...  a  little  something  to  ponder ... 

...'mat salleh' yang bukan warga M'sia pun dah pandai berbahasa Melayu...

Semangat saling memahami dan bertolak ansur amat penting untuk dihayati bersama demi keharmonian hidup sesebuah masyarakat yang berbilang kaum. Kita semua adalah berbilang kaum, tetapi bangsa kita hanyalah satu, iaitu Bangsa Malaysia. Bangsa Malaysia bercirikan kebudayaan berbilang kaum, dimana kebudayaan Melayu menjadi terasnya. Seperti juga bahasa. Walaupun kita mempunyai pelbagai bahasa pertuturan, tetapi kita rakyat Malaysia sepatutnya hanya menggunakan Bahasa Malaysia apabila berkomunikasi sesama sendiri dalam segenap urusan seharian. Kita menggunakan bahasa Inggeris, bahasa kedua kita, apabila berkomunikasi dengan bangsa-bangsa asing yang lain yang tidak menguasai Bahasa Malaysia.

Moga-moga suatu hari nanti, seluruh rakyat Malaysia akan menggunakan Bahasa Kebangsaan (iaitu Bahasa Malaysia) sepenuhnya termasuklah juga penggunaan seharian sewaktu berada di rumah masing-masing. Kita rakyat Malaysia, sepatutnya fasih dalam kedua-dua bahasa ini, iaitu Bahasa Kebangsaan dan Bahasa Inggeris. Ini tidak bermakna bahasa ibunda akan diketepikan langsung. Kita wajar mengekalkan bahasa-bahasa ibunda ini bagi tujuan adat resam, tradisi dan juga menguasainya mengikut pilihan masing-masing sebagai bahasa ketiga, keempat dan seterusnya. Bukannya sekali-kali meletakkan bahasa ibunda ini mengatasi kedudukan Bahasa Kebangsaan kita dalam urusan seharian, apatah lagi dalam urusan rasmi.

The extent to which Malay is used in  our country varies depending on historical and cultural circumstances. Malay is said to be the national language in Malaysia by Article 152 of the Constitution of Malaysia and became the sole official language in West Malaysia in 1968, and in East Malaysia gradually from 1974. English continues, however, to be widely used in professional and commercial fields and in the superior courts. Other minority languages are also commonly used by the country's large ethnic minorities. 

Lexicographers of the Malay language or general scholars are not up to the mark in deriving proper words and concepts. The Malay language has failed to take the lead in modern scientific discourse due to two main reasons: The first, the rampant misconstruction of the word Bahasa Malaysia in detriment of Bahasa Melayu, and secondly, the haphazard effort of “modernising” Bahasa Melayu by cutting off its original roots.

The first is clear because if Bahasa Malaysia is to be rendered in English, it will be called the “Malaysian language” which is a total misnomer and unfounded in the history of our people. The right term is Bahasa Melayu which befits the English translation in the form of “Malay language”. According to the authority on the Malay language, Tan Sri Prof Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, Bahasa Melayu is considered to be a family member of Islamic languages that consists of Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Urdu. These languages share many crucial semantic terms that define their rich legacy in subsisting advanced discourse especially in the realm of knowledge.

This can be proven via the legacy of scientific works in those languages, notably Arabic and Persian, had upon the translation movement of European scholars that heralded the age of the Renaissance and Enlightenment in the West. Perhaps the younger Malaysian generation has forgotten that our national language in pre-Merdeka was actually in Arabic script that we called “jawi” instead of the current romanised form.

It is known that former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew used to write in ‘jawi’ to communicate with fellow Malayans back then. This jawi script despite having its own “sound-system” shared many important semantic terms with other Islamic languages especially Arabic. This intimate linkage holds the key for Bahasa Melayu to be progressive and scientific as the linkages that exist among its family of Islamic languages can alleviate our national language’s ability and stature in creating progressive terms, words and concepts.

Classical Malay language in the form of jawi adheres to an intricate root-system just like the Arabic language and to a certain extent Latin. Modern Malay language, especially the romanised version, has destroyed not just the form but the spirit and depth of the Malay language. This has left the language in a truly deplorable state because the younger and modern Malay lexicographers, scholars, scientists and professionals who are untrained in classical Malay readings will only be able to appreciate and develop a truncated version of the modernised Malay language which more often is being developed by the mere transcribing of English words. This not only happens to our national language but also affects adversely the national language of our neighbour, Indonesia.

I am not suggesting that the romanised national language be transformed radically into jawi script. But if we are really sincere in restoring our national language to its proper place, then the Government must acknowledge and support authoritative Malay scholars who have deep knowledge of the Bahasa Melayu of the past where its form and spirit held greater potential for the development and advancement of our national language in confronting modern-day needs and challenges, especially as a medium of not only the language of science but of national unity...

We certainly are diverse. No harm in that. We may even get there as a diverse lot. Just avoid May 13 and keep remembering it - to avoid May 13. Celebrating or commemorating it may be arguable but at least remember it. Forgetting it would lull us and get us carried away with our different and divergent paths. No harm in being different, but very harmful in being divergent. Divergent, diverge: proceed in different directions from point or each other; go aside from track; differ, deviate; deflect". Different directions from each other” is certainly no go. We’ll never reach any where together that way. Our paths will never converge. We’ll just lose each other. No good, ain’t it?So, it’s OK to have different paths but definitely not OK to have divergent paths.

Being pedantic anyone? Let’s split hairs, shall we? Let’s go thru our stand, our views, our mindset, etc, etc with a fine comb. At least we’ll hear from one another and see if we are just different or divergent. And think how to correct it. There may be unity in diversity but not if that diversity involves divergence politically, economically, socially. The buck has to stop somewhere. Why not with ourselves? We claim we are Malaysian but we condemn and criticise our country to no end saying its been unfair and discriminating. Yet we do the same thing  our country does albeit on a micro level. We prefer to have friends who speak the same language, we prefer to work with people who speak the same language, we prefer people who share the same religious beliefs etc. No one is saying the country is perfect but get this, the country is ours. What we do affects our country. We start sending our children to national schools and only national schools, get them to mix around with their fellow Malaysians freely, will there be discrimination when our children become leaders of tomorrow? Definitely not. Why? Because they learned to mingle....Malaysia will not be able to progress if we continue to have people who professes to champion along racial lines with disregard to the sensitivity of other communities.  

If change is indeed a goal, there are sacrifices we have to make. We can argue until the cows come home that we are giving up our right to learn our mother tongue and our roots, but we are Malaysians and it is about time we should start acting like Malaysians. Our roots are all here...So, think about it !