"A WORD born from flame and light...". This line from Mikhail Lermontov's poem can serve as an epigraph to the International Festival of Poets, Writers and Readers in Malaysia.
The festival took place from Dec 8 to 11 in Kuala Lumpur on the initiative of RA Arts Haven headed by Raja Ahmad Aminullah.
The festival held under the slogan, "Poetry, Peace and Humanity", brought together about 100 poets from 15 countries.
The voices of poets from Europe and Asia sounded loudly and convincingly on a single impulse for the sake of humanity, defeating spiritual darkness, testifying to the triumph of faith, hope and love.
Raja Ahmad has done a great job with this festival dedicated to humanity during current troubled times. Essentially, he resumed Kuala Lumpur International Poetry Readings hosted in 1988-2004 by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP).
He is a well-known Malaysian cultural activist and writer. He used to work as a journalist for the New Straits Times (1975), was a member of the Board of Directors of the Utusan newspaper trust (1986-2001), and at one time boldly spoke out in defence of (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim.
In 2007, he founded the art gallery "RA Fine Arts" in Kuala Lumpur, the basis of which was his private collection, including paintings by the most famous artists in Malaysia including Said Ahmad Jamal, Redza Piyadasa, Yeoh Jin Leng, Chung Kam Kow, Mad Anwar and Utomo Rajikina.
The gallery immediately gained popularity since its opening and poetry session in the evenings. He is also one of the founders of the Perak Art Foundation (1996).
Among his collections are "Menyarung Jiwa" (2004, republished in 2010, some of the poems translated into Russian in 2009), "Words of the Heart" (2006), "Nuansa Nusantara" (2012), "Landskap Kembara" (2013) and "Sajak-Sajak 3 Seniman" (2013) together with Mustafa Hj Ibrahim and Zakaria Ali.
His poetry is distinguished by subtle observations and rich metaphors. The journalistic book, "Minda Tertawan" (2011), caused great resonance in public circles of the country and gave rise to heated discussions about freedom and democracy in Malaysia. In 1996-2000, he was the organiser of the International Arts Festival in Ipoh.
And now we have the International Festival of Poets, Writers and Readers, a new event!
It was not easy to gather so many poets from 15 countries; it was not easy to hold such a complex event. But he managed to do it. According to many participants, it was a real success.
I, as a representative from Russia who took part in the festival, also joined in the high assessment of the poetry forum. It gave me an opportunity to recite my Malay translation of two poems of the greatest Russian poet Alexander Pushkin who spoke of freedom and brotherhood against tyranny.
Festival participants not only read poetry and discussed the role of poetry, but were also able to explore the sights of Kuala Lumpur and visited the village of Janda Baik, where they recited their poems again, surrounded by magnificent trees and flowers.
When leaving Kuala Lumpur, the poets didn't say goodbye. They said in Malay "Sampai jumpa lagi!", hoping that the festival would become a regular event and they would be able to return to the hospitable Malaysia with which they had fallen in love.
The writer, writing from Russia, is a former lecturer of University of Malaya