“ASSorry I Don’t Speak Malay”

April 8, 2008

“ASSorry I Don’t Speak Malay”

A fortnight ago, I had the chance of meeting a man who looks Malay, speaks no Malay (he told me) and has a Malay name. Obviously he is Malay. The first hour, I was OK with him because we did not talk much as I was there to accompany a friend. I was not quite sure why he came up to me and introduced himself. A lady like me, too shy to even look at guys. For the sake of being polite, I just dragged my self to open my mouth and uttered a few words.

Because I detected an accent that was foreign to me, I asked him if he was Malay. He nodded. Without being asked, he elaborated more on how BAD his Bahasa Melayu was. I remember thinking that his English was not that perfect. Putting up an accent is another thing. I still don’t know why he had to speak with an accent and not only his English was not perfect, it can be categorized as buruk berabis.

I left him the moment he asked for my number. What the eff? I don’t get it why some people are so proud to say to others that his/her Malay is bad. As if being bad at Malay is a good thing. I struggled to get a “B3″ for my Bahasa Melayu ‘O’ Level. With marks as low as 43-48 out of 100 and 60-64 being the highest. The whole class would be so happy to receive their marked Malay papers and I, on the other hand, would worry so much that I, in advance would not be attending school on that day.

Once my Malay teacher looked at my report card and he frowned seeing me doing so well in other subjects except for Malay and Math. He inquired some questions on how often did I converse in Malay with my family and peers? I came from a school with a bad reputation and where most of the students speak Malay to one another. So that was not the case. At home, I speak Malay with everyone except with the maids who speak no Malay at all.

He made a few remarks over my Kertas 2. I got 0 marks for not explaining the concept of Pantun, Gurindam, Sajak etc. I did explain the concept! buta kah ia inda meliat?! Meanwhile the terjemahan of Bahasa Melayu Klasik to Moden was my weakness. He said from the way I wrote, it seemed as if I hentam everything. It was so embarassing!! I never meant to do that! I just didn’t know all the words yang berkias-kias. But I tried! But 0?? that was crazy!! He should gave me at least 5! Not only was I embarassed, I was also angry at the same time. Imagine, even my Kertas 1, he gave me 50/100. Ngam-ngam pass. I thought he was biased because his favourite student, the beautiful and tall ‘H’ got 85 above for her kertas 1.

Usually after every Malay tests or exams, I would be satisfied with my answers. But the results would still be the same. Failed my kertas 2 and passed my kertas 1 with 50 or 52. I went home feeling depressed all day long and I simply would kuluk the papers and buang ke sampah.

Selepas atu, I skipped his classes until O level exam finished. He didn’t even bother I was in class or not. Nah results out I got B3!!!! hello!!!! I wanted to see him after that but inda tia jua ada. Haha betapuk ia kali!!

So to some people out there, jangan tah kan eksen cakap inda pandai Melayu. Membarigali saja bunyi nya. I would understand if your Mom or your Dad isn’t Malay. Tapi yang anu melayu hantap ani bah.. walaupun English steady.. jangan tah kan mengakun “y’know like how bad my Malay is like I don’t understand it like I’m so dumb” meher.

Permalink