Once there was a book

Gem of a book, 1981
The few rare copies still in my keeping...

 On the 16th of September, Sarawak will celebrate its independence being a party to the formation of Malaysia.  As part of remembering history I'll create some posts on what  it means to be a Malaysian as I have experienced it.  This is the first of the series I call " Once there was a ...".  In this first posting I will touch upon a small book of mine.  It was published in 1981 in Kuching, Sarawak.  The book was entitled " Lukisan Pameran dan Puisi MOOD".  The book was meant to accompany my first solo art exhibition at the Sarawak Museum in Kuching.  The exhibition besides displaying paintings also presented some of the poems in graphic forms.  A close friend of mine Mr.Reg Salisbury consented to read and record the poems at the recording studio of RTM, Kuching.  The recorded poems in English were played during the exhibition hours. To read examples of my poems in the book please go to this link here...

Part of my crew for managing the exhibition in a group photo, 1981.
Note the portrait at right.  A close-up of the painting and poem is shown below.

The book has poems in English and Malay.  The above poem is Malay is incorporated in the book.

Part of the poem, extracted from the book.

The book is a real gem in many ways.  Copies of it were kept firstly at the US Library of Congress, and then other libraries like the  National Library of Australia Collection and Yale University Library.  To have it kept by these libraries was a real reward for all the efforts I made to realize the exhibition and the book. 1981 seemed years ago but it is close to my heart even to this day.  Enjoy one of the readings of the poem by Reg Salisbury here  .  The book incorporated 7 pages of sketches I did which acted as catalogue for the paintings.  These sketches can be seen here . 

Happy Malaysia Day, Sarawak!


  (Note:  On the 16th of September, Sarawak will celebrate its independence being a party to the formation of Malaysia.  As part of remembering history I'll create some posts on what  it means to be a Malaysian as I have experienced it.  Check out the rest of the postings by following this link here.)

ONCE UPON A RADIO

Picture above is taken from a tiny book about Sarawak entitled " Memperkenalkan Serawak",
written by R.M. Jasmi and  published by Sinaran Bros, North Borneo in 1958.
The picture shows the Sarawak Radio Building which produced and broadcasted radio programmes and also radio lessons for schools throughout Sarawak.  The broadcast reached Bintulu in fairly clear reception in 1963.

EMS ( Educational Mass Media Service )
Building in 1970's.  During colonial time
the building was called 'The Pavillion'.

 Just months before Sarawak became independent from the British colonial government and its forming the Federation of Malaysia on the 16th of September in 1963, I was a Primary Six student at St.Anthony's School, Bintulu. During those days the whole school curriculum was taught in English.  But the learning of English did not end in the classrooms. I participated in the school drama called 'The Black Basin', sang songs and debated in English.  It was really nostalgic for me to know that 16 years later I was to head the Educational Radio section of the Educational Mass Media Service arm of the Sarawak Education Department in the years 1978 -1979 in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. .  At the inset is the picture of my office while I was in charge of the school's broadcasting programmes.  I occupied a big room at the building and from it our radio producers created radio programmes in many languages like English, Malay, Chinese and Iban for schools in Sarawak. In 1963 however I was very keen to write to the School Broadcasting Officer to inquire about many general knowledge questions.  I wrote four letters and below is one letter I received from Alan Moore dated 1st July,1963.  In those days, primary school students really looked forward to listening the  radio lessons broadcasts to learn how to speak the language correctly and listened to the replies of their letters on air from Kuching.

Above is the broadcasting schedule of the school's broadcast in 1979, days of broadcast and time of broadcast included
Note the subject "Anna and Abu" - this was the broadcast for the learning of English for Primary 5 students, produced by Reg Salisbury, a Colombo Plan expert for the teaching of English through radio..

Picture shows Reg Salisbury taken by me while having lunch at a food stall in Miri.

During my short stint at the Educational Radio I was most fortunate to work with Reg Salisbury who was from the BBC and acted as a Colombo Plan expert in the teaching of English by way of radio lessons.  We went around Sarawak to promote the 'Anna and Abu' programme together with printed teaching aids to teachers as remote as Bario in the Kelabit Highlands and little known places like  Awat-Awat near Limbang.
While working together in Kuching I managed to get Reg Salisbury read my poems and recorded them in the studio of RTM (Radio and Television Malaysia) in Kuching.  Here is one of my poems read by Reg Salisbury called " Hasyimah"....of which I think the BBC voice is just superb.  Check out the reading here...>>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DireBC97YI

Happy Malaysia Day Sarawak!!