Cultural Identity Past and Present: Poetic Imagination of Muhammad Haji Salleh

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Cultural Identity Past and Present: PoeticImagination of Muhammad Haji Salleh

Wan Roselezam Wan Yahya, Forough Barani,Arbaayah Ali Termizi and Emily Abd Rahman

THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES http://www.Humanities-Journal.com First published in 2010 in Champaign, Illinois, USA by Common Ground Publishing LLC www.CommonGroundPublishing.com. © 2010 (individual papers), the author(s) © 2010 (selection and editorial matter) Common Ground Authors are responsible for the accuracy of citations, quotations, diagrams, tables and maps. All rights reserved. Apart from fair use for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act (Australia), no part of this work may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. For permissions and other inquiries, please contact <[email protected]>. ISSN: 1447-9508 Publisher Site: http://www.Humanities-Journal.com THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES is peer-reviewed, supported by rigorous processes of criterion-referenced article ranking and qualitative commentary, ensuring that only intellectual work of the greatest substance and highest significance is published. Typeset in Common Ground Markup Language using CGCreator multichannel typesetting system http://www.commongroundpublishing.com/software/

Cultural Identity Past and Present: Poetic Imaginationof Muhammad Haji SallehWan Roselezam Wan Yahya, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor,MalaysiaForough Barani, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, MalaysiaArbaayah Ali Termizi, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, MalaysiaEmily Abd Rahman, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract: Poetry, a medium through which human channels his/her feelings and attitudes, has longbeen the magic mirror reflecting a person’s individual ties with culture and society. As the reader isinvited to the real or imaginary world of the poet, he/she traverses the realm of poetry and initiates ajourney in search of his/her own soul and identity. This symbolic representation of life as a linearprocess, communicating past and present in the context of cultural and social heritage of one’shomeland, is truly depicted in Muhammad Haji Salleh’s poems. The extended metaphor of a man inhis journey seeking the ultimate truth of his essence is the main theme of his poetry. Through the powerof initiative imagination and synthesis, Muhammad Haji Salleh’s poetic images give the reader aninsight to his nostalgia that roots in his past colonial experience. His double-consciousness betweenhis past and present is of key importance in identifying the individual and cultural background. Thepersona of his poetry is quite conscious that in order to find his “self” he needs to accept his past.This study attempts to scrutinize Muhammad Haji Salleh’s poetry through logical and analytical ex-amination of his poetic images to determine the cultural influence of in his poetry of spiritual journeyfrom illusion to illumination and self-discovery.

Keywords: Culture, Identity, Malay Poetry

Introduction

MUHAMMAD HAJI SALLEH (MHS) as described by Pratt (1992) is a “seeingman” who experiences the world through his careful observation and let hisreader sees his insight through his poetical world. In this sense, the “traveller”becomes the “protagonist and the central figure of his own account” (Pratt,

1992:76). Such reading of MHS’s poetry leads us to consider his poetry as an autobiograph-ical description of his life when the “I” of the poet is reminiscing his past experiences, sothe “me” of the persona in this light would be the actor and the protagonist of his life story(Hermans and Kempen, 1993).1 In tracing the poet’s travel writing, particulars of the histor-ical background and ideological assumptions of the culture are brought into emphasis andthe relationship between human and his origin becomes more intense. MHS’s sentimentaltravel poems, in general, reflect his deep ties with his past and keen sensitive eye in relating

1 For a detailed discussion of the autobiographical narration refer to the Mancuso and Sarbin’s theory of “I as authorand me as actor.” Hermans, Kempen. Dialogical Self: Meaning as Movement. (1993), p. 45.

The International Journal of the HumanitiesVolume 7, Number 12, 2010, http://www.Humanities-Journal.com, ISSN 1447-9508© Common Ground, Wan Roselezam Wan Yahya, Forough Barani, Arbaayah Ali Termizi, Emily AbdRahman, All Rights Reserved, Permissions: [email protected]

his experiences in his journey. He travels his colonial master land, besides his own Asiansettings and translates the accounts of his journey into poetry.

Having experienced the age of Western Imperialism, the traveller in his autobiographicalpoems becomes the voice of authority and his self becomes the protagonist of his journey.The traveller’s “I” comes to “re-invent” and “re-create” the people, their culture and theirlandscape from his own perspective. As a post-colonial poet, MHS carries with him the samecolonial assumption and values which inevitably affects his line of thought. He raises theissues of how once colonized people come to see and interpret other people besides theirown natives and how specifically they define themselves after the independence with regardto their colonial past experience. The sensitive traveller persona in MHS’s poems who ex-plores the Malay Archipelago and around the world, and even within the realm of the selfis a careful observer of the people he encounters and the landscapes he traverses. He trans-forms his experiences and the description of the people and the surrounding he encountersinto lyrical poetry. He calls upon his readers, Malay and others, and shares with them histravel memories and his personal reminiscences.

MHS’s journey has two dimensions; one facet of his journey is physical and the otherpsychological. In his travels in Malaysia and to other neighboring countries he comes toknow the historical and cultural ties between these nations and his own that predictably sharecommon perspectives. The poet’s encounter with local people is a way to know better theirindividual and social attitudes. As a part of this culture, the traveller feels a deep sense ofbelonging to the traditional values and becomes the authoritative voice of his people to makecertain statements. His self-inflicted exile, farther than the boundaries of home countries, tothe land of the western colonisers, also consists of an in-depth insight and a continuing searchof affinity with the foreign lands and its people. While MHS has received western educationin England, it is not improbable to say that such linguistic training and cultural exposure hadsome influence on his self and unquestionably his poetry. Thus there is a sense of familiarityand at the same time a conflicting duality that the traveller shares in confronting these out-siders.

On the other facet MHS’s psychological journey also involves his journey within the self.In this sense the physical journey is seen merging into the psychological one and helps thepoet to get an insight of his own experience and knowledge. Susan Bassnet (1993:114) in astudy of travel writing sees travelling as “map-making” and “translating,” and describes itas an activity that is not transparent but locating “with points of origin, points of departureand destination.”

Aim and Methodology of the StudyThe aim of this study is to detect MHS’s stream of thoughts from the initiation to the ultimateimage of the self in his three representative poems: “Traveller,” “Blood” and “Self Portrait.”The method employed is close textual analysis using the concept of the persona as the authorhim/herself (Hermans and Kempen, 1993) in his/her autobiographical journey of self discov-ery. The paper presents an in-depth exploration of the mentioned poems in terms of imagesand thematic concerns to produce a full picture of the poet’s self. In identifying the selfthrough the chosen poems, this study aims to fill the previous gaps in dealing with the trav-eller’s persona into a complete image of the self in the physical journey, while the psycholo-gical one ends with the thorough knowledge of the self as an artist, a poet.

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To trace MHS’s quest of self-discovery, one needs to start from his point of beginning,his past. In Noraini Md. Yusof’s (2003) study of traveller persona in the early poetry ofMHS, she argues that “MHS’s travels are acts that repeat the actions of sea-faring forefatherswho belong to the history of Malay migration in Archipelago, where going on a journey isseen as a rite of passage for the male offspring” (15).2 Muhammad Salleh Jaafar, on theother hand, reads MHS’s poems as a post-colonial poet’s quest for identity (2003) and as an“existential voice” that portray modern western humanism (2007). This paper, however,treats the journey motif as the poet’s process of initiation and then a final return with a trueknowledge of the self as seen in his traveling persona.

Analysis and Discussion

Self in Exile: A Traveller’s Nostalgia for Home in “Traveller”The monologic voice of the persona in the poem “Traveller” addresses an absent addresseeand tries to mentally communicate and share his dismal and nostalgic experience with him/her.The persona starts with the description of his present situation as a “traveller” and goes onto say that he is homeless and has no place to go, then shifts in time to future when, he “shallsomeday work out the map of this city,” and “traverse it on foot”:

Someday, I shall work outA map of this cityAnd traverse it on foot.…Here, I know, there can be no home.(157)3

The image of a man pondering on the streets is very suggestive as he has to leave the place“where there is no home for him,” while hesitating and thoughtful, remembering his pastexperience in remorse. The deliberate choice of the word “home” by MHS is very rich inconnotation and implies that he is not only in search of an actual shelter for living but alsoa security and serenity in life—while now dislocated from “home” he has lost his refuge andin other sense his own self. This implies that the land that he has travelled to is not one hecould be at peace. He needs to leave it for a better one, while there is no definite indicationof Malaysia, his homeland, or any other specific place, the significance of the place is de-termined by the degree of his own self to be known there as a “man” or a person of integrity.

The persona in this poem is recognized as MHS himself and his experiences in a foreignland. To read the text in the light of post-colonial theory, the intentions would be more obviousbecause the poet himself has experienced colonialism and wants to share his colonial exper-iences with the reader through his chosen persona. In this sense he is lamenting his lost city

2 Noraini Md. Yusof in her article “Chronicles of the Traveler in Muhammad Haji Salleh’s Time and its People”discusses the physical and psychological dimensions of the traveler’s journey. She argues that “[MHS] is not merelya tourist who visits places as just stops along the way, but a man whose journeys teach him about the world andhis place in it.” Critical Perspectives on Muhammad Haji Salleh. Zawiah Yahya. Ed. Ampang: Dawama, (2003),p. 54.3 This page number and the subsequent page numbers for poems refer to Muhammad Haji Salleh. Rowing DownTwo Rivers. Bangi: UKM Press, (2000).

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WAN YAHYA, BARANI, ALI TERMIZI, ABD RAHMAN

or his lost sense of self and identity. He aims to depart this land in search of an ideal oneand this journey could be seen as a form of an initiation for self-discovery.

MHS’s quest for self identification forms a full circle, where the journey begins from hisown land and goes far beyond the boundaries of his nation to finally come back withknowledge to his country where he can call “home.” Although in his physical journey thefinal destination is homeland, in the psychological one the ultimate end is enhancing the“self.” This spiritual dimension of MHS’s quest gives depth to the overall theme of his poetry.The persona is in search of ultimate truth of material and spiritual world.4

Identity: Self and Cultural Heritage in the “Blood”The idea of blood is deeply influenced by the discourse of race and biological construct. Byarousing this concept in his poetry MHS aims to emphasize on the importance of culturalvalues and ethnicity in determining cultural identity. It is important to note that from thecultural perspective Malays are seen as an Islamic minded race and to read Malay literatureit is inevitable to consider this cultural fact since “religious elements of Malay identity israpidly overtaking the others in importance” (Gabriel, 1995:14). This assumption suggeststhat the notion of Malayness is polarized between being Malay and being Muslim. It is crucialto know that in the present context of Malaysia, Malayness is no more than a state of mind;accordingly it is not racial, rather it is basically cultural. MHS’s poetry is crafted with aMalay conscious that is aware of every aspect of Malay life and culture. The theme, poeticsand even the linguistic features of his poetry is mostly concerned with Malay cultural identity.In other words, his poetry is inclined toward intellectual Malay world view. In his appraisalof MHS, Mana Sikana writes:

Mohammad Haji Salleh is responsible for changing the landscape of Malay traditionalpoetry from being melancholic and romantic to being intellectual and critical by encour-aging the Malay audience to be receptive to his lucid and original Malay semiotic ex-pressions (qtd. in Badrul Redzuan and Fauziah, 2003:198).

MHS emphatically stresses the fact that Malay race should be adventurous and in search ofnew experiences and “Enlightenment.” An intellectually and emotionally matured Malayman, he believes, knows how to see and think and therefore “choose[s] between/ the changingrealities” 5 of his own life and culture; he is conscious of his sense of “self.” Search foridentity is a central theme and concern in Malay tradition of poetry, since a post-colonialnation, like other post-colonial countries, Malaysian attitudes toward the “cultural identity”

4 Later on, based on his religious beliefs, MHS confirms that the final destination of a person’s journey of life isthe life after death. The spirituality inherent in his discourse is worth mentioning when he links his physical journeyto that of a celestial one. Within such an interpretation of his intentions the air would be reminiscence of the oldquest of John Bunyan in his Pilgrims Progress, while now in the context of MHS’s poems, hope pervades the dis-course of MHS’s quest for salvation. Hopeful to the coming future, he admits that “this is the future/ pictures pre-served from the empty present/ so that you will know.” This extract is taken from “Homecoming,” when the personareturns to the homeland after a long exile and presents “the book of the journey” to those who want to know abouthis experiences. Time and its People, (1978), p. 31.5 In his re-interpretation of the old legend of Si Tenggang in “Si Tenggang’s Homecoming,” MHS depicts the truenature of a matured Malay man and his admirable qualities once he returns to his homeland. Rowing Down TwoRivers, 2000, p. 233.

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after the independence is woven specifically to “Malay identity.” As it was mentionedearlier, the Islamic values dominate the whole perception of the New Malay; although MHS’spoetry doesn’t explicitly deal with Islamic images and themes, the Malay reader can partic-ularly infer religious and generally ethical values and principle in his quest of the soul insearch of the ultimate truth of man’s essence. The construction of New Malay “self” in thisaccount must be based on “the independence of one’s self and its preservation through acritical evaluation or reflection of one’s history, culture and Islamic value system, not brutalstrength (Badrul Redzuan and Fauziah, 2003:209).

Badrul Redzuan and Fauziah (2003:203) in their research on cultural and Islamic valuesdepicted in Malaysian poetry declared that, “Malay culture generally calls for conformingto tradition/belief and ensures the conservation of social values through various mechanismincluding didactic folklores.” In MHS’s poem the “Blood”, the significance of origin is ofgreat concern to the persona. The extended metaphor of “blood” and the recurrent image oftravelling this time is through the “veins” rather than the roads is another time revealing ofthe intention of the persona—the quest for the ancestral ties and origins and backward butagain in search of the “self” and identity. By arousing this concept of blood in his poetryMHS emphasises once more on the cultural values and ethnicity as bearing an importantrole in determining cultural identity. He intends to overthrow the racial discrimination andbiologically determined evaluation of a race and stereotyping a nation. This idea and theestablishing of a true sense of origin are key concepts in dealing with MHS’s poetry. For apost-colonial conscious poet like MHS adhering to such themes is very crucial and enableshim to find a way out of the Western culture in which he was educated and establishing acloser affinity with his own traditional culture.

The blood in me has travelled the centuriesFlowed in unknown veinsCrossed mangrove rivers and proud straits.All flow into a map of memory. (142)

Knowing MHS as an intellectual poet, the title of the poem, the “Blood,” is very notable andgives a complete image of the whole poem and its thematic concern: the indispensable tiesbetween the persona and his ancestors. Although the persona refers to the “unknown veins”and undetermined ancestry, he cannot deny the importance of his blood kinship, “The bloodin me has travelled the centuries/ flowed in unknown veins/ all flow in a map of memory.”The image of the “map” and journey, that this time is only in “memory” and a psychologicalone, illuminates the need to return to the history of Malaysia. The persona remembers hispast and refers to the Indonesian ancestry of Malays when the great-grandfather is implantingfaith and religion, Islam, in his son that is under the influence of Dutch colonizers. In thiscontext the poet’s descendents were trying to keep Islamic values alive:

The great-grandfather who walked in pietyHad taught religion to his dutch-loathing sonWho walked with him and with god.They led their communities,Cleansed the ancestral mudAnd planted faith. (142)

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In the final part of the first stanza that is wholly a reminiscence of the past, the “I” of thepoet acknowledges his dues to his ancestors, while arousing the image of family tree andancestral branch:

Much as I owe, I am.I am both branchAnd remote stalk of this tree. (142)

These lines signify racial continuity; the origins and seed of the ancestral tree and now thepresent fruitful image of the tree; the poet embodies himself with all its parts, branches andthe strong stalk. In this case the persona professes a personal loyalty to his roots. To readthe poem in this light one can detect Western Individualism in mind and words of the poet.Ismaznizam (2003:232) in his overall study of MHS’s poetry and the identity formation inhis poetry declares “the ‘I’ used in the poem ‘Blood’ closely mirrors Western Individualism,focusing attention on the private self. There is a sense of alienation and the need to reconcilewith what was once distant—his origin and its cultural tradition.” Thus by interpreting thepoem in this way another time the image of a traveller coming home is introduced, one whois tracing his own racial root and finally coming into terms with it and embraces it. Ismazn-izam adds that, “the persona after all is a ‘remote stalk’ of his identity tree—distanced bytime and foreign cultural experience” (2003:232).

Structurally, the poem’s depiction of the interaction between the past and present plays asignificant role in the formation of the picture which the persona is illustrating for the reader.After looking back to the past, the reader is ushered to the present time when the personasees himself sitting at his desk reviewing the “damp history” “on a brown archival table.”The persona connects the reader to his origin and yet stands at a distance. Like the reader,he is also an observer, so the voice signals a personal and self-reflective one rather thancommunal.

A taste of historyI slouchedOver the yellow newspapersOn a brown archival table.The page, sunk in time’s tint,Stared with its damp history. (142)

This suggests the person’s voice as an anthropologist recording the national and culturalexperiences of his nation and is hopeful for the coming future while nostalgically thinkingof his people: “the emotion and reason/ of a people/ imprisoned in their hopes.” He pointsto the “naiveté” and primitiveness of his own people, the Malay men, “the inhabitance ofthe wilderness.”

In the next lines the persona once more chooses an individualistic effort to win the battleof the intellectualism for the sake of his land and people. In the same manner, as once hisnation has experienced both the physical and mental colonization by Japanese, Portugueseand British forces, “the assemble enemies,” now in this post-colonial time the mind of thepoet is ready to fight another time for the national identity of his own country in line withthose “who fought for thoughtless/ reasoned for the unreasonable/ and died among the

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laughter of the living.” The “I” of the able persona, self-assured and confident, returns tohis own primitive but paradoxically rich cultural heritage. This choice of voice and the finalre-union with the cultural values of his own land, despite the influence of the colonizer’sculture and language, is very determining since it resembles MHS’s own poetic career exper-ience. As he was educated in England under the direct influence of the master country, hisacademic and poetic language was English. He felt a great distance from the Malay idealism,although his subject matters have mostly been Malaysian culture and setting. To overcomehis sense of guilt and perform his appointed responsibility to his own national language,MHS in his later life chooses to write in Bahasa Melayu.

Self Recognition: Traveller’s Transformation to the Poet-Prophet in “SelfPortrait”Tracing MHS’s journey of self-discovery through his collection of poetry is a worthwhiletask for the reader and a crucial one for the careful critics. The third poem chosen for thisdiscussion is “Self Portrait,” an indicative poem which gives the final image of the selfthrough the eye of the persona himself. After a long period of torment the persona finallyaims to come to an absolute definition of his whole being. This is seen in the stated few linesof his poem:

In the night mirrorPainted by the mercury of anxietyThe self flits byDistant and half-ready.

With what shall I read this reflection?…For many days I died,Killed by my own reflection,…I am a poetWho must stand before the mirrorAnd receive every sign. (58-9)

The reflection in the mirror suggests the poet’s self portrait and how others see him. Thepoet has come to a realization that he has to accept his self regardless of how people of hisland see him.

The night and darkness witness an event, an image “distant and half-ready” which is aboutto come to full existence. The poet is hesitant and tries to get a full picture, listens to thevoice of “others,” may be of help; what the “enemies” perceive of his “self” and what the“friends” talks of him, “from the vocabularies of the enemies or the friends.” Or shall hemerely ask guide from his own internal “beliefs,” sets out a “fire” and from its ashes burninto birth, “or the twinkle of belief/ that begins the fire?” just like the phoenix of old legends.

The inquiry is still continuing throughout the mental journey of self-enhancement. The“self” is in dialogue with his own conscious and unconscious parts, and is investigatingknowledge through question and answers. This piece is an epistemological self-inquiry where

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the becoming self of the persona is communicating the shadow within—the reflection of thehalf-ready image—and bears the hope that eventually he may celebrate the birth of his all-knowing conscious self.

Indeed, the self is involve in the process of “becoming” suggesting the process of selfformation in the interaction of the “I” and “me” of the persona’s self. The knowing self iswitnessing the murder of the individual “I” of the persona by his own “me,” “for many daysI died, / killed by my own reflection.” In order to experience rebirth, the “I” needs to bekilled. In this respect, once all ambitions and prejudices are wiped out and the darkness anduncertainties are cleansed off, now the soul is ready to experience catharsis. So this is whyimmediately after this the persona declares: “but immediately awakened.” The next linesare promising while the answer to all the previous aroused questions is provided in “thesprinkle of life and blood” breathed to the clay of the persona by the “children’s call or theneighbors invitation.” The individual effort of the self to redefine his own identity is completedby the final glow of the people’s presence. Consequently, the persona recognizes his “I” asthe “poet-prophet” who is responsible toward a “must,” to “stand before the mirror” of theage while receiving and reciting the “sign” from the others and then reflect the completeportrait of the self in front of the others.

Likewise, Nature also shakes hand with the craftsman, the persona, “stars twinkle on themountains, / birds sing on the window-sill.” The grandeur of the setting is reminiscence ofthe Day of Creation when all creatures were impatiently waiting for the creation of the “man”by the almighty power of God. Once more, here and now, the Poet through his artifact, poetry,breathes life into his own self and in this way tries to re-create and re-define his soul. “But”yet the painting is not completed and there are still those lines of the portrait that needs morecolor. In fact each part of the persona’s being is asserting his own “self” while all of themare going to shape a unified image of the “cohesive self,” the one “voice” that “has spokenof the prayer.”

Conclusion: The Ultimate ImageTo read Muhammad Haji Salleh’s poetry in the light of all possible issues dealing withidentity (Noraini Md. Yusof, 2003; Muhammad Salleh Jaafar, 2003, 2007; Badrul Redzuanand Fauziah, 2003; Ismaznizam, 2003) opens a new dimension of his self-discovery journeysand ultimately gives the readers an apparent understanding of an individual’s ties with thecultural background (since the self is not identifiable out of the context of cultural heritage).It is an unquestionable fact that MHS in his self exploration, mentally and physically traversesback in the past and looks ahead to the future in order to come to terms with his present.Time and the persona’s affinity with the past and present play a significant role in testingand questioning the self and bringing it out of the shadows of doubt and uncertainty to theilluminating power of knowledge and understanding, and in this sense re-creating the “self.”The all-seeing, careful “eye” of the persona looks back into the reality of the past and theundeniable presence of the present and finally foreshadows an encompassing “I” with thefinal image of the self.

In this paper, once again the body and soul in a determining point in history mingled pastand present and after a long self inquiry journey enlightened the identity of the poet-persona.The nonstop quest of the persona in search of the lost identity is illuminated by the culturalvalues of the homeland and therefore, the individual identity is shaped out of the ashes of

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cultural identity. Through his poetry MHS shares his self discovery journey experienceswith the knowing reader, his physical quest in the “Traveller,” his reminiscence for his landand the psychological one in the “Blood” and his inquiry for the cultural background of theland comes to a final depiction of his cultural identity in the “Self Portrait,” when “self” withthe presence of the “other,” individual in the context of community and finally the poet withthe help of the people, comes to a complete understanding of the image in the mirror.

ReferencesBadrul Redzuan Abu Hassan and Fauziah Ahmad. (2003). “Muhammad Haji Salleh and Kemala: Two

Perspectives of Malayness.”Critical Perspectives onMuhammadHaji Salleh.Zawiah Yahya.Ed. Ampang: Dawama.

Bassnet, Susan. (1993).Comparative Literature: A Critical Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.Hermans, Hubert J.M. and Harry J.G. Kempen. (1993). Dialogical Self: Meaning as Movement.

Nijmegen: Academic Press, Inc.Gabriel, T. “The Malaysian Government and Christian-Muslim Relations in Malaysia” Diskus 3.2

(1995):13-22.Ismaznizam Jesmaj Azyze Ismett Azyze. (2003). Rowing Down the Two Rivers I’ve Known: Identity

Formation in Muhammad Haji Salleh and Langston Hughes. Critical Perspectives onMuhammad Haji Salleh. Zawiah Yahya. Ed. Ampang: Dawama.

Muhammad Haji Salleh. (1978). Time and Its People. Kuala Lumpur: Heinemann Educational Books.Muhammad Haji Salleh. (2000). Rowing Down Two Rivers. Bangi: UKM Press.Muhammad Salleh Jaafar. “Existentialism in the Poetry of Muhammad Haji Salleh”. The Muslim

World, 80.3-4 (2007):206-212.Muhammad Salleh Jaafar. “A Postcolonial Poet with a Quest for Identity: Interview with Malaysian

Literary Laureate Muhammad Haji Salleh”. IIAS Newsletter, No. 32, Nov. 2003:16-17.Noraini Md: Yusof. (2003). “Chronicles of the Traveller in Muhammad Haji Salleh’s Time and Its

People.” Critical Perspectives on Muhammad Haji Salleh. Zawiah Yahya. Ed. Ampang:Dawama.

Pratt, M.L. (1992). Imperial Eyes Travel Writing and Transculturation. London: Routledge.Shahnon Ahmad. (1994). Literature as a Seismograph of Life. transl. Hawa Abdullah. Kuala Lumpur:

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

Appendix 1

Traveller

Someday, I shall work outA map of this cityAnd traverse it on foot.Give me love while I can take itTake me whole if you will,Here, I know, there can be no home.This is the city that broke meStares at my refusal.I must go where I am man.Some night, in the city’s snoresI shall walk my map.There I know I am man.

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Appendix 2

Blood

The blood in me has travelled the centuriesFlowed in unknown veinsCrossed mangrove rivers and proud straits.All flow into a map of memory.The great-grandfather who walked in pietyHad taught religion to his dutch-loathing sonWho walked with him and with god.They led their communities,Cleansed the ancestral mudAnd planted faith.Much as I owe, I am.I am both branchAnd remote stalk of this tree.A taste of historyI slouchedOver the yellow newspapersOn a brown archival table.The page, sunk in time’s tint,Stared with its damp history.I browsed the years,The emotion and reasonOf a peopleImprisoned in their hopesBesieged by their naivetéAt last to becomeInhabitants of the wilderness.To combat was to choose loneliness,The assembled enemiesSent themTo the near hell.On this rusty ledge,I return to thoseWho fought for the thoughtless,Reasoned for the unreasonableAnd died among the laughter of the living.

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Appendix 3

Self Portrait

In the night mirrorPainted by the mercury of anxietyThe self flits byDistant and half-ready.

With what shall I read this reflection?With words grating or parallelFrom the vocabularies of enemies or friends,Or the twinkle of beliefThat begins the fire?

With the echo of accusationIs built the props of humiliation,Prejudice drips down,My eyes sharp as the lakeThat casts out a sun.Finally the shadow changes its ink.

With words of fine praiseOr self-satisfactionLight descends to the eyes,Colors are hewn from joyStars twinkle on the mountains,Birds sing on the window-sill.But there are those unchanged by languageColors still assert their selvesAnd the voice that has spoken a prayer.

For many days I died,Killed by my own reflection,But immediately awakenedWith the sprinkle of life and bloodChildren’s call or the neighbor’s invitation.

I am a poetWho must stand before the mirrorAnd receive every sign.

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About the AuthorsDr. Wan Roselezam Wan YahyaWan Roselezam Wan Yahya is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the Faculty ofModern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia. She is involved in sev-eral researches dealing with literature & culture, psychoanalysis & literature, literature inESL, and diasporic literature.

Forough BaraniForough Barani obtained her Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature from GuilanUniversity in Iran in 2005. Her major fields of interest are “Dialogism” and “Dialogical Self”in both modern and contemporary philosophy. She is also interested in the application ofother theories to literature such as psychoanalysis and linguistics. At present she is pursuingher Master of Arts degree in English Literature in University Putra Malaysia.

Dr. Arbaayah Ali TermiziArbaayah Ali Termizi (PhD) is currently a senior lecturer with the English Department ofFaculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Her mainresearch interest lies in areas related to Shakespeare’s studies particularly in the illustrationsof texts and staging aspects of the plays. In addition she is also interested in studies relatedto incorporating the art of drama performances in the teaching of Shakespeare’s texts.

Emily Abd RahmanEmily Abd Rahman is a research student in the School of Arts, Languages and Literacies,Faculty of Education, University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is interested in studiesrelated to English Literature, Teaching of English as a Foreign Language and application ofwestern theories to literary texts.

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EDITORS Tom Nairn, RMIT University, Melbourne. Mary Kalantzis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Patrick Baert, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK. David Christian, San Diego State University, San Diego, USA. Bill Cope, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. Joan Copjec, State University of New York, Buffalo, USA. Alice Craven, American University of Paris, Paris, France. Michel Demyen, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada. Elizabeth DePoy, University of Maine, Orono, USA Mick Dodson, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Oliver Feltham, American University of Paris, Paris, France. Clyde R. Forsberg Jr., Oxford College/Aletheia University, Tamsui, Taiwan. Stephen French Gilson, University of Maine, Orono, USA. Hafedh Halila, Institut Supérieur des Langues de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia. Souad Halila, University of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia. Hassan Hanafi Hassanien, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. Ted Honderich, University College, London, UK. Paul James, Globalism Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Moncef Jazzar, Institut Supérieur des Langues de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia. Eleni Karantzola, University of the Aegean, Rhodes, Greece. Krishan Kumar, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA. Ayat Labadi, Institut Supérieur des Langues de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia. Marion Ledwig, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA. Greg Levine, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Fethi Mansouri, Institute for Citizenship & Globalization, Deakin University,

Melbourne, Australia. Juliet Mitchell, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK. Nahid Mozaffari, New York, USA. Tom Nairn, Globalism Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Nikos Papastergiadis, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. Robert Pascoe, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. Scott Schaffer, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. Jeffrey T. Schnapp, Stanford University, Stanford, USA. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Columbia University, New York, USA. Bassam Tibi, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany and

Cornell University, Ithaca, USA. Giorgos Tsiakalos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. Siva Vaidhyanathan, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA. Cheryl A. Wells, University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA. Chris Ziguras, Globalism Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.

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Cultural Identity Past and Present: Poetic Imagination of Muhammad Haji Salleh

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