DBP Disappointed With Widespread Use Of Rojak Bahasa
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) is disappointed at the widespread use of rojak (mishmash) Bahasa Malaysia among Malaysians, including the mass media and at official functions.
DBP director-general Datuk Dr Firdaus Abdullah said Malaysians appeared to be still indifferent to the integrity of the national language. "What is most regrettable is the unrestrained use of rojak Bahasa at official functions and on signboards, advertisements, posters, television and other mediums. You can spot it very easily everywhere," he told Bernama Tuesday.
He said DBP had carried out many activities to promote the use of Bahasa Malaysia, including updating and increasing the vocabulary, but a small number of Malaysians still failed to use it correctly.
Firdaus hoped to see the situation improve following the proposed amendment to the Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka Act which empowers the agency to enforce the correct use of Bahasa Malaysia. The amendment would increase awareness of the need to use the language correctly, he said.
**** Why is it that whenever there is something the authorities are unhappy with, they feel it can be rectified by enforcement? Some things unfortunately cannot be legislated or enforced to ensure compliance. Spoken language is one of them. Signboards and official functions are one thing but to even think of coercing people to speak the way DBP wants them to is sheer folly.
I still remember in the nineties when DBP in one of its 'Arabizing' moods, changed the word for pig from babi to khinzir! What prompted some idiot to do that I don't know. However I still recall my group of friends including several Malays having a good laugh over it and one of them even quipped that in future epilepsy will be referred to by the public as gila-khinzir instead of gila-babi! TV3 persisted with that term for a while in its subtitles but it soon died a natural death.
There have been other examples of such thoughtless adventurism by the 'guardians' of the Malay language who have this misplaced belief that Malay and Arabic are interchangeable. They have also been guilty of downplaying and even shamelessly concealing the deep Sanskrit influence on Malay. Perhaps since Sanskrit originates from India they are too coy, or worse, embarassed to accept it; doesn't look politically correct for an 'Islamic' country to be so very influenced by a 'Hindu' language. Sounds silly doesn't it? It does to me, but I think to the fanatics at DBP they probably consider it as their national duty. In fact if they could have their way, they will bury the slightest trace of Chinese or Indian influence in the Malay language, and if it be in their power, even in Malay culture and tradition.
I know that the above is quite an indictment of DBP, but nothing they have done thus far has moved me to change my views. So when they talk about 'correctness' of language I get worried. In any case language especially a dynamic one like Malay cannot be held back by purists or by law. It will over time 'metamorphose' linguistically and move along on its own steam, independent of its appointed guardians. In a century we may perhaps be speaking a variant of the present Bahasa Malaysia and I wonder who would then dare to call it Rojak Bahasa?
DBP director-general Datuk Dr Firdaus Abdullah said Malaysians appeared to be still indifferent to the integrity of the national language. "What is most regrettable is the unrestrained use of rojak Bahasa at official functions and on signboards, advertisements, posters, television and other mediums. You can spot it very easily everywhere," he told Bernama Tuesday.
He said DBP had carried out many activities to promote the use of Bahasa Malaysia, including updating and increasing the vocabulary, but a small number of Malaysians still failed to use it correctly.
Firdaus hoped to see the situation improve following the proposed amendment to the Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka Act which empowers the agency to enforce the correct use of Bahasa Malaysia. The amendment would increase awareness of the need to use the language correctly, he said.
**** Why is it that whenever there is something the authorities are unhappy with, they feel it can be rectified by enforcement? Some things unfortunately cannot be legislated or enforced to ensure compliance. Spoken language is one of them. Signboards and official functions are one thing but to even think of coercing people to speak the way DBP wants them to is sheer folly.
I still remember in the nineties when DBP in one of its 'Arabizing' moods, changed the word for pig from babi to khinzir! What prompted some idiot to do that I don't know. However I still recall my group of friends including several Malays having a good laugh over it and one of them even quipped that in future epilepsy will be referred to by the public as gila-khinzir instead of gila-babi! TV3 persisted with that term for a while in its subtitles but it soon died a natural death.
There have been other examples of such thoughtless adventurism by the 'guardians' of the Malay language who have this misplaced belief that Malay and Arabic are interchangeable. They have also been guilty of downplaying and even shamelessly concealing the deep Sanskrit influence on Malay. Perhaps since Sanskrit originates from India they are too coy, or worse, embarassed to accept it; doesn't look politically correct for an 'Islamic' country to be so very influenced by a 'Hindu' language. Sounds silly doesn't it? It does to me, but I think to the fanatics at DBP they probably consider it as their national duty. In fact if they could have their way, they will bury the slightest trace of Chinese or Indian influence in the Malay language, and if it be in their power, even in Malay culture and tradition.
I know that the above is quite an indictment of DBP, but nothing they have done thus far has moved me to change my views. So when they talk about 'correctness' of language I get worried. In any case language especially a dynamic one like Malay cannot be held back by purists or by law. It will over time 'metamorphose' linguistically and move along on its own steam, independent of its appointed guardians. In a century we may perhaps be speaking a variant of the present Bahasa Malaysia and I wonder who would then dare to call it Rojak Bahasa?
posted by The Malaysian. at 7/18/2006 09:59:00 PM
2 Comments:
DBP should discourage the use of "English-adapted" words such as bajet, efektif, invitasi etc when we have perfect Malay words for them (belanjawan, berkesan, jemputan respectively).
Great site lots of usefull infomation here.
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