CUKOP BULAN TERIMA GAJI......

The Three Layered Cocoon

Some 'makan kontrak' fellow in the Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka has disagreed with Tun Dr Mahathir's views on the PPSMI.

Tun Dr Mahathir is correct. Without the PPSMI the Malays are quite doomed. The Dewan Bahasa guy said that if we implement the PPSMI then the Malay culture will be lost, diminished, negatively impacted etc etc. 

First of all the Dewan Bahasa is not qualified to speak about Maths and Science. And if you read the Kamus Dewan there are so many English words that have been incorporated into the Kamus Dewan.  So we dont know if the Dewan Bahasa is even qualified to speak about the Malay language. 

Teknoloji, insentif, motivasi, biologi and entah apa-apa lagi English words have been put inside the Kamus Dewan. And now the Dewan Bahasa guys are saying that PPSMI will make the Malays lose their culture. They must be joking. 

Latest I heard even the English word 'original' pun sudah masuk dalam kamus. But it has been mangled down to just 'ori'.  Contohnya 'Otak saya bukan ori' which means "my brains are not original".

Here is a question for the Dewan Bahasa - kalau kita ambil perkataan Inggeris dan masukkannya dalam kamus kita apakah itu dianggap sebagai memperjuangkan atau mengkhianati bahasa? Soalan "keraguan" sahaja.

How can PPSMI make the Malays lose their own culture? The Malays were colonised by the Mat Salleh for almost 450 years from 1511 until 1957. By the Portugese, Dutch and English. Did the Malays lose their identity or culture? Tak nampak pun orang Melayu jadi orang putih. 

Before that the Malays were colonised by the Indians and Hindus (the Cholas, Kalingas, Vijayas, Majapahits etc). Did the Malays lose their culture?

Evidence suggests that it was the other way around. Other people incorporated themselves into the Malay culture. Sekarang Kerala jadi Melayu. Malabar, Mamak, Keling (no disrespect, if anyone takes offense then go and jump in the river) Benggali, Jawa, Siam, Banjar, Arab semua jadi Melayu. Ridhuan Tee pun jadi Melayu. Parameswaran bukan saja jadi Melayu tapi jadi 'sultan' sekali. Nyonya & Baba China jadi Melayu, Chitty Melaka pun jadi Melayu. Semua jadi Melayu.

So the evidence suggests that through centuries of colonisation, occupation and / or influence by various cultures, the Malays have weathered it all. So I am afraid once again the Dewan Bahasa does not know what they are talking about. Except 'kontrak dan projek'. Bab itu depa faham.

The major disaster that is befalling the Malay culture now is that "Melayu nak jadi Arab". Pasal apa Dewan Bahasa diam tak mahu komen pasal Melayu nak jadi Arab? Everything from baju ninja, roti Arab, musik Arab, nasyid Arab is replacing Malay culture. 

Wanita Melayu tak boleh pakai baju kebaya dah. Tapi boleh pakai baju jahitan "Omar the Tent Maker".

 

            Chinese women dressed in baju kebaya.

Now look at this picture : 
( what is the purpose of having this photo taken anyway ?? )

Extreme left is err...err..extreme right is err..err..

number three from left is err..err. Ini semua siapa punya budaya? 

Despite this being the 21st century the Malays are falling behind again and again. Not only are the Malaysia in Malaysia falling behind the Chinese and Indians but the Malays are also falling behind the Banglas, Nepalis, Thais, Filipinos etc. This is because the Malays now have so many cocoons wrapped around them. 

1. The first cocoon is caused by the fact that most gomen schools in Malaysia are populated almost entirely by Malay students. Now also by almost exclusively Malay teachers and Malay headmasters. Our gomen education system from tadika to university level is a completely Malay neighbourhood. There is very little room to mix and meet with other people and other races.  

Is this a plus or a minus? In Japan there is only one race. So too in China, Korea etc. Yet they are super advanced.

But here we also have the Chinese, Indians etc. The Chinese, Indians are ahead. The Malays are still playing catch up. So is it a good idea to create "racial cocoons" where Malays DO NOT get a chance to meet and interact with exactly the same races with whom they have to catch up? I dont think so. To speed up the process it is better to create an environment where Malays can break out of the cocoons and mix and mingle more with other races and other cultures. 

Common sense dictates that when your own culture and background is holding you down vis a vis another culture and then you insist on building these cultural and racial cocoons around you, you are NOT going to be able to pull yourself up as quickly. Boleh tapi lambat. Let me rephrase that ok - boleh tapi laaaaaaaaaaambbbaaaaaaaat

Because while we are trying to pull ourselves up, the other races have not stopped racing ahead. To keep up we have to mingle and mix. Its simple common sense. O'wise why have 'lawatan sambil belajar' to China, Zimbabwe and entah mana lagi? Tak payah lah pergi ke Beijing pun. Duduk dalam cocoon sajalah. Why send our best and brightest to study in England or America? Duduk bawah tempurung saja lah.

2. The second cocoon is the exclusive use of the Malay language only in education. This one is a gone case situation.  Malay is NOT yet a language of knowledge. Which is why Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka has to ciplak words like teknoloji, saikoloji, ekonomi, politik, inflasi, sosial and a thousand other English words and put it into the Kamus Dewan. Sebab there are not enough single words in the Malay language to capture these complex modern ideas. Kita masih kena pinjam perkataan bahasa lain.

The problem is these borrowed words do not have "cognition" in the everyday usage of the Malay language. Not only are these words "borrow" words but the complex ideas they carry do not yet exist in the worldview of the Malay language. Inflasi is not just 'harga barang naik". 'Harga barang naik" is 'prices going up'. But inflation (inflasi) has other connotations attached to it. 

You cannot just walk to your makcik or pakcik in the kampong and start using words like inflasi, persepsi etc. They will not be able to understand it.

Yes we can still use borrowed English words like inflasi, akademik, sosial, artis etc and eventually become masyarakat moden, saintifik dan berteknoloji but it is going to take a longer time. A loooooong time.  Tapi jangan lupa, other races and other societies are moving ahead at light speed. So sambil kita masih nak merangkak orang lain dah teroka ke planet Marikh dah.

There are exceptions though. All the sekolah asrama penuh (MCKK, MRSM, etc) still use English. Although they are still populated by 100% Malays, they use the English language quite extensively. So their worldview changes - for the better. That is why they are still called the best and the brightest. Because the MCKKs, MRSMs, Koleh Sultan Abdul Hamid etc stress on the English language. Until today their graduates go out to rule the country.

3. The third cocoon is the religious cocoon. The exclusive Malay only racial cocoon plus an exclusive Malay language cocoon - is already causing serious handicaps. Going at this pace the Malays are never going to catch up with anyone. Even the Banglas, the Filipinos and the Indons are going to bypass the Malays. 

The final cocoon (the nail in the coffin) is the religion. The Malay education system is already 'asphyxiating' under the mono-racial and mono-lingual cocoon. Any chance of some fresh oxygen seeping through any holes or cracks in the first two cocoons has been sealed off now by the third cocoon - religion and religion based prejudice that have been applied like a thick layer of woodfiller to completely fill up any breathing holes. 

The previous blog post "Check peha isteri - ramai wanita tak sedar dirogol jin" is a typical example of the LOT (low order thinking) that has seeped into Malay religious thinking.  

This is my view folks - the racial cocoon, the language cocoon and the religious cocoon is sinking the Malays again.  Can we unwind these cocoons? Or have they now set in concrete? 

Boleh. What man can do, man can also undo. But we have to be smart. And we have to be quick. O'wise kita jadi hamba kepada orang lain.

- OutSyed The Box