Sebenarnya bahasa itu sememangnya indah. It would be a dream to be able to make a living out of it.
We have this rich diversity of language in this country, something we take for granted. It is a pity though that most of us who are confidently fluent in English tergagap-gagap when it comes to "chakap-ing" Melayu. And those yang sibuk bersastera melayu pantang berbahasa omputeh.
Normal-lah to lament the poor standard of English among our people. Yet you cannot deny that when it comes to embracing our national language, the apathy is quite startling. Of course I am referring to us non-Malays.
The Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka's efforts to meninggikan martabat bahasa only gets attention in the Melayu papers. Preaching to the converted, that is what it is.
Yet there are wonderful exceptions. Salleh ben Joned has always held a fascination for being a brilliant bilingual wordsmith and his courage to be spectacularly provocative. The 62 year old Jebat of the literary arena. His first book, Poems Sacred and Profane in 1994, was described as 'the most traumatic experience for the Malay literary scene'.
Music wise, Ahli Fiqir has been getting quite a bit of airplay even on the English stations. What a relief it is to escape the the painful hiphop of Nico and 4U2C. Remember them? This Ahli Fiqir - I was almost disappointed to learn that they are made in Singapore. Tauted as possessing lirik with some makna, suara nusantara, acclaimed pujangga kakilima.
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