing more than paper lama.

Censorship by other means

We are such a young country, and yet we have already lost so much. We do not know where many authors or the publishers are, let alone their next of kin, and the works cannot be reprinted because it is still protected. Some people in the government would prefer many works to disappear because of inconvenient truths they might reveal. Since book-burning would be frowned upon (although many have no problems with openly advocating it) for reasons of politics, and, not to mention, haze mitigation, wilful benign neglect (by not allocating funds, for example) and incompetence (having civil servants look after priceless old manuscripts, or sell as kacang puteh wrapper) have almost become the accepted modus operandi.

In any context, this would be censorship by other means. (Does anyone know where the original Jawi manuscripts of Hikayat Hang Tuah and Merong Mahawangsa are?)

In a recent study by Professor Paul J. Heald (picture), of the University of Illinois College of Law, and visiting professor at the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy & Management (CIPPM) at Britain’s Bournemouth University, it was reported that, “A random sample of new books for sale on Amazon.com shows three times more books initially published in the 1850’s are for sale than new books from the 1950’s."

So, not surprisingly, copyright makes books disappear. And also music. (Read the full text of the paper here.) Powerful copyright lobbyists advocate ever longer terms of copyright protection for fear that when copyright expires, the work loses its owner, and it falls into the public domain. Er, so? Isn't that where it belongs? Anyway, even if copyright protection is extended, what's the problem with registering and renewing it so everyone knows? The monopolists would benefit too.

We have heard this many times before: if you love it, set it free. This should include copyright.

A dumbo's guide: create e-books (epub and mobi) from .doc files for free

Okay, so this is not entirely an opinion piece, but I cannot let it go without having a say, can I? Contrary to what most people think, the e-book scene out there is a wild jungle. It's also terribly fragmented, and is changing rapidly. That's not surprising as e-books are still new and evolving, except for the pdf format which has been with us for a long time. But the problem with it is that it is formatted page-by-page and so the text doesn't flow continuously, and does not take different page sizes without making it impossible to read. Mobi and Epub formats, are more tolerant of page-size variations, but images must be anchored to the text for them to appear at approximately the right positions.

Still, making your own e-books is a good way for giving away, sharing or selling (yes, you read that right) that book you have just completed for absolutely free. You read that right, too! You can send it to anyone with a mobile phone, tablet or a Kindle. Distribution, too, is free if you send it as an email attachment. Anyway, there are many online marketing tools out there. Google it, or ask a friend. But, here's what you will need for now.

1. The masterpiece you have written in Word format. (Other word-processing programs should work as well.)
2. Download Calibre and install it. It is an open-source program, and is free, which means it's available for OSX, Windows and Linux.
3. Download Sigil and install it. It is also open-source and free, and available for Windows and Mac. This program will allow you to tweak the format of the EPUB to make it look nicer before you send it out.
(Added information: Apple uses EPUB, Amazon uses MOBI, and they don't talk to one another.)

Step One: Save your Word file as .rtf (Rich Text Format). (You can also save it as a HTML (HyperText Markup Language) file, used for creating web pages and other information that can be displayed in a web browser. But, if you're a non-geek and this freaks you out, don't have to take this route. On the other hand, if you're a geek already, go on ahead; you don't need this primer.)

Step Two: Open Calibre. (The image shows what it would look like with all the books you have added. If you have not added any, you'll only see the Calibre Quick Start Guide.)

Step Three: Add the newly created .rtf file by either using the 'Add' option (top right) or drag-and-drop the file into the white space.

Step Four: Edit metadata (no need to freak out now). Highlight the newly imported file, and click the second from left button. Here, you can add the author's name, year of publication, publisher, and anything else you want (or ignore it all, if you don't.) Click OK.

Step Five: With the new file still highlighted, click the third button. This is where the magic happens. Like it says, it will convert your book. The source type (RTF) will show on the top right. Select the destination type (EPUB) on the top left pull-down. Click 'OK' and viola! (You will see a revolving wheel at the bottom left, and how long it will take will depend on the size of the file -- very quick, at any rate.)

Step Six: (Sorry, not over yet.) Click 'Save file', third from right on top, and choose your destination, wherever you like. Your EPUB is done (almost). Click 'View' (fourth from left) to see what it looks like. If you like what you see, it's done. If the format looks like a dog's breakfast, and that you can introduce more spaces, or align-centre, etc., go to the next step.

Step Seven: Launch Sigil, open the EPUB file you created above, and do some minor formatting to make it look better. It is quite intuitive, not unlike a basic word-processor. Save and close after you're done. (No matter how hard you try, you will not get it to look like a book published on paper -- not with current technology anyway -- unless you go the pdf route.)

Step Eight: Add the new EPUB file to your Calibre library, (I suggest you delete the old one to avoid confusion), highlight it, and convert to MOBI just like the process above. You can read the .mobi file in Calibre too, by highlighting it and clicking 'View'.

Now, enjoy! You can sell it, give it away, upload it on Amazon (Google for instructions and rules) and Apple iPad (ditto). Don't pay any money to those sharks who convert e-books for a fee, unless you want to go professional. That's another story. This is for fun.

(Note about e-book formats: if you want to mess with your mind, visit the following Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_formats)