Note: As a young Malay activist on the street, Zikri Rahman consistently embarks on various interdisciplinary socio-political and cultural activism projects, including Buku Jalanan and Idearaya Festival. Currently, he is doing a cultural and literary mapping project of Kuala Lumpur through the lenses of literature with LiteraCity. This is an interview conducted by Show Ying Xin on Malaysiakini in 2017.
"Reading should be encouraged at all times, with an effort to promote books that are worthwhile and that enlarge the recruit's facility to encounter the world of letters and great national problems. Further reading will follow as a vocation; the surrounding circumstances will awaken new desires for understanding in the soldiers. This result will be produced when, little by little, the recruits observe in their routine tasks the enormous advantages of men who have passed through the school over the remainder of the troop, their capacity for analyzing problems, their superior discipline, which is another of the fundamental things that the school should teach."“Which book influences us? That must be Che Guevara’s Guerilla Warfare.” Zikri Rahman is in black with tied curly long hair. His words reveal the ideas and resolution of the left-wing youth.
--Ernesto Che Guevara, Chapter Three in Guerrilla Warfare
Zikri is one of the founders of Buku Jalanan, upon whose establishment, Zikri was still a student of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). Buku Jalanan started from Shah Alam in 2011; until now, there have been 80 chapters globally. Buku Jalanan is not the single project on which Zikri is working. He is also the organiser of LiteraCity, which dredges stories of Kuala Lumpur by means of literature. Meanwhile, he joins Malaysian Left Coalition that is drafting the manifesto for the general election actively.
Inspiration Coming from Che Guevara
The activities Zikri is involved in are more than the abovementioned ones. It seems that he is interested in all sorts of issues. It is easy to meet him in the street protests, solidarity actions, art and cultural activities or seminars. He sometimes wears an eye-catching Aloha shirt, carrying a bag with the portrait of Pak Sako, whose real name is Ishak Muhammad, the late Malay writer. After two more months, he is going to study at the Graduate Institute for Social Research and Cultural Studies of NCTU in Taiwan. Imagine the scene. It will be rather amusing to see a hippy Malay young man appear on the street of Hsin-Chu.
"I want to understand East Asia more. To be honest, it is the movement of the civic society in Taiwan that attracts me to study there. I know nothing, just wanting to be immersed in a whole new environment in which I can rove freely. I also heard that there are many scholar-activists, which does not exist in Malaysia."On a day of Ramadan when I met Zikri to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, it dawned on me that Buku Jalanan is not only the production under the wave of the global occupy movement in 2011 but also a byproduct whose strategy is related to the Cuban Revolution. “Most strategies of Buku Jalanan are from Che Guevara’s Guerilla Warfare,” Zikri said.
Che Guevara’s book emphasises the importance of books, suggesting every soldier bring one book and exchange theirs with one another when they are on the battlefield. The concept is similar to mobile libraries, and he is thinking how to win a war without an adequate organisation. Though small in number, they can win over the nation and leave the alternative imagination among students.
“Che Guevara is very radical. He lets us see how to practise theories and how to take in things from books after reading.” He claims that theory and practice are not opposite but parallel. Thus, Zikri and his friends founded Buku Jalanan outside UiTM, which is a rather conservative institution, with the strategy of book exchange and reading as the way to intervene “politics.”
They adhere to the belief called “BACA,” which not only refers to “reading” in Malay but also is the abbreviation of Book, Art, Culture and Activism. This belief makes Buku Jalanan different from usual study groups and readers clubs, pushing it to something beyond a student activity.
"Some literature lovers join us. When discussing literary works, we will talk about issues concerning human rights. Are we a literary organisation or organisation for social movement? We do not know how to position ourselves either.... We are a mixed unity.... like an open platform."In 1990, Zikri was born in Kuala Lumpur, which is also the place he grew up. His parents came from Kelantan. Three of his elder brothers are with the background of science and technology. He also studied at the Department of Quantity Surveying in UiTM and worked as a surveyor for two years after graduation. In 2015, he decided to quit his job, devoting himself to the social movement and cultural work. His grandfather living in Kelantan is a retired teacher, a painter and a poet, more or less making an impact on Zikri’s growth.
"There are a lot of books in my grandfather’s home. He reads everything and creates woodcuts. He is the earliest group of teachers that were sent to London by British colonisers to receive the direct British education."His “political enlightenment” should be traced back to the time when he went to attend the boarding school in Kubang Pasu. It was the first life decision he made on his own. At the time, many students from Baling and Sik District would tell him the peasants’ revolt in Baling District in the 1970s. Students in the school were also encouraged to read newspapers, such as The Straits Times and Utusan Melayu, by the school. Some newspapers produced by political opposition such as Harakah Daily and Suara Keadilan would be provided by the parents of his classmates and secretively circulated among students.
Why should the banned books be read? Zikri said that once in an activity of Buku Jalanan in Shah Alam, a participant brought the memoir of Shamsiah Fakeh, a former woman warrior of Malayan Communist Party. Other participants doubted why they should read a book about Malayan Communist Party, because of the ban. In fact, the memoir of Shamsiah is published by National University of Malaysia (UKM) and also an indispensable document for studying the history of Malayan Communist Party.
According to Zikri, the government has banned many books related to Marxism and Malayan Communist Party. In response to the ban, Buku Jalanan has ever made an exhibition on the topic, by printing out the book covers of the banned books listed by Ministry of Home Affairs to protest against the ban. Among the banned ones, The Prophet written by Kahlil Gibran, a crucial Lebanese poet, is also on the list.
The web page of Ministry of Home Affairs shows that since the 1960s, there have been over 1,600 books banned by the government. The trend of banning is as follows: in the 1960s, the majority of being banned was left-wing literary works, including many Chinese books; in the 1970s and 1980s, religion became the new target; in the1990s, many religion-related topics were still forbidden. Moreover, sex(uality) related contents are also a taboo. Nowadays, most banned books are written in Bahasa Melayu. In Zikri’s opinion, Bahasa Melayu is a politicised language, and they have to reclaim the right of discourse for the citizens. Thus, the medium language of Buku Jalanan is Bahasa Melayu.
Bahasa Melayu as the Language of Protest
There are two reasons for Buku Jalanan tactically using Bahasa Melayu as the medium language. First, they intend to make Bahasa Melayu a language of protest, with which people can directly converse with the authority. Second, they hope that Bahasa Melayu can be the language of knowledge, which is opposite to the practice and idea of the “national cultural policy.” Zikri points that protesting narrative almost does not exist in Malay media. Most people read the pro-governmental newspapers such as Kosmo! and Utusan Melayu. Some media with a critical view such as BFM use English as the operating language to some extent avoiding the governmental surveillance.
Thus, Buku Jalanan tries to open up space, making Bahasa Melayu the language of protesting and encouraging people to use it to discuss “sensitive” issues. Zikri points out that although many people deem Shah Alam a conservative area, Buku Jalanan so far has never encountered any obstacles. However, the Buku Jalanan at Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan has ever been banned by the religious authority because of the public discussion on Shia. It seems that different geographical space is granted with the different standard of “freedom of speech.”
Apart from the language of protest, how could Bahasa Melayu become the language of knowledge? Founded in 2011, Buku Jalanan became one of the rare groups discussing knowledge in Bahasa Melayu.
"When the national cultural policy was carried out in 1971[1], DBP (the Malaysian Institute of Language and Literature) has restricted the way we speak and use languages. Is there any possibility for us to cross the boundary? After the 'political tsunami' in 2008, the generation of the Reformasi[2] rose. We would like to re-grab the nature of language, endowing it with the feature of cosmopolitanism and inviting more people to use it to spread the knowledge."Therefore, many members of Buku Jalanan worked together in 2015 to hold Idearaya Festival, which was a platform for critical knowledge and culture. In Idearaya Festival, all the activities were carried out by Bahasa Melayu to discuss issues related to cultures, politics, knowledge, history and philosophy. Currently, they are preparing the 2nd Idearaya Festival with the hope to “lower” the status of knowledge and to endow the general public with the right of discourse in terms of knowledge, cultures and languages.
Over the years, Zikri and many Malay young people attempt to intervene politics and further change the society by employing cultural movements. The flourishing Malay independent publishers, moreover, roll the wave of cultural innovation. These rebellious and restless cliques actively go against the hegemony of the nation and successfully hit(KO) DBP. Although DBP considers the Malay literary works published by those independent publishers “vulgar,” nowadays, everyone has a book or magazine published by these publishers, which more or less has shaken the state apparatus.
Zikri thinks literature and culture is the way to interact with and intervene the society. The reason Malay literature is deemed dull and conservative is that after the 1980s, the debates which can lead the cultural thinking has long been absent in the circle of Malay literature:
"The last debate on Malay literature in the circle took place in the 1980s. It was carried out by Shahnon Ahmad, the recipient for the Malaysian National Laureate, and Kassim Ahmad, the left-wing writer, focusing on how literature can be Islamic.... Shahnon Ahmad regards writing the duty and task given by God. Kassim Ahmad, on the other hand, thinks the Islamic value can be gained in every secular text. To me, this debate is tedious and only limits its scale to the Malay community. What this even matters? How can we walk forward to create new debates again? In fact, no discussion happens in the cultural circle, the literary world, the theatre or whichever circle."
Intangible Cultural Movement
Nevertheless, Zikri also pulls his punches when it comes to the contemporary Malay independent publishers. He doubts that some publishers only care about business and profit without discourse.
"For example, they should be able to answer the questions such as how to break the fetters—the mechanism of interrupting publishers.(...) We should incite debates, making inquiries and direct criticism... so as to shake the system."He also points out that the marketing styles of some independent publishers hardly can be recognised, and some of them just follow the flow without real content. At the age witnessing the rise of social media, the development of things and movement gets more rapid. However, this fast pace makes it necessary to reflect on and articulate the meaning of these movements to catch the essence and sow the seed everywhere. "Buku Jalanan is like the seed with which something will grow."
Buku Jalanan has no fixed mode of operation, but it eventually thrives and blooms beautifully. Zikri takes the Indonesia case as an example. Before 1998 when the reform took place in Indonesia, there were some “invisible” cultural organisations (organisasi tanpa bentuk). They did not have a clear definition for their organisations as those for labourers or women. Because of the “invisibility” in the social movements, they were freer to connect or cooperate with local organisations in different fields.
“Maybe that is the future of the local cultural movements. First, there should be cultural movements, and then those associated with politics will be able to follow.” He deems himself a cultural worker who practises his belief in this way. Growing up in Malay communities and studying in Malay-medium national schools, Zikri does not have any Chinese friends before attending college. I ask him out of curiosity if he got to know some Chinese students in UiTM.
"Of course not. UiTM is a university for bumiputera Malays. I meet all my Chinese friends on the street... The occasions on the street acquaint me with Chinese people. It may be the imprint of our time. It is Bersih[3] and other assemblies that give us a chance to understand each other more."Talking about the new economic policies after the 13 May 1969 incident[4], Zikri admits frankly that he supports affirmative action but the policy itself should not be limited to the single ethnicity, but for whoever is in need.
He also supports the idea that UiTM can open to all citizens in Malaysia. “Malay” should not be conflicted with “Malaysian.” He does not favour emphasising his identities in singular form. “Can we have different identities which can go beyond that given by the nation?” He believes that some identities can be replaced, changed, renewed anytime. This may be the essence of the “intangible” cultural movements like Buku Jalanan. They can go across the gaps freely and eventfully are capable of mending the rifts.
Footnotes:
1. Reformasi was a social movement triggered by the supporters of Anwar Ibrahim, the deputy prime minister, who was dismissed in 1998. A series of demonstrations and assemblies then were launched to vent the participants’ discontent on the National Front government.
2. Reformasi was a social movement triggered by the supporters of Anwar Ibrahim, the deputy prime minister, who was dismissed in 1998. A series of demonstrations and assemblies then were launched to vent the participants’ discontent on the National Front government.
3. Bersih is the abbreviation of Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih dan Adil, which refers to The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections in English. It is a coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and political parties established in July 2005. The primary purpose of this alliance is to push the reform of electoral system and procedure in Malaysia to promote free and fair elections. It consists of groups of different ethnicities and religions. Bersih then is disconnected with political parties, becoming an NGO and successfully holding many large assemblies.
4. the 13 May 1969 incident broke out on May 13th 1969 in Malaysia. According to the official explanation, it was caused by the racial conflict between Malay and Chinese for the enormous difference between their political and economic abilities. However, some scholars deem it a riot inside the ruling party. This violent racial conflict results in heavy casualties. Malaysian government in 1971 implemented Malaysian New Economic Policy to favor the indigenous people in order to eliminate the differences of political and economic abilities among various ethnicities.
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