Apa nak jadi dengan bahasa Melayu

Kebelakangan ini terlalu banyak kesilapan yang dilakukan oleh Pak-Pak Menteri, ketua-ketua jabatan, ketua polis dan para wartawan, terutama wartawan penyiaran, mengenai penggunaan istilah dan gantinama dalam bahasa Melayu. Mereka nampaknya mudah terikut-ikut tanpa memperdulikan sama ada perkataan yang diguna atau disebut itu betul atau sebaliknya.

Satu perkataan yang sering membuatkan para ahli bahasa 'pedih telinga' ialah mereka-mereka. Ia selalu disebut oleh Pak-Pak Menteri (bukan semua), ketua-ketua jabatan atau pegawai tinggi kerajaan, ketua polis dan tidak ketinggalan wartawan penyiar atau juruhebah (sekarang disebut DJ).

Mereka adalah gantinama diri ketiga untuk bilangan yang banyak, jadi perkataan mereka-mereka tidak betul sama sekali. Yang betul ialah mereka (sudahpun menunjukkan bilangan yang banyak). Kita sering mendengar orang melakukan kesilapan bahasa apabila berkata ... "kepada mereka-mereka yang berkenaan,...atau... mereka-mereka yang terlibat....

Satu lagi perkataan yang tidak betul ialah pasar raya besar untuk merujuk kepada hypermarket.

Perkataan besar ditambah kepada perkataan pasar raya kerana perkataan pasar raya atau pasaraya digunakan untuk supermarket dan perkataan pasar mini merujuk kepada minimarket. Untuk ambil mudah, sebut saja pasar raya besar untuk hypermarket, tak kiralah sama ada ianya betul atau sebaliknya.

Kepada mereka yang faham bahasa Melayu, perkataan pasar raya besar bermaksud pasar besar besar kerana perkataan raya bermaksud besar. Dalam bahasa Melayu, perkataan raya merujuk kepada sesuatu yang besar, umpamanya bandar besar disebut bandar raya, jalan besar disebut jalan raya atau lebuh raya, gendang besar disebut gendang raya, hari besar disebut hari raya dan hantu besar (mengikut fahaman orang Melayu) disebut hantu raya. Jadi pasar raya besar bermakna pasar besar besar! Malangnya, pihak media berbahasa Melayu terikut-ikut menggunakan istilah itu untuk hypermarket, kenapa tidak sebut saja pasar hiper?

Baru-baru ini, kerajaan menggunakan istilah Konsultasi Bajet, yang diterjemah secara langsung daripada perkataan Inggeris Budget Consultation. Kenapa sampai begitu, wahai Menteri Kewangan merangkap Perdana Menteri?

Kita sedia maklum bahawa perkataan Inggeris itu bermaksud berunding atau rundingan atau satu pertemuan untuk meminta nasihat atau pandangan daripada seseorang atau sekumpulan orang yang ahli dalam sesuatu bidang. Perkataan dalam bahasa Melayu ada (rundingan), jadi apa perlunya kita membuat terjemahan terus dari bahasa Inggeris sehingga berbelit lidah untuk menyebutnya?

Kita begitu mudah meminjam dari bahasa Inggeris dengan hanya menambah 'si' dibelakang sesuatu perkataan pinjaman seperti konsultasi, informasi, dedikasi, deklamasi dan sebagainya. Di mana letaknya kata-kata semangat bahasa jiwa bangsa?

Kementerian Penerangan, yang kini dipimpin oleh seorang mantan wartawan akhbar berbahasa Melayu, juga bersikap tidak betul apabila menggunakan perkataan info (dari perkataan Inggeris information) untuk menggantikan perkataan maklumat. Sikap Kementerian Penerangan, khususnya Jabatan Penyiaran, amat dikesali kerana ia sepatutnya mendaulatkan penggunaan bahasa Melayu bukan menggantikan perkataan yang ada dengan perkataan yang dipinjam. Jika begitu ghairah nak gunakan perkataan informasi kenapa tak ubah nama Kementerian Penerangan kepada Kementerian Informasi?

Satu lagi ungkapan yang selalu disalahgunakan ialah "selamat hari jadi". Ungkapan itu tidak betul. yang betul ialah "selamat hari lahir". Kita merayakan hari kita dilahirkan ke dunia ini. Iaitu hari kita keluar dari rahim ibu kita. Kita tidak menyambut hari kita dijadikan oleh Tuhan! Siapa yang tahu saat bila kita dijadikan oleh Tuhan dalam rahim ibu kita? Jadi bagaimana kita tahu sekian hari itu adalah hari jadi kita? Yang kita tahu ialah hari kita dilahirkan.

Kesilapan-kesilapan yang saya ambil sebagai contoh ini merupakan sejumlah kecil daripada begitu banyak kesilapan yang dilakukan oleh kita, termasuk Pak-Pak Menteri, pegawai-pegawai kerajaan dan swasta, orang politik, tokoh perniagaan, penulis dan wartawan. Kesilapan itu berlaku kerana sikap kita yang tidak mementingkan penggunaan perkataan dan istilah yang betul. Kita sering jadi pak turut dan mengambil mudah dalam penggunaan bahasa Melayu.

"Floating buildings" that are not afloat

In the land of "everything can do", one can find "floating mosques, floating restaurants and floating hotels"... although they do not float! But, say what you like, the media in particular, will say "floating' or "masjid terapung, restoran terapung and hotel terapung" in Malay.

There is a floating mosque in Kuala Terengganu, the state capital of Terengganu, there is one in Tanjung Bunga (not Bungah) in Penang, in the Titiwangsa Lake Garden, Kuala Lumpur there is a "restoran terapung" (floating restaurant) and near Bagan Lalang, Selangor there is a new "floating hotel".

The mosques, restautant and hotel are not borne on water, or to be buoyed up. They do not float or in the Malay language we say "terkatung-katung".

The buildings stands on concrete beams driven into the ground to support the structures. So they do not float! It is wrong to describe the mosques in Kuala Terengganu and Tanjung Bunga and the other structures as "terapung" or floating.

Let us be realistic.

Islamisation is a new trend, says LKY

(The civilised United States Marines, occupying with no respect at all, the Khulafa Rashideen mosque in Falluja, Iraq)

Islamisation and the distinctiveness of Muslim practices was described as a new trend by Lee Kuan Yew, mentor minister of Singapore. "We have to watch this trend carefully and not allow our society to become divided," he told the republic's Malay/Muslim community leaders at a "tea session" in 2003.

He said, inspite of 9/11 and the arrest of the so-called Jamaah Islamiah (JI) "conspirators" in Singapore, relations between the races have not been shaken. The leaders of the Malay community have been solidly with the government "to ensure no divergent religious teachings take place," and people were vigilant against possible terrorist groups.

Kuan Yew warned that such issues would not go away soon. He said developments abroad, in the Middle East, in Iraq and Palestine, in Indonesia and Malaysia, would "influence the thinking and feeling of Muslim Malays in Singapore."

"But we must always remember that we share one island and a common destiny, that we have to protect this island and each other's interests. We should always be able to make whatever accomodation is needed and overcome our difficulties as one nation."

Kuan Yew went on to say that "we are in a period of stress and change in the Arab world of the Middle East that will have unpredictable repercussions on Muslims elsewhere, including Singapore." That would require careful and skilful management. But, he was confident that whatever developments, Singapore Malays would be able to find their place in society as equal citizens.

Malays in the eyes of Lee Kuan Yew

Singapore's mentor minister, Lee Kuan Yew, had once painted a clear picture of the Malays, both in the republic and in Malaysia. He also exposed the different perspective of the Malays, by his son and current prime minister Brig-Gen (R) Lee Hsien Loong. The senior Lee said this in a 2003 'tea session' with the Singapore Malay/Muslim community leaders. Kuan Yew's perspective is very relevant today in light of the much-publicised Iskandar Development Region (IDR) in Johor which seeks Singaporean active participation and investments.

"From my childhood I had Malay friends. I played with kampong boys, both Malays and Chinese. At the age of 6, I went to Telok Kurau English School. There were many Malay pupils who had crossed over from Telok Kurau Malay School which was in the adjacent compound, sharing the same football field. So I grew up completely at ease with Malays: quite a few of my Malay fellow students went on with me to Raffles Institution".

According to Kuan Yew, his son Hsien Loong grew up in a period when political differences between the races were deliberately sharpened during Singapore's years in Malaysia, 1963-65.

"He is therefore very conscious of the dangers of antagonistic race relations and understands that the sensitivities of race and religion have to be tactfully managed."

Kuan Yew also spoke of Malayan Malay elites he met for the first time when he went to Raffles College.

"They had come mostly on Federal government or state government scholarships. (The scholarships were awarded by the British colonial administration- Syed Imran). They were more race conscious and mixed more among themselves than with Chinese, Indian and other students. It did not strike me strongly until after we joined Malaysia that they are different: a deep seated feeling that the country, Malaya, Tanah Melayu, was for the Malays," Kuan Yew added.

After the war, Kuan Yew went to England and became a lawyer. For his first case, he was assigned to defend four Malays who had been charged for the murder in the 1951 Bertha Hertogh (Natrah) riots of an Royal Air Force serviceman and his wife who were travelling in a bus along Geylang Serai. He got them acquitted.

In 1955, Kuan Yew decided to stand as a candidate for the Tanjong Pagar constituency where the Malay-majority postmen's quarters were. There was also a large contigent of Malay workers at the then Singapore Harbour Board quarters. He was confident that the Malays would support him, and they did.

However, Kuan Yew claimed that when trouble started with Malayan Malays agitating in Singapore after merger in 1963, "I discovered more differences between Malayan Malays and the Singapore Malays. The Singapore Malays accepted me as a fellow citizen, sharing the country with them, the Malayan Malays did not."

He said when Singapore became independent in 1965, he made a firm commitment not to let the Malay community down. That commitment, according to Kuan Yew, was shared by all his colleagues of the republic's original team (Cabinet).

"It has been our policy ever since. When we had to rebuild the city, we made sure that as the suraus were demolished, new mosques were built in the new towns, better and bigger. We made sure that our Malays are free to practice their customs and religion. We made sure that there was as much intermingling as possible with the other races in housing, schools, markets shopping centres and community centres. We have made progress."

He admitted that there were difficulties when old Malay settlements had to be demolished and people re-housed. But after the initial years, Malays were reassured that life in the new housing estates was better than in the old settlements.

Social attitudes and values of the people, including the Malays, have changed, both in Singapore and in Malaysia, but in different ways, said Kuan Yew.

"This is because the two countries have different education systems and different social structures that have made for different social relations between the races."

With such differences, 'multiple differences' cannot be avoided if and when Singaporeans decided to invest and to settle down in IDR.

Women and the birth of Islam

Of late, Muslim Malaysian male politicians, in the national Parliament and in the Penang State Legislative Assembly, in one way or the other, had belittle women, from their monthly menstruation to how they should dress in public. These male chauvinists acted no less like a dumb court jester trying to please the king!

They should be reminded that their mothers, wives, sisters and daughters are women and, as Muslims, they must be told that women played very important role in the birth of Islam, very remarkable role.

First of all, that of Khadijah, first wife of the Prophet, to whom he remained faithful until her death. A most unusual and exceptional person, she was the first to embrace Islam. It was she who managed to put the Prophet's heart at rest after his deeply disturbing encounter with the arch-angel Jibreel in the Hira grotto. It was also she who persuaded him that he had a genuine mission and that the revelation was authentic, taking him to consult one of her cousins, a blind sage nearly a hundred years old. This wise old man, Waragah Ibn Nawfal, convinced Muhammad that his visitor was none other than the Messenger of the All-Powerful Being, and that he, Muhammad, had been selected to be one of the Prophets. Khadijah made over her entire fortunes and her worldy belongings to Islam.

Islam's first martyr was also a woman. Her name was Sumayyah, daughter of Khayyat, and her husband too was to be a martyr, as was her son, Ammar.

Stop abusing women in whatever way. Without them, humans ceased to exist!

Blog untuk kaki bola

Para peminat bolasepak tanah air kini boleh berkongsi pengalaman dan buah fikiran dalam alam maya. Satu blog baru - Bolasepak Malaysia - kini boleh dilayari melalui laman sawang berikut:

http://www.macam2bolasepakmalaysia.blogspot.com

Blog ini dikendalikan oleh seorang sahabat yang memiliki pengalaman yang lebih daripada mencukupi untuk membicarakan isu bolasepak tanah air.

Tahniah Sdr Zukri Valenteno.

First Bernama news - May 20, 1968

On May 20, 1968 (39 years ago), Bernama, the newly established national news agency of Malaysia, transmitted its first message via teleprinter reporting the launching of its own news service. The report was published on the front page of the Malay Mail. Copies of the newspaper were being sold on the streets of Kuala Lumpur 90 minutes after the end of the ceremony.

The then Information and Broadcasting Minister, Senu Abdul Rahman, released balloons and doves to mark the opening of Bernama's news service. "I am the happiest person here," he said.

Thirteen doves - representing the 13 states of Malaysia - were freed by the minister before he released dozens of multi-coloured balloons.

The symbolic ceremony, recorded by film and television cameras, took place in the grounds of Bernama's original headquarters in Jalan Pekeliling (now Jalan Tun Razak).





The original Bernama logo

The Bernama pioneers


General Manager Syed Zainal Abidin


News Executive (English language) Chang Yen Fooi


News Executive (Malay language) Abdul Wahab Abdul Majid


Secretary/Accountant Mohd Yusof Bador