AUTOBIOGRAFI 10 SASTERAWAN UTARA

George Orwell pernah berkata bahawa "autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful" manakala menurut Quentin Crisp, “an autobiography is an obituary in serial form with the last installment missing.”

Walau apa pun perkara negatif yang dikatakan tentang autobiografi, hakikatnya kini ia dikelompokkan sebagai bahan sumber sejarah yang sangat penting. Ini kerana terdapat banyak maklumat penting yang dapat memberi pemahaman baru daripada apa yang terkandung di dalamnya.

Sifat autobiografi yang berbentuk pendedahan dapat memaparkan sesuatu yang jauh lebih mendalam daripada laporan jurnalistik. Yang lebih penting, autobiografi dapat meneroka minda dan jiwa penulis. Dengan demikian karya-karya riwayat hidup yang ditulis dengan baik dapat memberi suatu perspektif sejarah yang segar dan dapat menghasilkan suara-suara kesusasteraan selain memberi sumbangan ke arah kesedaran budaya.

Demikianlah yang diharapkan bagi buku Seribu Satu Kenangan: Autobiografi 10 Sasterawan Utara yang disunting oleh Dr Pisol Maidin. Buku ini merupakan antologi sumbangan individu dalam bentuk pelukisan riwayat hidup yang ringkas oleh lapan orang penulis Kedah dan dua orang penulis Perlis. Penulis-penulis tersebut merupakan karyawan genre fiksyen yang tidak asing lagi dalam dunia sastera Malaysia. Walaupun terkenal, kisah hidup dan pandangan peribadi mereka tidak banyak diketahui kerana kurangnya penulisan tentang diri sendiri penulis-penulis tersebut. Dengan demikian, buku ini tentulah dapat mengisi ruang-ruang kosong yang dimaksudkan.

Empat daripada penulis dalam antologi ini dilahirkan pada tahun 1930-an manakala empat lagi lahir sama ada pada tahun 1940 atau 1941. Tulisan-tulisan mereka ternyata mengimbau sejarah dan peristiwa lebih setengah abad dahulu. Dengan demikian buku ini tentulah mempunyai nilai sebagai sumber sejarah sosial.

Dr Pisol Maidin bukan sahaja telah merangka dan menyusun dengan kemas tetapi juga telah menelitinya dengan baik sehingga berjaya menghasilkan antologi ini yang penting untuk dijadikan sumber ilham dan panduan khususnya bagi penulis-penulis muda. Bagi para pengkaji, karya ini bukan sahaja boleh dijadikan rujukan penting tentang latar belakang penulis tetapi juga tentang peristiwa, suasana dan persekitaran yang wujud semasa kehidupan penulis tersebut.

MEMOIR OF A MALAYSIAN “JIHADIST”

I have just finished evaluating a manuscript which was given to me by a “literary agent” friend, Mohd Halimi Abdul Hamid, less than a month ago. The manuscript immediately captured my attention not only because it reads like a memoir which is one of my favourite genre but also because I know the writer and I had once travelled with him in 2001 to a war-zone Kashmir for a humanitarian mission.

And in February 2003, he was detained by the Malaysian police under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for allegedly being involved in a global terrorist network. That shocked many people who knew him personally including me who sees him as very humble, kind, gentle and honest. But as a retired lieutenant-colonel who had earlier served with the UN peacekeepers in Bosnia, he is smart and has a strong physical and moral courage.

There was never any slightest indication that he was a criminal or had any link with terrorist groups. Yet, he had been named by the Security Council Committee [established pursuant to resolution 1267 (1999) concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban and Associated Individuals and Entities] as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” along with others such as Nordin Mohd Top, Wan Min Wan Mat, Mukhlis Yunos, Zaini Zakaria, Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, Agus Dwikarna, Huda bin Abdul Haq, and Azahari Husin.

It is unbelievable that he could have been “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of Jemaah Islamiyah” as written in the charge sheet.

This manuscript is his personal account, a memoir remembering the tragedies of his more that three years ISA detention, the chilling and heartbreaking experience in the war-torn Bosnia, and his involvement in voluntarily organisations. It is a fascinating narrative as well as timely and important.

However, it has an obvious weakness that it is not so much a memoir as a commentary or a monologue. It would have had a much more impact had the writer made the narrative of what happened his primary focus and integrate his commentary and monologue into the story.

Since it is still a draft, I hope to see the improvement and to be able to recommend to others when it comes out of the press.