It came to a point that I am no longer angered to see my mother tongue that is as old as 10 000 years old being claimed by a civilization that was merely a farming community still in the 1900's, which coincidentally had solid proof of having Indian and Chinese merchants coming to their straits and introduce the art of trade and business, subsequently - Islam and basically formed a proper civilization.
I think a 'thank you' is long overdue.
The following words are a list of banned words for non-Muslims.
I can vouch on my great-gandmother's grave that none of these words are 'Malay' but Arabic and Sanskrit derivations. So where, and how, did the arrogance of 'language ownage' came from?
Let me list you some words that are blatantly Sanskrit but is being used by a good vast of ignorant Malays and Malaysians.
Putera - Puttra, literally means 'Prince' or 'Son' and the exact meaning is still used by Malays today.
Puteri - Puttri, literally means 'Princess' or 'Daughter', the exact meaning maintained.
Bumiputera - Bhoomi, literally means 'earth' or 'world' and Putera as mentioned above, son or prince. Put together? Sons of Earth.
Jaya - Success, literal meaning maintained.
Putrajaya - Puttra - son, Jaya - success. Put together? Victorious Princes.
Dosa - dhosham, literal meaning maintained.
Derma - Dharma, literal meaning maintained.
Raja - exact meaning 'King'. How should I address my sovereign now since the government claimed this word exclusive to the main religion?
Rani - exact meaning - Queen. So is 'Permaisuri', in Sanskrit it is 'Parmaisuri".
Menteri - Mandhiri. Exact meaning maintained.
Perdana - Pardana, meaning 'Prime'. Therefore, Perdana Menteri is literally a romanized Sanskrit term.
Warna - Varna, meaning mainatained, which is 'colour'.
Wakil - Vakkill, meaning maintained, which is 'representative', now it is a common term for 'lawyer' in Tamil. Tamils still use this word till today.
Rahsia - Ragasiam or Ragashyiam, exact meaning maintained, which is 'secret'.
Aniaya - this exact word is used in Tamil which bears the same meaning - 'to inflict cruelty".
Asrama - Ashram, exact meaning maintained - 'hostel'.
Samudera - samudra, exact meaning maintained - "the ocean".
If I keep listing them all, this blog post would be obscenely long therefore have a look at this comprehensive list of Sanskrit words that were borrowed by the Malays. Also, there are words borrowed from English, Arabic, Chinese and other Eastern languages. Malay is basically a mish-mash of borrowed languages. But certain people became insecure that their identity was 'inherited' from other cultures. What is there to be embarrassed about? The fact that you are still living today carrying on the legacy of an ancient language where the inventors and people of the language themselves have long been extinct, signifies how much we have come far as a society, the influence of the language on a global level and how we are the living proof that certain old things from ancient times perseveres till modern age is a miracle in itself.
Why are we not seeing it this way? Why such burning insecurity that marginalization as a form of self-validation was opted instead?
The story of Hang Tuah and his brothers were removed from History textbooks when it was revealed that he was of Chinese descent and not Malay, like the erroneously long held belief. But the thing is, he was part of the entourage that escorted the Princess Hang Li Po from China, and her five escorts comprised of five brothers whose names starts with Hang coincidentally...how was that not clue enough that he was Chinese? Hang Li Po could very well be their sister!
Parameswara was Indian prince who allegedly converted to Islam from his marriage to a Persian princess so...his descendants have Indian blood, no?
If we could stop altering history as we see fit, that'll be great.
To be frankly honest in the most brutal way, Malays did not even have a culture until the arrival of the Indians and Chinese merchants some few hundred years ago. I can't give you the exact date because it happened so that along our course of Malaysian history, many things have been changed, altered and destroyed to suit the tastes of certain people with superiority complex. There really is no telling when exactly did we came but the earliest record that the Malaysian historians have maintained thus far dates to 500 years. Everyone who is honest with themselves probably knows it dates WAAYYY back beyond that timeline, when Srivijaya made a stronghold in Kaddaram back in the 7th century. What is Kaddaram, you are wondering? We Malaysians know it as 'Kedah". See? Not even the names of our states are "Malay".
If you're a Malay reading this, and have been ingrained a superiority complex by irresponsible people, and you have any ounce of humility left in you, you'd be embarrassed.
But then there are several extremists who go out of the way to make Malaysia a laughing stock in the eyes of the world. Malaysia once had a slogan of 'Malaysia Boleh' it seems that now 'Malaysia Tak Boleh' is the preferred slogan, all thanks to recent events.
If renowned Muslim scholars from the Middle East themselves, where Islam was birthed, are baffled over our ruling of the usage of the Allah issue, then isn't it time to take a step back and re-evaluate this whole situation?
I have taken the liberty to attach some academic journal publications for your reading on the true history of Malaysia. If you are an extremist that prone to violence because your 'culture' is being challenged, you can turn back and bask in your own bobble of ignorance as this will definitely rattle your jimmies.
5. An Inscribed Tablet from Kedah: Malaysia. Use Ctrl+F and key in Sanskrit.
Back in the times of my parents and grandparents, this was never an issue.
Never.
My parents and grandparents would recall fondly how the Malays, Chinese and Indians were so comfortably united because of their difference, the closeness of friendship among all the races. Racial slurs and tensions were unheard of.
It is sad that Malaysia was once a proud example of racial unity, envied by many and even lauded for our miracle of staying in one piece because of our racial differences.
What the hell happened to us along the way?
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