Muhammad Haji Salleh, who was National Laureate when Salleh Ben Joned's bilingual ‘Sajak Sajak Salleh: Poems Sacred and Profane’ was published, declared it ‘the most traumatic experience for the Malay literary scene.’



Not only did he disagree with the state’s decision to elevate the status of the Malay language in the late ’70s to national language (he was one of the few Malay writers to do so), Salleh Ben Joned is also infamous for his deliberate, explicit use of graphic sexuality, perversion, and profanity in his works. ‘Sacred and Profane’ says it all. Ng Su Ann