i don need any eng class

Pada 27 Januari 2010, seorang individu – nama tidak perlu disebut – mengundang reaksi yang pelbagai berikutan tindakannya yang memperlekehkan pegangan saya berhubung soal penggunaan bahasa yang betul dari segi ejaan, tanda baca, tatabahasa dan sebagainya di Facebook.

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Terkejut dan hairan dengan tindakannya, saya menyatakan begini pada ruangan status saya di Facebook:

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Hairan dengan sikap [nama dibuang] yang menambah saya di Facebook. Apabila saya memaklumkan bahawa “saya tidak akan melayan sesiapa yang tidak tahu menggunakan Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Inggeris, Bahasa Tamil atau Bahasa Mandarin yang betul apabila berkomunikasi dengan saya menerusi Facebook,” dia menjawab, “ur really not worth being here.. pls delete me from ur frens list”.

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Komen-komen yang saya terima daripada rakan-rakan adalah seperti berikut. Saya paparkan di sini sebagai bahan dokumentasi dan kenangan hari tua.

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Zuraima: Sabar tuan. Dia tidak mahu memahami perjuangan.

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Rakesh: What is there to be surprised? She understands your message and seeing that she’s totally incapable of spelling even simple words, she did a great thing by requesting you to delete her off. Hats off to her.

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Uthaya: Well, I can’t help but wonder who added whom in the first place.

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Ahmad: Terlalu cepat melatah. Atau beliau memang tidak tahu berbahasa dengan betul.

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Mysahra: Think positive. That’s one less twit to educate. Pardon my manners.

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Matt: Sabar, cikgu. Sabar.

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Rahimin: Anehnya dia. Lebih aneh daripada kisah “Yang Aneh-aneh”.

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Uthaya: Reaksi terakhirnya – “i dint know ur like a robot... anyway.. let me do the honors of deleting ok”.

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Uthaya: Juga – “im sorry??? tis is facebook.. not an eng class... ok.. tanks for ur compliment... i don need any eng class..”

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Rahimin: Wah! Berbahasa dengan baik ibarat robotkah?! Terkejut saya! Sungguh, ini pertama kali saya dengar. Saya tak kisahlah bahasa apa pun. Oh, lucu juga dia tu!

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Emmy: Jangan layan.

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Ahmad: Mungkin dia terkejut ... saudara akan berkata kepadanya seperti itu ... kerana mungkin selama ini dia tidak kenal siapa Uthaya Sankar SB. Jarang membaca, mungkin.

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Azman: Biarkan Si Luncai terjun dengan labu-labunya.

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Patricia: Sir, I really feel that she does not know your worth. If she really thinks that good language is robotic, I have nothing to say about her. So, I’d like to ask: What kind of language has she been speaking so far? When someone is trying to educate you, learn. Don’t teach or retaliate. Take it or leave it.

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Uthaya: Terima kasih kepada semua yang memahami serta memberi sokongan moral terhadap pendirian tegas saya dalam soal berbahasa.

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Bayani: Pak Cik, bijak tidak semestinya pandai; bodoh tidak semestinya dungu.

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Kelly: Sir, these sort of people are obviously not worth educating as they are not willing to learn. You should carry on with what you are doing as it is helping people and there is nothing wrong with that.

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Balwinder: Sir, sesiapa nak masuk atau nak keluar, biarkan saja. Hidup ini datang dan pergi. Perjuangkan apa yang perlu. Lepaskan apa yang tidak berguna.

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Azeman: Sesungguhnya bahasa yang baik dan disisipkan dengan penggunaan tatabahasa yang betul merupakan lukisan bagi penulisnya. Justeru, apa yang diperjuangkan oleh Uthaya sebagai penulis dan aktivis bahasa amat saya kagumi.

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Thamil: Sometimes, human tend to behave as they are psychologically effected only to hurt others in a psychological way. Take it as a test for you, sir.

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Bissme: Maybe she finds you too rigid. Maybe she finds you cannot adapt to situations. I do agree with her to a certain degree when she says this is Facebook ... not some English or Bahasa Malaysia class. She has a point there. It is like you going to a disco with the aim of praying. I believe there is a place and time for everything, including principles. You need to relax and you need to chill out.

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Bissme: I am not finding fault with you. You can have your own principles and of course you expect people to respect your decision. I think you should do the same with this friend of yours. Instead of flashing out her comment in the open and get people to say nasty things about her, you should juat respect her and just delete her from your friend list. I think what you did to a certain degree is not very ethical. I am sorry to say if my comment has hurt you any way. That is just my point of view.

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Joshua: You know, Facebook was created for students not for lecturers. The website’s name stems from the colloquial name of books given at the start of the academic year by university administrations with the intention of helping students to get to know each other better. I think you need to be internationally or interracially adopted.

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Raduan: Perkara lucu dan aneh akan menambah lagi keseronokan hidup. Anggap sahaja itu sebagai kepelbagaian ragam manusia yang mesti ditempuhi.

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Hassan: Saya sangat bersetuju dengan prinsip dan ketegasan Uthaya Sankar SB. Walaupun Facebook bukanlah kelas bahasa tetapi terlalu banyak “membaca” bahasa yang tidak menepati keanggunan sesuatu bahasa itu boleh mempengaruhi bahasa kita untuk berantakan juga. Jadi, sesekali “membaca” bahasa yang memperlihatkan ciri-ciri keanggunannya membuatkan saya berasa segar dan tidak terbawa-bawa sangat dengan “ejaan pasar dan SMS”. Uthaya sendiri pernah menegur apabila saya menggunakan “katne?” dan saya menerima teguran itu dengan hati terbuka.

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Uthaya: Bissme, Joshua dan rakan-rakan – Supaya tiada sesiapa yang terkeliru, biar saya nyatakan bahawa saya tidak menghalang sesiapa menggunakan apa bentuk bahasa sekalipun di tempat lain. Tetapi apabila berkomunikasi bersama saya di Facebook, gunakan bahasa yang betul. Meminjam perbandingan Bissme; bermabuk-mabuklah di pub tetapi bukan di rumah saya. Meminjam maklumat Joshua; membuktikan betapa Facebook berciri akademik dan formal kerana ditujukan kepada golongan pelajar universiti, bukan untuk budak yang dibuang sekolah! Apa pun, saya gembira membaca komen yang pelbagai dan ikhlas daripada anda semua.

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Uthaya: Bissme, about “flashing out” her comment in the open, perhaps you should drop by at her page. You can see that her comments are “in the open” and not hidden in the inbox. Her page is an “open” page and can be visited even if you are not on her friend list. So, her comments are already “flashed out in the open”. Just to put things straight, ethically.

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Adieputera: Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa.

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Bissme: But Facebook is not your house, Uthaya. You must remember that. Facebook is an open space. Facebook is like a bus that has no driver. You cannot control the destination. You cannot control what can be said and what cannot be said; how words should be said. That is what I like about Facebook. There is total freedom and that I like about Facebook. Of course you should not use it to slander anyone.

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Bissme: I am sorry to tell you that but that is the fact. If you want to be in the open space like Facebook, you have to bear all kind of things and all kind of people. To a certain degree, I must say you are a little control freak (reminds me of a certain Prime Minister). You can control what takes place in your house. You cannot control what takes place in Facebook. Adaptability is important. Like I said earlier, Facebook is not your house.

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Uthaya: Bissme, please do me a big favour. Kindly tell me which part of “saya tidak akan melayan sesiapa yang tidak tahu menggunakan Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Inggeris, Bahasa Tamil atau Bahasa Mandarin yang betul apabila berkomunikasi dengan saya menerusi Facebook” you really don’t understand. From your comment (above), it’s very obvious that there is something about the statement that you don't really – and really don’t – understand.

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Riez: Walaupun saya menggunakan bahasa yang pelik di laman saya dan rakan-rakan, saya tetap menghormati keputusan Encik Uthaya sebagai “tuan rumah”.

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Joshua: Facebook is a social networking website not house.

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Parveen: I see arguments from both parties. Language is personal and how we use it is up to us. I’ve come to know many poets who break the so-called Tatabahasa Dewan rule to create their own words or phrases that may look wrong or weird. Having said that, I did a paper on linguistics and the origin of Bahasa Malaysia for my “sastera” paper and came to conclusion that language is not anyone’s to claim. We still argue the use of “mentari” and “matahari” to date when both denotes the same thing. I wish [Sasterawan Negara Allahyarham Dato’] Usman Awang were alive to give his opinion on this.

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Parveen: The other side of the coin, ultimately this is Uthaya’s page and he has been encouraging the proper usage of language for the betterment of the society. I can’t be more proud of him; for the backing of [Prof Madya Dr] Lim Swee Tin for Sasterawan Negara. It’s time we recognize his contribution and respect his wishes. Facebook is a social page, I agree, but we are not uncultured to respect his wishes. I have been following Uthaya’s stories since I was 15 and he was then in Universiti Malaya. He still has the same passion for language till date. Many don’t know this and many won’t understand his fight.

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Ternyata, pandangan yang pelbagai dikemukakan. Saya menghormati kesemuanya; kerana masing-masing mampu menggunakan Bahasa Malaysia dan Bahasa Inggeris yang betul apabila memberi komen!

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Pada masa yang sama, pengalaman seperti ini bukanlah sesuatu yang baru bagi saya dalam perjuangan mendaulatkan bahasa. Mungkin boleh juga dibandingkan dengan “Akulah Pembunuh Bahasa!” dan “My Right to Use Bahasa Malaysia” yang turut didokumentasikan di blog saya sebagai kenangan hari tua.

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Nota: Komik yang dipaparkan diubahsuai daripada komik yang diambil dari SINI.