Malaysian Poetry And Feminism

---

A MESSAGE FROM PRINCESS OF MOUNT LEDANG TO SULTAN MAHMUD
            Tun Mamat
            Convey this message to the Sultan
            Bring these as my dowry
            If he wishes to marry me.

            Build me a bridge of gold and another of silver
            Bring me germs and mosquitoes seven trays of their hearts
            Vessels full of tears and juice of young beetle nuts
            From the king and his prince a bowl each of their blood.

            Honestly
            I knew from the start
            That he is willing to construct the bridge of misery
            Let the people carry the trays of agony
            And bear the burden of heavy vessels of tears
           Rack their life with flame of his own desire
            Provided he could escape the fire.

            Tun Mamat,
            These conditions only show my rejection
            As his queen I refuse to be
            Seeing my life a murky reflection
            I am not Tun Fatimah
            With the skill to forgive cruelty
            I am not Tun Kudu
            Who could be forced to agree
            It’s enough with Hang Li Po
            Wrapped up as a gift, a commodity
            Or Tun Teja who tripped and fell
            The lover she followed was only a shadow.

            Let Mount Ledang stand tall, a reminder to all
            Of a flower that survived and remained free
            Untouched by the royal fancy
            Even a woman can choose to disagree
            Even a king has his turn
to admit being beaten. 
(Zurinah Hassan, A Journey Through Prose and Poetry, DBP,IIUM Press 2018)
Several scholars have analysed what they called the feminist voices in my poems. One such paper is written by Dr Suzana Muhammad (Universiti Sains Malaysia),  “The Development of Woman Identity: Feminist Approaches to Selected Poems of Zurinah Hassan.”. A poem often quoted  is  “Pesanan Puteri gunung Ledang Kepada Sultan Mahmud” (The Message From Princess of Mount Ledang To Sultan Mahmud)  The Princess of Mount Ledang was a mythical character, unearthly, magical, mysterious, and of course described as exceptionally beautiful. She dwelt at Mount Ledang in the southern area of Peninsular Malaysia visible from the palace of the Malacca Sultan. As the story goes, the sultan was looking for a queen after the demise of his consort. This time around, the sultan was determined to marry someone or something different from an ordinary human princess as he wanted to be different and far above anyone else. That was how he got the idea of asking for the hand of the Princess of Mount Ledang.




The princess may not have existed. But the writer of the Sejarah Melayu has constructed the episode as a medium to criticize the Sultan for his unjust rule of the country and his cruelty especially to women, treating them as if they have no heart and soul. The Princess of Mount Ledang proposed these conditions of the dowry as a way of refusing to marry him. As for the Sultan, this was the first time anyone said no to him. The princess was the first woman to succeed in showing the Sultan that he too must be able to accept rejection. The important point in “Message of the Princess of Mount Ledang to Sultan Mahmud” is the exertion of a woman’s right to decide and take control of herself and her life. That the princess was able to speak her mind showed that women have freedom of expression. As I put in my poem:
Let Mount Ledang stand tall, a reminder to all
Of a flower that survived and remained free
Untouched by the royal fancy
Even a woman can choose to disagree
Even a king has his turn
to admit being beaten.

---