KOTA KINABALU: Badan Bahasa dan Sastera Sabah (Bahasa), a non-governmental organisation based in the state, is focusing on making Sabah as a literature and cultural hub in the region.
Its chairman Datuk Jasni Matlani said the efforts are showing positive results from collaborations formed with several writers’ organisations at Southeast Asian (ASEAN) level, from Indonesia, Brunei, southern Thailand and Singapore.
“The idea to make Sabah as the literature and cultural hub in the region started from the Sabah Writers’ Festival, organised with the cooperation of Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka and the state government.
“At the opening of Sabah Writers’ Festival in March, the Humanity Literature and ASEAN Diplomacy Award was bestowed on its first recipient, Denny JA (poet and social media icon) from Indonesia,” he told Bernama.
Jasni, 59, said the criteria to select the award recipient include the icon’s contribution to literature on building of humanity and works that promote relationship between ASEAN countries.
He said the closing of the festival, which is in its 10th edition this year, is expected to be held in Pitas on June 25 to 27 and will be filled with discussions on works of Sabah writers.
Among those to present their paper works included 2012 SEA Writer Award recipient S.M Zakir and Universiti Malaya lecturer Dr Mohd Saleeh Rahamad. – Bernama