Tributes Pour In For Malaysian Poet Salleh Ben Joned Who Passed Away At 79
Al Fatihah.
By Sadho Ram — 29 Oct 2020, 01:14 PM
Malaysian poet Salleh Ben Joned has died at the age of 79
According to a statement posted by his family on his Facebook account, Salleh died at 1.21am early Thursday, 29 October, from heart failure.
"He was experiencing breathing difficulties on Tuesday at his home in Subang Jaya and was warded at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre," the family said in the statement.
Final rites' prayers were held at the Masjid Abu Bakar As-Siddiq in Subang Jaya this morning, and Salleh would then be laid to rest at the USJ 22 Muslim cemetery.
In the statement, the family said that only close relatives were allowed for the prayers and burial due to the conditional movement control order (CMCO) regulations.
Considered to be the bad boy of Malaysian poetry, Salleh was well known for his explicit poems and essays in Malaysian literature
He was born in Melaka in 1941.
According to New Straits Times, his first book was a bilingual poetry collection "Sajak-Sajak Saleh", followed by "As I Please", which was compiled from his popular column in the English newspaper.
Salleh had also starred in several films.
Several have since taken to the Internet to remember the late poet
"You know — I always thought of Salleh Ben Joned as the type of person who would be around always. Fearless, vital. How sad, now, to live in the world and know he is no longer in it," said Malaysian author Hanna Alkaf.
Meanwhile, Malaysiakini journalist Aidila Razakr recalled when she was 14 and a teacher had given her Salleh's poem to read, which left her "intrigued and scandalised".
Others recounted how meeting Salleh opened a whole new world to them.
