FYI: Revisited: Ministry of Defence's "Poke the eye"

Remember the Defence Ministry’s guideline on attire some time ago?
The poor chap who translated the Malay term ‘menjolok mata’ into ‘poke the eye’ must have now laid dormant in some rabbit hole or something, hoping he would find a new ‘parallel universe’ there.

The strange thing is, ‘menjolok mata’ isn’t even the right term. What? Yes, according to Kamus Dewan it is ‘mencolok mata’. The following explanation can be found at http://appw05.dbp.gov.my/dokumen/pedoman%20bahasa.pdf
Menurut Kamus Dewan (1994: 245), kata mencolok mata bermakna 1. mencucuk mata; 2. (bahasa kiasan) tampak jelas, kelihatan jelas benar, 3. membangkitkan marah orang yang melihat, menyakitkan hati, memberi malu.

Kata menjolok pula bermakna 1. menusuk (merodok) sesuatu dengan galah dll. supaya gugur, menusuk ke dalam lubang dll. 2. memasukkan jari tangan ke dalam lubang hidung (kerongkong dll.); 3. memancing-mancing keterangan dll.; daripada orang, mengajuk atau menduga hati.

Jadi, antara mencolok mata dengan menjolok mata, yang tepat ialah mencolok mata, iaitu bahasa kiasan yang bermakna tampak jelas atau kelihatan jelas benar. Contoh penggunaannya:

• Kakitangan kerajaan dilarang memakai pakaian yang mencolok mata.

This is what I understand. It has to be that the difference is whether the action is physical or not. You can still poke someone’s eye (‘menjolok mata’) provided that it means you use something for example your fingers to do that. This may be the result:

You must have very strong fingers. Can I borrow them?

As for something that you wear, for example, they are so skimpy that your labia are nearly visible or in case of a man, your ‘wrinkled fruit’, they are so distastefully worn, that it is a sore to your eyes and makes you uncomfortable especially when you can't avoid but look at them. You may look like this when it happens:

Not long ago (circa the turn of the millennium) Spritney Bears and Kristina Akugila involved in a media tussle as to who wears the most ‘mencolok mata’ outfit, in other words, it means the least put on. 

Here to remind you, ‘mencolok mata’ is not limited to skimpy outfit only or outfit only. Another example: Sampah yang dilambakkan di tepi jalan raya itu mencolok mata. (The rubbish heaped on the roadside is a sore to the eye)

I do apologize if some examples I gave above are distasteful. So, can we say ‘mencolok perasaan’ (hurting one’s feeling)?

Any expert out there?

FYI: Being Technical Vs Being Sensible

A lot of Malay words, standing alone or within a phrase, are initially and generally accepted as the correct term for its English equivalent. But as we progress, confusions seem to rise as to its exact meaning or when a variation suddenly appears as a result of re-classification (for example a disease that expands into several sub-diseases in the same family). A very good example of this is diabetes.

A generally accepted term for Diabetes in Malay is Kencing Manis. As you may know now, diabetes is not just kencing manis as in 'your urine is sugar-laden' or 'your urine is sweet as gula-kabung, ants just love them'. We are now informed about the various types of diabetes (mainly Type 1, 2 and 3. Know about them HERE). But, I am not going to delve deeper into what they are.


DBP recognised this long ago. That's why now diabetes is the Malay translation of diabetes. The problem is, can all the people in the general population, in this case Malaysians, actually comprehend that diagnostic term especially when a doctor is supposed to relay the bad news? Tell diabetes mellitus, diabetes insipidus or maybe diabetes berkaitan obesiti, to a Makcik or an Ah Soh or an Achii their 70's, mostly who at best graduated a night reading class circa the sixties a-la P. Ramlee movies. What you get from them is this: Mouth agape, eyes blinking and nervous hands wiping off sweat with tissues or the end of their selendang.


That's why doctors and translators alike address the issue sensibly by telling an uninformed person a more generally understood term of certain words to avoid an unnecessary new coronary-related disease being diagnosed at the same time. Bahasa Melayu translators would normally use diabetes as diabetes in formal translation texts, by reason that those who read it has a certain degree of knowledge to it. In a text known to be distributed to a lesser informed population, we are advised to include terms that minimize confusions.


Did you notice that these days over teh tarik, we sometimes refer diabetes as diabetes and not kencing manis in our normal Bahasa  Basahan conversation? Did you realize also teh tarik is a big contributor to Type 2 Diabetes.. he he..


Well, time and sensibility made us well aware and informed.


Tell me if you agree.

FYI: How and when to use the suffixes 'i' and 'kan'

Let's find a few examples first, just to have a grab of what is going to be discussed this time. To be safe (on my side at least), I am going to list down examples given by a reliable source (sumber yang boleh dipercayai). She is a Bahasa Melayu teacher at St. John's Institution. I can't name her because I haven't gotten her permission yet. Here are the examples:

a. menjatuhkan, menjatuhi

b. menidurkan, meniduri

Here's what she told me about the related grammar rule.

a. When a verb is used with an object to affect a receiver, we should always use the suffix 'kan'.

b. When a verb is used without an object, and directly point to a receiver, we should use the prefix 'i' but not always necessary.

Confused? I was too, initially. But with these sentences as  examples, perhaps you can understand what it means.

1. Hakim menjatuhkan hukuman tiga tahun penjara ke atas pesalah tersebut.

2. Hakim menjatuhi pesalah tersebut dengan hukuman tiga tahun penjara.

In sentence (1), Hakim is the doer, hukuman is the object and pesalah is the receiver.

Sentence (2) is the same thing all over, but this time, notice now Hakim menjatuhi pesalah, meaning Hakim (doer) does the verb menjatuhi directly to pesalah (the receiver). The object comes later and it doesn't matter. Sentence (1) says Hakim (the doer) does the verb menjatuhkan, hukuman (the object) to pesalah (the receiver). Still confused? Study these sentences, take note when and how the suffixes 'kan' and 'i' is used:

Normah menghamburkan kata-kata kesat kepada bekas suaminya.

Normah menghamburi suaminya dengan kata-kata kesat.

I do hope you can understand that now, otherwise you really need to resit your SPM BM Paper.

Which comes to the second example of menidurkan, meniduri. This is the only exception in using 'kan' and 'i', because, something will turn out awfully not right when,

Saya meniduri anak perempuan saya di dalam biliknya. (I slept with my daughter in her room). That is why this is an exception. It should always be written as, Saya menidurkan anak perempuan saya di biliknya (I tuck my daughter into bed in her room).

Well, you know what, I knew someone who 'meniduri anaknya' and later with a little bit of my help, hakim telah menjatuhkan hukuman enam belas tahun penjara ke atasnya. I had wished he got a maximum of twenty years, but sixteen is not that bad, I guess. It made sure his libido is completely depleted by the time he got out. And you know what, cell people hate incest.

But sorry, I digress.

FYI: Bahasa Melayu Sub-divisions

I suspect, so far that we know, or at least until recently that I found out, Bahasa Melayu consists only two sub-divisions, Bahasa Baku and Bahasa Pasar. Their descriptions are as follows. (Reference: PRPM) These are cut and paste, so don't blame me later. A simple English translation follows after their description respectively, for the benefit of all.

Bahasa Baku

Bahasa yang teratur dan mantap pelbagai aspeknya (seperti ejaan, bentuk kata, tatabahasa, dll) dan diterima oleh masyarakat sebagai norma penggunaan yang betul atau sahih, bahasa standard;

Ragam bahasa yang diakui betul dan diterima oleh penutur aslinya yang terdidik dlm bahasa berkenaan (ditandai oleh bentuk kata dan ayat yang mengikut kaedah tatabahasa dan digunakan dalam perhubungan rasmi, tulisan ilmiah atau perbicaraan umum).

(A language regarded as correct (in spelling, words, grammar etc.) and acceptable, as agreed by language scholar of a language. Used in formal communication).

Bahasa Pasar

Ragam bahasa Melayu yang tidak betul jalan bahasanya (terutamanya seperti yang dituturkan oleh orang asing yang tidak tahu akan kaedah bahasa Melayu).

a) Bahasa Melayu seperti yg dituturkan oleh orang bukan Melayu yang tidak menguasainya atau seperti yang dituturkan oleh orang Melayu apabila bertutur dengan orang bukan Melayu yang diketahuinya tidak pandai bertutur dalam bahasa Melayu yang betul; b) bahasa yang berupa campur aduk antara bahasa ibunda penutur dengan bahasa kedua yang cuba dituturkannya (biasanya digunakan dlm hubungan perdagangan), pijin;

(An incorrect usage of a language especially by a speaker other than mother tongue users, especially a foreigner, and/or when a native speaker tries in vain to make a non-native speaker understand, he/she mixes and jumbles it with language of the speaker and the second language. It can be vice versa)

But wait, I don’t think I speak either of those most of the times. Do you agree too?

Apparently, Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka (DBP) agrees. So they come up with a new sub-division, here:

Bahasa Basahan

Bahasa yang digunakan sehari-hari dlm keadaan tidak rasmi.

Bahasa yang digunakan dlm percakapan sehari-hari;

(A language that is used in a day to day conversation, informally)

But mother tongue or not, I believe most all of my friends- Malays, Non-Malays, Aliens, Djinns- speak reasonably good Bahasa Melayu. So now we know, we normally speak Bahasa Basahan.

Even though ‘basah’ is translated as wet, it has nothing to do with wetness, or dreams that cause you to get wet. Which FYI, I haven't experienced in a looooong time.

Yes?