Forget Superman. Asia has superheroes too, says Berita Harian achiever award recipient

SINGAPORE - Associate Professor Hadijah Rahmat of the National Institute of Education (NIE) wants to do away with the excessive veneration of Superman.

The 64-year-old believes the outsized influence of the superhero and his alter ego, Clark Kent, in the comic book series that began in 1938 in America, speaks volumes of the continued weight of Western colonisation.

In his place, she wants students to get familiar with Hanuman, Sun Wukong, Badang and Hang Nadim, “our own original and much older superheroes”.

“We should be proud of them. Why must we restrict our concept of heroes to the Western world? We are in the post-colonial period. Why are we still worshipping them?” said the recipient of the latest Berita Harian Achiever of the Year award. She received the award at a ceremony at Four Seasons Hotel on Thursday.

“Hawkerpreneur” Lee Syafiq Ridzuan Lee, 30, was named the Berita Harian Young Achiever of the Year, while Mr Mohamed Noor Mohamed Yusofe, 85, received the Berita Harian Lifetime Achiever award.

The awards, given out by Malay-language newspaper Berita Harian, recognise Malay/Muslim individuals for excellence in their chosen fields.

Prof Hadijah, NIE’s head of the Asian Languages and Cultures Academic Group, said she has been trying to change the way mother tongue languages are taught. She has introduced multiculturalism courses at NIE for mother tongue teachers.

The courses, conducted in English, teach Chinese teachers about Malay literature and Malay language, while Tamil teachers learn about Malay folklore and Chinese culture.

This working together will hopefully be more impactful and lead to a more culture-focused revitalisation of mother tongues, she said.

“The reality in modern life is the domination of the English language, which started as a colonial language,” she added. “Prior to colonisation, Malay was the lingua franca of the region, and that’s changed so much.”

Beyond leading the push against monolingualism, Prof Hadijah is also a highly recognised literary author, and has published poetry, short stories, plays, literary essays, academic papers and children’s books.

Her works include a tome on early pioneer Munshi Abdullah, whom she has spent 25 years studying. Next year, she wants to complete several more books touching on various topics, including the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages and her cats.

Mr Lee Syafiq, this year’s Young Achiever, is the

owner of gourmet burger stall Ashes Burnnit,

which first opened in Golden Mile Food Centre, before expanding to five more stalls all over Singapore.

Mr Lee Syafiq, whose father is Chinese and mother Malay, said he hopes that his receiving the award will encourage more young hawkers so that they, too, can be as proud as lawyers and chefs are of their professions.

“I was 24 when I first started, and there were not many young hawkers then,” he said. “I saw that previous winners were mostly sportspersons, so I hope this can be a platform for future generations of hawkers to work towards.”

Ashes Burnnit recently

opened its first outlet in New York City,

near Times Square, in collaboration with food culture company Makansutra founder and hawker food advocate K.F. Seetoh.

Mr Lee Syafiq said he has plans to expand beyond burgers in New York, and has already incorporated roti john, a Singapore omelette sandwich, into his menu.

Mr Mohamed, the recipient of the Lifetime Achiever award, has had an illustrious music career lasting 40 years and is widely recognised as the grandfather of Malay songs in South-east Asia.

He has penned a few hundred hits set to music by the likes of Kassim Masdor, P. Ramlee and Zubir Said.

His stage name, Yusnor, was given to him by his mentor, iconic Malay entertainer P. Ramlee. Mr Mohamed is also a Malay-language educator, comedian, actor, TV producer, entertainment historian, screenwriter and film expert.

Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who was guest of honour at the ceremony, said each of the recipients has benefited from teachers and mentors on their journey to success, and they continue to pay it forward by helping the next generation of teachers, musicians and hawkers.

“None of us can achieve success on our own. We all need people to inspire us, to teach us and to support us in times of need. That’s why the achievements of the award recipients here tonight are not theirs alone but really an achievement for the entire Malay/Muslim community.”