Projek Dialog

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Inciting and Sowing Dissesion at a Time of Need for Unity

by The Christian Federation of Malaysia / Persekutuan Kristian Malaysia

 

The Christian Federation of Malaysia views with consternation and dismay the assault by no less than a Member of the Dewan Rakyat in the August chamber on the entirety of the Scriptures on which generations of Christians in time memorial have found solace, comfort, wisdom, hope and guidance. To be told that the Holy Book on which they rely as a firm foundation for their faith has been “manipulated” is an affront to the uttermost. That this belittlement of their sacred Scriptures occurs during a time of distress and economic hardship and anxiety about an uncertain future as a global pandemic rages displays not just gross insensitivity but a blatant disregard for the well-being of fellow humankind.

 

Yet the Member for Pasir Puteh, Dr. Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh thought little of making spurious claims that “Kitab Injil ini dipesongkan ataupun diubah” (“the Gospel is distorted or changed”) during a debate in the Dewan Rakyat on 26 August 2020. In trampling with shocking audacity on the sacred and holy Word of God, the Representative for Pasir Puteh showed a reprehensible disrespect for not only for his fellow Malaysians who are Christians but also for all the efforts of our forefathers in forging peoples of diverse creeds, colour and cultures into a peace-loving and harmonious nation.

 

At a time when strenuous calls for national unity are made by the Prime Minister and Malaysia Prihatin (Malaysia Cares) is the guiding principle for the nation’s celebration of the 63rd anniversary of Merdeka Day and the 57th anniversary of Malaysia Day, it is an outrage that a Member of Parliament who sits on the Government’s benches shows little concern for the need to rebuild the nation but instead intentionally promotes feelings of ill will and hostility on the ground of religion in a significant segment of the population. Having assailed their Holy Book, the Member of Parliament then categorically stated that Christians have no right to be offended. Recalcitrant and reportedly, unwilling to withdraw or apologise for his demeaning words, this lawmaker must be unreservedly censured and rebuked by all right-minded people. Not having taken to date, any apparent action to rein in and admonish its member for his divisive and incendiary remarks, the party to which he belongs, being a component member of the ruling coalition, should denounce such egregious behaviour. No person being above the law, relevant authorities also need to undertake appropriate investigations into the offensive conduct of this lawmaker.

 

Whilst The Christian Federation of Malaysia remains constantly open to dialogue for advancing greater understanding to foster peace and harmony among all peoples, dialogue must be predicated on mutual respect and undertaken in a spirit of humility if it is to be fruitful in sowing seeds of trust and goodwill for the betterment of all.

 

Signed,

Archbishop Julian Leow Beng Kim

Chairman and the Executive Committee,

The Christian Federation of Malaysia.

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A Brief Inquiry into “Bossku”

by Yvonne Tan

 

As Najib Razak was found guilty of all seven charges, his supporters — also known on Twitterjaya as ‘kluster Bossku’ — gathered outside of Kuala Lumpur High Court chanted “Bebas Bossku”, “Bossku tak bersalah” with the fault lying in “Tun Mahathir Mohamad kejam”. Najib’s daughter (@yananajib) also took to Instagram, posting a picture of the crowd with the caption “A boss has a title. A leader has the people. 28.07.20. Your support means the world to us. Kami sekeluarga tak akan lupa. TQ kerana sentiasa bersama bossku. 😘😘”

 

What started out as a meme then appropriated for a political campaign, has come to encompass a wider “struggle” against the new government(s) emerging. Just as when Anwar Ibrahim was released after getting full pardon, supporters shouted “Reformasi!” as he left the Cheras Rehabilitation Centre in Kuala Lumpur recovering from a shoulder injury on the way to meet King Sultan Muhammad V to formalise the pardon in mid-2018, “Bossku” has become the opposing protest slogan.

 

It seemed as something frivolous and trivial back then, that a meme of Najib looking back at you while riding a black-and-red Yamaha Y15ZR 150cc, also popularly known as Ysuku, could become the rallying cry against disputing Najib’s 1MDB trial. Lest we forget, the Ysuku also has had a registration plate 8805KU spelling out “BOSSKU”. Many have disregarded his support base to be “Mat Rempits”, as they are not a group of people politicians regularly appeal to garner support. Linked to the working class, forming some sort of subcultural identity, Najib and UMNO have somehow managed to gain ‘anti-capital’.

 

Borrowing from Rachel Chan’s terminology of ‘anti-capital’ where non-conformity is celebrated, particularly against socially ingrained habits, [1] one would assume Najib would instead run counter to such countercultural identity given he is the epitome of status quo — royal ties, his father had founded the party that would rule Malaysia for 61 years. Nevertheless, UMNO’s support for Mat Rempits have always been apparent wherein Khairy Jamaluddin and Abdul Azeez have been sympathetic to their cause all the way back in 2009. [https://thenutgraph.com/umno-and-the-mat-rempit/]

 

It did not take long for Bossku to achieve to reach popular culture status riding on this loose idea of slogans surrounding “Bossku”. Utilised in rap music such as Kalam Biru’s “Malu Apa Bossku”, he criticizes the then Pakatan Harapan government for not fulfilling their promises and defends Najib’s credibility, rapping “malu apa bossku, beri fakta bukan palsu”. “Malu apa bossku” is the phrase that started it all in the viral selfie video of Najib’s reply with a man calling out “Boss kita!”

 

Another incredibly popular song with 18 million views at the time of writing, MeerFly featuring Tuju, SoMean, MK I K-Clique “BossKu” was released in April 2019. The song did not reference anything in particular to Najib beyond the hook which goes “Malu apa bossku / Bossku, bossku, bossku, bossku” and its lyrics are typical of popular rap with braggadocious lyrics like “that booty lagi thick dari Nike/ And I’m lovin’ it / Tapau balik macam McD/ Lambo that body bomb terpaksa ghini”. Although devoid of explicit political statements, many in the comments express support for Najib and how the song is a great embodiment of their sentiment, with some mentioning how listening to the song could get them fired.

 

Again, there is an underlying sentiment of rebelliousness against an unjust order by making light of the seriousness of the 1MDB scandal. This sort of underplaying or “trivialisation is a style of discourse dominated by ideas, slogans, intuitions, and other more or less familiar shortcuts, instead of evidence, logic, or coherent reasoning. As a result, we have answers to moral, cultural, social, and other matters before the questions are even posed. There is thus not much use for a dialogue, or a search for truth which the actors can easily find in their trivialized phraseology.” [2] Speaking of the manner it is trivialised, the name “Bossku” or “My Boss” immediately feels like a contemporary, viral version of Chandra Muzzafar’s “protector-protected” bond.

 

It is beyond rejecting a leader such as #NotMyPM, but rather there is an implication that one is not only under Najib, but also secured or safeguarded by him. Hence, such allegations are deemed ludicrous and simply treated as unimportant when operating by the logic of the bond. “Malu Apa Bossku” also suggests a fervent trust in the ruling political figure matched with a deep-seated scepticism against institutions out to get him. The personalisation also ties Najib’s wellbeing to oneself. Muzzafar argues this “protector” rhetoric is propped up by “unquestioning loyalty is something that a Malay protector expects from the Malays and from UMNO in return for what he sees as the political, economic, cultural and psychological protection provided to the community and the party. It is, in other words, a relationship within the community. In itself it cannot be defined as a communal relationship; it is merely a community-based relationship.”

 

Hence, we ask what specific community is behind “Bossku”? With the common trend from “Bossku” as a meme, gaining popularity in rap music and also expressing mat rempit culture, it shows much of Najib’s support base is also the youth, challenging the normative idea that his supporters were only made up of older people who are used to the status quo. Recalling Najib’s predecessor, Badawi and his speech on Islam Hadhari, he also mentioned “the youth… are an invaluable asset with tremendous potential. Their views are very important in formulating national policies […] All parties must be resolute, unwavering and committed in ensuring the success of the agenda to strengthen the Malay race.” [3] Clearly expressing that Malay Muslim youth are a means for maintaining UMNO’s rule, it is only fitting that they represent the hopes of those in power, especially evidenced by the special role carved out for them. “Bossku” is but a glimpse into emerging Malay Muslim identities that are not necessarily considered mainstream, that call for the reinstatement of UMNO and Najib’s innocence. From Bunkface’s first political song “Akhir Zaman” to emerging “Darah dan Maruah Tanah Melayu” heavy metal movement, the unfolding of traditionalistic subcultures that calls for the continued protection of an elite-centered status quo is not limited in the halls of Putrajaya.

 

[1] Chan, Rachel Suet Kay. 2017. Ah Beng Subculture and the Anti-Capital of Social Exclusion. UKM Ethnic Studies Paper Series No. 54 (August). Bangi: Institute of Ethnic Studies. 106 pages. http://www.ukm.my/kita/news/skke54/

 

[2] Bubak, Oldrich, and Henry Jacek. Trivialization and Public Opinion: Slogans, Substance, and Styles of Thought in the Age of Complexity. Springer, 2019, p. 233.

 

[3] Martin, Dahlia. “Identity politics and young-adult Malaysian Muslims.” Eras Journal 12, no. 1 (2010): 1-29, p. 10.

 

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CENSORED: A Forum this 4th of August 2020

What CAN our panel of experts say on how the state of freedom of expression looks like right now in their respective areas of work?

 

Imagine being told that your article needs “adjusting” so as not to displease the directors of your news agency. Imagine being called up for questioning one day because you hosted an online event that encouraged the youth to actively participate in policymaking. Imagine having scenes in your film get cut because it did not comply with certain regulations.

 

What will the conversations of the future look like? What CAN we talk about nowadays?

 

Click the link below to save a spot for our upcoming forum this 4th of August as we touch on these matters!

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/thislinkiscensored/register

 

………………….…………………………………………

Apakah yang BOLEH diceritakan oleh panel pakar kami mengenai keadaan kebebasan bersuara sekarang di dalam bidang pekerjaan masing-masing?

Bayangkan diberitahu bahawa artikel anda perlu “diubahsuaikan” agar tidak menyinggung pengarah agensi berita anda. Bayangkan anda dipanggil untuk disoal siasat kerana anda mengaturkan sebuah acara online yang turut mendorong para belia untuk terlibat secara aktif dalam penghasilan dasar/polisi. Bayangkan babak-babak dalam filem anda dipotong kerana tidak mematuhi peraturan tertentu.

 

Bagaimanakah rupa ruang perbincangan pada masa depan? Apa yang BOLEH kita bincangkan sekarang?

 

Klik pautan di bawah untuk berdaftar untuk forum kami yang akan datang pada 4 Ogos ini untuk mendengar ahli panel kami menyentuh perkara-perkara tersebut!

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/thislinkiscensored/register

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Penggunaan Dialek dalam Perbahasan Bahasa di Malaysia

oleh Yvonne Tan

 

(Terjemahan artikel “Regional dialects in Malaysia’s Language Debate”)

 

Isu bahasa di Malaysia sering dibahaskan dari masa ke masa, dan perkara ini sering dibangkitkan dalam penggunaan bahasa perantara di sekolah terutamanya dalam subjek Matematik dan Sains. Sama ada daripada bekas Menteri Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Warisan, Rais Yatim yang memberi pandangannya kepada seorang para wartawan “Saya tak jawab lah soalan begitu. Tanya je lah dalam bahasa kebangsaan […] Where were you educated? You can’t speak bahasa at all?” atau Sharifah Amani, iaitu ketika penerimaan anugerahnya untuk Pelakon Wanita Terbaik di Festival Filem Malaysia (FFM), beliau turut berkata “I sound like, stupid, if I speak Malay, so I’ll speak English.” Tidak boleh dilupakan juga perbincangan di ‘Twitterjaya’ mengenai pergelutan rakyat Malaysia berdasarkan bahasa yang dipelajari di sekolah, sama ada bahasa Inggeris (bertujuan kepada orang Melayu) dan bahasa Malaysia (bertujuan kepada orang Cina).

 

Walau bagaimanapun, sebuah komponen dalam debat bahasa di Malaysia, adalah kebanggaan dalam penggunaan dialek. Kebiasaannya, mereka seringkali disambut secara eksklusif dalam media alternatif dan budaya pop. Alieff Irhan, dan juga drama spontan oleh Syahmi Sazli telah membuat satu impak yang kuat terhadap orang ramai di YouTube tentang penggunaan dialek Kelantan. Penggunaan dialek juga telah mengambil bentuk dalam filem seperti Cun! (2011), iaitu sebuah filem genre romantik dan komedi yang dilakonkan sepenuhnya dalam dialek Kedah. Ia juga dibintangi oleh beberapa pelakon yang tidak semestinya berasal dari Kedah tetapi meluangkan masa untuk mempelajari dialek tempatan, dan menerima banyak pujian dengan usaha Remy Ishak dalam filem tersebut. Filem-filem lain termasuklah filem Dain Said, Bunohan (2011) and Budak Kelantan (2008), di mana kedua-duanya menyentuh unsur tentang perpecahan atau pengagihan komuniti di kawasan pedalaman yang maju dan tradisi pembangunan yang memberi fokus kepada isu-isu jenayah. Dialek Melayu Utara sudah tentu telah memberi satu cabaran mengenai stereotaip pedalaman dan kemunduran atas kaum India Malaysia seperti filem Chemman chaalai (2005) dan Jagat (2015) di mana kedua-duanya telah difilemkan terutamanya dalam bahasa Tamil Malaysia.

 

Dialek-dialek Malaysia juga menonjol dalam genre hip hop yang berkembang di Malaysia seperti K-Main, RxF Rhaled & YAPH – Golok di mana sesesorang menjadi bangga menjadi anak kelahiran negeri Kelantan sepertimana kebanggan kumpulan rap K-Clique yang berasal dari negeri Sabah, yang turut terkenal dengan gabungan bahasa Inggeris dengan dialek Sabah dalam nyanyian rap mereka. Mereka telah menggabungkan pelbagai unsur budaya berdasarkan negeri sama ada dari segi tarian, perayaan ke dalam kehidupan seharian seperti lorong, warung dan juga ladang kelapa sawit, yang jelas dipaparkan di dalam video musik mereka. Fauxe, seorang artis yang berasal dari Singapore, sering mencampurkan sampel-sampel lagu tradisional yang berbagai seperti lagu Tamil Malaysia kepada Melayu Hawaii bersama dengan rentak hip hop. Hasil-hasil ciptaan lagunya telah menjadi sejenis bentukan perpaduan yang berfungsi sebagai sebuah tanda penghormatan kepada Malaysia dan warisannya.

 

Hip Hop berkembang pesat dengan pengaturan pesta jalanan pada zaman 70-an, yang telah menciptakan ruang untuk pertukaran budaya antara masyarakat Afrika-Amerika bersama dengan masyarakat pendatang dan komuniti terpinggir, dengan ramai penyanyi hip hop yang mempunyai asal usul Amerika Latin atau Caribbean. Oleh itu, Hip Hop telah mencerminkan latar belakang sosioekonomi mereka secara semula jadi, dengan memberikan ruang untuk berbangga dengan budaya hibrid mereka yang tidak semestinya disambut di tempat lain. Walaupun bukan dalam bahasa dialek, lagu Bawah oleh Kidd Santhe telah berjaya menangkapkan jiwa yang sama, yang telah dilokalisasikan dengan lirik “berapa kali polis tahan budak india tak lepas, hari-hari kena gari buat cam barang hias”.

 

Sekiranya bahasa Inggeris memberangsangkan profesionalisme/internasionalisme dan bahasa Melayu sebagai kesetiaan kepada negara [1], dialek tempatan melambangkan komuniti yang seseorang berasal daripada. Bukan sepertimana bahasa Inggeris dan bahasa Melayu, yang telah dirangka sebagai “pilihan” untuk kefasihan, dialek tidak mempunyai tahap atau implikasi yang serupa. Dialek memerlukan unsur kehidupan masyarakat untuk mendapatkan akses kepada aksen bahasa bernada yang tidak boleh hanya “dipelajari”. Hampir semua dialek tidak boleh wujud sendiri, di mana terdapatnya sari kata dalam bahasa Melayu atau bahasa Inggeris untuk cuba merapatkan jurang tersebut dan juga memastikan khalayak yang lebih luas, yang penting untuk platform media alternatif.

 

Bukan sahaja dalam komuniti Melayu, namun dalam masyarakat lain juga. Dengan menonjolnya bahasa Mandarin, terdapat juga beberapa kerisauan tentang bagaimana “dialek” seperti Hokkien, Hakka, Kantonis, Teo Chew dan sebagainya akan lama-lama dihapuskan. Protes-protes di Hong Kong sentiasa menekankan isu bahawa bahasa Kantonis bukanlah sejenis dialek tetapi bahasa tersendiri yang tidak dapat difahami oleh bahasa Mandarin sama sekali sebagai penentangan terhadap standardisasi. Hal yang sama juga dapat dikatakan dengan Taiwan dengan Gerakan Mahasiswa Sunflower, dan lagu Island’s Sunrise dari band Indie Fire EX dalam bahasa Hokkien telah dijadikan lagu kebangsaan gerakan tersebut. Kebanggan yang sama dengan dialek boleh diperhatikan di sini seperti Hai Ki Xin Lor [You Mean the World to Me], ciptaan sebuah filem sepenuhnya dalam dialek Hokkien negeri Pulau Pinang, yang merupakan kali pertama untuk Malaysia. Sementara itu, bahasa Kantonis kerap tampil dalam filem yang dengan bangganya menggabungkan berbagai bahasa seperti Fly By Night (2018), Ola Bola (2016) dan trilogi Sepet.

 

Penapis Instagram “Guess the Gibberish: Malay edition” sejenis permainan atas cabaran ‘Gibberish’, di mana perkataan Inggeris digunakan untuk meniru slanga Melayu dan orang perlu mengetahui apakah ungkapan bahasa Melayu tersebut. Contohnya: penekaan ” low lung sea low mat tea” sebagai “lu langsi lu mati” dan kegemaran saya “nah see go rank tell me lure matter” sebagai “nasi goreng telur mata”.

 

Tidak lama selepas itu, munculan dialek rantauan seperti Pulau Pinang, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan dan seterusnya telah membuat netizen popular dengan penekaan dan pengulasan mereka dengan penapis Instagram tersebut. Pengetahuan dwibahasa diperlukan untuk menggunakan penapis tersebut di mana, bergantung pada penapis yang mana, pengetahuan bahasa Inggeris dan bahasa Melayu atau dialek tempatan.

 

Keseragaman bahasa hampir selalu disukai oleh negara bangsa sementara yang lain meratapi kematian banyak dialek di seluruh dunia. Namun, apa yang unik mengenai peningkatan budaya popular vernakular di Malaysia adalah kesedaran penonton di luar masyarakat. Ia hampir selalu dapat diakses oleh para hadirin Malaysia dan ia turut memperluaskan tiga label, iaitu masyarakat “Melayu” yang berbahasa Melayu standard, “Cina” yang berbahasa Mandarin dan “India” yang berbahasa Tamil. Ini bertentangan dengan bagaimana dialek sering biasanya digunakan sebagai “cara yang dihormati untuk mempertahankan sempadan, sempadan terluar yang dilintasi oleh orang asing secara intelektual dan tidak langsung”. [2]

 

Walau bagaimanapun—sebagaimana wacana popular dan rasmi selalu berbeza secara konseptual—penggunaan dialek yang semakin berkembang dalam konteks Malaysia telah menyaksikan pemikiran semula sentimen “nasional” sebagai kewujudan bahasa dari pelbagai kaum dan masyrakat yang dapat diraikan sekali. Walaupun terdapat peningkatan migrasi dan pemusatan bandar, budaya popular sering, dan masih berterusan, dikaitkan dengan budaya vernakular lisan yang secara langsung berfungsi sebagai sumber kebanggaan dan optimisme yang jarang berlaku dalam perbalahan bahasa yang tidak pernah tamat di Malaysia.

 

*Setinggi-tinggi penghargaan kepada Fuad Rahmat atas bantuan beliau dalam pemberian maklumat mengenai budaya Hip Hop yang menggunakan dialek-dialek tempatan di Malaysia

 

[1] Tan Zi Hao, “Language shaming in Malaysia” New Mandala, 19 January 2017

<https://www.newmandala.org/language-shaming-malaysia/>

 

[2] Michael North The dialect of modernism: race, language, and twentieth-century literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 25.

 

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Regional dialects in Malaysia’s Language Debate

by Yvonne Tan

 

Language debates within Malaysia are almost always highly charged. From time to time the heated medium-of-instruction debate between Bahasa Malaysia vs. English Language for Maths and Science props up every so often. Be it from then Minister of Information, Communication and Culture, Rais Yatim sneering at a journalist “Saya tak jawab lah soalan begitu. Tanya je lah dalam bahasa kebangsaan […] Where were you educated? You can’t speak bahasa at all?” or when Sharifah Amani said “I sound like, stupid, if I speak Malay, so I’ll speak English” when accepting her Best Actress award at the Malaysian Film Festival (FFM). Lest we forget the discussions in Twitterjaya about why Malaysians continue to struggle with the common languages they have learnt in school be it English (aimed at Malays) and Malay (aimed at Chinese).

 

Nevertheless, one part of the language debate in Malaysia that does not have as much strife or even much focus on, is pride in regional dialects. They are almost always celebrated exclusively in alternative media and pop culture. Syahmi Sazli’s “drama spontan” and Alieff Irhan has made waves throughout YouTube for their use of Baso Kelaté or Bahasa Kelantan. Film has also taken a liking to utilising dialects such as Cun! (2011) a romantic comedy entirely in the Kedahan dialect starring several actors who were not necessarily native to Kedah but took the time to learn the regional dialect, many saluting Remy Ishak’s attempt. Others include Dain Said’s Bunohan (2011) and Budak Kelantan (2008) where both touch on urban-rural and development-tradition divide with a big dose of crime. Needless to say, Northern Malay dialects have drawn on and challenged stereotypes of rurality and backwardness as with films like Chemman chaalai (2005) and Jagat (2015) on the Malaysian-Indian community, both also filmed primarily in Malaysian Tamil.

 

Malaysian dialects have also been featured prominently within the growing hip hop genre in Malaysia. Artists such as K-Main, RxF Rhaled & YAPH – Golok, where many express pride in being Kelantanese while the famous Sabahan rap group K-Clique proudly mixes English with the Sabahan dialect alongside the inclusion of regional culture in their music videos from dances, festivals to everyday lorongs, warung and palm oil plantations. Fauxe, a Singaporean artist also mixes traditional samples from traditional Malaysian Tamil to Hawaiian Malay music overlayed with hip hop beats and distortions; a fusion serving as an ode to Malaysia and its sonic legacy.

 

Hip hop was especially popular during block parties in the 70s, creating a space for multicultural exchanges between African-Americans and other immigrant and marginalised communities, with many rappers having Latin American or Caribbean origin. Hence, hip hop naturally reflected their shared socioeconomic background as well, providing an outlet to be proud of hybrid cultures that are not necessarily celebrated elsewhere. Although not in a dialect, Kidd Santhe’s Bawah is a song that captures this essence, albeit localised, with the lyrics “berapa kali polis tahan budak india tak lepas, hari-hari kena gari buat cam barang hias”.

 

If English signifies professionalism/internationalism and Bahasa Melayu as loyalty to the nation [1], then regional dialects signifies the specific community one comes from. Unlike English and Bahasa Melayu, usually framed as a “choice” to become fluent, dialects don’t have a similar connotation. Given they are not as accessible such as tonal accents cannot simply be ‘learnt’, dialects require living for a long time within the community. Almost always, dialects never exist on their own, with subtitles in Malay or English to try to bridge the gap and ensure a wider audience, important to alternative media platforms.

 

Not only in Malay communities but also within others, with the prominence of Mandarin, there has been some worry of how “dialects” like Hokkien, Hakka, Cantonese, Teo Chew and so on would be phased out. Hong Kong protests consistently emphasize that Cantonese is not a dialect but a separate language altogether as mutually unintelligible to Mandarin, resisting standardisation. The same can be said with Taiwan so much so with the Sunflower Student Movement, indie band Fire Ex’s Island’s Sunrise song in Hokkien became the anthem. The same pride in such dialects has also trickled here as well such as Hai Ki Xin Lor [You Mean the World to Me] is a film entirely in Penang Hokkien, a first for Malaysia. Meanwhile, Cantonese has been regularly featured in films that proudly mix languages together such as Fly By Night (2018), Ola Bola (2016) and the Sepet trilogy.

 

An Instagram filter “Guess the Gibberish: Malay edition” is a play on the Gibberish challenge, where English words were used to mimic Malay slang and people had to make out what the Malay phrase was.  For example: people had to guess “low lung sea low mat tea” as “lu langsi lu mati” and my personal favourite “nah see go rank tell lure matter” as “nasi goreng telur mata”.

 

Regionalised ones popped up soon after such as Penang, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan and so on with netizens becoming popular for guessing and commenting with the filter. Multilingualism is required to utilise the filter where, depending on which filter, knowledge of English and Malay or the regional dialect.

 

Linguistic uniformity has almost always been favoured by nation-states while others mourn the death of many dialects worldwide. Nevertheless, what is unique about the increasing vernacular popular culture in Malaysia is the awareness of an audience beyond the community, almost always accessible to a Malaysian audience and expanding the three labels of “Malay” speaking standard Malay, “Chinese” speaking Mandarin, “India” speaking Tamil. This runs counter to how dialects are usually used, more often than not as an “indirect and intellectually respectable way of defending the borders, those outlying borders crossed by foreigners”. [2]

 

However—as popular and official discourse have always been conceptually distinct—the growing conscious use of dialects within the Malaysian context has seen the reimagining of  “national” sentiments as language of diverse groups can exist and be celebrated. Despite increasing migration and urban centralisation, popular culture has often been, and continues to be, associated with unmediated oral vernacular culture which serves as a rare source of pride and optimism in the never-ending language strife within Malaysia.

 

*Special thanks to Fuad Rahmat for keeping me updated with Hip Hop in Malaysian dialects

 

[1] Tan Zi Hao, “Language shaming in Malaysia” New Mandala, 19 January 2017

<https://www.newmandala.org/language-shaming-malaysia/>

 

[2] Michael North The dialect of modernism: race, language, and twentieth-century literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 25.

 

 

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Remembering Afro-Asian Solidarity amidst George Floyd protests

by Yvonne Tan

 

The month of June 2020 had sparked the George Floyd protests all over America before reigniting the #BlackLivesMatter movement throughout the world. As some protest what is happening in America, others protest the systemic racist practices in their own country such as in Indonesia with #PapuanLivesMatter while in Malaysia some discussion of the treatment of African students, in particular, Thomas Orhions Ewansiha’s death in police custody and #MigranJugaManusia.

 

As the identities of the officers were released, Tou Thao, an Asian American officer who had stood by as his colleague restrained and eventually killed George Floyd became another subject of discussion on anti-blackness within Asian communities. As the model minority myth is perpetuated about Asian American immigrants, it further justifies mistreatment of other minority groups including African and Latin American communities which is in itself an opportunity to touch on the once transnational dream of African-Asian solidarity.

 

One cannot speak about African-Asianism without mentioning the Bandung Conference [Konferensi Asia-Afrika] in 1995 and subsequently, the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement. At the height of the Cold War, postcolonial states were invited based on shared experience of Western imperialism to stand for anti-colonialism through transnational solidarity. Rachel Leow remarked how Bandung became “easy metonymy: Bandung the place, Bandung the spirit—Bandung the moment, Bandung the history. Anti-colonialism and transnational solidarity were all theatrical parts: Bandung was the diplomatic debut of newly decolonized peoples on a bipolar world stage, full of agency and vigour.” [1]

 

The “Bandung moment” was a spectacle with a global institutional space for decolonisation which was also, by and large, a foreign policy strategy. Jim Markham from the British colony Gold Coast, alongside Roo Watanabe, Menahem Bargil, Soerjokoesoemo Wijono, embarked on a research tour of then-Malaya, Indonesia and South Vietnam under the umbrella of the Asian Socialist Conference held in Yangon and Bombay during the mid-1950s as well. He had worried Britain of “Asian infiltration” wherein intelligence reports mentioned Markham’s research as “most impressive” with “acute understanding of wider problems” facing the Malayan Federation, as he warned how British and American firms expanded into cocoa plantations in Malaya to diversify away from the depressed global rubber market. [2]

 

Indian historian Vijay Prashad in Afro-Dalits of the Earth, Unite! (2000) proposes a polycultural approach to experiences in oppression instead of what he calls “epidermal determinism” which meant seeking solidarity on the basis of skin colour. When black slaves were emancipated in the Caribbean, North America and South Africa, Asian labour was brought in to replace and do the work of former slaves therefore continuing the racial strata of labour like in Trinidad and Guayana. Hence, such linkages were seen as important to Prashad for the struggle against universal racism. Part of growing Afro-Dalit scholarship alongside Ivan van Sertima, Runoko Rashidi and V. T. Rajshekar are among those who offer alternative approaches to the interconnections in African and Indian life. Rashidi told an Indian audience that he travels to India “to help establish a bond between the Black people of America and the Dalits, the Black Untouchables of India,” a tie that “will never be broken” and true enough the Black Lives Matter protests have spurred calls for India to end Dalit discrimination.

 

Grace Lee Boggs, who was mistaken by the FBI as an “Afro-Chinese”, personified her arguments against any approach that would focus singly on either race or class: “Whether the [March on Washington] movement proves transitory or develops into a broad and relatively permanent movement for Negro democratic and economic rights will depend upon whether it will develop a leadership which seeks its main support in the organized labour movement and whether the Negro masses in the labour movement are ready to enter into and actively support this general movement for Negro rights as a supplement to their economic and class activities within the unions themselves.” She and her husband, James Boggs, were deeply involved in the Black Power Movement and establishing multi-racial community institutions throughout Detroit, rooting politics in the struggle of black workers in the 1960s.

 

These are but some moments in a long history of transnationalism between Africans and Asians which emerged with the fall of Western empires. As national interests and growing Cold War tensions took precedence, African-Asian solidarity and other internationalist projects that explored decolonial possibilities did not take center stage as it had then.

 

Nevertheless, the beginning stages of the coronavirus pandemic saw a spike in Asian and eventually African discrimination, is a sober reminder that it is but an exacerbation of deeply rooted systemic racism that remains. As people across the world relate George Floyd’s death and police brutality against African Americans with the plight of Papuans, Aboriginals, Dalits, Rohingyas, Palestinians, migrant communities in Lebanon, Spain and of course Malaysia, the global protests are a watershed moment in carving out worldwide solidarity against the disciplinarian state that has used the excuse of the pandemic for too long to enact authoritarian measures.

 

Coupled with massive unemployment throughout the world and overall economic downturn, feeling the full effects of racial violence on top of inability to fight for justice in the workplace, people are forced to come to terms with their situation. Universal slogans adopted during the Black Lives Matter movement throughout the world include “All Cops are Bad” and “Silence is violence, Complacency is complicity.” Although this is but the beginning, just as how a pandemic affects the whole world, so does institutional racism coupled with repressive state apparatuses which have no opposition party against such. As much as health practitioners have spoken about how coronavirus does not discriminate across all races and classes, what has been taken into account instead is but how it would affect “the national community” or those most far removed from society while the marginal fall from the cracks. Taking lessons from African-Asian movement against colonialism, standing together globally against racism as a system that manifests in norms, institutions and policies is possible and needed in continuing the long fight to dismantle oppressive social hierarchies.

 

 

[1] Rachel Leow, ‘Asian Lessons in the Cold War Classroom: Trade Union Networks and the Multidirectional Pedagogies of the Cold War in Asia’, Journal of Social History vol 53 no. 2 (2019): 429–453, p. 430.

 

[2] Gerard McCann, ‘Where was the Afro in Afro-Asian Solidarity? Africa’s ‘Bandung Moment’ in 1950s Asia,’ Journal of World History, Volume 30, Numbers 1-2, June 2019, pp. 89-123

 

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Diverse Voices Media Grant

by Jeannette Goon

 

What are Malaysian stories?

When we first put a call out for grant submissions, we were expecting diversity. But even so, we were surprised at how extensive the diversity in media could be.

We received pitches for stories about the stateless community in Sabah, Chinese education in Malaysia, psychological trauma among children with medical conditions that affect body image.

There was also diversity in medium — from essays to VR documentaries to interactive digital articles.

Ultimately, out of the 47 submissions we received, we could only select 10. This was a very difficult task, considering many of the submissions were of high quality and highlighted stories that we were interested in.

Helping us with this difficult task was our selection committee, which consisted of:

Victoria Cheng, Project Manager, Projek Dialog

Jeannette Goon, Program Officer, Projek Dialog

Sharaad Kuttan, Senior Anchor, Astro Awani

Abu Hayat, Migrant Worker’s Rights Activist

Justin Wong, Founder, Write Handed

 

The selection process involved an individual evaluation, where each member of the selection committee received access to all the submissions and assessed them individually, as well as a group evaluation where all selection committee members met to discuss the final 10.

The 10 grant recipients are:

 

Aidila Razak (Malaysiakini)

For an interactive digital article, accompanied by video and podcast, on unaccompanied minor refugees.

Vinodh Pillai

For a series of written accounts of lived realities from those working in the different, vulnerable jobs in the local sex industry and how their livelihoods have been affected during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Rupa Subramaniam

For a virtual mixed media art exhibition and a documentary featuring the stories of 30 Malaysian women translated into body art.

Loh Yi Jun

For Take a Bao, a podcast that tells the stories of the unrepresented food culture of Asia, starting off with stories in Malaysia/Southeast Asia.

Kristy Tan Wei Shia

For a podcast series inviting diverse sources to have a chat on topics related to motherhood. One of the topics it aims to explore is: How is motherhood valued and shaped by our different cultures and faiths?

Allie Hill (in collaboration with Amin Kamrani)

For an ebook featuring members of the refugee community, that will showcase how multi-talented they are and the skills that they have. The book will be visually led, accompanied by short text.

Tan Su Lin

For a Malay language story highlighting the effects of climate change on indigenous communities in Malaysia.

Ricardo Unto (Daily Express)

For a video report on ritual specialists from Tuaran and Penampang in Sabah. These “ritual specialists” are the guardians of the native Kadazan Dusun community’s culture.

Zarif Ismail

For a VR documentary about the Batek tribe in Taman Negara. The film explores their settlement, spiritual practices, food gathering and their relationship with the forest.

Roshinee Mookaiah

For a short story competition to be run on a Humans of New York-inspired social media platform that features Malaysian Indians. People will be asked to submit short photo essays or videos and the grant money will be used for prize money, judges’ fees, advertising expenses and production of a final video.

 

Congrats to all grant recipients, and thank you to all who submitted!

For more information on the selection process, please read our selection guidelines for this grant.

 

This media grant is part of the Diverse Voices program run by Projek Dialog with the support of Internews. The main goal of the program is to promote religious freedom and under-represented communities in the media.

___________________________________________

 

Apakah itu cerita-cerita Malaysia?

Apabila kebukaan permohanan grant kami diterbitkan di laman media sosial, terdapat pengharapan untuk kepelbagaian. Tetapi walaupun begitu, kami amat kagum melihat betapa luasnya kepelbagaian media.

Kami menerima idea-idea mengenai komuniti yang tidak bernegara di Sabah, pendidikan Cina di Malaysia, trauma psikologi di kalangan kanak-kanak dengan keadaan perubatan yang mempengaruhi imej badan.

Terdapat juga kepelbagaian dalam perantara iaitu daripada karangan kepada dokumentari alam maya kepada artikel digital yang interaktif.

Akhirnya, daripada 47 permohonan yang kami terima, kami hanya dapat memilih 10. Ini merupakan tugas yang amat sukar, sedangkan terdapat pelbagai permohanan, idea yang berbagai disertakan dengan cerita-cerita yang kami minat.

Menolong kami dengan tugas yang sukar ini adalah jawatankuasa pemilihan kami, yang terdiri daripada: 

Victoria Cheng, Pengurus Program, Projek Dialog

Jeannette Goon, Pegawai Program, Projek Dialog

Sharaad Kuttan, Pemberita Kanan, Astro Awani

Abu Hayat, Aktivis Hak Pekerja Migran

Justin Wong, Pengasas, Write Handed

 

Proses pemilihan melibatkan penilaian individu, di mana setiap ahli jawatankuasa mempunyai  akses kepada semua permohonan dan penilaian secara berasingan dijalankan. Selain itu, penilaian secara berkumpulan juga dilaksanakan di mana semua ahli jawatankuasa pemilihan bertemu untuk membincangkan 10 finalis.

10 penerima grant tersebut adalah:

 

Aidila Razak (Malaysiakini)

Artikel digital yang interaktif, disertai dengan video dan podcast tentang masyarakat pelarian bawah umur.

Vinodh Pillai

Untuk siri laporan bertulis yang bersiasat mengenai pekerjaan yang berbeza dan terdedah dalam industri seks tempatan dan bagaimana sumber pendapatan mereka terjejas semasa penyekatan oleh COVID-19. 

Rupa Subramaniam

Untuk pameran seni media campuran maya dan dokumentari yang memaparkan kisah 30 wanita Malaysia yang diterjemahkan ke dalam seni badan.

Loh Yi Jun

Untuk Take a Bao, podcast yang menceritakan kisah budaya makanan Asia yang tidak diwakili, bermula dengan cerita-cerita di Malaysia / Asia Tenggara.

Kristy Tan Wei Shia

Untuk siri podcast yang mengundang sumber yang berbagai-bagai/pelbagai untuk membincangkan topik yang berkaitan dengan hal-hal keibuan. Salah satu topik yang ingin diterokainya ialah: Bagaimana perihal keibuan dihargai dan dibentuk oleh budaya dan kepercayaan kita yang berbeza?

Allie Hill (bekerjasama dengan Amin Kamrani)

Untuk ebook yang menampilkan ahli komuniti pelarian, yang akan menunjukkan bakat dan kemahiran yang mereka ada. Buku ini akan dipimpin secara visual, disertakan dengan teks pendek.

Tan Su Lin

Untuk cerita berbahasa Melayu yang menekankan kesan perubahan iklim terhadap masyarakat peribumi di Malaysia.

Ricardo Unto (Daily Express)

Untuk laporan video mengenai pakar ritual dari Tuaran dan Penampang di Sabah. “Pakar ritual” ini adalah penjaga-penjaga kepada budaya masyarakat Kadazan Dusun.

Zarif Ismail

Untuk dokumentari alam maya mengenai suku Batek di Taman Negara. Filem ini meceritakan tentang penempatan, amalan kerohanian, pengumpulan makanan dan hubungan mereka dengan hutan di sana.

Roshinee Mookaiah

Diilhamkan oleh Humans of New York, sebuah pertandingan cerpen akan diadakan di laman media sosial yang menampilkan masyarakat India Malaysia. Mereka akan diminta untuk menghantar esei foto pendek atau video. Wang daripada grant ini akan digunakan untuk memberikan hadiah berbentuk wang, pembayaran untuk hakim dan iklan, dan juga untuk pengeluaran sebuah video.

 

Tahniah kepada semua penerima grant kami, dan terima kasih kepada semua yang membuat permohonan!

Untuk maklumat lebih lanjut mengenai proses pemilihan, sila baca panduan pemilihan kami untuk grant ini.

 

Media grant ini adalah sebahagian dari program Diverse Voices yang dikendalikan oleh Projek Dialog dengan sokongan Internews. Matlamat utama program ini adalah untuk menggalakkan kebebasan beragama dan masyarakat yang kurang diwakili di media.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Searching for Malaysia’s migration narrative

By Yvonne Tan

 

#MigranJugaManusia is a hashtag that began as an online protest against the mass arrests of migrants placed under Enhanced Movement Control Order. Utilising all social media platforms on 3 and 16 May, demanding:

1) Stop mass arrests and to free those who have been detained

2) Ensuring those who have been detained to have access to health services and that detention centers comply with WHO guidelines

3) Ensure detainees, their families, community representatives, diplomatic missions, UNHCR and human rights institutions are granted access to information about the arrests, detainees, and health and safety policies.

 

  1. Met with immediate backlash, one of the popular responses was from The Patriots who criticised the movement for borrowing migration narratives from the US who hypocritically champion human rights despite their history of the slave trade and waging wars throughout the world until today. Emphasizing how the US might be a country of immigrants, Malaysia has always been a place for Malay civilisation:

“Ya, memang betul. US adalah negara imigran. Mereka datang berkelana dari Eropah, dan merampas negara milik Red India. Jadi dari pioneer yang terdiri dari WASP (white-anglosaxon protestant), Mafia Itali, sampailah ke bangsa kulit hitam semuanya adalah imigran.

Berbeza dengan Malaysia yang merupakan gabungan Semnangjung Tanah Melayu dan Borneo. Tapi kesuluruhan kepulauan Nusantara ni memang asalnya negeri Melayu. Penuh dengan kerajaan Melayu. Kalau bukan Melayu pun, ia tergolong dalam leluhur yang sama dalam kelompok Austronesia.”

— Betul Ke Negara Malaysia Ditubuhkan Oleh Imigran?

 

  1. Other reasons for blaming migrants have become popular where 4 Indonesians who tested positive for Covid-19 had run for their lives including for the rising number of cases in immigration detention centres. Meanwhile, netizens have discredited the online protest with the news of a Rohingya teen and his wife were charged with the murder of a 6-year-old girl done in front of a restaurant of a shopping mall in Ampang. Making the connection between ethnicity and wrongdoings have been a regular theme particularly throughout the last week as a reason for the inhumane treatment that is required.

 

  1. Another viral argument that came about include making the distinction from illegal, otherwise known as Pendatang Asing Tanpa Izin (PATI), from legal migrants. Ismail Sabri’s, the Minister of Defence, justification for the crackdown was that PATI have broken the law which jeopardised the majority of the people in the country. Hence, they are allowed to arrest and the freedom for them to reside here as a “human right” will not be taken into account by the government. Several have agreed with him stating that the process of obtaining legal permits also include medical checkups and expensive payments.

 

Criticising Eurocentrism and the hypocrisy of the West is a valid argument and we should look to our neighbours and history on how we can move forward on the issue. However, there needs to be equal criticism for the hypocrisy of our leaders as well. Najib Razak who has consistently taken a strong stance against the Rohingya genocide, led the solidarity rally to press the Myanmar government to stop its cruelties conveniently during election years. “We want to show Myanmar and tell Aung San Suu Kyi that enough is enough,” Najib had said. “I’m here today not as Najib Razak, but as a Malaysian and a Muslim. There is no assembly more honourable than that which is done for Islam.” Malaysia has previously set up the Gaza Emergency Fund in 1994 and offered refuge to Bosnian Muslims in the same year. Help was given with strong criticism against the West for their indifference to their plights with a similar rally being carried out where 30,000 Malaysians filled the Merdeka stadium. We have done it before, why not again?

 

But all these discussions reveal the limits of our discourse, missing the point where migrants are but the subaltern, voiceless. There is little attempt to understand the “mass” of migrants themselves apart from the fact they come from neighbouring countries  “fleeing genocide”, “looking to improve their economic situation” and sometimes how well they have assimilated into Malaysia. Previously a family member of mine had a huge anti-immigrant sentiment until a few encounters which led her to speak to some. One of them included my neighbour’s maid. She would regularly come to the back of our house to speak to us, telling us of the ill-treatment she received, the debt she had accumulated from paying recruitment agencies, how she missed her son, extreme loneliness, counting the days her contract could end soon so that she could head back home to see him.

 

Another defining moment was regular trips to the photostat and stationery shop where she exchanged a few pleasantries with one of the foreign workers. Later on, someone in the shop came in and shouted at the worker for having accidentally photostated the wrong pages and became defensive of him for the treatment he received, telling the person off. As the protest attempts to emphasize humanity, so much of all we see is but a mass of people that is but an easy target to hold responsible for the dire state of a global pandemic.

 

First-hand accounts of having to navigate the structure of contractual transactions in the labour migration mechanism that can quickly turn into human trafficking and forced labour needs to be heard. Workers usually become entangled in a web of obligations towards their state, recruiters and employers in Malaysia when involving migration expenses, contracts and subsequent debt where the distinction between ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ is but a fine line.

 

Mass arrests not only of locals but also immigrants is a highly worrying response in a time where prisons have become global epicenters for coronavirus. However, locals have access to lawyers, families’ representatives that migrants should have as well. Time and time again it has been repeated that coronavirus has shown that it could affect anyone rich or poor, and our response has been to shun “lower-skilled” immigrants while “higher-skilled” immigrants do not pose a problem.

 

Although social interactions are supposed to be minimised during these times, maybe try to attempt to hear out those who were never listened to as Spivak said, “for the ‘true’ subaltern group whose identity is its difference, there is no unrepresentable subaltern subject that can know and speak itself”.