If you didn't then go to http://www.sun2surf.com/artcile.cfm?id=11885 and read all about this local lawyer cum poet who has made a name for himself in the literary world but who is better known outside his own country than in it. To date Cecil has published 17 books of poems and his works have been translated into Japanese, Urdu, Tamil, Chinese, German, Tagalog, Danish and Spanish. Although Cecil did not win the Nobel Prize for Literature, the nomination itself was a great honour which unfortunately was not reported in the local press which is only interested in stories about people who swim across the English channel in one of the longest times or who has sailed around the world single-handedly but at a great cost to the country.
As a lawyer, Cecil is the Founder of Free Legal Aid and was in the forefront in fighting for the orang asli's right to own land. Under a law passed in 1954, the orang asli could not own land and it was only this year that the court gave them the right to own land. The "true sons of the soil" had been denied their birth right.
Cecil Rajendra is also the President of Human Rights Society of Malaysia.
Cecil does not write on human rights and social issues only. At present he is writing a book on Malaysia's strip-tease queen, the late Rose Chan. Those who are in their sixties, like me, remember Rose Chan well and will eagerly await the sale of Cecil's latest literary project!
No comments:
Post a Comment