SINGAPORE – The Malay literary community in Singapore is mourning the death of pioneer author and Cultural Medallion recipient Suratman Markasan, who died on Feb 27, aged 93.
His death was announced by Malay-language expert Awang Sariyan on Facebook, after he was informed by Suratman’s daughter, artist Suriani Suratman.
Suratman, who wrote in Malay, was the author of novels including Tak’ada Jalan Keluar (1962) – translated into English as Conflict in 1980 – and Penghulu Yang Hilang Segala-Galanya (1998), released as Penghulu in English in 2012.
His writings captured the social, cultural and political changes that affect the Malay community, most notably in his poignant portrait of a village headman struggling to return to his old way of life in Penghulu.
He also wrote about religion as a rehabilitative force and penned many poems on love, dedicating some of these to his late wife Saerah Taris, who died in 1980.
In 2022, he became the joint oldest winner of the Singapore Literature Prize, at age 91, with historian Wang Gungwu.
In his life dedicated to public service, he also headed important literary, language and cultural associations, including as chairman of the Singapore Malay Teachers’ Union and deputy president of Angkatan Sasterawan ‘50, the oldest Malay literary organisation in the Malaya region.
Writer and musician Isa Kamari, 63, says Pak Suratman was a down-to-earth mentor figure to many Singapore Malay writers who was never prideful despite his unparalleled achievements and contributions in the Malay literary and cultural scene.
He kept abreast of the latest developments, and once asked Isa about getting Malay works translated into other languages and published abroad.
“He was not shy to ask and learn. He was also forthcoming in giving his honest and frank views on any issue,” Isa says. “I miss him as a kindred soul because we shared many hopes and aspirations for the Malay community. His dreams inspire many.”
A poet and author of a younger generation, Muhammad Khairool Haque, 32, attended a workshop given by Suratman in his teenage years and was most touched by his conviction that Malay language and literature are important.
He cites Suratman’s poetry collection Potret Isteri Yang Hilang (1993) as a work he particularly enjoys, Suratman exhibiting “his more emotional, yet still intellectual side” after the death of his wife.
The elderly literary legend was also kind enough to write the foreword to Khairool’s poetry collection, Anak Waktu Belajar Diam, in 2020.
“To him, writers have to be the eyes and the voice of society,” Khairool adds.
Author and screenwriter Suffian Hakim, 37, studied Suratman’s works in his secondary school days for Higher Malay, and revisited them after he failed his A levels and was unsure about where his life was heading.
“I was terrible at my mother tongue, but I remember how powerful his poetry was,” Suffian says. “Suratman pointed the way for an entire generation of Malay writers, even those like me who write in English.
“He was our constant, and his passing creates a void I don’t think any of us can fill.”
Suratman was born in Singapore in 1930 and studied at Perak’s Sultan Idris Training College in 1950, later also graduating with a bachelor of arts in Malay and Indonesian studies at Nanyang University in 1971.
In 1980, he was appointed assistant director for Malay and Tamil studies at the Ministry of Education and, from 1981 to 1985, was a full-time lecturer at the Institute of Education.
Ms Lily Othman, daughter of former minister Othman Wok, was taught by Suratman in 1973 at National Junior College, and enlisted his help in transcribing the Malay manuscripts of horror stories written by her father from 1952 to 1956 for the magazine Mastika.
These were translated in 1991 into English in a volume titled Malayan Horror: Macabre Tales Of Singapore And Malaysia In The 50’s.
Ms Lily, 67, says Suratman was “a very kind man, helpful and soft-spoken”.
