Bahasa Rojak is OK-lah
By KEITH LEONG
Adoi…macam mana-lah this kerajaan? Wanna crack down on the use of Bahasa Rojak - how-lah like that? I tell you-ah, Malaysia’s powers-that-be seem to be obsessed with social engineering-one. The government-ah, they want to control the way people dress, the way people live and now the way they talk. Everything-lah!
The funny this is, the rakyat still shiok sendiri. Tak kira apa pun kerajaan buat, they still live in their own way. Mungkin ia not the best of ways-lah, but it is still dia orang punya cara. Aku pun hairan. Why the government still not very frust one? They have so many kempen but they tak dapat ubah sikap orang biasa. I think it’s because actually-ah, ada kemungkinan the rakyat is more clever than the kerajaan in a lot of things.
Wei brader, people have a right to live and speak the way they want to. Aku fikir, it is not the function of the state to interfere in such petty matters. I mean, okay-lah, kita orang ada national goals and the need for social development, but there is a limit to how much the government can involve themselves in people’s lives. Encouraging itu punya, apa nama, gender equality, racial harmony, that is all OK. Tapi when you try to run peoples lives that is terlebih-lebih-lah.
But back to the topic-lah. I think when it comes to this issue of Bahasa Rojak the government is blur-sikit. Firstly-ah, they seem to be a bit confused about what they call “Bahasa Rojak� or “Bahasa Pasar.� They seem to think that we rakyat mix and campur all the language because we are duped by jahat asing punya power, or because we want to stop their “usaha membina perpaduan dan keperibadian nasional.�
But it’s not like that-lah! The sounds we hear when Ali, Ah Chong or Annand open their mulut from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu is multilingualism, not Bahasa Rojak. It is a perayaan of our rakyat berbilang kaum dan agama.
This campur-aduk happens not because people are stupid but because they have adapted. It’s not because they cannot speak properly but because they can speak in so many ways. Multilingual, man, multilingual. Compromise-lah. When people come together and have to live and speak together, they kena finda way to talk to each other mah! So that’s how it came about, with us trying to faham each other-lah. Oi, sedar-lah, in the first place the fact is that a bahasa is made in the pasar-pasar and not in some Dewan or Kementerian.
Also, when you think about it-ah, all languages are Bahasa Pasar. English, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, even Bahasa Melayu. All bahasa in this dunia are linked to each other. All of them borrow words from each other one. That’s how a bahasa grows, progresses. Language-ah, is not set in batu. It grows. It develops. If it doesn’t, it stagnates and then mati.
This is not to say that we shouldn’t speak and write properly-lah. Actually-ah, every time I hear or baca some bad English or Malay my hati very sakit one. But if we can use language properly for the important things, like giving speeches or filling forms or writing essays for uni, then it’s ok-lah. The government shouldn’t risau about small things like what they name diaorang punya promos or what some TV announcer says on air. Anyway-lah, if there is a problem with how we Malaysians use language, it is because of the administration’s educational and cultural policies.
It all boils down to what I cakap lebih awal dulu. Should the government have so much power to campur tangan in our lives, down to our language? Speaking, writing and talking properly is one thing. Being ordered around by faceless bureaucrats is something else. Percaya-lah. Tepuk dada dan tanya selera. So please-lah, YAB and YB, worry about something lebih serious and then go main jauh-jauh from us all.
—
KEITH LEONG is a contributing writer for theCICAK.
He was born in Melaka, grew up in Damansara Jaya and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He enjoys baroque music, grand epic movies and long walks. He still lives and works in Damansara Jaya.
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Haha…
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I loved that!
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spot on!
all languages are bastardized, that’s what EVERY language purist is missing.
there is a time for bahasa proper,
and a time for bahasa pasar.
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i think ure right,andrew! there is a time for bahasa proper and bahasa pasar.
since we all live in a multi-races country, apparently there are tons of language we hear everyday,everywhere we go.subconciously, we adapt and pick up bits of other languages into ours.
thats how bahasa rojak has created.
we listen to mix of lingos and we absorb them into our missing links.
eventhough bahasa rojak is not right and proper,malaysians seem to get used to it and they can grasp what one’s trying to say much better.
maybe there’s other way,besides endless campaigns, to encourage (or force,to be exact) malaysians to use the bahasa proper. so,go figure!
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I’m confused. It iss too rojak for my brain to process any futher after half of your script. I’m sorry.
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wow awesome article. Great touch and perspective and i very much agree to it. But i think sometimes there has to be a party that balances back the use of bahasa pasar. Newton’s laws in simple layman’s say every action got reaction. thus i think thats why the government is doing what they are doing. But than again article is spot on and thumbs up for it
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…
ok, i’m lost…
what are you talking about?
My brain dah cair daa…
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[…] -aduk happens not because people are stupid but because they have adapted i like this artikel.. .. http://www.thecicak.com/?p=100 read lah.. This entry was posted on Monday, June 26th, 2006 at 7:34 am and […]
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THATS ORAITLA…GUE MORE SETUJU U PUNYA SAY.
I PUN DONT KNOW ABOUT MASYARAKAT MALAYSIA NOW
PIGI JALANLAH THE BAHASA2 YANG DISONGSANGKAN TU.DONT PLAY2 WITH BAHASA MELAYU
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Alaa.. buat tak tau je dengan these ministers. They all have political motives. They talk against bahasa pasar but a lot of them use it when being interviewed.
These old people couldn’t see the reality of today’s world.
In any day, try listen to Samy Vellu’s rantings. It’s really amusing. He he.
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I LOVE YOU KEITH LEONG!
Haha, I rasa you did a good job lah. Masa I baca ada satu article ni in the suratkhabar yang nak ban Bahasa Rojak, I pon angry lah. Suka hati kita la how kita nak speak, kan? I setuju dgn you and I rasa you should hantar this article kepada itu PM biar dia baca, for our own good
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Actually i like this one very2 much. Is it ok to link this to my blog? O_o hehe.
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Feel free to link any articles you’d like on your blog! In fact, we highly encourage it =) -Krystle C.
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hahaha!
i tought of d same things!
sumtimes we speak ‘bahasa rojak’ and other time we speak proper k!
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well, firstly, i would like to say that half of what you have commented is good. but then the government themselves have noticed changes through out the times where students who have adapted the “rojak” language and could not write nor speak properly when it comes to essay writing and formal speeches. maybe you have come upon people who can speak and write properly, but in the education sector, it’s made noticed that most of the students nowadays could not even write nor speak properly.
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i agree with u mr. apa pun bahasa yang kita gunakan yang penting kita tahu dan paling penting orang faham..but,kita juga perlu belajar sesuatu bahasa itu dengan betul dan penggunaannya bersesuaian dgn siapa kita bercakap dan di mana kita menggunakannya.for example,di sesuatu majlis rasmi.takkanlah kita menggunakan bahasa yang tidak sesuai.right?walauapapun,bahasa kita jangan dilupakan.kita harus bangga dengan bahasa kita sendiri seperti orang jepun.banyak generasi muda sekarang tidak tahu berkomunikasi dengan bahasa sendiri.saya sendiri juga menggunakan bahasa rojak!.kita juga perlu menghormati orang lain..like our goverment.apa yang penting kita lihat dahulu apa yang kita ada dan jangan cuba hanya menyalahkan orang lain.yang penting kita tunjukkan usaha kita dan akhirnya orang tahu yang kita bukan
hanya tahu bercakap tapi tahu melakukannya.thank you for your attention!
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