I RECENTLY received two books from my colleague from the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dr Ekaterina Astafieva. Both are notable for the fact that they contain chapters on Malaysia.
The first, "The Many Faces of the Eastern Elite" edited by Astafieva tells Russian readers about the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman (chapter written by Dr Ekaterina Kochetkova) and the outstanding writer National Laureate Usman Awang (chapter written by me).
The second, "Asia-Pacific Region: Yesterday and Today" edited by Daria Panarina, contains a section on Universiti Malaya where I taught for 15 years.
The books are also notable for the fact that they are dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Academy was established by a decree of the Senate on Feb 8, 1724. The creation of the Academy was directly related to the reform activities of Russian emperor, Peter I, aimed at strengthening the state, as well as its economic and political independence.
He understood the importance of scientific thought, education and culture of the people for the prosperity of the country.
According to his project, the Academy was a government agency; its members receiving a salary were supposed to provide scientific and technical services to the state. The Academy combined the functions of scientific research and teaching.
An entire era in the history of the Academy and Russian science was made up of the scientific, educational and organisational activities of the great scientist-encyclopaedist Mikhail Lomonosov.
He enriched it with fundamental discoveries in chemistry, physics, astronomy, geology, geography, and made major contributions to the development of history, linguistics and poetry.
He organised the first chemical laboratory in 1748 and took an active part in the founding of Moscow University in 1755 which now rightfully bears his name.
Now, the Academy has about 550 scientific institutions and more than 55,000 scientists, including 483 academicians and 732 corresponding members.
An important place in the system of the Academy is occupied by the Institute of Oriental Studies, which is a leading scientific centre on a global scale and covers a wide range of areas of research on Oriental studies.
The research region extends from the western coast of North Africa to the Pacific Islands, and the chronology covers all historical periods of the history of the East — from antiquity to the present day.
The Institute was founded in October 1818 in St Petersburg as the Asian Museum. Initially, the museum was a collection of oriental manuscripts and books on the East, archaeological and ethnographic materials. It also housed a huge numismatic collection.
Throughout the 19th century, the museum's funds were replenished by ambassadorial gifts, military trophies, acquisitions of Russian diplomats, as well as materials obtained during scientific expeditions.
In October 1930, based on institutes that studied Oriental issues and the Asian Museum, the Institute of Oriental Studies was created. The institute was entrusted with the study of not only traditions but also modern challenges of the East.
In 1950, most of the divisions of the Institute of Oriental Studies were moved from St Petersburg (at that time it was named Leningrad) to Moscow.
The St Petersburg branch of the institute in 2007 was upgraded into a separate institute and named the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts where some Malay manuscripts are kept including the famous Malay Annals.
In Moscow, the Centre for the Study of Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania where some of my colleagues work is a part of the Institute of Oriental Studies and pays a lot of attention to the study of Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia.
Pogadaev, writing from Moscow, is a former lecturer at Universiti Malaya