KUALA LUMPUR: The establishment of Yayasan Usman Awang by the late Datuk Dr Usman Awang’s close friends and family members is in the beginning stages, said Haslina Usman.
“The proposal to set up a charitable foundation to preserve all works of literary treasures by my late father has long been discussed at various meetings held by some of his close friends who are very concerned about the fate of the status of his works,” she said.
Haslina added that many of his works went unpublished those in the Singapore’s National Archive are not found in the Malaysian Archives.
“These are some of Malaysia’s national literary treasures and we would like to see them collected and preserved before they are lost forever.”
Dubbed as the father of modern Malay literature, Usman was awarded the Malaysian National Laureate in 1983 for his work as a poet, playwright and novelist.
“One of the goals of the foundation is to ensure that the creation of our literary heritage continues, as well as to collect literary works of Usman that were previously unknown,” said Senator Dr. Syed Husin Ali, a member of the ad hoc committee.
Syed Husin also said that the foundation aims to provide assistance to writers and children with talent or interest in the literary arts.
Also present during today's conference were National Laureate Datuk Dr. Anwar Ridhwan, writer and poet Samsudin Othman, Tan Sri Kamarul Ariffin, Datuk Dr Awang Sariyan, Kamarazaman Yacob and Tan Kai Hee of Hai-O Enterprise.