Samad Said denies writing poem criticising Pakatan (updated)

PETALING JAYA: National laureate Datuk Seri A. Samad Said has denied writing a poem criticising the Pakatan Harapan government for abandoning literary artists such as him.

The poem had gone viral on the WhatsApp social messaging platform on Saturday (Nov 3).

"What a joke. But it's stupidly educational. I welcome it. Educational about STUPIDITY.

"I have not written any poem recently," Samad said in a WhatsApp message on Saturday.

The writer of the poem said that he was once part of the electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 group, had protested in the city with them, and had gone against former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak by calling him the "evil of all evils".

However, the writer who identified himself as "Samad" said now that the Pakatan Harapan government was in power, he questioned whether the party would pay heed to literary artists such as himself.

He said he was instead left with "an empty hope" and had become a "beggar" and wondered if that "hope" was empty, just like Pakatan Harapan.

A Google search result revealed that the poem originated from a Wanita Umno Tampin Facebook post, in which the poem was lumped together with a picture of Samad's article from Berita Harian.

It appears the poem was written by Wanita Umno Tampin as a caption to the Samad's article, but was posted in such a way that it looked as if it was penned by the poet.

The Berita Harian article from the Facebook post had the headline that the so-called Samad was disappointed that literary artists in Malaysia were not appreciated, hence, were forced to "beg".

In the article which was published on Nov 1, "Samad" said although literary artists were loved and highly praised, their works were not bought by the public, and this had resulted in them becoming "beggars".

"Samad" then said he was sometimes embarrassed to acknowledge being a writer, as one could not live by just being one, unless the books written were used; for example, as literary text in schools.

The so-called Samad went on to say that his books were rarely used in schools, and he had notified Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik of the matter.

However, he said Dr Maszlee had only acknowledged the situation.