Muhammad Haji Salleh

Malaysia’s best-known bilingual poet, Muhammad Haji Salleh was born on 26 March 1942, in a village called Temerlok, Trong, in British Malaya. Soon after his birth he moved to Sungai Acheh, Penang, where he began schooling in Sungai Acheh School in 1949. On completion of his standard three education, he was chosen to continue his studies in an English medium Anglo-Chinse School, Nibung Tebal. A year later, he moved to Bukit Mertajam, his mother’s hometown, and entered High School Bukit Mertajam as a student of Standard (Year) Six. In 1958, Muhammad entered the Malay College, Kuala Kangsa, a prominent institution for the Malay nobility and elites. Upon completion of his Cambridge Secondary School Certificate Education in 1960, he chose to become a school teacher. However, after one year of teaching at Trade School, Teluk Air Tawar, Butterworth he voluntarily returned for further studies, because, Muhammad explains in his characteristic Malay candour and humility, “When the results were announced, both my English and Malay language marks were dismally low” (“Decolonization: A Personal Journey” 60).