Jiwa Rojak

Hari ini ialah hari penggunaan bahasa Melayu di jabatan saya.

Saya tahu, banyak kementerian menganjurkan Hari Bahasa Inggeris (BI) seminggu sekali. Namun pada pendapat saya, keadaan Bahasa Malaysia (BM) lebih parah lagi. Bila satu hari dalam seminggu dikhususkan untuk Bahasa Inggeris, hari yang enam lagi Bahasa Malaysia tetap tidak digunakan. Bahasa kebangsaan kita mungkin Bahasa Malaysia, namun bahasa pertuturan kita setiap hari adalah Bahasa Rojak. Kerana itu, kami menjadikan setiap hari Isnin sebagai hari BM.

Ketika suatu rancangan temubual di TV, ada suatu kementerian menghantar 3 wakil – seorang Cina, seorang Melayu dan seorang lagi berbangsa Inggeris. Rancangan TV tersebut disiarkan di RTM1 dan sepatutnya menggunakan Bahasa Malaysia.
Si Cina menggunakan BM dengan baik sekali.
Si Inggeris tidak tahu berbahasa Malaysia. Dimaafkan.
Si Melayu sama seperti si Inggeris. Alangkah malunya!
Saya sendiri sama bersalah. Saya lebih fasih berbahasa rojak dari BM ataupun BI. BM cukup makan, BI pula sekadar ‘so-and-so’.

Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu, (ATMA) UKM membuat penyelidikan terhadap penggunaan Bahasa Kebangsaan di media elektronik baru-baru ini dan melaporkan bahawa penggunaan BM di TV9 misalnya, adalah 0%. Menyedihkan! Stesen TV yang lain sama teruknya. Di TV3 beberapa hari sudah, sewaktu Buletin Utama, saya terlihat perkataan ‘fi’, digunakan untuk terjemahan ‘fee’. Mengapa ‘fi’ jika ada perkataan ‘yuran’ dalam perbendaharaan kata BM? Mengapa ‘orijinal’ kalau ada ‘asli’? Apresiasi, informasi, radiasi, persepsi? Ketika jabatan kami menerima kunjungan tetamu dari Amerika, dia mengaku kepada saya, betapa mudahnya pelancong di Malaysia. Bukan sahaja kerana hampir semua rakyat Malaysia boleh bertutur bahasa Inggeris, malahan sekiranya mereka menggunakan BM tetap mudah difahami kerana kebanyakan perkataannya adalah perkataan BI yang ‘dialih-eja’.

Ada tabung denda disediakan di jabatan saya, 10 sen untuk setiap perkataan BI yang digunakan hari ini. Akibatnya, seluruh jabatan saya senyap dan sunyi. SUSAHnya bila perlu berBM!

Small Thief Big Theft

Small Thief

We watched Time Traveller’s Wife at TGV of Sunway Pyramid. The movie was so-and-so, HBO standard I would say. Eric Bana has never looked so good, though :D.

5 minutes after we left the theatre, we realised that Yamtuan’s handphone, was missing. He must have dropped it as we were walking out from the place, or the HP could have slipped off from his lap. We rushed back inside, with TGV staff, but couldn’t find the HP. Rang the number many times, but it was on silent mode and whoever took it wasn’t in the mood to chat. The TGV staff asked us to fill up the Lost-and-Found form saying they would contact us if they hear anything. Not a chance, we thought, but filled up the form anyway.

I sent messages to the number. Saying please return the phone. The phone wouldn’t be valued much at 2nd hand HP dealers, but the content, the messages, the pictures, the phone directory are all high value to us. Return it, do the right thing, we’ll reward you, I said.

Wasn’t really hoping though.

About an hour after that, I received a call from that number. Akak mau ini phone balik? He asked to meet me outside of the Pyramid, at KFC. I said, no, I don’t know this place, I don’t know where outside is, or where KFC is located. Why don’t you come back inside, meet me at McD by the ice rink?

He agreed.

I asked Yamtuan to go get a Security personnel in case Mr Found wanted to ‘sell’ me the phone.

I sat by the smiling yellow Mr.Mc.Donald and saw the guy. He was wearing TGV shirt and even had a TGV nametag on. He was in the theatre with us, helping us look for the phone. He forgot to look in his pocket, apparently.

Said he wanted to return the HP earlier but was afraid his boss would be angry. Things found must be sent to Lost-and-Found counter immediately, which he didn’t. Yes, but why wait after an hour?

And there came the moment of awkward silence. He was probably waiting for me to honor my promise of bountiful reward. But my hands didn’t go anywhere near my purse. And then he said, he had to go. I said, thank you for doing the right thing. God will reward you. He smiled, I smiled. And he left.

As in any good Hindi movie, Yamtuan and Mr.Mean Muscles only arrived after the bad boys were beaten to pulp by the leading star.



Big Theft

My happiness was stolen.

I was careless, I left it lying around unattended. It must have slipped off from my lap, or fallen off from where I was sitting. I took it for granted, thought it was exclusively mine for keeps. I probably was too busy with daily chores, with living life, to really pay attention to it, my carelessness had a price. Any opportunist, any TGV operator could see it lying around and attempted to make it his/hers. In this case, the TGV operator happened to be someone’s wife, a mother of four kids.

Losing it was a big blow to me. It was like seeing my father passed away, or being told that my mother had passed on, over and over again. It was like someone just died. Someone I loved dearly- so dearly that I didn’t know how to mourn the loss. I didn’t know how to cry yet I must have cried oceans.

I could probably eventually get another one, but I didn’t want a new one, it wouldn’t be the same. I don’t care for better, I want the same worn-out ruggedy cheapo HP (happiness) that I had.

I sent messages to the thieves (she had an accomplice, of course). Saying please return my HP. It wouldn’t be valued much anywhere, but it meant the whole world to me. And my three kids.

Wasn’t really hoping though.

But miracles of miracles, I got it back. The accomplice realized that stealing is stealing, and decided to do the right thing (if it was the right thing, but that would be another bloggable material. I better not venture there).

And so it was handed back to me. It wasn’t whole anymore, not intact. In fact, the trust element at the base, was shattered to smithereens. I dont quite know how that can be fixed, but it must. Audio part had the laughter bit erased. Visual files had images of the thief that couldnt be deleted, try as i might.

Not whole. My HP wasn’t perfect to begin with, but I loved it. It has lost its beautiful colors. Looks bleak now. Contains many defects too, like it is falling apart. Some can be fixed, some will take a while. I can see it requires a lot of repair works, it will probably cost a chamber or two of my heart. Sigh. But I do believe that it is worth saving - whatever the cost.

I can only pray that life provides me with good UHUs and masking tape! Let's hope i still have a good stock of Patience and Strength for the job ahead.

Alhamdulillah, I got my HP back! At the moment, that’s all that matters.

As in any good Hindi movie, the songs are all mimed. Kajol in person, doesn’t really sing that well.