In 1969

Monday night gave a pretty stimulating event, something one seldom find in Malaysia, due the level of intellectual depth of most of its people. Beth Yahp gave a reading of her short story " In 1969". I hope that it could get translated into other languages, so that other people would be able to read it for themselves. Even if you do not identify with the contents of the story (it is about a black part of Malaysian history), you would still enjoy the voice of the narrative, of the narrator of the story. Its use of language and imagery is powerful and poetic, even if Beth does not consider herself a poet (:
 
The reading was followed by a discussion of the invisible or silenced voice. Of whether one should or should not write about something. THe censorship that follows it, whether internal or external. The people who feel that they have to earn a living and maintain a precarious position in the society. People who feel too repressed from talking about black history, race, nationality, ethnicity and sexuality. Even Beth, a Malaysian writer with the full freedom to write whatever she wants abroad, is faced with this dilemma. Would one hurt the people one is closed to? Or is one able to cut of such ties and write with a vengeance, come sorrow or pain. Write in order to tell the truth. But then, many of us in this postmodern age seem to regard the truth as subjective. I beg to differ. History or Herstory is subjective. But not the truth.
 
If none of you have heard of Beth Yahp, just google her. She comes up quite a lot.
 
I take my inspiration from her, and I hope to be as great a writer not too far in the future. I am not growing younger everyday after all.
 
Fictional narrative provides an alternative explanation to the supposed objective history, when everyone now knows that there is no such thing as objective history. History is what we know or choose to remember. But fiction could play a part in reawakening interest in history, a subject badly taught and much magligned by the education system in Malaysia, and most probably elsewhere.