E Contrario

From Linggi, we took the old road back to Melaka. The journey took me through Lubok Cina. The area is located at the border between Negeri Sembilan and Melaka. It got its name from an incident of a Chinese junk capsize on the river mouth in ancient time. Nobody could tell when exactly this happened. It only indicates that international trading was important along the river in this locality.

I am certainly interested to find out more about the local history of Lubok Cina. However in this posting I am raising an issue with Dewan Bahasa & Pusaka, the newly appointed “Polis Bahasa” (Language Police). Recently there was talk that DBP be empowered to fine erroneous language users: wrong spelling, bad grammer, anything that denigrates Bahasa Malaysia.

Let me post these few sign boards erected by the authorities, I would like our language police to comment, and to penalize those in power but found to be the abusers of our beloved Bahasa. Please act on the official violators before taking on the poor ‘illiterate’ shop owners or businessmen.

Ramuan China Besar: should it be “China” or “Cina”?

This is a tougher one: How to spell “Lubok”?

Is it “Lubok” or “Lubuk”? Is it “Cina” or “China”?

From limited knowldge, according to DBP definition, Cina refers to ‘Chinese’ (kata sifat), or ‘Chinese descent’. China refers specifically to the country ‘People’s Republic of China’.