KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 ― There are still no writers in Sabah and Sarawak that have been named as a National Laureate even after 50 years in Malaysia, Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said today.

Salleh, himself a Sabahan who was once the Sabah chief minister, expressed hope that a writer from east Malaysia would eventually see their contributions recognised at the national level.

“We also want to see, in the future, there will be National Laureates chosen from Sabahan and Sarawakian writers.

“We are also wondering, that after over 50 years of independence in the federation of Malaysia, these two largest states in this federation of Malaysia, have yet to be able to produce a writer of the status of a National Laureate,” he said in his opening speech at Universiti Malaya's Sabah Literature Seminar ― which is being held for the first time.

To date, only 13 Malaysians have been named as a National Laureate, with the latest writer that was named on October 13 ― Kedah-born Datuk Zurinah Hassan ― also being the first woman to receive this recognition.

Salleh also expressed hope that more writers from east Malaysia would be recognised regionally, noting that only one Sarawakian and two Sabahans have been recipients of the regional SEA Write Award since it was started 37 years ago.

The two Sabah-born writers that managed to beat counterparts from other southeast Asian countries for the award are the late Datuk Ismail Abas or Amil Jaya and Jasni Matlani, who won the SEA Write Award in 1992 and 2015 respectively.

Salleh said today's seminar would also contribute to the bilateral relations between the writers from Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia, adding that there will be more literature events of this nature in the future.

“We hope that such mutual programmes will result on more writers from Sabah and Sarawak to not only have their quality works, thoughts and contribution to the development of national literature known, but also to receive more recognition, we want to see more Sabah and Sarawak writers getting the highest award at the national and regional level,” he said at the university's Academy of Malay Studies.

Speaking off the cuff, Salleh remarked that Universiti Malaya reminded him of the word Malaya, a historically-correct word that he said had been replaced by terms such as West Malaysia and Peninsular Malaysia over the years in a possible bid to avoid making the country sound as if it was divided.

“If there is no Malaya, there would be no Malaysia. Usually people say that if there is no Sabah, no Sarawak, no Singapore, Malaysia will not be formed.

“But we forget actually Malaya is an important component in the formation of Malaysia,” he said, noting that there was nothing wrong in referring to Peninsular Malaysia as Malaya.

Malaysia was formed in 1963 when the Federation of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore came together to form the nation, but the latter was expelled and became an independent nation almost two years later.