EDUCATED at a school known for a long time as the “Eton of the East”, located in Kuala Kangsar, Perak, where oral and spoken English were widely encouraged among the students, it was usual to hear the English spoken by one from Kelantan differ from those coming from Perak, Penang or Johor.
I recalled how strange it sounded when the title of a popular film then, Tarzan the Ape Man was pronounced by colleagues from the different states. From Perak, it sounded like Tarzan di ape man (emphasis on “the” pronounced as “di” and “e” in ape and “a” in “man”); from Johor, you could hear Tarzan the ape-man (emphasis on the “ape-man”, hyphenated); and from Penang, Tar-zan the up-man (emphasis on “Tar-zan”, hyphenated and “up-man”, change in the pronunciation of “ape man” and also hyphenated).
If my experience in learning the Queen’s English had been traumatic, the time taken for me to master the new Bahasa Malaysia in the 1960s was just as exhausting.
In school, I grew up in the culture of Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa. In the ensuing years, I came to realise that it was equally “frustrating” to catch up with the new Malay and it was just as funny when I was trying to perfect my English. I thought I was neither here nor there with my English or my Malay.
In the beginning, it was not easy to understand why the new Malay or Bahasa Malaysia had to replace some of my favourite words that combine both English and their Malay equivalents very well.
I was happy with baju kot, pintu-gate, duit shilling, mata-mata, jalan-jalan, makan-makan and makan-angin. Or what was wrong with my ubat gigi Colgate, sabun mandi Lux and shampoo rambut Sunsilk?
Then there is the use of the Penang lingo, the combination of the easy-going style particular to the state, such as biasa-lah (all the same), biyak-pi (never mind) and lega (it’s okay).
The Kelantan telo has this, tak emboh (I don’t agree). The Negri Sembilan pekat has, apo-kono eh jang? (What is the matter with you?)
From Sabah comes the emphatic bah at the end of a remark or a sentence. One stands not to know whether it is a question or something else to come. These are all references to the Malay that is spoken in the different states of the country.
In its efforts to ensure the widest possible adoption of the standard Bahasa Malaysia in the country, it is therefore, the responsibility of the authorities to ensure that such a standard exists.
For a short time something called bahasa baku was also in use. It refers to a move to have the “standard Malay” to conform with the Bahasa Malaysia for official purposes, mainly used in government and other administrative communications.
Imagine the confusion this caused to the public. The spelling on official road names, for instance, was not consistent with “standard Malay”.
The name of a well-known area in the city, Kampung Baru, is also spelt as Baharu or Bharu. Similarly for words having a “u” as in teluk, there is one also with an “o” — telok.
Other examples include Johore state being spelt without an “e” at the end.
Of a more confounding nature is the practice of dropping the “h” in certain words like China becoming cina and chahaya (light) referred now as cahaya. It is also difficult what is meant by water (ayer) being spoken as air similar to the English “air”.
References to words carrying “sh” in their spelling must be spelt out with “sy” as in sharikat (business company) now being called syarikat et al.
Some of the newer words introduced into the vocabulary like kompromi, respons and sesawang have not met the standards as defined by the authorities. Generally, this review has not included so-called Bahasa Malaysia words used in industry and commerce, such as in advertising and sports that sound really “transitory”.
Finally, to make matters worse, it is not clear what the rationale is when we sanction the use of Arabic words that have a religious connotation in our daily Malay conversation or communication. This is indeed a new phenomenon symptomatic of the times perhaps.
It is a known fact that Bahasa Malaysia has benefited from globalisation. But if so, we have a need to maintain some consistency and limit the discretionary powers of officials and institutions concerned.
The writer, a former diplomat and associate professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia, is now a lecturer in international law and organisation, Universiti Teknologi Mara