“Throughout
the interview, Cat said absolutely nothing. Not even miew-miew-miew. Ten
questions asked, zero answered. A hundred questions, none answered.”
– The Painted Cat
Lalita Sinha: What is the significance of selecting the project title as “The Painted Cat”?
Uthaya: The original “Cat” in Bahasa Malaysia has been among the
favourites at various reading events from time to time in Malaysia and abroad –
the list is mentioned in the book. The story is often compared to current political
scenarios and the audience enjoy being part of the story during performances. “The
Painted Cat” also represents the reality of Malaysia and Malaysians, in a
rather sarcastic way of course.
Anuradha Chelliah: Are you planning to translate more stories in the future?
Uthaya: I am already contemplating on transcreating more stories for a 2025
project. But it all depends on the response we get for The Painted Cat. If people in
Malaysia and abroad are interested to read my stories in English, then perhaps
that’s the way forward. But of course I would still be writing my original
pieces in Bahasa Malaysia. To quote Amir Muhammad (Malay Mail, 23 July 2008): “Just as politics is too important to be
left to politicians, the Malay language [Bahasa Malaysia] too should stop being
identified as the preserve of Malays.”
Anuradha Chelliah: Do you think this translation would reach a wider reader crowd especially at the international arena and call for more translation of Bahasa Malaysia short stories?
Uthaya: That’s what I really hope. As I mentioned in The Sun Daily (6 June 2023): “I hope this book will
also make people interested in stories by my fellow Indian authors
who write in Bahasa Malaysia.” [full interview here] We have many Malaysians already writing in English at the
international level and that’s totally amazing and wonderful. But “national
literature” (sastera kebangsaan) that
usually get translated by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) are merely ethnocentric “Malay literature” (sastera Melayu) which fail to portray
the real Malaysia and Malaysians. Having said that, the Kavyan Writers (Sasterawan Kavyan) need to produce quality work which qualify to be
translated and transcreated into other languages.
Irene Tan Ai Ling: Uthaya sudah terbukti mampu menulis dalam bahasa Inggeris semenjak di bangku sekolah. Kemudian, baru beralih kepada penulisan Bahasa Malaysia. Dengan bakat dan kebolehan yang sedia ada, orang lain pasti mahu mara ke depan untuk terkenal pada peringkat antarabangsa. Kenapa Uthaya ambil waktu yang lama untuk hasilkan (terjemahkan) karya ke bahasa Inggeris?
Uthaya: Memang di sekolah menengah dahulu saya menghasilkan karya Bahasa Malaysia, Inggeris, dan Tamil – [maklumat di sini]. Hanya mulai tahun 1991 saya menumpukan sepenuhnya kepada penulisan karya Bahasa Malaysia, walaupun masih menulis beberapa artikel [contoh] dan kertas kerja [contoh] bahasa Inggeris. Memanglah boleh tembus pasaran antarabangsa apabila menulis karya bahasa Inggeris. Saya kagum dengan pencapaian ramai pengarang Malaysia yang menghasilkan karya Inggeris dan memang anugerah di luar negara – walaupun mereka tidak diiktiraf kerajaan Malaysia. Saya pula memilih Bahasa Malaysia kerana mahu rakyat pelbagai kaum di Malaysia mampu menikmati hasil penulisan saya dengan mudah. Saya juga memulakan usaha mengubah senario Sastera Kebangsaan daripada terlalu berciri budaya Melayu-Islam kepada berciri budaya Malaysia. Dan kini, karya-karya berwajah Malaysia itulah yang disajikan dalam bahasa Inggeris menerusi The Painted Cat. Maka, buku ini membuka peluang bagi masyarakat luar mengenali keunikan Sastera Kebangsaan; bukan sekadar “sastera Melayu” yang dijaja pihak seperti DBP selama ini menerusi kerja-kerja terjemahan bermotif etnosentrik.