Merdeka Belum Berjiwa

Apalah erti merdeka apabila masih ada kelompok yang miskin kelaparan, nasib wanita yang diperkotak-katikkan, meraikan kebebalan dan pembodohan, menolak semangat kemanusiaan dan kebersamaan, meraikan keradikalan ketimbang keharmonian, tunduk bersujud pada zalimnya kekuasaan dan mengangkat kecurangan lebih dari kejujuran. Serangan terhadap jiwa merdeka berlaku dalam pelbagai ranah termasuklah cara berfikir dan tindakan. Merdeka belum berjiwa yang menjadi tanda tanya harus diselesaikan segera jika tidak dekaden akan menjenguk bangsa.

Includes an Indonesian-English glossary (over 3,700 words), as well as a description of the Indonesian use of the Arabic alphabet.

Zubir Said is best known as the composer of Majulah Singapura, the national anthem of Singapore; Semoga Bahagia, the Singapore school anthem; and Melayu Raya. Born into a humble and religious family in Sumatra where music was considered haram, at 21 he set out to seek his fortune in Singapore, attracted initially by the glittering lights and the availability of butter and kopi susu, but soon by the opportunities it offered him to pursue his dreams. Armed with his first musical instrument, a bamboo flute he had carved himself, and a basic knowledge of music number notations, Zubir taught himsel.

CINTA seorang lelaki kepada seorang wanita sukar untuk ditafsirkan oleh akal. Perasaan kasih dan sayangnya jarang diluahkan secara zahir, namun sebenarnya ia sentiasa mekar dan luhur. Jamjuri tahu Jainiah, wanita yang menjadi suri hidupnya menyimpan rasa curiga. Sejujurnya, dia ingin wanita itu yakin dengan cintanya, namun isterinya seakan tidak memahami. Setiap kali Jamjuri memandang kembali kejayaan yang dikecapi nya, dia sering tertanya-tanya. Berbaloikah semua ini? Ramai orang di luar sana menjadikannya idola, tetapi insan tersayang mula menjauhi. Tanpa pengetahuan sesiapa, setiap langkah Jamjuri di susuri ekor mata seseorang yang merencana komplot jahat untuk mencairkan empayar cinta milik Jamjuri. Tetapi, tidak semudah itu dia mengalah. Aura jahat yang mahu menggugat cinta suci Jamjuri ini akan ditepis dengan idea bijaksana dan sifat keikhlasannya.

An Autobiography of a Rebel is the final biographical writing of Kassim Ahmad, completed shortly before his passing in October 2017. Within he tells the story of his transition from a leader of Parti Rakyat Malaysia to a scholar of the Quran and Hadith, and a member of UMNO. Brought up in rural Kedah, Kassim Ahmad became politically aware in the period of Malaya’s independence struggle. Participating in the University Socialist Club, he would go to make his name with a radical analysis of the figures of Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat in the Hikayat Hang Tuah. Yet by the 1980s he had become both a staunch critic of socialism, and an Islamic thinker who set out to challenge orthodoxy and reinterpret dominant interpretations, most notably in his Hadis – Satu Penilaian Semula, before later championing a political system based upon the Charter of Medina. Through a series of short reflective essays, An Autobiography of a Rebel tells the story of a man whose intellectual journey from socialism to Islam was rooted in his belief that philosophical inquiry was vital to the production of a better governed and more prosperous country. Autobiography of a Rebel forms then not only the final account of Kassim Ahmad’s life, but also his final intellectual statement.