Bible - History of the Malay translation, 7 May 2008
By Rev. Dr. Daud Soesilo
Not too many people realize that long before Bible translations in Chinese, Tamil or Tagalog became available, Matthew's Gospel had already been translated into Malay by a Dutch tradesman named Albert Cornelisz Ruyl. The text was completed in 1612, only a year after the English King James Version was released, and was printed in 1629. It is fascinating that this Matthew's Gospel in Malay is the very first non-European translation of a Bible portion. An original copy of this Malay translation of Matthew's Gospel entitled: Iang Testamentum Baharu: Evangelium Mulkadus Bersuratnja Kepada Mattheum is now found at the Public Library of Stuttgard, Germany.
Ruyl continued his Malay translation with the assistance of Jan van Hasel and Justus Heurnius and their edition of the Four Gospels and Acts was printed in 1651. This was followed a year later by the printing of the Psalms in Malay, prepared by the latter two authors. After the translation of Genesis, printed in 1662, the Rev. Daniel Brouwerious went on to produce the first complete Malay translation of the New Testament in 1668; unfortunately this translation suffers from the excessive use of Portuguese loan words.
Melchior Leijdecker, a Dutch medical doctor with theological training, gave us the very first complete Bible in Malay in 1733. He translated the New Testament (printed 1731) and then the whole Bible while based in Batavia (now Jakarta) with the assistance of a review committee. The publication entitled: Elkitab, Ija itu segala Surat Perdjandjian Lama dan Baharuw was printed in Amsterdam in Roman script. Twenty-five years later a five-volume Malay Bible in Jawi script was published in 1758. Leijdecker's Malay Bible provided an important beginning and his work was extensively revised during the 19th century by a series of translators who were based both in what is now called Indonesia and Peninsular Malaysia.
Meanwhile in Indonesia, a Dutch Mennonite missionary, named Hillebrandus Cornelius Klinkert printed the Malay Four Gospels in 1861 and the New Testament in 1863, in the low Malay of Semarang, Central Java. He was assisted by Encik Mumin in the Riau Islands off Sumatra. They translated the Gospel according to Matthew in 1868, the New Testament in 1870, and then the full Malay Bible translation in 1879. Thus, this represents the second major effort in translating the sixty-six books of the Bible into Malay.
Between 1880 and 1929, the Singapore branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) expanded major efforts in translating the Bible into Malay.
The most prominent of these was the LMS missionary William Girdlestone Shellabear who gave us the first Malay Bible translation specifically in the Malay of what is now called Peninsular Malaysia. In this version Jesus was rendered Isa al-Maseh.
Shellabear is also remembered for the New Testament in Baba Malay.
In 1929, the Netherlands Bible Society, BFBS and the National Bible Society of Scotland combined their effort in producing a Malay Bible translation that could meet the need's of both Indonesia and Peninsular Malaysia. This new translation was intended to replace the previous Bible translations made by Leijdecker (1733), Klinkert (1879) and Shellabear (1912). For this purpose, a German missionary named Werner August Bode, working in Tomohon, Minahasa, produced a Malay New Testament (1938), and several Old Testament books such as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Psalms.
In order to meet the needs of Indonesian Christians in an independent Indonesia, the Indonesian Bible Society, which was founded in 1954, printed the so-called Terjemahan Lama "Old Translation" in 1958, as a stop gap measure until a fully Indonesian Bible translation became available. This comprised Klinkert's Old Testament (1879) and Bode's New Testament (1938). Meanwhile, Fr. J. Bouma of the Roman Catholic Church in Indonesia came up with a new Indonesian translation of the New Testament published by Arnoldus in Ende, Flores in 1964. Dr. Cletus Groenen worked on a translation of the Old Testament until 1968 when the Roman Catholic Church decided to stop its own translation project and join the Bible translation programme of the Indonesian Bible Society.
In 1952 a team headed by Dutch Dr. J.L. Swellengrebel (1952-59) initiated the work on a truly Indonesian Bible translation. Beginning in 1962 an Indonesian, Dr. J.L. Abineno, headed this team until the completion of the project. The New Testament was printed in 1971, and the full Bible was published in 1974. It also included the Deuterocanonical edition. This version called the Terjemahan Baru "New Translation" (INT) was the first truly ecumenical Bible translation in Indonesian. The translation approach taken with this and most earlier translations was based on the 'formal equivalence' translation method, which as far as possible, attempts to retain the form of the original biblical languages.
It is helpful to point out that in October 1997, the Indonesian Bible Society launched the newly revised New Testament of the INT called Perjanjian Baru Terjemahan Baru edisi ke-2 "New Testament: New Translation, Second Edition" (INT97). This was prepared by a team of biblical scholars who are experts in biblical Greek. Furthermore, in the final stage of the revision effort, numerous biblical scholars and heads of churches from all over Indonesia gathered in Cipayung, West Java, to discuss the revision before the text was finalized.
Although the INT was being used in Malaysian churches, it was eventually realized that a truly Malaysian Bible translation was needed to communicate the Good News accurately, without confusion and misunderstanding brought about by the subtle differences between Indonesian and Malay.
Consequently, the Bible Society of Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia (BSSBM) printed the first Malay Common Language New Testament Perjanjian Baru: Berita Baik Untuk Manusia Moden "New Testament: Good News for Modern Man" in 1974. It was mainly the labour of love of a West Malaysian pastor of Indonesian background named Rev. Elkanah T. Suwito. The full Malay Bible Alkitab: Berita Baik Untuk Manusia Moden "Bible: Good News for Modern Man" (TMV) was published by BSSBM in 1987. This particular translation was based on the new translation method called 'Dynamic/Functional Equivalence' that emphasizes the transfer of the meaning and function of the original biblical languages rather than retaining the form.
Applying this new translation method, a new Indonesian Bible version was prepared by a team of translators. As a result, Today's Indonesian New Testament was published by the Indonesian Bible Society in 1977. Thus, Alkitab Kabar Baik Dalam Bahasa Indonesia Sehari-hari "Good News Bible in Indonesian Everyday Language" (TIV) was published in 1985, and the Deuterocanonical edition was published in 1988. This Indonesian dynamic Bible translation is also being used by some churches in Malaysia.
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