According to one of its founders, Masuri S.N., as cited by
17
Maman, the name ‘ASAS 50’ initially emerged when Sutan Takdir
Alisjahbana (STA) met with a number of Malay writers in Singapore
prior
to the formation of this association. When STA asked one of the members about the name of this would-be association,
the latter said that they were ‘Sasterawan Angkatan 1950’, following
Indonesia’s ‘Angkatan 1945’,
as they were impressed by the Indonesian
revolution and influenced by the works of the ‘Angkatan
1945’ (Li Chuan Siu 1975:23).
The fact that even in naming their organization these writers
followed the Indonesian model was no surprise, since most of them
had belonged to the Malayan Nationalist Party. Reprising the wartime
idea
of a Greater Indonesia, this party still envisioned independent
Malaya as a part of Indonesia. Therefore these writers
kept looking at Indonesia as their primary reference, while many of
them built personal links with their Indonesian counterparts. They
read literary works of Indonesian writers, while the mass media they
managed, such as the newsmagazine Persatuan, covered news from
and about Indonesia (Maman S. Mahayana 2001:92).