Friday, December 11, 2009

orang malaysia kena cakap (bahasa) melayu

I am a Malaysian. A proud one at that, if I may add. But as I'm writing this entry entirely in English, does that make me a lesser Malaysian than others? What, if I may ask, is the essence of a true Malaysian? That he/she speaks only Bahasa Malaysia/Bahasa Melayu (the term keeps changing from time to time that I've lost track of the correct term)? So let's say, hypothetically, that I was born in Malaysia, but raised in Russia. My Malay vocabulary is limited to 'Terima kasih', 'Ya' and 'Tak'. Does that mean I'm not a Malaysian? Even if I have a myKad?

Wait. Does that mean UiTM is un-Malaysia(n)? Because as far as I know, all the subjects in UiTM (except CTU) are taught in English. How so very un-Malaysia(n) this UiTM. All those Malay/Bumiputra students, and English is the main language? Boycott UiTM students! Boo! Tak orang Malaysia la budak-budak UiTM ni! Buat malu je mengaku orang Melayu! Bangga sangat cakap bahasa penjajah. Oops. Did I just write in Bahasa Malaysia/Melayu? Orang Malaysia kena cakap Bahasa Melayu.

Even a certain minister once made a statement that speaking English in the workplace is "weird" and harmful to the nation's culture and identity. Oh wow. I guess I should just converse with my Russian boss in Malay. Who cares if he understand or not? The main point is I don't want to be accused of being a weirdo and polluting the nation's culture and identity. Polluting. Yeah. Big word there, ladies and gentlemen. Petronas should stop polluting the nation's culture and identity. MAS should do the same. And Air Asia, too. And all the 5-star hotels. Weirdos all of them. Boo!

Tell me again, between a Malay-only-speaking Malaysian graduate and Malay-and-English-speaking Malaysian graduate, who will you choose to work in your company? Right. The Star, New Straits Time and The Sun should be barred from publishing their newspapers. They are harmful to the nation's culture and identity. Orang Malaysia kena cakap Bahasa Melayu. Eh. Wait. I'm doing it right now. I'm polluting and harming the nation's culture and identity! Gasp. It's a blasphemy! Right, right.

Jadi bila saya berbicara dan menulis/menaip dalam Bahasa Melayu barulah saya dikatakan orang Malaysia? Hanya dengan berbahasa kebangsaan saya tidak akan mencemarkan dan merosakkan identiti dan budaya Malaysia? Maafkan saya tetapi pada pendapat saya, itu adalah tahi lembu semata-mata! Bahasa Inggeris adalah satu bahasa yang universal, bahasa di mana ilmu berpaksi. Keluarlah dari bawah tempurung anda itu. Buka minda luas-luas. Jangan kerana kalian tidak boleh berbahasa Inggeris, kalian harus memperlekehkan bahasa itu. 'Bahasa penjajah' kononnya. Yang terkinja-kinja "Under my umbrella ella ella ella" tu tak pula dikatakan bahasa penjajah ya?

We're not the third world country. It's time we stop thinking like one. Or acting like one. Stop embarrassing yourself with idiotic statements like that. I'm a Malaysian. A proud Malaysian. I can speak Malay. A damn good one at that, too. I was born and raised in Malaysia by Malaysian parents and relatives. I'm so freaking Malaysian that a lawyer will die first before proving it otherwise. And speaking English does not make me a lesser Malaysian. And I certainly am not doing any pollution or harm to the nation's culture and identity. Maybe the minister should start coming up with less idiotic statements from now on.



I got both of those comments from PM's facebook. That triggered this entry. Those are your typical bahasa-Inggeris-bahasa-penjajah Malaysian. I bet they don't speak English at their workplace. And I bet their facebook's default language is Bahasa Melayu. And I bet they are not UiTM students. And I bet that no one else is as proud to be Malaysian as they are.

6 comments:

  1. pergi berjimaklah mereka. huhu. kan dah pelik bila direct translate. nak buat cmne, politician kita kan takat spm je. tu psl akal kat lutut tu.

    aku tak rasa pun kalau tak bercakap bahasa malaysia tu kurang malaysianya. tapi kalau bahasa malaysia nak maju, kena banyak pinjam jargon dari bahasa lain. takleh nak translate jugak sebab nanti pening. contoh:

    reka bentuk antara muka -> graphical user interface

    twisted kan? buat je macam bahasa jepun. newpaper derang sebut "pepa" which is betullah, paper. personal computer -> pasukon, pasunal konputa. maka jadi pasukon.

    pinjam je, toksah nak kecoh2 kalau betul nak buat bahasa malaysia well blended.

    otherwise, i stick with English. :)

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  2. Meh those people are hypocrites. I think some of them have to stick with BM though. Their English is unreadable. like the *ehem* Celtic Girl. Dahlah yang backing dia tu pun English cam haram jugak.

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  3. mangi: kalaula bahasa itu satu race, bolehla dikatakan manusia2 itu racist, betul tak? susah jugak kalau

    wani: Celtic Girl *faint*

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  4. kalau satu bahasa = satu bangsa, memang kita sgt racist. huhu.

    bahasa melambangkan bangsa, but for me, language is just a tool. standard tool to limit the misinterpretation in communication. but....i think language should evolve as well as human grows. we keep adding new slang/jargon in our life hence we should add all those in our language. who decide that our language "polluted" if we add/borrow those jargon?

    I would like to think that someday all our language will become one universal language whereby people could communicate without worried about others not understand them. But it still large and wide and far target to achieve.

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  5. mangi: Either way, we should not use language to measure how Malaysian are we or not. We have to adapt to our surrounding.

    The most widely spoken language in the world is Chinese @ Mandarin and Spanish comes in second while English only comes in at third. Now, dare I ask if we speak Chinese @ Mandarin, we're deemed to be un-Malaysian while we certainly have Mandarin speakers all around the country?

    We're a multi-racial country, are we not? If by using English we are said to pollute the nation, then I can't imagine if we use Mandarin. We might as well kill the nation!

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  6. kadang2 kita patut abaikan jer yg jenis2 typical macam tu, my english is not quite good enuff anyway.. tapi kekadang rasa cam lawak tgk our minister yg cam harammmmm..

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Words could heal... or it could hurt or maybe, it won't bring any difference. Either way, just type away!