Bandar Seri Begawan - Writers paid tribute to the late Hj Shawal bin Rajab, a literary figure in the Sultanate as they discussed about his contributions to local Malay literature Saturday afternoon at the Balai Sarmayuda, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) in Berakas.
Dr Mataim bin Bakar, Director of DBP, said the literary project known as Literature Veranda or Pantaran Sastera took a different approach this time by hearing what experts thought about the literary works of the late Shawal Rajah - SEAWrite Award winner in 2006 - who died last year.
The Literature Veranda project this time is organised by Literary Writers Association (Asterawani) with cooperation from DBP, he said.
"This is the second time we worked together to organise activities under the project.
"The first time was when we organised a Literature Forum to form Brunei National Literature Trait and we received ideas and thoughts from forum panellists and audience.
"However efforts to realise the plan has not materialized and we hope Asterawani will continue with its efforts with support from DBP," he said.
At the event, Dr Hj Morsidi bin Hj Muhamad, a senior lecturer, Malay Literature Department, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) presented a working paper entitled "The Literary Works of Shawal Rajah: A Brief Discussion on Theme and Writing Style".
Dr Hj Morsidi touched on the prominence of the late Hj Shawal in literary writing and said how the late Shawal will be missed by literary lovers in this country and the region.
Meanwhile, Prof Madya Dr Hj Arbak Othman, Department of Malay Language, Faculty of Modern Language and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia delivered a working paper entitled "The Theory of Text in Poetry Evaluation: Semiotics Perspective" and he presented his thoughts of Brunei poets. In his summary, he mentioned the need for every wor4. in a poem to be respected and studied as it may be meaningful to people`s life whether in this world or the world after.
Source: www.brudirect.com (28 Januari 2008)
