The Grand Saga of Bandar Mahkota Cheras

Reading the Bandar Mahkota Cheras "Barricade" Fracas articles and viewing accompanying pictures of physically-assaulted citizens make me feel compelled to mention something about it.

Seeing headlines like BMC fracas: Police beat up youth ( Malaysiakini ) makes me feel really bad. There is another more shocking news in Night of violence at the Cheras barricade . Accordingly, there is a group of 15 unidentified men (meaning, not the police) who assaulted demonstrators. Now, when we thought that is the end of all these, Grand Saga, the company behind the construction of the multiple times reconstructed barricade, announced that it is not behind the violence propagated by the 15 men, in fact condeming the attacks. I am definitely shocked by this announcement as well. If Grand Saga, the constructor of the barricade is not behind the violence, then there is one important question going through my mind : Who are these 15 men working for or rather what is their personal motive , that they feel the need to assault demonstrators against the barricade construction? Hahahaha... well, it is not really that hard to answer, isn't it? Goodness gracious.

Other than that, the second thing which causes a great dismay to me is the lack of understanding on which government is supposed to shoulder the responsibility of this issue. Federal (Barisan majority) or State (Pakatan majority) ? Otherwise is that a combination of both? Is this within the jurisdiction of the Works Minister (from BN)? I believe that is no longer Samy Vellu. It is all vague to me.

From what I am able to decipher, it is a legal matter between companies but can any responsible persons from the above do something fruitful to help ease the matter as soon as possible. 2006 to 2008 is 2 years. Wondering how many more years would that take.

Perhaps due to these uncertain conditions, desperate people of Cheras took one step further in dismantling the barricade. Imagine, in this time of rising fuel costs, these people having to travel additional kilometers (I have heard it is a 6) instead of 1 km without the blockade.

Article published in http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/8191/84/

Evaluation on the Resignation of Member Number 1

Mahathir follows tradition of ex-PMs . First, it was Dato' Onn Jaafar whose ideology was ahead of his time, Tunku Abdul Rahman after the infamous May 13 1969 tragedy and Tun Hussein Onn with the exception of Tun Abdul Razak who never had the chance because of his early death.

No one really see this coming but these days many things become unpredictable like the weather after the Malaysian 12th General Election. Would it be appropriate to say that the weather is more predictable?

UMNO Baru member number 1 and number 2 (his wife) are leaving the party that he founded while encouraging his supporters or those who think the current leadership is weak to do the same. The announcement was made during Wesak Day, a national holiday.

In order to start things off, it should be mentioned that Barisan Nasional had its best showing in Malaysian history during the tenure of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in the year 2004. In 2008, UMNO and BN suffered their historical worst showing, with Pak Lah helming the leadership.

Allegedly, certain quarters speculate that the resignation was due to an implication in the Lingam tape scandal. This allegation comes without proper substantiation and could be easily dismissed. Quite the contrary, judging on what is being written by the man himself, whose self-penned blogger nickname "Che Det", in his blog post Pengumuman Keluar dari UMNO. Accordingly, it is an issue of no-confidence on the leadership of Pak Lah, who was chosen by, ironically, none other than Tun Dr. M himself.

Instead of focusing on the messenger, it would be best to place the concentration on the message delivered and related possibilities:

1) Will UMNO suffer a "split" similar to a crisis 2 decades ago ? Remember the 1988 Tengku Razaleigh and Semangat 46 ....

2) If there is a "split", will Malaysia get a new government? Anwar Ibrahim, the de facto leader of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) had previously mentioned of potential party hoppers from BN components into PR before Tun Dr. M's resignation. Will the "split" speed up and consummate this eventuality?

3) Will Mukhriz, the parliamentarian of Jerlun (for a brief 2 months plus), the son of Tun Dr. M follow his father's footsteps if the son share the same sentiments? If Mukhriz refuses to emulate, will this affect Tun Dr. M's "influence" credibility vice versa in opting for such step?

4) Judging by the current situation, a big number of people deserting the UMNO ship would create a more obvious possibility for changing the government. There could be members who are afraid of this situation, causing them to stay instead of resigning due to many reasons or particularly vested interests. Even if the number of resignation is not big, there could still be people leaving in a slower pace. Of course, there are also the Sabahans and their political will. What would one do when one is desperate? Will there be an EGM? Could this be a carefully-planned political move from many angles to drum up support for Tengku Razaleigh within UMNO?

5) Malaysiakini posted an article titled Shahrir: Prepare for another general election . A large number of Malaysians voted Opposition (Pakatan Rakyat components) with the mindset of giving a chance for these parties to administer the nation. Although that, it should not be forgotten that there is also a substantial number of people who voted Opposition because they dislike the current leadership of BN in priority. Now, bundle all this with the possibility of UMNO members following Tun in abandonning ship. If there really is another general election, will these members form a "New Party"? Would a large number of votes swing to this "New Party"?

Or, perhaps, the least likeliest of all ....

6) All in all, could it be that the response is minimal that nothing drastic would actually happen?

If point number 6 does not happen, point number 2, 4 or 5 could happen. It is not hard to guess who will be the most disadvantaged in a chess game of checkmates and conquests. That person is definitely not Tun Dr. M.

All of the points above are fictional and inconclusive. My imagination runs wild. However, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. There are times, the most likeliest thing that we expect to happen would not happen vice versa.

Since Malaysian politics after PRU12 is more unpredictable than the weather, everyone can consider lying back, relax and enjoy "Drama Minggu Ini" provided the economy, security and livelihood are still good.

This article is published in Malaysia Today - http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/7719/84/

Chinese Olympics, Earthquake and the Luck Superstition

[by Sagaladoola] P.S. Please read everything before commenting

There are persistent mails and blog entries circulating around the internet and discussions on radio and coffee shops in Malaysia mentioning the Great Sichuan Earthquake in China and a certain significance of a Number. The casualties are plenty, a potential number of 50,000 people may be achieved. It is China's biggest earthquake to date , 30 years after the Tangshan disaster which numbered a massive total of about 275,000 deaths reported. As a human being, I feel sorry to hear all that happening in a nation which is about to revel in the Olympics in August this year. As usual, natural catastrophes are almost hard to predict or prevented. Let's see what is being speculated by others (not me, Sagaladoola) at the moment :

"As everyone knows, Olympic games will be held at 08:08 (time) on 08/08/2008 (date) in China. However, digit 8 is considered as very unlucky in China this year. On 25 Jan (2+5+1=8), a snow disaster which is rarely seen in more than 50 years hit Hunan province. On 14 Mar (1+4+3=8), serious violent attacks occured in Tibet / Xizang. On 12 May (1+2+5=8), a 7.6-7.8 magnitude earthquake occured in Sichuan province. In addition to that, the date the earthquake struck is 88 days before the Olympics starts. Is it a mere coincidence? What will actually happen next? There are 2 more dates before the Olympics that should be observed .....

11 Jun (1+1+6=8) ? 10 July (1+0+7)?"
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It is common with the Chinese (world over, Malaysia, Singapore etc. not only Mainland) to make up fallacies and superstitions. I think the mindset has to change. A bigger picture must be viewed before coming to a decision or conclusion. I feel the need to address this issue. Let's break down the points above into several arguments.

Argument 1
From a geological perspective , earthquake is related to seismic activities, Almost every year after 1993, thousands of people die in individual nations affected by earthquake. It is the condition of the plate movement that caused this and not luck. Nations from different continents - North America, South America, European nations like Athens, Turkey , Middle East nations, Pakistan, South Asia like India, South East Asia like Indonesia, Pacific Islands and African nations are affected since 1993. The casualties after year 1993 for individual nations are often few thousands. Pacific Island suffered the least deaths because of their small population.

Since 2004, the Sumatran-Andaman earthquake-tsunami, the plate of Asia that causes Earthquake has been getting very active. In 2007 alone, out-of-the normal 9 occurences was registered of which all is in the Asia-Pacific. In 2008, to date, there is already 6 occurences, all in Asia-Pacific. In history, it is already considered not ordinary.

If the seismic activities can be calculated and predicted using science, prevention can be done. The current technology is not sufficient to do that 100% efficiently but an earthquake-prone nation like Japan periodically improve this. Furthermore, Japan uses good architectural means on their building. If the buildings are not that easy to collapse, survival rate becomes higher. Every year, Japan trains their people (children included) through major earthquake drills.

In my opinion, to equate the earthquake event as a result of luck in the context of superstition or God will not improve the situation. It is a coincidence.

Argument 2
Besides that, nothing happened on 7/1, 6/2, 5/3, 4/4, 3/5, 13/4 , 15/2, 16/1, 22/4, 23/3, 24/2. Comparatively only 3 dates were mentioned: 25/1, 12/5 and 14/3 ...

The dates above can be broken up into single digits and added to derive 8.

Counting the number of dates above, no bad incidents happened on 11 out of 14 date. Only 3 out of 14 dates disaster struck. Even if disaster really struck China on 11/6 and 10/7, that would make the equation 11 out of 16 greater than 5 out of 16

So, there is no such thing called Black (Unlucky) 8. Even, if the 11 is greater than 3 (or 5) logic is taken into consideration, it would not be a wise thing to equate China as being lucky. I would prefer to conclude this as people being pessimistic and absurd.

Argument 3
Premises must be logically consistent to substantiate arguments. Going by the logic of calculation on deriving the number 8 from dates, Olympics is 08/08. So 8 + 8 = 16 and the derived number is no longer 8. Even if there is a Black 8 (which has been disproved), it shall not affect the Olympics.

Conclusion
There is no such thing named Black (Unlucky) 8. There is no such thing called Lucky 8 either. It is not for me to speculate the reason China actually chose 08:08 08/08/08 for their Olympics as a matter of the "Auspicious" constraint connotated with the number which rhymes with the word "Rich" in Mandarin and almost all Chinese dialects (amazingly).

The human mind is sometimes strange to the point of absurd. I have read of certain religions treating the number 13 as unlucky due to the reason that the Most Important Person was betrayed by the 13th person in a supper. On the contrary, there are other cultures who viewed the number 14 as bad because it rhymes with the phrase "Death Assured" while number 13 as good, "Alive Assured". That is why some buildings have Level 13 and 13A but no 14. There are buildings with Level 14 but 13 seems to have disappeared.

Some people treats number 8 as unpleasant because it rhymes with "hungry". When and where will this actually end? I am looking forward to a day to see a building properly numbered from 1 to 14 and beyond without any numbers missing in between.

By the way, one does not get rich or hungry with the usage of 8 in car numbers. Neither does one die with being born on the 14th. Everything depends on effort and opportunity. The human mind seems to be not able to appease and assure themselves to be independent. The human has to do something silly or accept something absurd so that they can feel secure. This goes out to everyone in this world (not on any particular race or religion).

I end this entry by saying to all people concerned to do better things in helping Myanmar and China to deal with these calamities. Bear in mind that Luck may not help but human intervention definitely will improve matters. Let's give a helping hand instead.

This article is also published in http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/7612/84/

The End of 2nd Month After PRU12

[by Sagaladoola]

Previously, I had blogged about the New (or Old) Administration precisely at the end of the 1st month since its inception. Titled PRU12 Is Not Over Yet ?, it was published in Malaysiakini , Malaysia Today and comment section of Asia Sentinel. Since then, the parliament had presided and I thought finally after 50 years, there will be reform in the way things are being done.

Raja Petra and Arrest
On the 8th of May 2008, precisely the end of the 2nd month, I was greeted by news of Raja Petra (or RPK of Malaysia Today) going on a hunger strike in Sungai Buloh prison for a charge, which later proved to be of another case. Earlier, RPK's home was raided. As a reader since its year of inception, I was shocked. Instantly, the news on RPK spread like wildfire and it has become international. Try these links, to name a few :

CNN : Malaysian blogger faces jail for sedition
Inquirer UK : Malaysian coppers swoop on blogger
AKI - Adnkronos international - Malaysia: Blogger charged with sedition
Agency France-Presse : Malaysian police raid blogger over murder article
Straits Times Singapore : Blogger Raja Petra charged with sedition
UB Post - Mongolia

Two candlelight vigils were held to call for his release. The first, was in front of Penjara Sungai Buloh and the second was on Dataran Merdeka. These reminded me of the Nat Tan incident in July 2007 . I was there to make a voluntary coverage of a similar candlelight vigil in front of the Dang Wangi police station. I could remember that Malaysian bloggers, presumably voters in PRU12 were greatly displeasured. Many NGOs condemned the incident. Nat Tan's case was of a different nature. Surprisingly, the police is quick in dealing with the report on RPK.

It makes me wonder if (not necessarily real) there is someone who waved around with a sword or gun and call for the blood of a certain category or race, the police response would be similar. Of course, neither Nat nor RPK had done something like that.

Bear in mind that RPK is supported and praised by many netizens for his fair stand on national unity regardless of race and religion. As a sympathetic Malaysian, I see it necessary that justice is accorded to the deceased Altantuya. It is sad to see her father, Shaariibuu travelling to Malaysia periodically longing for justice to be served.

Karpal Singh and Sedition Act
Furthermore, there is another police report purportedly on using Seditious Act on Karpal Singh. Karpal earlier spoke in public discussing matters are not within the jurisdiction of certain leadership. Common sense tells me to ask this question : Is it wrong for a law practitioner or a member of Parliament to discuss the roles and responsibilities of a national leader in public as stated and accorded in the Malaysian Constitution?

The Malaysian governance is called Constitutional Monarchy, meaning there is acknowledgment for the existence of Sultans and Agong in reference with a Federal Constitution. State matters are ruled by State Constitutions which do not contradict with the highest law of the land, the Federal Constitution.

From what I have gathered, I did not read in the papers of any call for the abolishment of the monarchy. There were no gigantic demonstrations in front of the palace with banners describing "Natang" or any derogatory words to date. So, it would not be appropriate to equate Karpal's case with any other case with such nature.

Conclusion and Other Matters
Four days ago was 8th May 2008 , the end of the 2nd month post PRU 12. The 1st month completed with plenty of blaming, megaphone diplomacy and internal bickering within BN and Pakatan Rakyat. The dust has not completely settled but at least the situation is better now. Then, I was hoping that the situation would change after the parliament presided.

Quite the contrary, the second month concluded with news of Sedition Act usages coupled by an international media coverage and basic needs price inflations.

In the meantime, for some personal reasons, I have already lost confidence in Najib. In order to be fair, I would not place a 100% blame on Pak Lah and his Administration for the rising price in commodity goods. It is a global phenomenon. At least, he is trying to do something about it like speaking with the Thai government to work out something.

On the other hand, I am really concerned is the usage of Sedition Act and the image of Malaysia in the eyes of the world.

As I said in an earlier post, shouldn't we place more emphasis on handling any potential economic crisis resulting from the U.S. economy meltdown? Otherwise, is it necessary to give voting Malaysians a chance to see more less than positive news in the eyes of the world? Would that really help in gathering more support for the government? This is too easy to answer and I leave this to the readers' discretion.

What Malaysians need are motivating international news and policies to propel the nation into the next level of development. A Federal government was chosen to perform great things and put the name of the country back in international papers with positive and great achievements, rather than spending time on using Seditious Act, Internal Security Act, Official Secrets Act, certain clauses of Printing Publishing and Presses Act and Universities and University Colleges Act.

In fact, I believe some quarters want the Federal Government to repeal these acts. As a blogging Malaysian, I would sincerely hope to see that happen. Could it be possible when Barisan Nasional is still the Federal Government?

This article is also published in http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/7358/84/

Kemerosotan Bahasa Melayu di Peringkat Kebangsaan

Saya menerima e-mel di bawah pada pagi ini. Ini berkenaan dengan rintihan dan pandangan seorang mengenai kemerosotan penggunaan Bahasa Melayu di Malaysia baru-baru ini.
_________________________________________________

From Baha don to info@parlimen.gov.my
date : May 4, 2008 3:50 AM
subject : Bahasa Melayu vs Bahasa Inggeris
signed-by : yahoo.com
mailed-by : yahoo.com

Apa yang hendak memperjuangkan sangat oleh kaum-kaum Melayu yang dikatakan pejuang bangsa dan pejuang bahasa itu?

Lihat sajalah betapa lumrahnya penggunaan bahasa Inggeris diseluruh negara, apatahlagi di sekitar Lembah Kelang, Kuala Lumpur, Putra Jaya dan disekitarnya. Terpampang dimana-mana. Tak perlu disenaraikan. Terlalu banyak. Boleh pandang dan lihat sendiri.

Ini bukan baru. Nama-nama bangunan, nama-nama syarikat, firma, premis perniagaan, nama-nama jalan (contoh terbaik Presint sebagai nama jalan di Putrajaya - nak meniru macam di New York konon yang menggunakan Precinct pada nama-nama jalan). Itu sudah menunjukkan bahawa kita amat berbangga dengan penggunaan bahasa Inggeris. Penggunaan dalam pertuturan satu - ini tidak menjadi persoalan kerana ianya sebagai satu bentuk medium perantaraan disegi komunikasi, apatahlagi bahasa Inggeris sebagai satu bahasa perantaraan antara bangsa di seluruh dunia.

Satu lagi - Penggunaan bahasa Inggeris (sebagai bahasa asing - foreign language) dalam memberi lambang dengan mengekalkan identiti adalah satu persoalan yang harus di pertikaikan dan dikekang (dicegah). Identiti disini bermaksud dalam memberi nama pada satu-satu 'landmark' atau 'mercu-tanda' juga pada nama yang menunjukkan identiti negara kita (sebagaimana contoh Presint diatas). Tentang 'bangga' akan sesuatu pun seharusnya sekadar berpatutan dan berpada-pada - tidaklah sehingga terjejas akan identiti kita sendiri.

Melayu Melayu kita yang cinta sangat akan bahasa hinggakan sanggup memberi sekatan atau ruang yang sempit untuk generasi akan datang agar terperangkap dengan hanya penggunaan bahasa sendiri. Sedangkan bahasa Inggeris sendiri (bahasa antarabangsa) satu-satunya bahasa yang digunakan dalam pelbagai rujukan (tambah pula subjek seperti Science dan Mathematics). Apakah kita yang Melayu ni sanggup melihat anak-anak generasi baru kita terpaksa meraba-raba mencari-cari makna dan maksud dalam rujukan terhadap subjek Science dan Mathematics yang sudah semestinya banyak yang terdapat kajian-kajian maklumat dalam bahasa Inggeris? Jika dan apabila mereka yang diajar dalam bahasa pengantar bahasa Melayu, sudah tentu terpaksa pula kena belajar juga penggunaan bahasa Inggeris dikemudian hari untuk memahami kajian-kajian seterusnya (extra-learning and for pursuing further studies like specialists and so on). Tidakkah itu dikira dah terlambat? atau bila dah terdesak, barulah tergesa-gesa mencari peluang untuk mempelajari bahasa Inggeris, sedangkan peluang yang ada sekarang memang boleh didapati dari awal lagi dibuang atau ditolak, semata-mata kerana untuk menjaga martabat bahasa Melayu, yang tidak sepatutnya dibangkitkan langsung.

Ini kerana apa yang sedang berlaku pada bahasa Melayu kini pada penggunaan secara menyeluruh, nyata sekali bercelaru dan berterabur dan memang tidak terurus sejak sekian lama lagi. Ini semua amatlah jelas dan nyata terbukti dan dapat kita semua menyaksikan dengan mata kepala kita sendiri dipersekitaran kita juga pada seluruh negara 'amnya.

Jadi, kenapa baru sekarang baru terfikir untuk mempertahankan martabat bahasa Melayu? Kita kalau mengaku sebagai pejuang bahasa sepatutnya membersihkan dulu segala apa jua kotoran, kepincangan dan pencemaran bahasa yang wujud sekarang, yang berada didepan mata kita, dimerata pelusuk persekitaran dan negara keseluruhannya. Cuci segenap sampah kotoran yang bertaburan didepan mata, dihalaman persekitaran 'rumah' kita dulu. Bukan nak jaga benda atau perkara yang maseh belum berlaku (sama ada positif atau negatif) - kita perlu kena bersihkan dulu kotoran yang memang dah lama terpalit sejak sekian lama dulu. Tindakan itu yang harus di ambil terlebih dulu. Bila dah berjaya dihapuskan segala pencemaran dan nyata menjadi bersih, kemudiannya barulah boleh mendabek dada yang diri kita sebagai 'pejuang bahasa'.

Kenapa hendak memberi tekanan terhadap bahasa Melayu sebagai bahasa pengantar dalam subjek matapelajaran Science dan Mathematics, sedangkan penggunaan bahasa Inggeris sememangnya semakin berleluasa penggunaannya oleh semua peringkat lebih-lebih lagi dari kalangan orang Melayu sendiri (terutamanya yang kononnya bertaraf intelek).
Ini dapat kita lihat dan tontoni dimerata-rata majlis apatah lagi di rancangan-rancangan TV dalam pelbagai bentuk dan persembahan.

Pak pak menteri sendiri dan ahli-ahli politik Melayu kita pun apa kurangnya, masing-masing ghairah menggunakan bahasa Inggeris dengan sewenang-wenangnya dalam apa jua maupun dalam pertuturan mereka. Jika tidak nanti dikata orang, mereka semua tu tidak 'English-educated' - jadi menjatuhkan martabat dan credibility mereka seolah-olahnya. Disini nampak puak-puak Melayu sendiri yang terasa martabat mereka jatuh disebabkan tidak pandai berbahasa Inggeris. Justeru itu, dimana kedudukan Melayu yang kononnya memperjuangkan martabat bahasa demi bangsa Melayu? Adakah itu semua hanya sekadar retorik sahaja? Nampak-nampaknya begitulah.

Dengan penggunaan istilah Inggeris di campur-aduk bersama bahasa pertuturan Melayu sehingga diterima pakai dengan begitu senang dan menyeluruh oleh orang Melayu kita sendiri, secara tidak disedari ianya sudah menjadi lumrah dan dengan sendirinya sudah dianggap relevan. Jadi, jika hanya segelintir sahaja pejuang bahasa dari kalangan orang Melayu kita yang kononnya bermati-matian kini untuk mempertahankan maruah dan martabat bahasa dan bangsa kita, tidak mungkin boleh mengubah kehendak dan kecenderungan majoriti. Mungkin tidak akan dapat sambutan menyeluruh.

Mengapa baru sekarang barulah sedar dan terasa untuk bangkit memperjuangkan semua ini? Sedangkan badan yang seharusnya dan sepatutnya menjaga dan mengendalikan kedaulatan bahasa Melayu (iaitu Dewan Bahasa Pustaka sendiri) pun tidak kisah dan tidak begitu ambil peduli dan ambil berat tentang kepincangan bahasa Melayu yang telah pun tercemar sejak sekian lama. Kini baru badan-badan seperti Gapena yang kononnya pejuang bahasa baru bangun dari tidur-lena, terkejut tersentak, baru sedar akan bahasa Melayu sedang menuju kemusnahan dan kehancuran? Kenapa apa yang berlaku dulu itu, mereka tidak nampak? Kenapa sekarang, baru nampak?

Satu soalan untuk para pejuang bahasa yang dikatakan pencinta bahasa Melayu dan 'Pejuang Melayu' konon-kononnya - Sejak dari dulu lagi - kenapa anda sekalian tidak mempertikaikan nama atau jenama UMNO itu sendiri? U.M.N.O. singkatan kepada United Malays National Organization. Kan menggunakan bahasa Inggeris tu? Kan itu bahasa penjajah Inggeris yang menjajah kita sejak beratus-ratus tahun dulu? Kenapa diam membisu dalam isu seperti itu? Tunjuk lah kepahlawanan anda dalam memperjuangkan martabat bahasa dan maruah bangsa, sebagaimana yang senantiasa dicanang-canang dan dilaung-laungkan. Dimanakah langkah pertama dalam usaha perjuangan mereka semua?

Padahal isu yang dibangkitkan diatas (mengenai penggunaan bahasa Inggeris dalam nama singkatan UMNO itu sendiri) sepatutnya di perbetulkan dan dibubarkan jika bahasa Inggeris dianggap sebagai pengaruh penjajah yang harus dihapuskan dari minda pemikiran anak bangsa kita seterusnya. Dari situlah seharusnya langkah pertama dimulakan oleh mereka yang dikatakan pejuang bahasa dan juga pejuang bangsa. Mengapa ini tidak berlaku?

Sekian.

ikhlas dari,
Bahadon
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Pandangan Sagaladoola
Berkenaan dengan nama UMNO itu, saya difahamkan bahawa nama yang digunakan adalah dalam bahasa Inggeris disebabkan waktu penubuhannya, tanah ini masih di bawah jajahan British maka "lingua franca" atau bahasa ruji rasmi yang digunakan pada masa itu adalah bahasa penjajah. Harap maklum.

Namun konteks e-mel ini mengenai kemorosotan Bahasa Melayu sememangnya patut diteliti. Saya sebagai orang Malaysia berasa paling kesal di atas peminjaman berleluasa perkataan Inggeris untuk diterapkan sebagai perkataan Bahasa Melayu. Saya berpendapat tidak salah kalau dikatakan peminjaman itu terlalu banyak sehingga boleh dikatakan Bahasa Melayu sudah menjadi seolah-olah bahasa kelas kedua. Untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini, seharusnya Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka melihat bahasa-bahasa lain sekiranya ingin mendapatkan perkataan baru.

Sebagai contoh, perkataan "bohsia" untuk dikaitkan dengan perempuan yang terlibat dalam sesuatu gejala sosial pada zaman 90-an yang asalnya dari dialek Hokkien. Dengan fikiran yang lebih innovatif, "bohsia" dicantumkan dengan perkataan "jantan" menjadi "bohjan" bagi lelaki.

Pejuang-pejuang yang ingin menjadikan Bahasa Melayu lebih dinamik seharusnya mendapat ilham perkataan baru terlebih dahulu dari bahasa-bahasa tempatan lain seperti Bahasa Mandarin, Tamil, Malayalee, Kadazan, Iban dan dialek-dialek suku kaum lain di Sabah dan Sarawak.

Sekiranya bahasa itu dikira jiwa bangsa bukankah cara ini lebih sesuai? Tepuklah dada tanya selera.