Rentong by Shahnon Ahmad (1965)

Eventually I managed to finish the last page of Rentong last night. The book is about the life of unfortunate rural population back in 1960s. The story focused on the village folks, whom their daily activities and economic sources rooted from traditional agriculture (working on padi field). The issues arising from the plot of the story are co-operation among the rural folks, qualities of good leader, nepotism, corruption, characteristic of the typical Malays (their beliefs on absurd taboos, grudge, easily influenced with others tales and lies, etc).

Datuk Shahnon Ahmad had well-articulated the story and impliedly delivered the message as had been stated above in an impressive way. His way of thinking was far ahead of his time.

He pointed out that certain characteristics are passed from parents to offspring:

...Dulu Pa' Kasa. Chandong-nya ta' pernah kering darah. Mau saja ia menetak sa-siapa. Silap batu perenggan pun sanggup mengoyak kulit kepala orang. Ta' boleh orang, binatang di-sesah-nya. Sekarang turun beneh setan-nya pada Semaun anak-nya..

This paragraph conveys to us the message in relation to the Malay proverb "A spotted father begets a speckled son" (bapak borek anak rintik). This is somewhat true. I read an article in MalaysianBar website today pertaining to Race Relation Act. The author pointed out that the grassroot of racial unity came from the parents and passed to the child. Let say the parents told his child not to mingle with certain race because that certain race is sly and cheaters, their child would firmly believed on such nonsense. The author was right in proving that the laws of genetics govern the transmission of hereditary characteristics.

Datuk Shahnon Ahmad had also emphasized on the typical Malay characteristic of what we known as the 'backstabber'.

..Orang2 di-kampong kechil kita ini bukan betul semua-nya. Di-depan kita bagini dia kata, di-depan orang lain, lain pula kata-nya. Mana ada manusia yang betul2 jujor'..

This was overwhelming among the Malay community. Some people would be very nice in front of you, but behind you they would talk the offensive things about you. This is what the old folk Kelantanese referred to as "Mulot manih j*bo mase" (Sorry, its gross and offensive, yet it conveys the crystal clear meaning on how these types of people behaved).

In the third chapter of this book, the author envisaged on the issue of greediness and nepotism.

.. Lima belas ekor lembu di-beri oleh kerajaan waktu itu. Dogol-lah yang di-beri tugas oleh Pa'Senik untuk membahagi-bahagikan lembu itu. Kapadanya sekarang ada dua ekor lembu yang gemok2..Sudah beberapa kali Semaun meminta hendak memelihara lembu kerajaan itu tetapi di-tolak-nya..

This explicitly pictures the practice of nepotism and corruption among the Malay leader who have bear the responsibility to guard the welfare of the people below them. They had misused their responsibility for their own materialistic benefits. What had been imparted by the author is that the problem even occurred among the non-educated rural folks, and we can infer his implied message, what about the authoritarian leader who has the grasp of the 'jelapang' in their hand?

Datuk Shahnon Ahmad had conveys a discreet cynical message in the book, muted but still audible.
*Datuk Shahnon Ahmad has won the highest literary award in 1984 as the National Laureate. The publishing of Shit in 1999 had provoked the ruling government to strip his National Literary Award. Shahnon is a parliamentary member of PAS.