Cuộc trò chuyện với Đài GMA Philippines chiều 28-5-2018 thú thì thú vị thật, kẹt nỗi tôi đã dọn sẵn bản tiếng Anh, trong khi “người của Bộ” cùng đoàn 7 sinh linh đến đính kèm thông dịch viên. Thế là cả ngày dượt cái thao tác “cúi xuống nhìn lên” bài bản phải biết, đành ngậm ngùi xếp lại. Bộ cứ sợ tôi “phản động”, để rốt cùng công bỏ ra thành công cóc!
Mà dường tôi “phản động” thật. Thuyết đến đoạn, Cham không thể bị đồng hóa do “sức mạnh nội tại của văn hóa” [tôi chơi khó bạn trẻ này bằng dụng ngữ của Gilles Deleuze: In social terms, puissance is IMMANENT POWER, the power to act rather than power to dominate another]. Tôi đang nhắc vở người dịch mải kiếm chưa ra chữ, thì bị “trên” nói khéo. Tôi mới thêm đuôi: Dù xen cư và cộng cư với Việt, Cham vẫn giữ được bản sắc, để chính nó làm giàu sang văn hóa đa dân tộc Việt Nam.
Sau đây, là nguyên văn bài soạn sẵn, dĩ nhiên khi thuyết, tôi đã linh động quang quảng…
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1. About me and my works
My name is Sara, short for Inrasara. Currently, I live in Tân Phú district, Saigon, with my family, but I was originally from Ninh Thuận province, in Central Vietnam.
I was born on September 20, 1957, to a poor Cham farming family.
In 1977, I entered the University of Pedagogy Ho Chi Minh City, but I didn’t finish my 4-year degree. Realizing that I had nothing to learn there, I left the university after my first year. Unlike others who ambitiously work hard to achieve a university degree, I instead wandered through Cham villages to collect documents, and research on Cham literature.
Chakleng is a famous Cham weaving village in Vietnam. After 1975, the traditional trade was at risk of loss, so my wife and I made an important decision in 1990: We have to restore it.
We at first set up the company in my village, Mỹ Nghiệp or Chakeng in Cham, to produce and sell our own products, and later on, we expanded our business to the whole country.
2. My motivation to study Cham culture
To answer this question, please let me point out some significant historical events:
The kingdom of Champa was formed at the end of the 2nd century including most of today’s Central Vietnam.
At the beginning of the 11th century, Dai Viet’s dynasties, neighboring country from the north, began their ‘southward expansion’, and with each battle loss to the Dai Viet, the Kingdom of Champa boundary consequently shrank further toward the south. Indeed, the Kingdom of Champa was invaded little by little, until her complete extinction in the early 19th century.
Within those past 16 centuries of independence, the Cham people had built a brilliant civilization. However, many parts of that magnificent civilization were completely lost as the results of the wars and after the disappearance of the Kingdom. Those that survived the ordeals in the history including the Cham literature are now also at risk of disappearance.
As a person, who always advocates for new ideas and new creations, faced with that situation I felt as if it were my responsibility to save it, the Cham literature. I became a researcher from that time.
3. Characteristics of Cham culture
The Cham culture is one of the most beautiful parts of the world. However, much of its cultural history was not recorded [or lost?]. From its remnants, I can point out 3 important points:
– First, Champa possessed the maritime history and sea culture which Vietnam didn’t.
– Second, the arts, for example, temples and statues, traditional music and dancing, literature, etc, help enrich Vietnamese culture.
– Finally, the Ahier – Awal religion, established in the 17th century, is the most distinctive creation of the Cham culture.
4. How did I try to restore Cham culture?
Normally, when people think of the Cham, they often think of their temples or the Kate festival; however, to me the Cham literature is also as important.
Where is the Cham literature? As the Cham kingdom absorbed by today Vietnam and the Cham people now become Vietnamese should Cham literature be documented and preserved as part of the history of Vietnamese literature?
Resolving above issue is really a difficult thing for someone like me because not that I have never written any research papers on the subject, but the lacks of reference sources.
I overcame those obstacles by devoting almost my entire youth to the task of collecting Cham manuscripts, studied, and practiced writing them.
Finally, after 24 years of work, I achieved my goal. In 1995, I published my first book “The literature of Champa: Outline and selections” with over 1,000 pages.
In addition, I and a small group of Cham intellectuals got together and created the Tagalau magazine in 2000 with a mission of recovering some of the knowledge on Cham literature and skills of the past.
5. Cham people and the Philippines
Trade exchanges between nations are common in today world and in the past. So does the interracial marriage.
By my assessment and others’ analysis, I assumed the Orang Dampun ethnic group living on the Sulu island of Philippines today originated from Champa. Which facts led to such assumptions?
The old Cham were very good at maritime of professions. They used to sail to India, Japan. In the 10th century, a large section of Cham population migrated to Hainan island. For many centuries, Champa had maintained exchanges with Java, Malaysia, etc. And they befriended with peoples in those parts of the world including the Philippines. Therefore, I think the Cham people came to the Philippines when Luu Ky Tong, a foreigner who lived in Champa kingdom overthrown the crowned Cham king and controlled Champa in the 10th century.
“The first civilized foreigners to establish a settlement in Sulu island were the Orang Dampuan. They built several towns and made other improvements, but were regarded with jealousy by the native inhabitants.”
… After the conflicts, “the Orang Dampuan burned their towns and withdrew from the island.
Historians said “that the Orang Dampuan were mere “Men of Champa”, and that their main purpose in Sulu was the establishment of a trading station.”
About the relationship between Cham and the Philippines, I just know that. In addition, Cham people no longer save other materials.