KOTA KINABALU: The KDM Writers Club Malaysia better known as Momogunsia hoped to lure more local writers into its fold.
Its president Dr Azlan Shafie Abdullah said there were many local writers that were yet to join the club and hoped that they would join in as the group offered various activities to promote the craft among them.
Azlan who is also Known as Raymond Majumah said they carried out many and various activities every year to evoke interest on writing and reading among the general public while preserving the members interest in the club.
According to him, activities included Writing Workshops for school students and interested individuals.
“One of our activities is the Regional Ethnic Writing Seminar held on Dec 3, at Kundasang,” he shared adding that the seminar evoked tremendous interest among writers who hailed from Brunei, Indonesia, Sarawak and Sabah.
“I believe the event acquired tremendous response from Momogunsia members and writers from other groups, who came together to listen to the presentations of speakers that included Dr Ramzi Ationg from UMS Sabah, Dr Sri Ningsih Sukirman from Indonesia, Nurlina BIPG Kent, Dr Chong Ah Fok from Brunei and Witer Gunik from Sabah,” he said.
Azlan who also presented a paper shared that 50 people joined in the seminar which also saw the presentation of prizes to winners of a recent writing competition.
He acknowledged that there could have been about 100 attendees but they were cautious due to covid, thus parring down the participants to 50.
“This was the last activity for the year 2022 but there will be other similar activities in the year ahead to ensure that the club remains dynamic and active.”
“This seminar is carried out every four years in different districts and we hope for more exciting activities then,” he stressed.
The seminar was held in collaboration with Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) and sponsored by Yayasan Hasanah.
Meanwhile, Rusdi Awang who represented DSP said they had always supported ethnic writers and encouraged them to write and publish through DBP, where many local writers had been accorded this platform for their works.
“We encouraged them to write ethnic stories, documentaries and write-up among others, with utilization of dialects and ethnic words, but there must be a translation or glossary of contents,” he stressed.
He encouraged those who had written a book to sent it to DBP for whetting but stressed that the establishments did not encourage writings on superstitions and ghost stories.
On another note, he congratulated Momogunsia for carrying out the seminar which saw lively participations from all present. – Anna Vivienne
