EVENT UPDATE!

Poetry Reading by Salleh Ben Joned

Date: Saturday, July 24, 2004
Time: 7.30 pm to 11.00 pm
Event: Poetry Reading

Poet: Salleh Ben Joned

Introduction by: Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dato' Awang Had Salleh

Venue: Rumah Universiti, University of Malaya, Lembah Pantai, 59100 Kuala Lumpur. If lost, ring Tel: 03-7956 0286 for directions.
Directions: Nearest LRT station is Putra Stesen Universiti, then take a bus or taxi (they are plentiful outside the PUTRA LRT Stesen Universiti)
Maps:
Routes to the University of Malaya

University of Malaya Campus Map

Entrance: by donation at the door
Light refreshments will be served

Organised by
Young Professionals Consultative Society (YPCS)
in aid of
United World Colleges Scholarship Fund
International DebutMalaysian poet, journalist and essayist Salleh Ben Joned will read selected as-yet-unpublished poems (in English and Bahasa Melayu) from his forth-coming book called Adam's Dream and also poems from the second edition of Poems Sacred and Profane, signed copies of which will be available on a first-come-first-served basis as well as limited copies of his controversial books of social commentary and essays As I Please: Selected Writings 1975-1994 and Nothing is Sacred.

Salleh Ben Joned is one of that rare breed; the literary street fighter who does not hesitate to open his "big mouth" (above, centre) as he pleases to be controversial or shocking in order to make his point.

PLEASE KEEP
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2004
FREE IN YOUR DIARY!

Venue is confirmed at Rumah Universiti, University of Malaya, Lembah Pantai, 59100 Kuala Lumpur.
BackgroundThis is what another Malaysian writer says about Salleh Ben Joned:
"...another poet writing in English--and Bahasa Malaysia--worth mentioning, but he has written too few poems. Strong poems, but only a handful."
~ Poet Wong Phui Nam in MANOA, A Pacific Journal of International Writing: Land Beneath the Wind.

Salleh Ben Joned was born in Malacca in 1941~-which makes him 62, I suppose~-but he keeps his mind active so that number doesn't mean a thing.

He spent several years Down Under as one of the last Colombo Plan Scholars. He fell seriously--and unconventionally, I might add--in love with an Australian fellow student in the first year and married her. Due to her family's disapproval of the marriage, the couple moved from University of Adelaide to University of Tasmania, where fate has it, he became a student of the major poet James McAuley.

Salleh returned to Malaysia in 1973 and lectured in English Literature at the University of Malaya until 1983, when he quit to become Head of Drama at TV3 and a divinely inspired freelance apostate and scribbler. His first book was the bilingual poetry collection "Sajak-Sajak Saleh" (Teks, 1987). His publisher later committed suicide.

This was followed by As I Please (Skoob, 1994) which compiled his popular New Straits Times column of the same name.

A remixed version of "Sajak-Sajak Saleh" was published by Pustaka Cipta in 2002.

His last film appearance was as the vicious pimp Farouk in "Bintang Malam" (1991) and he also wrote the original story for "Amok (1995), both directed by Adman Salleh (no relation).

According to Googlism.com, there are only three things you ought to remember about Salleh:

1) Salleh Ben Joned is a Malaysian writer who pushed the envelope of political criticism in a young and fragile democracy.

2) Salleh Ben Joned is one of that rare breed; the literary street fighter who does not hesitate to open his "big mouth" as he pleases be controversial or shocking to prove his point.

3) Salleh Ben Joned is a Malaysian poet equally at ease writing in English and in Bahasa Melayu.

Intellectuals like Salleh are important in society because he provokes us to think and in so thinking, we begin to question our implicit assumptions, their validity and, therefore, help us innovate and become better people, citizens and thinkers.

The Young Professionals Consultative Society (YPCS) aims to be a conduit for both the interests and responsibilities of professionals across the country. We are first and foremost committed to the idea that as professionals, we have an attendant responsibility to give something back to our community. And that includes, as how we have come to understand it, the process of educating, exposing, exchanging and ultimately involving both professionals and other members of society in improving and bettering our lives individually and collectively. We believe that creating a better society is a collective effort and that young professionals are in a position to help tremendously in achieving those aims. We hope to share some of these aspirations with you. YPCS has "adopted" United World Colleges as its flagship education project and has decided to help raise funds for Malaysian students to attend a United World College.

United World Colleges (UWC) is the only global educational movement which brings together students from all over the world at pre-university level (or tertiary level, in the case of one College), regardless of their ability to pay. Students are selected on merit and live together in an environment designed to foster international understanding, tolerance and peace.

UWC Mission Statement

AGENDA 7.30 pm Arrival of members and guests. Light refreshments served. Opportunity for mingling and networking. Salleh Ben Joned will sign copies of his various books, which shall be on sale.

8.00 pm Welcome address by Khaldun Malek, President of YPCS.

8.10 pm Introduction by Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dato' Awang Had Salleh, Chairman, UWC Malaysia National Committee.

8.30 pm Introductory Remarks and Poetry Reading by Salleh Ben Joned.

Question and Answer Session.

Announcement by Khaldun Malek, President of YPCS of total amount of donation collected from audience.

10 pm Salleh Ben Joned will sign copies of his various books, which shall be on sale. More mingling and networking.

11 pm Close.

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