LETTERS: MALAYSIANS did their country proud at the International Minangkabau Literacy Festival (IMLF) in Indonesia that was organised by Satu Pena West Sumatra.
The festival was initially held in Padang from Feb 22 to 26, before moving on to the towns of Padang Panjang and Bukit Tinggi.
IMLF was well designed. About 100 writers, humanists and artists recited poetry, displayed paintings, played music and performed dances. There were also theatre and other cultural presentations.
There were representatives from West Sumatra and neighbouring provinces, as well as countries such as Malaysia, Brunei, India, Bangladesh, Argentina, Australia and Russia.
I represented Russia and was pleasantly surprised to meet a delegation from Malaysia that included scholars, writers, singers and dancers.
Associate Professor Dr Norhayati Ab Rahman from the Academy of Malay Studies, Universiti Malaya, made a big impression here presenting a paper on online literature.
Also in attendance were Soso Kopratasa, Datuk Nash and Umar Uzair. Their participation in the final gala concert received rapturous applause.
But most striking was the performance of the Penang poetess, Shirley Idris, who combined a recital of the poem, 'Kebenaran', with an amazingly graceful dance.
The audience was simply delighted and gave her a standing ovation.
The festival was also filled with seminars, panel discussions, workshops with academicians, writers and other activists, special classes for early childhood literacy and book bazaars.
West Sumatra Deputy Governor Audy Joinaldy, who went to the event on the fourth day, expressed appreciation for Satu Pena's efforts in increasing the literacy levels in the province.
Dr Victor A. Pogadaev
Former lecturerUniversiti Malaya
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times