以下是读者推荐 2022年5月21日 Function 8 的贴文（英中版）：
launched Said Zahari's Poems from Prison
Function 8
We launched Said Zahari's Poems from Prison at The Arts & Civil Space (TACS) yesterday, 21 May 2022. This anthology, edited by Professor Abdul Rahman Embong contains more than 30 lost poems of the poet. It is a collection that every Singaporean should be proud to possess.
Dr Azhar led a very interesting discussion of Said Zahari's poems. He encourage everyone not to shy away from literature of the left.
Below is the message of Professor Embong read by William Yap.
1. Friends! Greetings and congratulations for organising this important and meaningful event today – the launching of the long-awaited anthology, Poems From Prison (new edition) by the great writer and patriot Said Zahari, and for inviting me to say a few words. My apologies for not being able to be present in person for this auspicious occasion.
2. As a member of the Board of Pusat Sejarah Rakyat (Centre for People's History), the book's publisher in Kuala Lumpur, and as the editor of the anthology, I would like to thank friends in FUNCTION 8 for collaborating with us to print the book in Singapore, for wider distribution and in organising this launch.
3. I believe everyone here knows Said Zahari as a victim of Operation Cold Store who spent about 17 long years– we can say the best years of his life -- in Lee Kuan Yew's prison between 1963 and 1979. He was the prisoner of conscience of Amnesty International, deprived of his rights, yet upholding his dignity with indomitable resolve, fighting various forms of intimidation and repression especially the mental and psychological torture in solitary confinement.
4. Yet after attaining his freedom, in an interview years later on the death of his tormentor, Lee Kuan Yew in March 2015, Said Zahari was very calm and dignified: He had no personal grudges or vengeance against the person, Harry Lee. He was against the undemocratic, repressive and discriminatory system propped up by LKY's regime that denies the right of dissent, a system that crushes opposition -- some of whom were his former friends and comrades -- who are patriotic and loyal citizens of an independent modern island nation-state of Singapore. In a series of calculated moves and with an iron fist, the perpetrators of injustice of the LKY regime, excluded these patriots and democrats from history by labeling them “anti-national”, thus denying them their rightful place in history, together with their right to enjoy the fruits of the struggle and sharing the weal and woes of the nation together. Said Zahari was against such immorality and the inhumanity of the regime.
5. This is the beauty, inner strength and moral character of the man, Said Zahari -- a legendary and towering figure, a public intellectual, a great patriot and champion of freedom, especially press freedom. This is Said Zahari, a gifted writer who kept his sanity, his fighting spirit and optimism in prison, by expressing his thoughts and emotions in various ways – especially through the 72 poems written while incarcerated behind bars, and published in the anthology launched here in Singapore today. Though the nights were cold, dark and long, he could reach for the moon and the stars. He could see rays of hope and light beyond the enveloping darkness of the prison walls. He could feel the advance and momentum of the people's struggle, and hear the songs of freedom, the songs of the oppressed. And he stood tall, firm, resolute!
6. Friends! This collection of poems which contains such soul-searching thoughts, feelings and powerful emotions of sadness and joy is a priceless gem for us all, especially for future generations, an evidence of the inhumanity of heartless human beings who used power in their hands against defenceless fellow beings who are not on their side. This evidence of inhumanity has littered the checkered path of the history of the independence and liberation struggles everywhere as well as in the history of nation-making or nation-building in many parts of the world including Malaysia, Singapore and our neighbours in the region.
7. The story contained in the poems is a testimony of the painful narrative of the oppressed everywhere on this earth of mankind. This is a part of the story as people's history that needs to be told, and must be told as fully and truthfully as possible.
8. This is because the use of power and brute force to inflict such cruelty and misery against others -- when humanity loses its meaning and soul -- is not pastness or something that lived in the past, quickly becoming a distant and fading memory. Indeed it lives in the present, and will continue to do so in the future if it is not resisted, exposed, and changed. This is the home truth, the truth that “haunts” all of us. This is the hard message of this anthology, Poems From Prison, by Said Zahari.
9. Friends! On this note, I would like to wish you all the best and every success for the launch. I hope the book will be well received by friends and supporters in Singapore and elsewhere and will inspire its readers. Thank you.
To purchase the book, email to 2010Function8@gmail.com and send S$30 (inclusive of postage and other charges) to:
Function 8 Limited
OCBC Account # 629566092001
FOR PAYNOW
UEN 201025212E
《赛·查哈利狱中诗篇》新书推介会
Function 8（“人民论坛”译｝
我们于2022年5月21日在 The Arts & Civil Space(TACS) 举办了《赛·查哈利狱中诗集》推荐发行会。这诗集是由阿都拉曼·恩蒙教授（Professor Abdul Rahman Embong）所编辑的。诗集一共收集了超过30首失落而被搜获的诗歌。每个新加坡人民应该为此感到自豪。
阿都拉曼·恩蒙教授（Professor Abdul Rahman Embong）引导了一个让人感兴趣的赛·查哈利讨论会。他鼓励人们不要回避有关左翼作家的文学创作作品，或者为此感到不自在。
以下是阿都拉曼·恩蒙教授（Professor Abdul Rahman Embong）给推介发行会发来的讲话。功能8成员叶汉源代为宣读。
1. 朋友们！仅此祝贺与祝愿今天组织这个重要与具有意义的聚会——发行这本期待已久的诗集——由伟大的作家赛·查哈利所撰写的《狱中诗集（新版本）》。对于你们邀请我在推荐发行会上说几句话。我自己无法亲临而表示歉意。
2. 身为人民历史中心的成员之一，我是这本书的编辑。它是在马来西亚吉隆坡出版的。我仅此感谢功能8的朋友们与我们共同合作在新加坡印刷与发行，以及组织书的推荐发行会。
3. 我相信出席这场推荐发行会在座各位都熟悉赛·查哈利。他是一名在代号《冷藏行动》大逮捕的受害者之一。他被监禁了17年——我们可以这么说，这是17年是他一生中最为璀璨的岁月——他从1963年到1979年在李光耀的监牢度过。国际特赦组织把他[性]为具有良知的犯人。尽管他被剥夺了个人的权利，但他仍然以不屈不饶的精神维护着自己的尊严。尽管面对着各种式的恐吓与镇压，特别是在被单独监禁时遭受精神上和肉体上折磨虐待。
4. 然而在获得释放后，在几后，李光耀在2015年5月逝世时，他接受一次的采访中谈到折磨他的肋骨时，赛·查哈利显得极其冷静和凝重：他没有任何的个人的恩怨或者是对李光耀产生报复的心态。他是在反对李光耀实施的不民主、压制性和具有歧视性的制度——这个制度就是拒绝了不同政见者的权利，是一个摧毁反对党的制度——这些人是他以前的朋友和体制——他们都是爱国者和忠于一个现代化岛国的新加坡。李光耀政权的非正义是首先使用铁腕政策，不包括从历史把这些爱国者和民主人士标签为“反国家分子”。接着下来剥夺了他们在历史上应有的贡献，以及剥夺了他们因享有的斗争成果的权利，和共同分担国家的融入与共。赛·查哈利反对这个不道德及不人道的政权。
5. 赛·查哈利就是一名具有完善、内心充满力量和高超道德品德人。——是一个传奇性的任务、一个公众的知识分子、一名爱国者和争取自由的战士，特别是在争取新闻自由方面。赛·查哈利就是一名保持清醒头脑的作家。他通过各种方式表达了自己的想法和情感，展现自己的斗争精神和被监禁在牢内的乐观主义——特别是在被监禁期间通过撰写这72首诗歌，收集在今天新加坡出版的诗集里。尽管黑夜是那么多冰冷和漫长，他却能够可以沉静在星月中。在高高的监牢围墙包围下，他能够看到围墙外的希望和曙光。他可以感觉到人民斗争前进和局势，倾听到自由的歌声、反迫害的声浪。他高高的屹立、坚定地向人民敬礼。
6. 朋友们！这本诗集涵盖了这些灵魂的探索、感受和具有强烈的悲伤情绪与欢乐。对我们来说是无价之宝，特别是年轻第一代他们看到了那些当权者滥用手中的权利使用非人道与无情手段对付那些不愿与他们站在一道的自卫者的证据。非人道的历史证据被四处地扔在独立和解放斗争的途中，也在建国中，或者是建设国家的其他方面，包括了马来西亚、新加坡以及在本区域其他国家。
7. 这本诗集的诗涵盖了是见证在人类世界到处都存在被压迫的事实。这是我们必须让人民知道的历史事实的一部分。我们必须全面和尽可能把真实的告诉人民。
8. 这是因为当权者使用手中的权利和野蛮的手段施加在他人身上如此残酷和痛苦——当人类失去了其存在的意义和灵魂时——这并不是过去式的，或者是在过去的生活里发生的一些事情，采取了快闪的与其保持一段距离和忘却的态度。事实上它们却还存在着，在未来会将继续存在。假设不进行抗拒、暴露后改变它的话。这是事实真相，这个真相是在‘困扰’着我们。这就是《赛·查哈利诗集》要传递的最重要讯息。
朋友们，在此我衷心祝愿世纪发行成功。我相信在新加坡和其他地区的朋友们和支持者将会获得它。希望它能够激励读者们。谢谢。
有意购买者可以联系功能8。本诗集售价为新币30元（包括邮费及其他）：
2010Function8@gmail.com
Function 8 Limited
OCBC Account # 629566092001
FOR PAYNOW
UEN 201025212E