Dr. Farish Noor and books

..the blogger, Dr. Farish Noor (sporting a new beard) and Suraya (surprisingly, I bumped into my ex-schoolmate, Suraya at the end of the lecture)

This is actually Dr. Farish Noor's third OtherMalaysia.org Lecture Series held at The Annexe Gallery, Central Market, Kuala Lumpur. I missed out the first two series due to my Saturday classes. After looking at the topic of the lecture, "Of Rajas, Dewarajas, Maharajas and Kerajaan: 4000 Years of Feudal Politics in Malaysia and Southeast Asia" on Facebook, I didn't think twice and decided to attend it. Although I often disagree with some of his "liberal minded" writings especially his views on Islam, the notion of the 'Malay' society, the Allah-Malay bible controversy and etc, published on Off The Edge magazine; I still regard him as one of the most prolific writer in Malaysia. I think it's the same case as Hishamuddin Rais, in which, I don't have to agree with much his writings to actually enjoy reading them.

Dr. Farish's lecture aside, the other interesting part of the lecture series is that the majority of the participant which includes some Mat Sallehs as well, got to know about the Lecture Series through Facebook!


..Nelson Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom, Kassim Ahmad - Mencari Jalan Pulang: dari Sosialisme Kepada Islam & Noam Chomsky - Failed States: The Abuse of Power and The Assault on Democracy

Above are the latest books in my so-called 'mini library'. I've been holding back from buying Nelson Mandela's autobiography for quite awhile until I found out about the paperback version of it. Thanks to MPH Online for the 30% discount!

"Mencari Jalan Pulang: Dari Sosialisme Kepada Islam" would be the second book by Kassim Ahmad that I have read. The first was "Universiti Kedua: Kisah tahanan di bawah ISA", which he recounted his experience being detained under the ISA in the 1970s.

I'd like to quote an interesting comment from Tun Dr. Mahathir's foreword in the book;

"Namun kita harus ingat bahawa seseorang insan akan melalui tiga fasa hidup dalam pegangan politik mereka. Semasa muda mereka agak radikal dan mirip kepada pemikiran dan ideologi kiri. Apabila menempuh umur pertengahan, pandangan dan pegangan mereka lebih mencerminkan "centralist" dan kecuali. Apabila sudah berumur mereka lebih suka mendokong sikap dan pandangan puak kanan atau konservatif. Saudara Kassim sudah melalui ketiga-tiga fasa ini.."

The book cover is nice, the content is good but sadly, I feel the editing part of the book is weak. It contains a lot of tatabahasa errors and spelling mistakes. And another interesting part of the book is that I noticed Kassim Ahmad used a lot of Kedah dialect in the book, which I feel many might find it hard to understand. Some Kedah dialect examples; "Kadang-kadang kami berjalan dan kadang saya naik pungkur basikal ayah", "kami mengambil air minum di pancur.."

[Note: The term pancur or pancoq is a common word for water pipe in the nortern states of Penang, Kedah and Perlis. While in other states, the word 'paip' is more commonly used.]

Some of these words or dialects appears a bit funny when you read it, as it is very uncommon for words like 'pungkur' (All words ending with -ur is pronounced as -uq in Kedah dialect) being pronounced as it is written or being published in any written document, i.e. books, magazines etc. Alright, let me finish off reading the book first. :)

Lastly, to all book lovers out there, head over to Bandar Bukit Puchong (view map and address) this weekend (4-6 July) for another Clearance Sale by Pay Less Books.

Pay Less Books Clearance Sales
From RM1.00

All Non-Fiction is at a FLAT Price!
Soft Cover - RM1.00
Hard Cover - RM2.00

[Info taken from shoppingnsales.com]