DBP blamed for Malay language decline .
Thu, 28 Oct 2010 06:03 . .By Joe Fernandez
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Malay language expert Raymond Tombung Boin wants the on-going Bulan Bahasa Kebangsaan (BBK) – National Language Month – to be a wake-up call for Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP or Language and Literary Agency).
The agency, according to him, has failed to arrest the continuing decline of the Malay language over the years from “poetry and grace” to something unimaginable. Ironically, DBP has in the process become a huge organisation employing hundreds of intellectuals, researchers and scientists.
He sees the lethargy of the organisation symbolised by the fact that it takes perhaps somewhere between five and six years to bring out a novel. DBP has also discontinued inserting notices of newly-created terminologies in the newspapers.
“The government should issue a no-nonsense directive to DBP to pull up its socks and do what it had originally been assigned to do, that is, develop the national language,” said Tombung, a former senior editor. “It’s also a matter of regret that the media is largely ignoring the BBK.”
He was commenting on a call in mid-week by Sabah Umno Youth to set up a National Language Commission under the Prime Minister’s Department, and answerable to Parliament, to complement the DBP.
Tombung, who’s also a Dusun cultural expert and activist involved in reviving dying local languages, sees part of the problem stemming from DBP allowing others to determine terminologies which Radio-Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) then goes on to popularise. This appears to be the case with “penghawa dingin” for air-conditioning instead of pendingin hawa, legenda (spelled correctly as lejenda in DBP dictionary) for legend but immortalised as lagenda in Sheila Majid’s hit song by that name.
The federal Cabinet appears to be guilty as well for deciding that it should be “mampan” instead of “mapan” or “mempan” for sustainable. Again, there was only silence from DBP.
Writers and translators like Tombung “are in despair” over the absence of proper Malay words for common English words such as “argument” (inaccurately translated as hujah), and “description” (often translated as huraian). Elsewhere, he wants to know who created the inaccurate “penggubahan wang haram” for “money laundering” and why “laman web” (website) is part Malay, part English. He does not suggest the alternatives.
Garbage expressions
Tombung reiterates that in the face of inaction – read DBP – Malay is becoming far removed from its beautiful original form and degenerating into a language with a lot less foundation, especially given the entry of “garbage expressions”. He cites the usage of I, you and so in Malay as among the more notorious pollutants.
He also queries the need for DBP to replace “beautiful, useful and still relevant” words like belanjawan (budget) with English corruptions like bajet, objektif for tujuan (objective), efektif for berkesan (effective), efisien for cekap (efficient), prejudis for prasangka (prejudice) and perspektif for pandangan (perspective), among others.
“The new terms from English have not really improved the language,” says Tombung. “The situation is similar to Malay in Indonesia which has adopted so many English words that often an entire sentence consists of only English words.”
Tombung has nothing against the incorporation of English words into Malay but not to replace words already in the language and provided it was done professionally. In fact, he points out that it was the ability of the Malay language to borrow terminologies that has kept it as a living language.
“If we speak 10 words of Malay, often seven of them would probably be Sanskrit while the rest may be Tamil, Hindi and Persian, if not Arabic and English, Chinese too,” said Tombung. “The hungry adoption of loan words continue but nowadays from English only and often not for the better.”
Citing Sanskrit as a case in point, Tombung notes that words taken from the language for Malay were adopted and adapted seamlessly unlike the entry of English corruptions. He expects the dumping of the word belanjawan to be followed by the demise of other Sanskrit-origin words like rupawan (good-looking), dermawan (philanthropist) pahlawan (warrior) and menawan (capture) all with the “wan” (in Sanskrit) suffix.
The number of foreign words, old and new, in English has left Tombung perplexed whenever someone screams himself hoarse about the “sovereignty of the Malay language”. If sovereignty means Malay not borrowing words from other languages, he sees that as a “non-starter”. Again, if sovereignty means preventing the language being undermined by other languages, he suggests that the focus be more on Malay not accepting corruptions rather than on restricting, as implied, the use of other languages.
Poor sales
Tombung has also observed that the covers of books produced by DBP have not changed in the last 30 years. Apparently, “they can be spotted a mile away” by the two-dimensional, two-colour designs.
“They have to buck up in graphics and improve their designing ability,” said Tombung.
If DBP officials still believe their designs are great, Tombung wants them to answer this question: “Why are books designed by the private-sector publishers doing so well while the DBP books and magazines are selling so poorly?” The result has been piles of unsold books which have to be disposed of through annual cheap sales offering discounts of 70% or more.
“The layout artists need to move away from the too-compact, British-style, text-jamming that constricts the brain, stifles the eyes and congests the breath when we read DBP books,” says Tombung.
He suggests emulating American book and magazine designs. These “appeal to the imagination, enhances the intellectual juices and make reading a breeze and a joy” and best expressed even in university textbooks and modules.
DBP Sabah declined comment. A spokesman suggested that all queries and complaints be referred to its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. Or to Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin who recently launched the Bulan Bahasa Kebangsaan in Ipoh, Perak.
