All about science and the Malay language
AB SulaimanPublished: Jan 13, 2009 7:39 AM | Updated: Jan 13, 2009 7:49 AM
‘Bahasa Melayu can be turned into a global winner’ is potentially a myth in the making. It is with this awareness that some of us who have shown preference for English over Malay.
Saad Hashim in his Malaysiakini article “Bahasa Melayu can be turned into a global winner” had a great time chiding and demonising those of us who prefer the use of English over Malay to seek knowledge, science and technology.
I would agree with this writer up to the point that some segments of Malaysians have been giving too much faith, trust, preference and use of English for our mental and material development.
Where have we placed our patriotism, nationalism, and sense of nationhood? What is so good about English and whatever is wrong with Malay anyway?
Just look around us on the world stage, the Japanese learning science and technology in Japanese, the Koreans in Korean, Italians in Italian, Germans in German, the Chinese in Mandarin, and the Indonesians in Indonesian Malay!
So it is proven beyond any shadow of doubt that English is not the only language that can undertake this task. We Malaysians should gain knowledge in Bahasa Melayu, our own indigenous language.
I would disagree with him on four interrelated dynamics listed immediately below, and by doing so, to share my thoughts and worries over this very important but contentious issue.
(a) The meaning of science, of which there can be two: One, the understanding of nature by way of the thinking process involving analysis, hypothesis, and synthesis. Two, the products of this thinking process.
(b) Words are more than just an assembly of alphabets or characters. They represent the sum total of human experience.
(c) The Malay language is an under-equipped and underdeveloped storehouse of human knowledge.
(d) The timing of the absorption and adoption of scientific and technical knowledge into Bahasa Melayu.
Definitions of science
I begin with the two meanings of science.
Judging from the writer’s deliberations, he equated science with items like the Bunsen burner, chemical actions and reactions, maybe; the principles and laws of physics, definitely. Indeed, the entire gamut of modern technology, surely. This is a normal, common and popular enough perception of science.
But it may surprise him and many others like him that these items are not science per se. These are in actuality the products of science.
Science has a second more appropriate though lesser known definition. It is understanding nature and this can be done by a string of thinking processes (i) of analysis past wisdoms, (ii) of creating hypothesis on their truth and viability, and (iii) of coming with some synthesis of conclusions and “products”.
I quote two classic examples here to illustrate the process, the first involving Copernicus and the second Galileo.
Copernicus inherited the wisdom inherited from ancient times that the earth is the centre of the universe with the sun and the other planets like Mars and Neptune revolving or rotating around it.
Through a great deal of theorising, followed by empirical testing and observation, he proved that it is the earth and the other planets that rotate around the sun. He debunked an old wisdom which turned out to be a myth!
Galileo inherited the wisdom that light objects fall at a slower rate than heavier ones; that a solid metal ball for example would fall faster than rubber ball. He too found this to be a myth.
Again through observation and experimentation, testing and calculation, induction and deduction, checking and re-checking, he offered this new scientific conclusion and product: rubber and metal, or any mass or object all fall at the same rate. He too debunked an old myth.
The scientific method
Both these towering intellectual giants have been the early contributors to the thinking and reasoning process, also known as the scientific method. It is a method of investigation featured by testing and verifying any hypothesis and theory to ensure that any conclusion or product is free from personal and cultural biases.
Galileo particularly insisted for all observations and experiments to be documented to make it easier for others to undertake the same experiment or observation at anytime anywhere.
Predictable results and available avenue for falsification are two additional and major admirable features of science and scientific thinking.
By practising science (or scientific thinking), both Copernicus and Galileo have helped develop the process of conceptualisation and intellectualisation, of drawing a clear line between truth and falsity, myth and reality, fact and value judgment or personal and cultural biases.
They helped usher the development of the era of Enlightenment, the era of a complete change of human thinking and an explosion in the level of human knowledge.
This era in turn bought along with it the following:
(a) Creative thinking, leading to deep theoretical constructs and conceptualisation.
(b) Imaginative thinking, where the human roams from the smallest worlds of the atoms and bosons to the largest worlds of the planets, galaxies and the vast expanses of the universe. No subject is sacrosanct. No subject is taboo.
(c) Scientific thinking where no new knowledge is accepted as truth unless it is fully accepted as one by all segments of the human community, and where all truth are always governed by predictability and subjected to falsification; at any time by any person.
(d) Literary thinking, where the human mind through its authors and writers develop the concept of the novel.
They in turn usher the following:
(e) Development of science and scientific knowledge.
(f) Development of technology. This is the conversion and application of the products to some forms of “tool” for humankind to use; like the microscope, television, cars, aeroplanes, even guns and bombs.
(g) Development of modern intellectual life. We can name any subject for study today, like economics, psychology, modern medicine, sociology; we can name any modern inventions we take so much for granted today, like the microscope, photography, the steam engine, the internal combustion engine; all of these began and were developed after the scientific revolution.
(h) Development of modern recreational life i.e whatever games we humans play today like football and badminton were conceptualised and formed during this era as well.
(i) Development of political life, like democracy and the democratic life.
(j) Development of the modern money economy featured by the joint-stock company, the factory system, the market economy, even of colonisation and world trade.
The conclusion at this juncture is that the entire human civilisation we live in today has been enjoying the products or fruits of good solid scientific thinking, made possible by the thinking process of the scientific method and applied into modern “tools” in the form of technology.
The role of words:
All of these developments are forms of human experience, and in turn dependent upon:
(a) Identifying the new found knowledge (i.e. ideas, concepts, and physical objects) and the awareness of its existence.
(b) It has to be given a label or name to isolate it from another item of knowledge. This label comes in the form of words.
(c) It is shared with others by way of communication, or by language.
(d) It is recorded by way of writing.
I would amplify upon them herewith by delving into the psychology and role of words.
Words are more than just an assembly or arrangement of the alphabet. They represent the sum total of human experience to their intended meaning.
To illustrate, let’s take the word “television”. Most of us must have heard if it, used it, and are addicted to its programmes. We enjoy television; we have a lot to say about our experience with it.
A huge number of us mankind live on television, either as manufacturers, mechanics, salesmen, or producers, actors, presenters of its programmes. There can be many more lives dependent on television in one way or another. Television is part and parcel of the human experience. So this word exists to most people.
But there can conceivably be some tribes in the remotest depths of the vast Amazon jungle, or in the deep corners of the Kalahari Desert for example who have not heard, seen, or even imagined “television” before. To these people this word, this experience, this ubiquitous communication and entertainment tool, does not exist at all!
Similarly, take the word handphone (or mobile- or cell-phone). Though it is popular all over the world, there can be some people or groups of people in some remote corners of the world who have not heard, seen or use it even today. To these people the ubiquitous cell-, mobile- or handphone too does not exist!
Limited Malay words
My definition of words serves to highlight the point that the Malay language is suffering from a shortage and deficiency of words, indicative of the fact that it is utterly deficient in human experiences.
This is to say that it has plenty of words reflecting (and “experiencing”) human sentiments (like kasih and malu), names of flora and fauna, of natural objects (sungai and gunung), even of spiritual or theological concepts (like halal, dosa, pahala). There are also conceptual words to cover human experience, like love and pain, joy and anger.
But such physical and conceptual words are limited, revealing the limited experience of the Malay culture.
A patently obvious deficiency of words in this language is centred in modern concepts, and in scientific and technical words.
Concepts are words and ideas that exist only in the mind. They are words like imagination, relaxation, and thousands of others like them.
Malay is barren with modern concepts (like conceptualisation, system, rule of law, imagination) and new scientific (e.g. gravity, virus, bacteria) and technical words (e.g circuit, affidavit).
Scientific and technical words of course label human experience in these fields.
It does not take a genius to summarise the prevailing situation:
(a) Malay is a weak language relative to the level of human knowledge that exists in the world.
(b) It is particularly deficient in conceptual scientific and technical words. The world of today however is very conceptual, scientific and technical.
(c) A huge amount of borrowing and injection of technical words and modern concepts is required to put Malay at par with other languages.
(d) It is at breaking point for being weak and having to absorb a huge amount of words and concepts in a very short period of time. It is suffering from what Alvin Toffler, a management guru and futurist, termed as information overload.
Translation a mammoth task
The writer might be aware of the acute deficiency of Malay conceptual, scientific and technical words, thereby of the very limited experience of Malay culture in the idioms and nuances of modern life.
The government certainly is aware of this and has created the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka to give Malay a jump-start to boost the language. Its principal role evidently is to upgrade the Malay language to be at par with other modern languages.
In this way it can assume its role of uniting the people and educating our younger generations in our own indigenous and “mother tongue” language.
In the event the following factors are to be taken into consideration:
(a) The mammoth task of translating or imitating conceptual scientific and technical words from foreign ones into Malay.
(b) The probability of achieving any modicum of success in this ambitious Herculean effort.
(c) The point that in this frenetic world the level of human knowledge doubles every eight to ten years, as claimed by some human psychologists.
With these factors in mind let’s do some basic postulations:
(a) Assume that the level of scientific and technical book available in Malay is at 10.
(b) Assume that this level in English or any other language is at 100.
We are now at the beginning of the new year. Based on the above notional figures we need to translate 90 new books in the course of the next ten years to be at par with any other scientific language.
By the end of the next ten years we would be able to lift Malay to the 100 level.
Or so we’d like to think. The truth however is not as simple as that, for:
(a) The intellectual infrastructure of Malay is limited so translating 90 books represents a 900 percent increase! I do not believe this is possible despite the massive, concerted and heroic efforts of the Dewan Bahasa.
(b) The number of books in the foreign language at the end of the next ten year would have doubled to 200 in any case.
(c) The absolute gap or differential between the two gets exponentially larger in the ensuing years!
Fundamentals just too weak
All said and done Malay will not be able to succeed in this catch-up game. Its fundamentals are just too weak for such an ambitious project.
We are living in a speedy world. Blame it on the computer, or on whatever. But the human civilisation is moving and changing so very fast that as they say we have to keep on running in order to stay still.
The case is the same with language. The English language (in this case) is moving so fast that we have to run to be abreast with the wealth of knowledge it can offer us. Time and timing is not on the side of the Malay language – it did not absorb conceptual scientific and technical words when these were first coined and to do so now is to me an exercise in sheer futility.
“Bahasa Melayu can be turned into a global winner” is thus potentially a myth in the making.
It is with this awareness that some of us who have shown preference for English over Malay.
It is not that we love Malay less but that we are acutely aware of the alternative at hand, of knowing English can give us far better advantages as a medium of communication, of knowledge, conceptualisation, scientific and technical learning and advancement.
We want to catch up with human experience directly through this language. We do not have to wait until it is translated into Malay, for this day may never come.
Learning from knowledgeable quarters
To conclude this little tale, I have one very important observation to make. Let’s put it this way. If I want to learn about motor mechanics today I’d enrol in a motor mechanic school where I’d be taught by some qualified and experienced teachers, people very knowledgeable about auto mechanics.
I certainly will not learn it from my neighbour and peer who is also about to enrol into the same school to learn the same subject.
Now many of us in this country want to (or have to, in this fast and furious conceptual, technical and competitive world) learn about concepts, science and technical words. We do not want to do so via the Malay language for it is also in the process of learning them usually from English. So we go directly to the source – the English language.
I would agree with this writer up to the point that some segments of Malaysians have been giving too much faith, trust, preference and use of English for our mental and material development.Where have we placed our patriotism, nationalism, and sense of nationhood? What is so good about English and whatever is wrong with Malay anyway?
Just look around us on the world stage, the Japanese learning science and technology in Japanese, the Koreans in Korean, Italians in Italian, Germans in German, the Chinese in Mandarin, and the Indonesians in Indonesian Malay!
So it is proven beyond any shadow of doubt that English is not the only language that can undertake this task. We Malaysians should gain knowledge in Bahasa Melayu, our own indigenous language.
I would disagree with him on four interrelated dynamics listed immediately below, and by doing so, to share my thoughts and worries over this very important but contentious issue.
(a) The meaning of science, of which there can be two: One, the understanding of nature by way of the thinking process involving analysis, hypothesis, and synthesis. Two, the products of this thinking process.
(b) Words are more than just an assembly of alphabets or characters. They represent the sum total of human experience.
(c) The Malay language is an under-equipped and underdeveloped storehouse of human knowledge.
(d) The timing of the absorption and adoption of scientific and technical knowledge into Bahasa Melayu.
Definitions of science
I begin with the two meanings of science.
Judging from the writer’s deliberations, he equated science with items like the Bunsen burner, chemical actions and reactions, maybe; the principles and laws of physics, definitely. Indeed, the entire gamut of modern technology, surely. This is a normal, common and popular enough perception of science.
But it may surprise him and many others like him that these items are not science per se. These are in actuality the products of science.
Science has a second more appropriate though lesser known definition. It is understanding nature and this can be done by a string of thinking processes (i) of analysis past wisdoms, (ii) of creating hypothesis on their truth and viability, and (iii) of coming with some synthesis of conclusions and “products”.
I quote two classic examples here to illustrate the process, the first involving Copernicus and the second Galileo.
Copernicus inherited the wisdom inherited from ancient times that the earth is the centre of the universe with the sun and the other planets like Mars and Neptune revolving or rotating around it.
Through a great deal of theorising, followed by empirical testing and observation, he proved that it is the earth and the other planets that rotate around the sun. He debunked an old wisdom which turned out to be a myth!
Galileo inherited the wisdom that light objects fall at a slower rate than heavier ones; that a solid metal ball for example would fall faster than rubber ball. He too found this to be a myth.
Again through observation and experimentation, testing and calculation, induction and deduction, checking and re-checking, he offered this new scientific conclusion and product: rubber and metal, or any mass or object all fall at the same rate. He too debunked an old myth.
The scientific method
Both these towering intellectual giants have been the early contributors to the thinking and reasoning process, also known as the scientific method. It is a method of investigation featured by testing and verifying any hypothesis and theory to ensure that any conclusion or product is free from personal and cultural biases.
Galileo particularly insisted for all observations and experiments to be documented to make it easier for others to undertake the same experiment or observation at anytime anywhere.
Predictable results and available avenue for falsification are two additional and major admirable features of science and scientific thinking.
By practising science (or scientific thinking), both Copernicus and Galileo have helped develop the process of conceptualisation and intellectualisation, of drawing a clear line between truth and falsity, myth and reality, fact and value judgment or personal and cultural biases.
They helped usher the development of the era of Enlightenment, the era of a complete change of human thinking and an explosion in the level of human knowledge.
This era in turn bought along with it the following:
(a) Creative thinking, leading to deep theoretical constructs and conceptualisation.
(b) Imaginative thinking, where the human roams from the smallest worlds of the atoms and bosons to the largest worlds of the planets, galaxies and the vast expanses of the universe. No subject is sacrosanct. No subject is taboo.
(c) Scientific thinking where no new knowledge is accepted as truth unless it is fully accepted as one by all segments of the human community, and where all truth are always governed by predictability and subjected to falsification; at any time by any person.
(d) Literary thinking, where the human mind through its authors and writers develop the concept of the novel.
They in turn usher the following:
(e) Development of science and scientific knowledge.
(f) Development of technology. This is the conversion and application of the products to some forms of “tool” for humankind to use; like the microscope, television, cars, aeroplanes, even guns and bombs.
(g) Development of modern intellectual life. We can name any subject for study today, like economics, psychology, modern medicine, sociology; we can name any modern inventions we take so much for granted today, like the microscope, photography, the steam engine, the internal combustion engine; all of these began and were developed after the scientific revolution.
(h) Development of modern recreational life i.e whatever games we humans play today like football and badminton were conceptualised and formed during this era as well.
(i) Development of political life, like democracy and the democratic life.
(j) Development of the modern money economy featured by the joint-stock company, the factory system, the market economy, even of colonisation and world trade.
The conclusion at this juncture is that the entire human civilisation we live in today has been enjoying the products or fruits of good solid scientific thinking, made possible by the thinking process of the scientific method and applied into modern “tools” in the form of technology.
The role of words:
All of these developments are forms of human experience, and in turn dependent upon:
(a) Identifying the new found knowledge (i.e. ideas, concepts, and physical objects) and the awareness of its existence.
(b) It has to be given a label or name to isolate it from another item of knowledge. This label comes in the form of words.
(c) It is shared with others by way of communication, or by language.
(d) It is recorded by way of writing.
I would amplify upon them herewith by delving into the psychology and role of words.
Words are more than just an assembly or arrangement of the alphabet. They represent the sum total of human experience to their intended meaning.
To illustrate, let’s take the word “television”. Most of us must have heard if it, used it, and are addicted to its programmes. We enjoy television; we have a lot to say about our experience with it.
A huge number of us mankind live on television, either as manufacturers, mechanics, salesmen, or producers, actors, presenters of its programmes. There can be many more lives dependent on television in one way or another. Television is part and parcel of the human experience. So this word exists to most people.
But there can conceivably be some tribes in the remotest depths of the vast Amazon jungle, or in the deep corners of the Kalahari Desert for example who have not heard, seen, or even imagined “television” before. To these people this word, this experience, this ubiquitous communication and entertainment tool, does not exist at all!
Similarly, take the word handphone (or mobile- or cell-phone). Though it is popular all over the world, there can be some people or groups of people in some remote corners of the world who have not heard, seen or use it even today. To these people the ubiquitous cell-, mobile- or handphone too does not exist!
Limited Malay words
My definition of words serves to highlight the point that the Malay language is suffering from a shortage and deficiency of words, indicative of the fact that it is utterly deficient in human experiences.
This is to say that it has plenty of words reflecting (and “experiencing”) human sentiments (like kasih and malu), names of flora and fauna, of natural objects (sungai and gunung), even of spiritual or theological concepts (like halal, dosa, pahala). There are also conceptual words to cover human experience, like love and pain, joy and anger.
But such physical and conceptual words are limited, revealing the limited experience of the Malay culture.
A patently obvious deficiency of words in this language is centred in modern concepts, and in scientific and technical words.
Concepts are words and ideas that exist only in the mind. They are words like imagination, relaxation, and thousands of others like them.
Malay is barren with modern concepts (like conceptualisation, system, rule of law, imagination) and new scientific (e.g. gravity, virus, bacteria) and technical words (e.g circuit, affidavit).
Scientific and technical words of course label human experience in these fields.
It does not take a genius to summarise the prevailing situation:
(a) Malay is a weak language relative to the level of human knowledge that exists in the world.
(b) It is particularly deficient in conceptual scientific and technical words. The world of today however is very conceptual, scientific and technical.
(c) A huge amount of borrowing and injection of technical words and modern concepts is required to put Malay at par with other languages.
(d) It is at breaking point for being weak and having to absorb a huge amount of words and concepts in a very short period of time. It is suffering from what Alvin Toffler, a management guru and futurist, termed as information overload.
Translation a mammoth task
The writer might be aware of the acute deficiency of Malay conceptual, scientific and technical words, thereby of the very limited experience of Malay culture in the idioms and nuances of modern life.
The government certainly is aware of this and has created the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka to give Malay a jump-start to boost the language. Its principal role evidently is to upgrade the Malay language to be at par with other modern languages.
In this way it can assume its role of uniting the people and educating our younger generations in our own indigenous and “mother tongue” language.
In the event the following factors are to be taken into consideration:
(a) The mammoth task of translating or imitating conceptual scientific and technical words from foreign ones into Malay.
(b) The probability of achieving any modicum of success in this ambitious Herculean effort.
(c) The point that in this frenetic world the level of human knowledge doubles every eight to ten years, as claimed by some human psychologists.
With these factors in mind let’s do some basic postulations:
(a) Assume that the level of scientific and technical book available in Malay is at 10.
(b) Assume that this level in English or any other language is at 100.
We are now at the beginning of the new year. Based on the above notional figures we need to translate 90 new books in the course of the next ten years to be at par with any other scientific language.
By the end of the next ten years we would be able to lift Malay to the 100 level.
Or so we’d like to think. The truth however is not as simple as that, for:
(a) The intellectual infrastructure of Malay is limited so translating 90 books represents a 900 percent increase! I do not believe this is possible despite the massive, concerted and heroic efforts of the Dewan Bahasa.
(b) The number of books in the foreign language at the end of the next ten year would have doubled to 200 in any case.
(c) The absolute gap or differential between the two gets exponentially larger in the ensuing years!
Fundamentals just too weak
All said and done Malay will not be able to succeed in this catch-up game. Its fundamentals are just too weak for such an ambitious project.
We are living in a speedy world. Blame it on the computer, or on whatever. But the human civilisation is moving and changing so very fast that as they say we have to keep on running in order to stay still.
The case is the same with language. The English language (in this case) is moving so fast that we have to run to be abreast with the wealth of knowledge it can offer us. Time and timing is not on the side of the Malay language – it did not absorb conceptual scientific and technical words when these were first coined and to do so now is to me an exercise in sheer futility.
“Bahasa Melayu can be turned into a global winner” is thus potentially a myth in the making.
It is with this awareness that some of us who have shown preference for English over Malay.
It is not that we love Malay less but that we are acutely aware of the alternative at hand, of knowing English can give us far better advantages as a medium of communication, of knowledge, conceptualisation, scientific and technical learning and advancement.
We want to catch up with human experience directly through this language. We do not have to wait until it is translated into Malay, for this day may never come.
Learning from knowledgeable quarters
To conclude this little tale, I have one very important observation to make. Let’s put it this way. If I want to learn about motor mechanics today I’d enrol in a motor mechanic school where I’d be taught by some qualified and experienced teachers, people very knowledgeable about auto mechanics.
I certainly will not learn it from my neighbour and peer who is also about to enrol into the same school to learn the same subject.
Now many of us in this country want to (or have to, in this fast and furious conceptual, technical and competitive world) learn about concepts, science and technical words. We do not want to do so via the Malay language for it is also in the process of learning them usually from English. So we go directly to the source – the English language.
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