This historical fact is not something new to Malay(sian) scholars
and cultural workers. Despite the more ‘inward-looking nationalistic’tone in their creative processes over the last two decades,
Malay(sian) cultural workers acknowledge their past cultural debts
to Indonesia, particularly in the colonial era and until the 1970s.
Their sense of having shared ‘cultural roots’ within the idea of
‘bangsa serumpun’ is well-maintained, as is seen in the formation of
various regional cultural networks and associations.
On the other hand, only a few Indonesians have learned this
fact well; and few have noticed how Malay writers imported and
processed borrowed ideas from Indonesia into their own expressions.
Consequently, while the creations of Malay(sian) writers
may have resonance with Indonesian works, these are unfamiliar
to most Indonesians. We might ask how many Indonesians read
Malay(sian) literary works, whereas almost every Malay(sian) secondary
school
student
reads
Indonesian
literary
works.
Indonesian
scholar Maman S. Mahayana even claims that ‘Malaysian literature
is like a foreign literature to the Indonesians, more foreign than
English, Dutch, or Japanese, Chinese and Indian literatures’.
On
the other hand, Indonesian literature is by no means unfamiliar to
Malaysians (Maman S. Mahayana 2001:ix), since it has long been
considered part of their literature.