Racist in translation

MARCH 6 — Some people may accuse Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad of going senile but his point on racism in Malaysia is very clear. Malaysians are a bit racist, just that they probably don’t realise it. Let’s be frank. Being racist isn’t just about thinking one race is better than the other. It is also about excluding somebody else socially.

And this is most obvious to me when people converse. Seriously, to the Malaysian Chinese and Indians, why do you still insist on using your native tongues when you know that I don’t understand what the hell you are saying? Do you really think me making jokes of needing an Astro remote control to get subtitles is that funny?

Now we all know the official language of the country is Bahasa Malaysia. As such, I personally object to any discussion of a formal kind on television in a third language that then makes it exclusive only to one group of people.

And yes, I am referring to the Lim Guan Eng and Chua Soi Lek debate. If the argument for having it in Mandarin is simply that it is specifically for the Chinese, then that is racist. The future of the Chinese community is not determined by the Chinese alone, not in this country.

The future of any race in Malaysia is dependent on all races, all religions and all sexual orientations and genders.

So it looks like the prime minister’s 1 Malaysia along with the DAP’s Malaysian Malaysia both went out the window that day.

True, you had translators on site. But then again, did they get the translations right?

To this day, none of the papers or any media agency has published a translated transcript of the debate in either English or Bahasa Melayu. So instead, we non-Mandarin speaking Malaysians who missed the debate have to rely on YouTube and the media to tell us what happened.

But this is not just limited to our politicians, of course. It goes further down the line to even everyday people.

It goes without saying that the two most spoken languages in Malaysia are Bahasa Malaysia/Melayu and English. Both are understood by anyone born right after independence, which makes up for the majority of the people within this nation. As such, if you insist on putting up placards, signages, banners and, if I may include, Facebook statuses and tweets in any other language than these two without translations, then I have to say you are being exclusive and subsequently a racist.

And no, asking people to go to Google Translate to know what you wrote does not cut it. The last thing we need is another mistranslation debacle which may poke someone’s eye out.

Let me be frank, and this is more specifically for the Chinese and the Indian Malaysians: If you insist on wanting a united Malaysia regardless of race, then either you stop speaking your native tongue if there is someone else present, or you translate it to them so that they can venture forth an opinion. Take your pick.

And this, of course, also applies to the Malay Malaysians who insist on switching their dialects. There is a standard to both Bahasa Malaysia and English that applies nationwide. Thus, either you speak in a way that everyone can understand, or you will have me speaking Shakespearean English to you.

So before anyone discredits Mahathir for pointing out that Malaysians are racist, look into a mirror and spare some time to think: why is it that there is still a need for sales representatives to be able to speak Mandarin in this day and age at a clothing store or even a gadget booth?

Because the people who approach you speak Mandarin? Why do they do that? Don’t they speak Bahasa Malaysia or English?

Does everyone understand what you two are talking about?

You see, I can point out that even a simple gadget purchasing deal might have some poor Malay chap next to you start distrusting whether or not he’s getting a fair deal because of your language switch. Next thing you know, he’s going to start blabbing that you switched languages and how he may not have gotten a cheaper price because he didn’t speak Mandarin or Cantonese.

And there, right there, is what makes Perkasa relevant.

So please. I don’t care if you subscribe to 1 Malaysia or even a Malaysian Malaysia or whatever ideological propaganda of unity you wish to devour, but understand that to do so means to be transparent and acknowledging the need to understand one another, and we obviously can’t do that with Mandarin and Tamil being spoken in a public debate.

Give it another 10 years until perhaps the entire Malaysia starts conversing in the two race-based native tongues. Till then, just keep it to English and Bahasa Malaysia so we all can understand without anything either lost in translation or being exclusive to your own race.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.