WITH the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) coming under immense
scrutiny, its official claimed it was oblivious on the “Tuhan”
controversy and was probing the matter.
“I’m investigating the matter. As far as I know, DBP made no such ruling to differentiate between ‘Tuhan’ and ‘tuhan’,” its director
general Datuk Abang Salehuddin Abg Shokeran told FocusM.
Two
days ago, Kavyan Writers’
Group told FocusM that DBP
had made a distinction on the use of the word “Tuhan” among Muslims and
non-Muslims.
The
group’s founder Uthaya Sankar SB said that DBP has
reserved the word “Tuhan” for Muslims, while “tuhan” is used for non-Muslims. [Read here]
He
cited that while there was only a single entry for ‘Tuhan” in Kamus Pelajar (1988), Kamus Dewan (2005) and Kamus Dewan Perdana (2020) made the
distinction.
It
says: “Tuhan” seem to refer exclusively to Allah, whereas “tuhan”
refers to “something worshipped by people whose religion or belief is not based
on the One God” (“sesuatu yang dipuja oleh
golongan manusia yang agama atau kepercayaan mereka tidak berasaskan
kepercayaan kepada Tuhan Yang Esa”).
Uthaya
said the distinction was clearly reflected in the anthology of short stories, Meredah Kabus (2021), published
by DBP recently.
Touching
on the matter, Salehuddin opined that the
officers involved may have got confused with the Oxford Dictionary, which made distinction between “God” and “god”.
“But
I’m still investigating this. Let me get
back to you once I have the details,” he remarked.
In
February 2021, DBP courted controversy when it used derogatory word “keling” to
define a Tamil word, in its online dictionary. The reference was subsequently
removed after a public outcry.
