Tag: Malay language

Categories
Society

[2648] The future importance of the Malay language

I have two related conversations to share. The first happened in a cab in Sydney and the other happened over lunch in Jakarta. Combined, the conversations are possibly a testament of the future importance of the Malay language.

The first conservation was not really a conversation. The cab driver, who was probably in his 40s or 50s, was overly chatty. He drove both the car and the conversation alone. “I came from Hong Kong,” he said without being asked.

“Oh, did you?” I answered with feigned surprise. I was tired and I wanted to go wherever I needed to go quickly and painlessly. So I took the cab. He did not take the hint, however, and so he went on talking.

So I learned that he immigrated to Australia some time when the United Kingdom returned Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. He left because he did not trust the communists and he did not want to risk his livelihood under communism.

Since he was already at it and I was trapped in his cab, I decided to somewhat participate in the conversation. I was especially encouraged to do so when he demonstrated that he was an anti-communist. At least, I thought, there would not be any ideological battle here.

But I wanted more nuance. So I suggested to him that China might be communist in name only these days as the Chinese government had embraced capitalism with a surprising fervor. He would have none of that. “The communists are not good.”

“I’m an Australian now,” he said to end that part of the conversation. To him, communism is communism and it is all the same.

The fact that he is a first-generation immigrant was easy enough to spot. He did not sound like a completely naturalized Australian. He shouted his English with a strong, harsh south Chinese accent. He failed to use the word ‘mate’ whenever it is proper to do so. He also did not end his sentences with question marks, like a stereotypical Australian would do.

Between the accent and the shouting, I had to frown to catch his words. I know it does not make sense but somehow frowning helps with my hearing.

Another thing that I made out of the conversation was that he understood the importance of Mandarin in this era. Who does not, really? With about one billion native speakers in China alone and the country becoming more and more open than the China that the cab driver once knew, there is really no room for a dispute.

However, he confidently said there are only two languages that mattered in this world: English and Mandarin. The word only stirred me.

“Only two?” I asked skeptically. In my head, I could name several more languages of global importance.

“Two only,” he replied with an almost angry tone. I could not be sure if he was really angry because he sounded angry throughout the conversation anyway.

The really interesting part of the conversation came after he gleefully expounded on the importance of Mandarin, almost exhibiting a hint of cultural superiority. Or maybe he was not. Something might have been lost in translation.

“What language do you speak?” he asked.

“I speak Malay,” I answered.

With the same confidence, he dismissed the Malay language as useless. “What would you do with that language of yours?”

I smiled, looked outside and tuned out. “Are we there yet?”

More than 5,000 kilometers to the northwest, in Jakarta two years later, a friend was treating me to lunch. The friend is an Indonesian of Chinese descent who is currently residing in Sydney. He was on Christmas holiday and I was travelling with Jakarta being my first stop.

“I’ve been in school for too long. I want to take a gap year. I want to see the world,” he told me after we argued whether Malaysia or Indonesia is the real owner of nasi goreng and batik, among many other things.

He is training to be a surgeon and he has been in university for too long. That means English has been his primary language for some years now. He has little opportunity to practice the other two languages that he speaks, which are Indonesian and Mandarin.

He plans to spend his gap year by staying in Beijing for six months to practice his Mandarin and another six months somewhere in Indonesia to practice his Indonesian, which is not very different from the standard Malay language. To most speakers of standard Malay, understanding Kelantanese is likely harder than understanding Indonesian.

He wants to practice Indonesian because he knows that the Indonesian economy is growing rapidly and the population is large; the country is the fourth most populous country in the world. A population of more than 200 million, add another 30 million from Malaysia and several more million from elsewhere, the importance of Indonesian and Malay will be as undeniable as Mandarin, contrary to the opinion of the Australian cab driver. The friend does not want to be in a disadvantageous position when the language finally becomes a major world language in the future. The friend is in his 20s and he has a more urban, modern and global worldview than the cab driver. He has some ideas of how the future will look like and he is preparing for it.

In contrast, the cab driver is living in the present and stuck with old ideas. All he sees are the vehicles on the road and nothing beyond that. The only fortunate thing for the cab driver is that, the development outside of Sydney or even Australia probably does not matter so much to him. So, he can afford to keep his opinion.

Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved

First published in the The Malaysian Insider on January 16 2013.

Categories
Liberty Politics & government Society

[2149] Of there are Malay alternatives to the term Allah and tuhan

I have clarified my position regarding the usage of the term Allah by Catholic group and by extension, any term by anybody. This reasoning forms the basis of my position not to oppose Catholic group’s use of the term. Indeed, I consider this line of reasoning as not only the most convincing for me, consistent with my wider libertarian philosophy that I hold, it is the only line of reasoning that informs my decision not to oppose it. This is the libertarian position. The purpose of this entry is to address another position regarding the lack of alternative.

First, there are other reasons that have been bandied elsewhere. Arguably, the argument I have seen the most is based on historical development of the Malay Bible. As it goes, certain domination of Christianity — and Sikhs — have been using the term Allah well before the 1980s, when the government first interfered in the issue. Furthermore, the first Bible that used the term Allah to refer to the Christian god was first translated into Malay in the 17th century by a Dutchman as part of Christian evangelization effort in Southeast Asia. Notwithstanding the libertarian position, this argument is acceptable because it appeals to historical accident. Moreover, it demonstrates that the use of the term by Christian, obviously, as not a recent phenomenon. Yet, it fails to kill the suspicion that use of the term Allah is really for proselytizing activities, which is one major problem associated with the whole controversy to start with. This failure what convinces me that this particular rationale as imperfect.

I have no problem with propagation of any religion as long as those religions do not violate liberty but in addressing the issue in Malaysia, the suspicion seriously have to be addressed. To say that there is a law to prevent propagation of other religions among Muslims as an answer to that concern is utterly deficient because — ignoring its anti-liberty rationale — would such law work? Do differentiate the normative and positive aspects.

Despite its failure, I reiterate, the argument based on history may have some sway.

The second argument, which is the purpose of this entry, is the point that there is a lack of alternative to describe the term god. Ignore the fact that terms can be imported from other languages, even the Malay language has alternatives to Allah and tuhan. There are more than two words to describe the idea.

While I set out to disprove the argument that there is no alternative to the word Allah and tuhan in Malay, knowing that there are alternatives, my casual research on the language and terms to describe the idea of god really surprises me even.

Consider the fourth edition of R. O. Winstedt’s An Unabridged English-Malay Dictionary published in 1963. For god, Winstedt listed Allah, tuhan, dewa, dewi, dewata, indera and khalik. These words are detailed by Teuku Iskandar’s Kamus Dewan as published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in 1970. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka’s Kamus Dwibahasa Bahasa Inggeris-Bahasa Malaysia adds another one and that is betara. This has not even considered other words and phrases like pencipta, tuan and dato’ which can be made to mean the same as god within specific context.

There are also older words like Hyang or Sang Yang that are rarely used but remains Malay nonetheless.

I personally have never encountered the word khalik and betara but that shows how, even for a native speaker of Malay, the full breadth of the language is larger, as it should typically be, than everyday popular vocabulary bank. In this sense, arguing that there is no alternative is an act of sheer arrogance of one’s pool of knowledge. Arrogance can be justified but when it is based on ignorance, then humility must take its place.

Thus, this renders the argument of no alternative to naught. In fact, I consider such argument as a point in ignorance, if not outright dishonesty.

This requires highlight in political terms. Even I as a person who is generally dismissive of religions and its activities and as a libertarian who actually does not oppose the use of the term Allah by Catholic Church in Malaysia am distrustful of the motive behind the employment of the rationale. Consider what would conservative Malay Muslims would think? The label conservative Malay Muslims is rather misleading. A lot of not-so conservative Malay Muslims feel distressed about the issue. I can divorce the flaw of the ”˜no alternative’ argument from my overall position but the less libertarian Malays would not do so and would use it instead to strengthen their illberal opposition.

Using the ”˜no alternative’ argument will just give more fuel to the opposition fire. Not only it defeats effort at bridge building, it helps to popularly defeat libertarian position on the matter.

So, my advice is, do not use the argument that there is no alternative. It is simply not true. Just stick to the historical accident and libertarian arguments.

Categories
Society

[2043] Of Zaid Ibrahim’s Malay is amusingly quaint

The Malay language has undergone multiple changes throughout its life. As the language evolves, it enhances intergenerational difference. Different generation would subscribe to their version of the language, if they do not particularly follow development in the language closely.

Zaid Ibrahim is an example of a person who still uses an outdated spelling of Malay. In this latest posting entitled Orang Kelantan Mudah Di Pujok?:

Keputusan pilihanraya Manik Urai menunjokan bahawa tidak semua pengundi membuat pilihan berdasarkan isu yang penting dan mustahak. Semasa berkempen disana saya memberi tumpuan pada hal royalti minyak Saya ingat inilah isu yang sepatut nya diketahui rakyat Kelantan. Tapi malang nya keputusan tidak sebagitu. Inilah yang mengecewakan. Pada saya isu Kerajaan Pusat menafikan hak royalti minyak kapada Kelantan sepatut nya menjadi isu yang menyatukan hati orang Kelantan.Sepatut nya BN di hukum olih rakyat Kelantan kerana tidak memberitahu mereka perkara yang benar. BN patut dihukum kerana BN berdiam diri dan sengaja tidak mahu rakyat Kelantan mendapat hak mereka sebanyak RM 1 billion. Agak nya BN sanggup berbuat demikian kerana mereka tahu memadailah kapada orang Manik Urai kalau jambatan 7 juta ringgit dijanjikan atau wang 1000 Ringgit diberi kapada pengundi pengundi terpilih. [Orang Kelantan Mudah Di Pujok? Zaid Ibrahim. July 26 2009]

When I was younger as I took my instruction in Malay, ‘menunjokan‘ (to show) was spelled ‘menunjukan’ ‘menunjukkan’ and ‘pujok‘ (placate) was spelled ‘pujuk’. I am confident that the latest authorative Malay dictionary will prove that my version of Malay spelling remains the most current one.

The ‘o’ does not seem to be a mistake on Zaid Ibrahim’s part because he consistently places ‘o’ where ‘u’ should have taken its rightful place in the latest spelling method.

On Twitter, he spells ‘suruhanjaya’ as ‘surohanjaya’.

Satu Lagi Surohanjaya?: Kata Dr Mahathir orang Melayu mudah lupa; saya pula kata orang Malaysia juga mudah lupa… [myzaidibrahim. Zaid Ibrahim. July 23 2009]

I do not particular know when this kind of spelling was last used but I would risk guessing the 1970s.

I am sure some of my 1990s Malay has been rendered outdated by linguists who seem to have no other work but to torture the users of the language. For instance, I would spell ‘baharu’ as ‘baru’.

Why the change happened is beyond me. What certain is that baharu is not as economical as baru.

Perhaps, I am just old. But not as old as Zaid Ibrahim.