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This blogspot is a medium to share my thoughts and adventures apart from promoting my books. Below are the books which have been written or authored and published by myself.


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Mencari Diri dan Erti".

ISBN 983-42031-0-1, Jun 2006


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Membela Syiar yang Asal"

ISBN 983-42031-1-x, May 2007


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Sirih Pulang ke Gagang?"

ISBN 978-983-42031-2-2, November 2007


It is interesting to note that while these books were written in Malay it has gained enough attention to merit being part of the collections of the American Library of Congress and National Library of Australia. Look here and here.


While the first three books were published by my own company, the fourth titled "Rumah Azan" was published in April 2009 by a company called Karnadya with the help of the Malaysian national literary body Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. It features beautiful pictures along with stories behind selected mosques which could be related to the history of Islam and the Malays alongside the formation of the Malaysian nation. Look at the article A collaboration of old collegemates - the book "Rumah Azan".


My fifth book "Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and Malay Sultanates", an English translation and adaptation of the Malay book "Ahlul Bait (Keluarga) Rasulullah SAW dan Kesultanan Melayu" authored by Hj Muzaffar Mohamad and Tun Suzana Othman was published early 2010. Look here... My 5th book is out! Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and the Malay Sultanates... . For more information check out my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU.



Like my fourth book "Rumah Azan", the sixth book "Kereta Api Menuju Destinasi" is also a coffee-table book which is published by the company Karnadya with the cooperation of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (the main Malay literary body in Malaysia). Coming out January 2011 it features pictures and stories on the adventure travelling by train to all of Peninsular Malaysia along with the interesting places which could be reached this way.


My seventh book "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" in turn is a coffee-table book which is written, editted, designed and has pictures taken by me. Coming out of the factory October 2011, this book which combines family history with history of places such as Singapura, Johor, Batu Pahat, Muar and in fact the history of the island of Java and England has been reviewed with me interviewed live in the program Selamat Pagi Malaysia at RTM1. Look at the article Siaran langsung ulasan buku "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" dan temu ramah di Selamat Pagi Malaysia. Some selected contents have been featured in Sneak peek "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah".


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The "Berpetualang ke Aceh" series of novels could be obtained in e-book form. Enter http://www.e-sentral.com/, click general novel and go to page 4. You can also type the word "Aceh" at the search box. Or click straight Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3.


Friday, June 29, 2007

"Berpetualang ke Aceh" prologue 1

Greeting dear readers. More than six months ago, I started this blog, my first ever in the shadowy realms of cyber space with these intentions in mind... First, to get me started writing in English again after leaving my job as journalist with mainstream English daily 6 years ago. My English writing has gone very rusty since then... I was too busy travelling in search of and studying my family roots which extend from Peninsular Malaysia up to Aceh and on to the Middle East especially Mecca and Madinah.
Second, to start an English translation/adaptation of my Malay novel, "Berpetualang ke Aceh: Mencari Diri dan Erti" (literally "The travel/trip to Aceh: In search of self and meaning"). I was told many would be interested if there is an English version. The problem is I am too busy taking care of other things and of course, my English writing is rusty...
And thus I started this blog so that I can start the translation process by taking bits and pieces, excerpts from the novel while at the same time making some semblance of English writing.
Too bad, up to date, I've made little progress in making the translations... So far, I've done some bits and posted here, pieces like The reason behind the fall of Melaka and The tale of Keramat Kuala Bidor which are just parts of the chapters inside the book. However while at Fraser's Hill last week, for the first time ever I actually managed to sit down and translate/adapt a whole chapter, the opening "Mukadimah: Mengapa Berpetualang" (literally "Prolouge: Why the travel").
I started by editting/streamlining the starting segment which was posted in this blog months ago under the heading Why Berpetualang! . There where words and sentences which could be presented better and I continued making the English adaptation and covered the whole prologue which is actually a chapter in itself.
As for presenting the chapter here, it is better to break it up into three parts because of the length. So without much further ado, here goes part one...

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WHY BERPETUALANG?

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful,
Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds;
Most Gracious, Most Merciful;
Master of the Day of Judgment.
Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek.
Show us the straight way;
The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.

(Al-Fatihah – The Opening Verses of the Quran)


Four o’clock in the wee morning hours. Rasyid found it really hard to get a snooze. Felt like ages changing sides and contorting his body to all manners of shape and size just to get comfortable enough for a wink but nothing seemed to work. Rather than continuing this fruitless charade, might as well do something useful. He got up and went to the living room, then took out the Compaq Presario laptop which haven’t been touched for quite a while.
“Maybe I have to start writing again,” his heart whispered.
The lad began to recall his trip to Aceh 2 years ago, when the land also known as The Verandah of Mecca was under emergency rule by the military… A trip that must be made to find the answers to some questions that have been plaguing his mind since as long as he can remember.
There’s no denying it. Of late, Rasyid always have Aceh in mind. If the end of 2004 have seen the world in shock after the Tsunami of 26 December took some 200,000 lives in the war-stricken region, lately the 4 million or so remaining population there begin to see some glimmer of hope.
As it turns out, there is a silver lining behind the cloud. Behind all the casualties and infrastructures destroyed, the Indonesian Republic government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM. For the Malay equivalent – Gerakan Aceh Merdeka) were pushed to sit at the round-table. And so the most solid treaty ever between the two since Indonesia gained independence from the Dutch colonial powers in 1945 were struck. The visible result, GAM is willing to surrender the guns and weapons they’ve held for many years while the Indonesia military (TNI for the Malay words Tentera Nasional Indonesia) began to eliminate their presence at the war-stricken region in stages.
Rasyid who have been practically unemployed the last 4 years soon remembered his promise to write a book about Aceh. The work will contain pages of old sunken tales interwoven with the history of The Verandah of Mecca and its relation with the Malay Archipelago along with his travelling experience and relevant events.
Actually Rasyid already had all the relevant materials compiled for some time - in fact he already started writing a year ago. The title of the book has also long been decided on, a title which appeared at heart when he first stepped at the Aceh-North Sumatera border sometime ago. However, personal problems and many other worries got in the way until it all got too much... The seemingly never ending trials and tribulations he had to face in life made him felt so desolate and frustrated as if the whole world itself conspired to bring him down. And so he walked broken-hearted and lost his way in life.
Rasyid switched on the laptop and searched for the folder “Petualang”. Thank God, as soon as he saw the book cover’s design made a year ago using the Adobe Photoshop software at his adopted father Pak Syed’s office, a new resolution to continue his long-forgotten writing attempt blossomed. And so his finger danced as the story unfolds to the alluring background of the traditional music called Asyik whispering mystically from the laptop.
“Berpetualang ke Aceh? Sounds very disturbing,” said a friend, Asri upon hearing the title of the book. “Why ‘berpetualang’? Doesn’t it sound evil?”
As it turns out, the word has such a negative connotation in Malaysia but in Indonesia, it carries a totally different meaning, a positively adventurous one too but that is another story… For the record, officially Aceh is considered to be in Indonesia. But bear in mind some Acehnese would beg to differ as they considered theirs a free country which happens to be illegally ran by the Indonesians. So there…
“I thought ‘Petualang’ applies only to those who disturb the peace? Those who bring trouble and destruction? Aren’t you worried what people would say? This sounds rather like a communist manifesto!” the friend, a native of Lenggong in Perak badgered…
Malaysians in general have a very bad impression of the Communist because of the bloody disturbances they caused all over the country in the 60s to early 70s. In Malaysia , the word “Petualang” means trouble-maker, unlike in Indonesia where it means to travel with a purpose like searching for something... Or simply being adventurous. And so, in Malaysia words like “Petualang” are used to describe the Communist and traitors to the country while in Indonesia, it coul be used to describe someone going on a holiday!
Asri suggested the title changed to “Berkelana ke Aceh (Adventure to Aceh)” or “Mengembara ke Aceh (Travels to Aceh)”. Or maybe “Jejak-jejak Aceh (The Aceh tracks)” considering the story do cover actual travelling experiences coupled with history and tales.
Rasyid thought for a moment. Fair enough… No harm done using these titles. Don’t sound so bad either. It’s just that the titles are not strong enough to convey the explicit and implicit message of the story… They also sound like something out of a travel brochure when in fact, the stories included does carry with it a hint of rebelliousness (which the word “Petualang” does imply!)… Some sort of struggle that needs to be made public. So he explained to Asri but the friend seemed rather perplexed!
“Don’t be shocked!” Rasyid tried to smoothen things out. “The struggle and rebellion I meant is more on the inside, a spiritual process to understand the true Self. Anyway the world “petualang” does have a positive and healthy spin, so much so it can represent the struggle to make the truth prevail over falsehood.
“Here, look at this…” he continued while shoving an article titled “Music Tutur dan Futtuwah Aceh (Music, speech and brotherhood in Aceh)” by Otto Syamsuddin Ishak in the weekly Indonesian magazine Tempo, 12-18 July 2004.

Hikayat pra-kolonial lazimnya memuat petualangan anak raja budiman dalam meudagang (menuntut ilmu) hingga mendapatkan pengalaman sufistik, sebelum petualangan meraih kembali takhtanya. Banta Beuransah berada dalam petualangannya memasuki sebuah dunia aneka hayati yang penuh makna simbolis hingga terjelaskan selepas seorang aulia hadir. Dalam hikayat lain, Malem Diwa mengalami pengalaman sufistik. Dalam petualangannya untuk menolong para putri, ia selalu mengendarai Buraq, kenderaan Nabi Muhammad SAW saat berisra’-mikraj.

Loosely translated – The old pre-colonial tales usually contains the petualangan of the wise prince (in this context, travelling while learning the lessons and meaning of life) until he achieves the necessary Sufistic spiritual experience (most probably gnosis – the ‘merging’ with the source of all being) before he proceeds for petualangan to gain back his throne (in this context, the mission to establish truth over falsehood… As in returning the rightful heir and disposing the usurper to the throne). Banta Beuransah (an Acehnese folk hero) was in petualangan entering a colourful world of multi-delights full of symbolism (in an alternate universe? This is common in Malay folklore) until everything is explained through the presence of a saint. In another tale, Malem Dewa (another folk hero) had a Sufistic experience. In his petualangan to help the princess (he actually married three!), he often rode the Buraq (a kind of beast slightly resembling a horse, perhaps like the Pegasus), the Prophet Muhammad’s ride in his Isra’ Mikhraj (the night journey where he went from Mecca to Jerusalem before climbing up the seven heavens and above in very small space of time).

“So what’s the problem with “Berpetualang ke Aceh?” Rasyid asked. Enough said…

1 comment:

Milky Tea said...

Hulo there. I need your telephone number, bro. We are doing the 51c reunion (sans King who is still in NY)... Still trying to track Nik aka rashers... so buzz me back at tk@ariffinshahzad.com