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Tag: bahasa melayu

  • Tak Bahasa Melayu Hilang Di Singapura

    Tak Bahasa Melayu Hilang Di Singapura

    Ketika gong dipalu pada acara Bulan Bahasa petang ini di Taman Di Pesisiran (Gardens by The Bay) oleh Perdana Menteri Encik Lee Hsien Loong, genap setengah abad gerakan bersejarah bagi bahasa dan persuratan Melayu di Singapura merdeka.

    Seyogia pada 1965 pernah diadakan Bulan Bahasa Kebangsaan dan pada 1966 pula diadakan Bulan Bahasa dan Kongres Bahasa Kebangsaan.

    Sedang Singapura menyambut jubli emas kemerdekaannya, ternyata cakapcakap yang pernah menyatakan bahasa Melayu akan pudar atau pupus di Singapura ternyata tidak terjadi.

    Malah, sebaliknya pula berlaku.

    Detik-detik pasang surat kegiatan bahasa dan persuratan Melayu terakam pada buku cetak dan buku elektronik yang diketuai penulisan dan penyuntingannya oleh Profesor Madya Dr Hadijah Rahmat. Difahamkan buku ini bakal dilancarkan oleh PM Lee.

    Keprihatinan akan masa depan bahasa ibunda dalam suasana dominan berbahasa Inggeris bukan sekadar masalah orang Melayu sahaja.

    Kalangan masyarakat majoriti Cina juga bimbang akan masa depan bahasa Mandarin dan juga dialek mereka. Begitu kaum rumpun India di Singapura.

    Namun keunikan Singapura, bak dikupas ringkas oleh Pengerusi Majlis Bahasa Melayu, Encik Masagos Zulkifli Masagos Mohamad, pada majlis Persatuan Bawean Singapura baru-baru ini, iaitu prinsip berbilang kaum yang perlu terus menjadi antara teras penakatan Singapura.

    Teras ini disuburkan oleh Dasar Dwibahasa, tekad pemerintah serta pelibatan awam dan sokongan masyarakat berbilang kaum yang harmoni.

    Benar, perangkaan daripada Banci Penduduk 2000 dan 2010 menunjukkan bahawa umumnya bahasa ibunda kurang digunakan di rumah. Akibatnya, anak Melayu perlu menghadiri kelas tambahan atau tuisyen agar dapat berbahasa ibunda dengan baik.

    Di sini terpapar peranan genting ibu bapa atau waris dalam memastikan sekitaran rumah yang mendukung bahasa ibunda. Malah, jika perlu, elakkan berbahasa Inggeris di rumah. Sebabnya, di luar rumah, termasuk sekolah dan tempat kerja, terbuka peluang luas berbahasa Inggeris.

    Ada ‘keistimewaan’ pada bahasa Melayu iaitu sebagai ‘Bahasa Kebangsaan’ yang dimaktubkan dalam Perlembagaan. Ia bukan saja terpapar pada lagu Majulah Singapura sebagai Lagu Kebangsaan dan bahasa perintah perbarisan.

    Kedudukan watan kita di Nusantara telah memberikan hikmah penakatan kepada Perdana Menteri Pengasas Lee Kuan Yew dan barisan pemimpin perintis agar Singapura mengekalkan prinsip bahasa Melayu sebagai Bahasa Kebangsaan. Tercetus semacam tradisi – daripada perdana menteri sehingga kalangan menteri kabinet dan pegawai tinggi pemerintah, terdapat usaha agar dapat bertutur bahasa Melayu.

    Adakah suasana 50 tahun selanjutnya akan berubah?

    Soalan ini dapat dijawab dengan pasti andai langkah serampang tiga mata dilakukan.

    Pertama, usaha yang ada kini dapat disemak dan dipertingkat; kedua, diwujudkan pelan induk bahasa dan persuratan Melayu bagi memupuk golongan pendukung persuratan Melayu; dan ketiga, diperkemas kecekapan dan jalinan Majlis Bahasa Melayu dengan semua pihak yang berkepentingan seperti guru bahasa Melayu sehingga institusi.

    Yang utama adalah tekad masyarakat Melayu sendiri menyatakan dan menjunjung ikrar bahawa ‘tak bahasa Melayu hilang di Singapura’.

     

    Source: http://beritaharian.sg

  • IS Uses Malay-Language In Push For New Recruits In Southeast Asia

    IS Uses Malay-Language In Push For New Recruits In Southeast Asia

    KUALA LUMPUR — The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group is in an “aggressive mode” in reaching out to Malay-speaking communities by making reading materials in the Malay language more accessible online, a move that could have wide-ranging ramifications for countries in South-east Asia.

    The Malaysian authorities say ISIS is spreading its propaganda through more “localised news reports” and “articles” that glorify its fighters, especially those from Malaysia and Indonesia who have travelled to Syria to take up arms with the militant group.

    These “articles” are uploaded on ISIS websites in Malay, which also share information on ISIS activities in the provinces they conquered.

    One of the websites is a portal containing articles taken from the ISIS magazine Dabiq, which are then translated into Bahasa Indonesia and Malay.

    Online recruiters in Malaysia and Indonesia also use forums and blogs to reach out to potential recruits.

    Malaysia’s top counter-terrorism official, Mr Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, said the ISIS recruiters would include articles on martyrdom and life in the organisation.

    “They feed their sympathisers with fairy tales,” said Mr Ayob.

    It is understood that there are currently about six to seven ISIS websites, forums and blogs in Malay.

    Mr Ayob said these websites use servers abroad to avoid detection from the authorities in both countries.

    The ISIS social-media unit has also taken the initiative to include Malay subtitles in its radio programmes broadcast in English and Arabic through ISIS’ official radio station, Bayan, which was made available on YouTube three months ago.

    A check on YouTube, which provides access to recorded ISIS radio programmes, showed that Bayan attracts between 700 and 2,000 visitors.

    International Islamic University Malaysia’s Political Science and Islamic Studies lecturer Ahmad Muhammady said the emergence of ISIS websites in Malay indicates an “offensive approach” taken by the terror group.

    “Before this, they took a ‘defensive approach’, that is to respond to the accusations made against them, and it was done either in Arabic, English or Indonesian. Now, they changed tact,” Mr Ahmad said.

    “To me, it is not surprising. Currently, the term ‘jihad media’ (ilami jihadi) is getting popular among the pro-ISIS chatters. This term is coined … to encourage young people to join the ISIS media team to take an offensive approach against their ‘enemies’.”

    Last month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told a regional security forum in Singapore that South-east Asia is a key recruitment centre for ISIS.

    “ISIS has so many Indonesian and Malaysian fighters that they form them into a unit by themselves — the Katibah Nusantara (Malay Archipelago Combat Unit),” said Mr Lee, who also warned that ISIS could establish a base somewhere in the region and pose a “serious threat to the whole of South-east Asia”.

    His remarks followed the recent arrests of two self-radicalised Singaporean youths, including M Arifil Azim Putra Norja’i, 19, who had planned intensively to attack key facilities and assassinate government leaders if he was unable to leave Singapore for Syria.

    Mr Ahmad said ISIS’ use of Malay-language materials as a recruitment tool was a worrying development for Malaysia. “Currently, there is an increase in interest among youths in rural areas in the east coast, especially among secondary and college students,” he said.

    He said the use of Malay as the medium was all about penetrating deeper into Malaysian society.

    “Those who are not educated in English still rely on the Malay website as a source of reference.”

    The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said so far, no ISIS websites in Malay have been shut down.

    Its monitoring and enforcement division head Zulkarnain Mohd Yasin said MCMC was aware of the emergence of the ISIS sites.

    “So far, we have not blocked any such website, but we did take down a few videos on YouTube,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Kenang Jasa Lee Kuan Yew Pelihara Bahasa Melayu

    Kenang Jasa Lee Kuan Yew Pelihara Bahasa Melayu

    ZAMAN Pendudukan Jepun (1942-1945). Ketika itulah Pendeta Dr Muhd Ariff Ahmad atau Cikgu Ariff mengenali mendiang Encik Lee Kuan Yew sebagai seorang intelek yang bercita-cita besar di sekolah Syonan Nippon Gakuen pada 1943.

    “Guru Jepun bertanya murid-murid tentang cita-cita masing.

    Cikgu Ariff teringat Encik Lee menyatakan cita-citanya menjadi pemimpin dan membebaskan Malaya daripada British.

    Memandangkan diayah Jepun adalah membebaskan Asia daripada penjajah Barat, maka kata-kata Encik Lee itu mendapat sanjungan.

    JURUBAHASA JEPUN

    “Kemudian kami dikerahkan Jepun untuk dilatih menjadi jurubahasa.

    “Encik Lee ditempatkan dalam kelas Sakura. Saya dan Encik Ismail Mohd Said (mantan pegawai tinggi Kementerian Pendidikan dan kemudian Presiden Majlis Agama Islam Singapura) diletakkan dalam kelas ‘Usagi’ (arnab),” kenang Cikgu Ariff, 90 tahun, di rumahnya.

    Tentera Dai Nippon perlu merekrut sebanyak mungkin jurubahasa untuk membaca maklumat dan menghebahkan kepada orang ramai dan membantu pegawai tinggi mereka berkomunikasi dengan rakyat setempat.

    KGMS

    Apabila Kesatuan Guru Melayu Singapura (KGMS) ingin mendapatkan penasihat guaman, nama Encik Lee disebut- sebut. Beliau menerima perlantikan itu.

    Mentelah beliau juga menjadi penasihat guaman banyak kesatuan sekerja dan juga surat akhbar Utusan Melayu.

    Pada 1953, terdapat gagasan daripada Le Provost daripada Pejabat Pendidikan Kolonial British untuk menamat sekolah aliran Melayu. Ia dinamakan Re-Orientation of the Malay Schools (Ubah Haluan Sekolah Melayu).

    “KGMS tidak setuju kerana ini bermakna terpupusnya aliran Melayu. British pula tidak beri jaminan masa depan Bahasa Melayu,” kata Cikgu Ariff yang ketika itu Setiausaha Agung KGMS.

    JKMS

    KGMS yang beribu pejabat di 1 Lorong H Telok Kurau mengundang empat pertubuhan Melayu yang besar ketika itu iaitu Kesatuan Melayu Singapura (Kemas), Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu (Umno), Persatuan Mahasiswa Islam Universiti Malaya (UMMS) dan Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung.

    Beberapa pertubuhan Melayu bersatu menentang rancangan reorientation tadi. Ini membawa kepada tertubuhnya Jawatankuasa Pelajaran Melayu Singapura (JPMS) yang turut menampilkan Encik Sidek Abdul Hamid (kemudian menjadi Menteri Muda Pelajaran) selaku pengerusi jawatankuasa itu.

    Nazir Sekolah-Sekolah bernama Ralph Ellis amat marah dan menyifatkan tindakan guru-guru daripada KGMS sebagai salah dan boleh dibuang kerja.

    Terdahulu Encik Ellis menghantar surat kepada ibu bapa Melayu (Ref 54A in Edun 419/50 bertarikh 9 April 1954) untuk menyatakan suka atau tidak anak mereka yang lahir antara 1946-48 masuk ke sekolah rendah Inggeris.

    “Maka itu, kami menemui Encik Lee di syarikatnya, Lee and Lee,” kata Cikgu Ariff, yang ditemani Yang Dipertua KGMS Abdul Rahman Mohd Said, Ahmad Shaharom, Mohd Yusof Lana, Suradi Parjo dan Salim Sulaiman.

    Dalam urusan setengah jam di pejabatnya, Encik Lee membaca surat KGMS yang akan dihantar kepada Encik Ellis.

    MAAF BERUNDUR

    “Encik Lee tanya siapa terjemahkan surat itu. Saya jawab Abdullah Majid daripada UMMS. Beliau geleng kepala dan berkerut dan bertanya: ‘Kenapa tak minta Abdul Samad Ismail daripada Utusan Melayu?

    “Pertanyaan Encik Lee tidak kami jawab. Kami adukan ugutan Raplh Ellis.

    “Encik Lee kata sebagai kesatuan, KGMS berhak membuat bantahan. Tetapi sebagai kakitangan awam, memang hal ini tidak dibenarkan,” cerita Cikgu Ariff.

    Namun Encik Lee membuat catatan dan berbincang dengan isterinya, yang juga rakan syarikat guamannya dan kemudian beliau mengiringi mereka ke pintu untuk berpisah, tambah Cikgu Ariff.

    Pada 2 Ogos 1954, JPMS telah mengadakan rapat umum dengan 54 pertubuhan Melayu/Islan yang turut dihadiri oleh ibu bapa murid sekolah. JPMS menuntut rancangan Le Provost dimansuhkan.

    Ketika itu juga ditubuhkan Majlis Pelajaran Melayu pimpinan Cikgu Harun Mohd Amin, sasterawan terkenal, yang menggantikan Encik Sidek, yang menang pilihan raya dan menjadi menteri muda pelajaran.

    “Namun saya tak tahu apa jadi pada surat Encik Lee kepada Pejabat Pelajaran dan apa pula jawapannya,” ujar Cikgu Ariff.

    Encik Lee menang pilihan raya Tanjong Pagar pada 1955 tetapi masih menjadi peguam KGMS.

    “Ketika Encik Lee menjadi perdana menteri dan mengetuai pemerintahan sendiri Singapura, antara langkah pertama yang diumumkannya ialah bahasa Melayu merupakan Bahasa Kebangsaan Singapura. Hal ini menyejukkan hati ramai pejuang bahasa Melayu, terutama Majlis Pelajaran Melayu,” tambah Cikgu Ariff.

    Encik kemudian Lee menulis surat kepada KGMS dengan meminta maaf kerana tidak dapat bertindak sebagai penasihat guaman.

    Beliau menyarankan Encik David Marshall, seorang peguam terkenal dan pernah menjadi Ketua Menteri Pertama Singapura. Encik Marshall bersetuju.

    SINDIRAN NOVEL

    Novelet Sarah Pengarang Kecil karangan Cikgu Ariff pernah digunakan sebagai buku teks di sekolah rendah dan Lembaga Gerakan Pelajaran Dewasa, khususnya untuk mengajar bahasa Melayu kepada bukan Melayu.

    Ketika itu, Singapura sedang bersiap menyertai Persekutuan Malaysia. Rakyat diperlukan belajar bahasa Melayu.

    Kakitangan awam bukan Melayu yang lulus bahasa Melayu diberikan bonus atau dinaikkan pangkat.

    “Ketika Encik Lee menjadi perdana menteri dan mengetuai pemerintahan sendiri Singapura, antara langkah pertama yang diumumkannya ialah bahasa Melayu merupakan Bahasa Kebangsaan Singapura. Hal ini menyejukkan hati ramai pejuang bahasa Melayu, terutama Majlis Pelajaran Melayu.”

    – Pendeta Dr Muhd Ariff Ahmad

     

    Source: http://beritaharian.sg

  • Offer Malay As An Elective To Expand Its Use Among Non-Native Speakers

    Offer Malay As An Elective To Expand Its Use Among Non-Native Speakers

    I AGREE with Ms Jong Ching Yee (“Teach all students to speak Malay”; last Monday) that learning Malay is useful in a multiracial society like Singapore.

    As it is, Singaporeans already exhibit some understanding of the language, given that the island’s indigenous inhabitants were of Malay origin, the Republic shares ties with Malaysia, and our National Anthem is in Bahasa Melayu.

    However, it is futile to make students learn the native language to better appreciate our history, if they are not interested in or aware of our history, just as how learning English does not necessarily lead one to learn more about the British.

    The more crucial strategy here is to make our students more interested in local history and culture.

    Given the perception that students already find their mother tongue languages hard to master, having them learn Malay too would add to their academic load.

    Nonetheless, offering Malay as a supplementary elective in schools is achievable.

    It should be pitched accordingly at a conversational level, rather than match the rigours of the Third Language modules at the Ministry of Education Language Centre.

    Such a course should do away with final tests or grades, lest the fun of learning a new language is snuffed out.

    This will also reduce the academic burden on students.

    Such a module may also include field trips to Malay heritage sites.

    Paul Sim Ruiqi

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

     

  • Encouraging Use Of The Malay Language: More Exhibitions and Talks To Be Organised

    Encouraging Use Of The Malay Language: More Exhibitions and Talks To Be Organised

    More exhibitions, performances and book talks will be held to revitalise the Malay language.

    This was detailed by the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong in parliament today.

    “The NHB (National Heritage Board) will support the plans by the Malay Language Council to organise Bulan Bahasa on a larger scale,” he said.

    These plans include “exhibitions … showcasing the contributions of our literary pioneers and community leaders”, “book talks and Malay language performances targeted at students of all ages, from pre-school to tertiary”.

    According to the National Institute of Education, Bulan Bahasa aims to “encourage the use of Malay Language in everyday activities.”

    Mr Wong said this in a response to a question by Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC Member of Parliament Zainudin Nordin who asked about the relevance of Bulan Bahasa and “whether the teaching and learning of the Malay language will be further improved to inspire our younger generation to use it more”.

    Mr Wong also said that “group discussions, debates, role-plays, and the use of technology” have been used to make lessons “more fun and engaging”, after the Mother Tongue Language Review Committee made recommendations to do so in 2010.

    “Schools also organise Mother Tongue Fortnights annually in collaboration with community organisations and stakeholders, during which cultural activities are showcased to stimulate students’ interest in their mother tongue and help them to see how the language can come alive.

    “Some schools go the extra mile to expose their non-Malay students to the Malay language and culture.

    He said that, “A good example is Edgefield Secondary School where all its students learn conversational mother tongue languages, including Malay, as well as about the respective cultures, in Secondary 1.”

    Mr Wong also said pre-schools can tap on the Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism (LKYFB), which was set up to promote bilingualism among pre-school children.

     

    Source: www.therealsingapore.com