Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Yanks are coming | English for Malaysians | Ain't that dumb?


The Yanks are coming! To teach us English!?

300 of them! And they're Fullbright scholars! We might as well get more from the London School of Economics! We might be better off with colorful Gaddafi headgears.

What we need is for Malaysians to learn to speak Bahasa Malaysia better. One of Malaysia's top cops, last night over TV, Mohd Bakri Zinin, could not string a decent sentence without "Apa ini?" and "Apa itu?" which really means that for every 100 words uttered perhaps 30% were "Apa nama?" "Apa itu?" or "Apa dah?"

Sure I write in English. You just haven't heard my Bahasa that's all. I'm just trying to translate (for myself) Samad Sa'id's BERSIH poem into English. I'll make someone very happy! :)

You can try your English on this :

Unggun-bersih

Semakin lara kita didera bara -
kita laungkan juga pesan merdeka:
Demokrasi sebenderang mentari
sehasrat hajat semurni harga diri.

Lama resah kita - demokrasi luka;
lama duka kita - demokrasi lara.
Demokrasi yang angkuh, kita cemuhi;
suara bebas yang utuh, kita idami!

Dua abad lalu Sam Adams berseru:
(di Boston dijirus teh ke laut biru):
Tak diperlu gempita sorak yang gebu,
diperlu hanya unggun api yang syahdu.

Kini menyalalah unggun sakti itu;
kini merebaklah nyala unggun itu.

"Unggun" is embers or as the current mood would like it, it's sparks! And they're flying!

I resent that line -

"Demokrasi yang angkuh ..."

Is there "arrogance" in Democracy? For being "angkuh" is really sombong. The "sombong" people are the PBB and UMNO people. They're not only "sombong" but "bodoh sombong "! Because according to one, Zam, we have "erection" every 5 years!

But as Samad would have it ... some Malaysians, in ignorance or arrogance, are decrying and denying democracy that they blah blah over RTM, with dishonesty and hypocrisy glistening from Rais' bald forehead!



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