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Last Christmas, my family passed the Muzium Darul Ridzuan during our holidays. I mentioned that Peninsular Malaysia’s museums are outdated in displaying information (unless I am unaware of newer upgrades). I compared the Borneo Cultures Museum to Singapore museums while my husband who went to Australia before said that the Borneo Cultures Museum is of the quality of the Australian museums.

I mentioned the book of the Common Prayer in the Borneo Cultures Museum to my family. The Book of the Common Prayer is “a permanent feature of the Church of England’s (also known as Anglican) worship and a key source for its doctrine.”1 The Book of Common Prayer. From: https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer I explored the top floor of the museum, which focused on the history of British colonial rule from 1946 to 1963. It was in this section I found the Book of the Common Prayer.

Book of common prayer

Book of Common Prayer found in Borneo Cultures Museum, Sarawak.

This book caught my attention because I heard many fear-mongering statements about the Jawi language, especially from non-Malays. I did not know how to express myself verbally to tell them to not fall into their confirmation bias. Also, I expressed better through writing and what better way is to write and post some visuals so people can learn.

Hence, the purpose of this post is to show my discovery of Christian materials in the Jawi language in Malaysia. At this point, I have not decided if I want to research further. As for now, I will take the first step by showing my initial explorations.

Why do I occasionally find Jawi language materials?

During my master’s research, I researched the transformation of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in Malaysia. I compared the 1934 illustrations of Ali Baba dan Empat Puluh Penyamun (from Malay Home Library Series), the movie scenes from Ali Baba Bujang Lapok, and contemporary artworks by a Malaysian artist named Paiman.

To find out more about the illustrations from 1934, I had to make a trip to the National Library. I could only find the photocopied version of the original book. I suspected that it was photostated because it was in bad condition — it was common for most colonial manuscripts for not surviving through the type of materials and humidity.2Farouk Yahya, Magic and Divination in Malay Illustrated Manuscripts, 5. Therefore, Ali Baba dan Empat Puluh Penyamun’s book in the National Library was photocopied as a form of preservation.

Ali Baba dan Empat Puluh Orang Penyamun

Book cover of Ali Baba dan Empat Orang Puluh Penyamun. From Ali Baba
dan Empat Puluh Orang Penyamun, Printers Limited, 1934. Source: Perpustakaan
Negara Malaysia

I was mindblown by the book for two reasons. Firstly, the book was translated from the Orientalist version without much change from the story from the West. It was as though the British administrators brought in their experiences from the West and translated them to Jawi or Romanised Malay. Secondly, I learnt that the Romanised Malay is a transliteration of Jawi. This new information exposed me to incorrect knowledge that I acquired about the Jawi language growing up. For example, some non-Malays said that Jawi is a religious language and not a language used in daily life. There was a fear that learning Jawi was a fear that they will lose their identity as a non-Malay.

Other than that, I have read through materials from Angkatan Sasterawan ’50 (Literary Generation of 1950) that why there was increased use of the Romanised language instead of Jawi because:

  1. The Jawi language was romanised and standardised for official letters and literature so it is easier to learn.3Sufean Hussin, Pendidikan Di Malaysia – Sejarah, Sistem Dan Falsafah, 13; Pannu, “The Production and Transmission of Knowledge in Colonial Malaya,” 445.
  2. Indonesia and Turkey were romanising their language around the same time (from 1920s onwards).4Memoranda Angkatan Sasterawan ’50, 12

What have I managed to find so far online?

As this post documents my findings, I did a quick search online to see what can be found so far.

I managed to find a 1958 commemorative stone in three languages, which are in Jawi, Chinese, and English. According to Herald Malaysia, Jawi was still commonly used until 1966 when the Education Minister, Tan Sri Mohamed Khir Johari abolished the compulsory teaching of Jawi in schools.5Herald Malaysia Online, “Jawi Was Used in Schools.” From: https://www.heraldmalaysia.com/news/jawi-was-used-in-schools/51299/5 It is possible that with the abolishment of compulsory teaching of Jawi, we have also forgotten the history of the language until the non-Malays thought of learning Jawi as a form a proselyting.

Commemorative Stone

Commemorative Stone in three languages. Source: https://www.heraldmalaysia.com/news/jawi-was-used-in-schools/51299/5

Finally, the other material I found online was the Book of Judges translated by Leydekker. This book caught my attention because it was written in Jawi, and the ornaments around the pages are similar to the 1800s Orientalist books found in the West. As this is a book from the Bible and not a story from Arabian Nights, it will only focus on the heavily ornamented floral patterns rather than the visual tropes of Orientalist art, such as harems, women in veils, and domes. That warrants separate research on Orientalist art and decorative elements found in books.

Leydekker's Judges

Leydekker’s Malay translation of the Book of Judges in the Jawi script (1733). Source: Bob Kee, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Ornamented page from Edward Lane’s The Thousand and One Nights translation. From The Thousand and One Nights by Edward William Lane, Harper & Brothers, 1848. Source: https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=yCIYAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PP6

I admit this is not a comprehensive analysis, but I am putting it down to highlight of such materials that exist in Malaysia.

References

Farouk Yahya. Magic and Divination in Malay Illustrated Manuscripts. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill nv, 2016.

Herald Malaysia Online. “Jawi Was Used in Schools.” Herald Malaysia Online, January 9, 2020. https://www.heraldmalaysia.com/news/jawi-was-used-in-schools/51299/5.

Memoranda Angkatan Sasterawan ’50. 2nd ed. 1962. Reprint, Petaling Jaya: Penerbit Fajar Bakti, 1987.

Naoki, Soda. “The Malay World in Textbooks: The Transmission of Colonial Knowledge in British Malaya.” Southeast Asian Studies 39, no. 2 (September 2001): 188–234.

Pannu, Paula. “The Production and Transmission of Knowledge in Colonial Malaya.” Asian Journal of Social Science 37, no. 3 (2009): 427–51. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853109X436810.

Sufean Hussin. Pendidikan Di Malaysia – Sejarah, Sistem Dan Falsafah. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia, 1993.

Lianne

Author Lianne

Observations, experiments and processes. "I know how much you care when you get my name right."

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