Penulis-penulis Perintis Wanita Melayu Membalas Balik
Responses from Pioneering Malay Female Writers
Singapore
Writers Festival
Literary Pioneers 2022
What does resistance woven through generations of Malay women writers look like? Journey through these knitted histories, between generations of writers whose resistance would energise others, and between the porous borders of the personal and the political.
Here, Raja Aisyah Sulaiman, Kumpulan Bebas Melata, Adibah Amin, Sa’eda Buang, Rasiah Halil and Associate Professor (A/P) Hadijah Rahman remind us that resistance is not merely defiance. To balas balik is also to repay and reciprocate, to strengthen and build, to desire and dream.
Adibah’s multifaceted career as an essayist, a screen and voice actor, a journalist, a translator, and an educator, is underpinned by her hopeful pursuit of change and knowledge.
“Knowledge must be used to improve prevailing circumstances…”
“Ilmu itu juga digunakannya untuk membaiki keadaan sekitarnya...”
The Combined Power
of the Creative and the Critical
The works of Kumpulan Bebas Melata dwell in the intimate pools of relationships, faith and memory.
In Pulau Penyengat, Raja Aisyah emerges as a lesser known female literary pioneer, an aristocrat who was heavily involved in resistance against Dutch colonisers.
"We are free and independent
From all of you men."
"Kami ini seorang merdeka
Daripada kamu itu belaka"