21 Nov 2016
Assalamualaikum!
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Thank you for taking the time this afternoon to be here today. I’m very appreciative and deeply honoured by your presence.
How is everyone doing today? [PAUSE] Did you sing-along with the Museum Song (Lagu Muzium)? [PAUSE] Did you discover something new at the mini heritage trail? [PAUSE]
I sincerely hope you do. The song and the trail were just a sneak peek of what the book is all about, and you would have a chance to explore more later.
INTRODUCTION
“There Are Saga Seeds In Our Pockets!” (Ada Biji Saga Di Dalam Saku Kami!) is my first children’s book, and it is a dual language book. It is written in both English and Malay. It’s a gift from me to you. It’s a labour of love and a lot of hard work goes into the publication of this little book.
The idea of the saga seeds came to me last year, and when my application for funding from the National Heritage Board was approved early this year, it took me about nine months up till today. So as you can see, it’s literally like giving birth! So here’s my little baby! [SHOW THE BOOK]
WHY THIS BOOK?
About a decade ago, I’ve already tinkered with the idea of creating maths-related children storybooks for the children in my community. And I believed that our traditional games have so much maths elements in it. But that idea remained an idea. It was only last year the idea was seeded again – and I could combine it with a little history, heritage, culture and bilingualism. It was an ambitious task, I must say.
WHO ARE THE PEOPLE BEHIND THIS BOOK?
Just as it takes a village to raise a child and a reader, it takes quite a village to publish a children’s book – one that I believed is going to be meaningful, and perhaps, timeless.
Let me ask the young learners today:
Do you know what an author is? Someone who writes? That’s me. I’m Maria Mahat, the author of this book, “There Are Saga Seeds In Our Pockets!” (Ada Biji Saga Di Dalam Saku Kami!). But I do more than writing this book. Even though this is a children’s book, but you get a peek into a little history of Singapore and also the heritage & culture of the Malays. Therefore, I also need to do research. My company, Ungu Pen, publishes this book.
Now, young learners, do you know what an illustrator is? Yes, the person who draws the pictures in this book. I’d like to introduce you to the illustrator of There Are Saga Seeds in Our Pockets! – Pak Idris Ali . He’s a very experienced watercolour artist, and he started painting when he was only 10 years old.
Now, after I write, someone has to help me edit my writings to ensure that my grammar is correct, to ensure that there are commas and fullstops where it’s needed, and many more. That person is called an editor and proofreader. My editor and proofreader for the English text is Jarrod Tam, and for the Malay text, Cikgu Manaf Ahmad.
Now after all these, we have to put the book together; to ensure that the illustrations and the edited text are presented in a pleasing and aesthetic manner, and this person is the book designer. She is Masturah Sha’ari from Maya Gallery.
I want the book to be interactive, to be fun and engaging for you, our young learners. I want it to appeal to all types of learners and all types of learning styles and abilities. And what better way to encourage our young active learners to learn the etiquette of a museum visit through a song that we specially composed for this book. I’m the lyricist of the Museum Song that you heard earlier. I had some help from my friend Erlis Manaf – who ensured that the words of the song goes with the melody of the song. Someone has to compose the song and arrange the music. And once again, we have the multi-talented Cikgu Manaf who did that.
As you can see here on my left, there is an ebook learning station that later on, you can try out. We also produced the e-version of the book with the story being narrated in both English and Malay. We have our lovely Claire Cortez who lend her voice for the English narration, and myself for the Malay narration. It helps to save cost.
Unfortunately, I can’t sing. So the singer for both versions is Erlinna.
The ebook has to be programmed accordingly so we have Zamann Kamarudin and Cikgu Manaf who assisted with the ebook programming.
What do we do after all these? We have to send the book to the printing company to get it printed as well as to replicate the dvd contents. If you get the book today, please ensure there is a DVD at the back end cover of the book.
We hope that this gives you a brief introduction of what goes behind the making of the physical book and the dvd. As you can see, when I started this book sometime in Feb/March this year, I took photographs of my son.
That’s Aqil, 6, now he is 7. Look how much he has grown!
Yang kurik itu kundi, Yang merah itu saga,
Yang elok itu budi, Yang indah itu bahasa.
WHO ARE THE BOOKS FOR?
This book is for you – young learners:
- To strongly believe that we have a living language, not just English but in Malay that we could use anytime, anywhere.
- To discover that we have a history here in Singapore – so that you can try to “Retrace your Roots”
- To know where our forefathers came from, to imagine how they lived and played – there were no ipads in those days so what do they do. To find out, you must get this book!
- To understand that there are things from our past that are still available and should be preserved just like our traditional clothes, traditional games and traditional kuih
- To feel proud of what it means being a Malay and being Singaporean
To parents and caregivers:
- I hope that you will be able to use this book to bond with your child for the languages, for things to talk about – the past, the present and the future. The intriguing story and beautiful illustrations will provide great prompts for long conversations and thinking routines with your children.
To teachers and educators:
- This is also for you who tirelessly want to do the best for our children and yet has found it very challenging to find good quality resources in Malay or couldn’t find children books in English that talk about our local Malay culture and customs. I hope I am able to contribute to a tiny drop in the vast ocean of knowledge.
THE BOOK LAUNCH
For this book launch, we have set up learning stations for you. We hope that you will take the time to explore the learning stations later and see how you can “make your children’s thinking visible”.
This book launch is also possible with the hardwork of #teamungupen, our partners, and our kind and generous sponsors.
- Aeno oxygenated water by Beauty Secrets
- Cocoday Coconut Drink and Teh Sosro Honey Lemon from Trejoy Pte Ltd
- iQraMilk from Sufi Halal Resources
- bloomB Children’s Clothing Store
- JP Kitchen
- Helang Books
- Flashpixs Photography
- Snap Balloon Event and Party Services
- Era Dance Theatre
- Sri Warisan Som Said Performing Arts Centre
- Watsub
- Mendaki
- National Library Board
- National Heritage Board
- Ungu Pen
- We also have generous individual sponsors who prefer to remain anonymous. To them, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Thank you and Alhamdullillah. Please give them a round of applause.
Last but not least, this book is dedicated to my parents, Mak Zaiton and father, Mahat, and my two boys, Afzal and Aqil, who are my two saga seeds. There are no present and the future without the past.
IN CONCLUSION
I hope that the birth of The Saga Seeds In Our Pockets! (Ada Biji Saga Di Dalam Saku Kami!) has seeded the belief that we have a beautiful and gentle Malay culture and that we will preserve our language.
Tidak akan Melayu hilang di dunia.
It has also seeded the belief that we can learn anywhere, and anytime. From books, from our museums – which is free admission to all Singaporeans and PRs! – and from heritage objects and stories from our past.
Let me leave you with some quotes:
“It takes a little seed to grow trees that will serve as shades for us tomorrow.”
“Fruits doesn’t fall far from the tree but the seeds can go places and wherever they go by their virtues, they leave their traces.”
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but judge each day by the seeds that you planted.”
I have planted my saga seeds today. Thank you! Terima Kasih!
