Suitable?

Songkok may not be for all, but Jawi should be

SONGKOK is arguably the most written about headgear in Malaysian media post-Dec 19 when the Kelantan government made it a compulsory Thursday wear for male state civil servants. Let’s be forthright with our view: we see no harm in the wearing of the songkok so long as it is perched on the head of a Muslim. Though some non-Muslims see fit to wear them to official functions. To be fair, the Kelantan government is making it compulsory only for Muslims. And that, too, for only the state civil servants. This notwithstanding, it would have been better for the state government to begin by encouraging its use rather than making it mandatory.

Songkok, and by extension, other Muslim wear, seem to attract more attention than it should. After all, this decade and the one which went before have put Muslims under a spotlight. We do not think the most outrageous of fashion wear would suffer the same fate. Most certainly, not in London’s Oxford Street, though eyeballs in Kuala Lumpur may be given to much ogling. But this is the nature of a skin-deep world. Kelantan’s directive would have fared better if the songkok’s life cycle there began with a nudge and not a “must”. Sadly, this has led to much tedious argument in the media about the state’s insidious intent.

That brings us nicely to Jawi. Since the idea of teaching Jawi to schoolchildren was floated, arguments have mostly been tedious. And insidious intent wasn’t far behind. Let’s be clear. There is no stealth here. No one wants to make a Muslim or an Arab of someone who isn’t. Jawi is a script, like it is for Urdu and Persian. Neither has become Arabs. They can’t, even if they tried. What people should be concerned about is the content. Jawi’s content is Bahasa Melayu. Latin script didn’t make us Indo-Europeans. Likewise, Jawi will not make us Arabs or Muslims.

Malaysia may be 62 years old, yet we still quarrel about scripts. It may be because we don two spectacles when we look at the world. One pair when we look at ourselves and people of our kind. And another pair when we look at others. This way of seeing results in two pictures: unblemished us and blemished others. Prejudice is a dangerous thing. Because it “others” others. Prejudice causes us to see evil when there is none. We need to accept this: we are created different and will remain so. The best among us are those who, despite our inherent differences, get to know one another. Knowledge binds. Ignorance separates.

A national language, like knowledge, seeks to bind. And Malaysia isn’t peculiar by any measure. Every nation in the world has a language it calls its own. To pick a petty quarrel about the Jawi script is, well, petty. Which leads us to ask an intriguing question: why didn’t we scream and shout when Bahasa Melayu was taught by Latin script? Did we become German? Italian? Or French? Or asked another way: did we become less of a Malay? Chinese? Or Indian? Granted, the songkok may perch uneasily on some heads. But Jawi is no songkok. It is meant for all manner of Malaysian tongues. Is Jawi suitable for schools? We say: yes, Jawi is suitable.

What people should be concerned about is the content. Jawi’s content is Bahasa Melayu. Latin script didn’t make us Indo Europeans. Likewise, Jawi will not make us Arabs or Muslims.