Salleh Ben Joned will be remembered as one of the finest minds in the M'sian literary scene

The writer and the late Salleh Ben Joned. Photo: Johan Jaaffar

It was 6.39 in the morning (Oct 29) when I got a message from Anna, Salleh Ben Joned’s eldest daughter, now residing in Australia. Salleh had passed away. It took me quite a while to absorb the news.

The last time I met Salleh was in March last year. Anna was back in Malaysia, among other things, to do a special programme for the Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Salleh.