By Dr. Victor A. Pogadaev
MALAYSIA’S National Laureate Dr Muhammad Haji Salleh is famous for his extraordinary talent and ability to understand problems that affect not only his country but the whole of humanity.
This is because his poetry is universal and can be understood by anyone. It may also stem from his ability to write poetry in English, the “colonial language”.
That gave the opportunity to Robert Rozhdestvensky (1932-1994), a very popular and authoritative Russian poet, who, along with such poets as Andrey Voznesensky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Bella Akhmadulina, pioneered a newer, fresher and freer style of poetry in the Soviet Union, when translating Muhammad’s poems into Russian.
Probably because of his education abroad (in the United States) and his ability to write poetry in English, Muhammad was called an ‘intellectual poet.’
The term was also used by Russian researcher Dr Boris Parnickel (1934-2004). In my opinion, however, the term is confusing because it gives the impression that other poets in Malaysia are not intellectuals.
For example, another National Laureate, A. Samad Said, shows in his works a broad panorama of life and deep knowledge of world literature (including Russian) that it is impossible not to consider him an intellectual writer too.
The same can be said about Kemala or Anwar Ridhwan. It seems that the ‘Englishness’ of Muhammad’s works in the early stage of his creative activities is considered evidence of intellectualism.
In that sense, Muhammad can be compared with Russian poet Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996), who in 1987 won the Nobel Prize in literature.
After Brodsky was expelled from Russia because his works were considered detrimental to communist ideology, he started writing his poems in English as in his mother tongue and also started to be called an intellectual poet.
The ability to create literary works in a foreign language is truly amazing. But if Brodsky switched from his mother tongue to English, Muhammad switched from a foreign language to his mother tongue.
I know that because he himself told me that he decided to stop writing poetry in English for the sake of the Malay language.
Malay is among the most beautiful languages in the world. It can express thoughts and feelings as perfectly as other major languages.
Muhammad did not budge from his stance. He is good at creating atmosphere and playing with words so that they come alive and dominate the minds and hearts of readers.
The first time I met Muhammad in Moscow was in 1996 at an international seminar organised by the Nusantara Society. It was no exaggeration to say that his presence was significant. Together with Taufiq Ismail from Indonesia, he became the ‘soul’ of the seminar whose opinion was sought by all.
Full of curiosity, he wandered around Moscow. We visited several bookstores, the Leo Tolstoy memorial museum and even watched Alexander Pushkin’s drama, Queen of Spades, at the Vakhtangov theatre.
Muhammad’s way of thinking is amazing. The stage decoration and costumes of the actors were in black and white, so that prompted him to write a poem philosophically reflecting on the two colours.
Our friendship has grown stronger since 2001 when I came to Kuala Lumpur to teach at Universiti Malaya. We often corresponded and met several times at various events.
The Russian proverb goes: going through life is not as easy as crossing the field.
Muhammad lived a life that was not easy, but full of meaning. He educated many literary experts. Young poets wanted to follow his example.
And if he looks carefully at his life, perhaps he could say with pride that it was successful because his sacrifice and struggle to empower Bahasa Melayu was not in vain. (NST 6 June 2021)
- DR VICTOR A. POGADAEV, writing from Russia, was a former lecturer of Universiti Malaya.
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