As for the article by Dr. Robert Hunt, I also have the copy and quoted it in my presentations in Japan more than 13 years ago. Thanks to his pioneer work in Malaysia since the 1980s, I could learn a lot of things not only about the target issue but also about the change of the American mission.
In those days, however, the audience in Japan seemed to be more interested in Islam and the Malay studies, and Christianity was considered as a 'Western colonizers' imperial religion, which simply displayed total ignorance and confusion of the essential characteristics and its reality.
I am always wondering how we should deal with the time lag between the local recognition (in this case, Malaysia) and the outsiders' observation (in this case, an American Methodist missionary scholar and a Japanese researcher who comes from a non-monotheistic country).
As for the Pakistan's case, I do not always agree with the author of the article in 3. The divine term in the Bible used in Pakistan is ‘Huda’not ‘Allah’. This was also what I presented in Japan many years ago. (Lily)
1. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (http://www.mbras.org.my)
by Robert Hunt
JMBRAS Vol 52 Part 1 June 1989, pp.35-56
Executive Summary
The History of the Translation of the Bible into Malay
For the benefit of those interested in the history of the translation of the Bible into Malay, MBRAS is providing a chronology of that process. Developments in the translation of the Bible into Malay revolve around three considerations including establishing the standards of the Malay language, including rules of grammar, vocabulary and spelling; discovering appropriate ways of using Malay to communicate Biblical ideas within the Malay culture; and catering for the target groups of the translation work and means of dissemination.
According to the article, five major forces shaped the developments led to modern Bahasa Malaysia Bible:
• i. The large number of related dialects of Malay, their geographical distribution as related to the political boundaries in the colonial era, and the difference between spoken and written Malay.
• ii. The linguistic ability of the translators with regards to both Malay and the original languages of the Bible.
• iii. Their understanding of the cultural milieu in which they worked and understanding which cultural milieu they were translating for
• iv. The relationships between the various institutions involved, including governments
• v. Changes in the political, social and cultural environment
One of the most pressing practical issues concerns the use of loan-words from Arabic and Persian which entered Malay (and thence Bahasa Malaysia) through the Islamization of the Malay people. Those active in this long-drawn out effort starting in the early 17th century and right up to the 20th were aware of the delicate nature of their work. The Reverend Shellabear, involved in translation work in the 1910s, suggested that Tuhan was to be used in the place of Allah for El and Elohim when followed by a possessive pronoun, for example, Tuhan and ku instead of Allah-ku.
Shellabear’s reservations highlighted first, the need for a version which, both in idiom and vocabulary, was accessible to the common Malay reader. Secondly, it also emphasised the need for a vocabulary which would appeal to, and not offend, Muslim sensibilities. He had very good local assistants in Chew Chin Yong and Munshi Sulaiman Mohd Noor in his translation work. Munshi Sulaiman (the father of educationist Ibu Zain and grandfather of writer Adibah Amin) was a teacher at the Normal School in Malacca whom Shellabear routinely consulted between 1904 to 1909.
Modern readers should recognize that the necessity of using these words to adequately express Christian concepts inevitably highlight the fact that there are points of contact between cultures which are distinctly religious in nature. The Christian use of Bahasa Malaysia in the future represents, as it always has, a major point of contact between Christianity and Islam in Malaysia, and is thus a subject demanding serious and sustained attention.
Milestones in the History of the Translation into Malay
1628-1638 The Malay translation of the Gospels of Mark and Matthew was published by Albert Cornelius Ruyl, a Dutch East India Company (EIC) trader, in a bilingual format based on the current Dutch text. Ruyl's first translation used the Jawi script but later translations were in Roman script.
1646 The Four Gospels were published together after the Gospels of Luke and John were added by Jan van Hasel, a Dutch EIC clerk. This was based on the 1637 translation
1651 Justus Heurn, a pastor, added the Book of Acts and revised the entire 1637 translation
1652 The Book of Psalms were translated and published by Heurn and van Hasel
1662 The entire New Testament was translated by Rev. Daniel Brower and its publication was sponsored by the Dutch EIC
1691 Translation of the entire Bible was begun by Dr. Melchior Leidekker on the order of the Church authorities in Batavia (present-day Jakarta) and sponsored by the Dutch EIC
1701 Leidekker died, leaving his translation 90 percent complete. It was finished by Rev. Peter van der Vorm in that year
1727 The Leidekker translation was checked and corrected by van der Vorm and other scholars after a translation of the Bible into the Moluccas language by Rev. Francois Valentine was rejected by the Dutch EIC
1733 Publication in the Netherlands of Leidekker’s translation of the Bible into Malay using the Roman script
1758 Publication in Batavia of Leidekker’s translation using the Jawi script. This text became the standard translation until 1916 in Indonesia and until 1853 in Malaysia. Leidekker’s translation was the first undertaken by a committee which was based not only on Dutch but other original and vernacular versions of the Bible. However this translation had two shortcomings. First, it used many loan-words from Arabic and Persian which were still unfamiliar to many except those with an Islamic religious education. Secondly, the translation still suffered from poor grammar and lack of proper idioms.
1817 Revised translation of the New Testament printed in Serampore (a town near Calcutta) by the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS). Robert Hutchings – an Anglican chaplain in Penang and founder of the Penang Free School – was the first British missionary to attempt to correct Leidekker’s translation.
1821 Revised translation of the Old and New Testaments printed. This Bible was not widely distributed – except in Penang – and was not subsequently reprinted. However, this initiative marked the beginning of extensive efforts to improve the available translation and to make it more widely accessible. Claudius Thomsen of the London Missionary Society (LMS) completed a revision of Matthew. Thomsen was sent by the LMS in 1815 with a specific assignment to work among the Malays. Between 1818 to 1832, Thomsen worked to further improve Leidekker’s translation using the knowledge in Malay he gained from his close friend and teacher, Munshi Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir. However, relations between the two were not always easy due to Thomsen’s insistence on words, idioms and Jawi spellings which were not proper Malay.
1832 Thomsen returned to England but not before completing a revision of eight chapters of Mark, the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Thomsen’s works suffered from the problem of developing a proper religious vocabulary in Malay. Thomsen’s final version of the Bible contained phrases like Kerajaan Syurga (Kingdom in Heaven); Mulut Allah (Word of God); Anak Allah (Son of God) and Bapa-mu yang ada di Syurga (My Father, who art in Heaven), all of which Abdullah found objectionable.
1835 Low Malay edition based on the Surabaya dialect published in Johanes Emde
1838 James Legge of the LMS requested that John Stronach, one of Thomsen’s American replacements, undertake a check of the second half of Thomsen’s New Testament. Stronach found that the entire New Testament needed revision. Before the second edition could be printed, the revision was halted by two events. In the first, Thomas Beighton – a Penang missionary fluent in Malay and author of “The Betel-Nut Island” – discovered that Abdullah, a Muslim, was primarily responsible for the revision. The second interevening event was the abrupt departure for China of the entire population of missionaries in Malaysia and their printing presses.
1852 Publication in Singapore of the New Testament translation in Roman script. This translation was undertaken by Benjamin Keasberry and his long-time teacher Munshi Abdullah. Distributed in Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo and Sumatra.
1856 Publication of Keasberry’s New Testament in Jawi script. Distributed in Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo and Sumatra. This period of Bible translation into Malay highlighted the need for a an idiomatic translation that was faithful to the refinement and beauty of classical Malay literature and yet accessible to those without advanced learning.
1870 Publication of Cornelius Klinkert’s translation in Roman script by the Netherlands Bible Society. In 1863, Klinkert was commissioned to revise Leidekker’s translation and to prepare a new one in “high” Malay, for which purpose he studied in Riau and Melaka. However, there were complaints by missionaries in Peninsular Malaysia that Klinkert’s translation was excessively influenced by the Minahassa dialect which was unfamiliar to Malay readers in Melaka and Singapore.
1890 Bishop Hose complained to the BFBS that Keasberry’s translation needed revision and commenced on the translation of the Gospel of Matthew. A simple but grammatical style was required, such as was used by people of the upper classes. A committee was formed to revise the Bible in Malay, consisting of Bishop Hose, W.H. Gomes and W.G. Shellabear, a soldier turned missionary.
1897 Publication of the Gospel of Matthew by the committee.
1900 Shellabear was hired by the Bible Society and commenced his translation of the Bible. For Shellabear, the new translation would be chiefly for the Malays and for this reason, he favoured the use of the Jawi script.
1901 Shellabear received help from the Dato’ Bentara Dalam of Johore, Munshi Mohammed Ibrahim, the son of Munshi Abdullah with whom he consulted several hours each day for a week on various questions of Malay language and literature.
1912 Publication of Shellabear’s translation of the Bible in Jawi script, which he completed earlier in 1909. This was essentially a revision of Klinkert’s translation in “high” Malay. Several points were stressed by Shellabear in favour of a revision. First was the substitution of Malay words for such foreign words as are not in common use, for example jahat for fasek and rumah for bait. Both fasek and bait were Arabic words. Secondly, Tuhan was to be used in the place of Allah for El and Elohim when followed by a possessive pronoun, for example, Tuhan and ku instead of Allah-ku. Tuhan to be used for Adonai and Hu or Hua for Yahya, as in Leydekker’s version. Shellabear himself preferred to use Isa Almasih instead of the Yesus favoured by the Dutch, and used it in almost all the literature he wrote. Shellabear’s reservations highlighted first, the need for a version which both in idiom and vocabulary was accessible to the common Malay reader. Secondly, it also emphasised the need for a vocabulary which would appeal to, and not offend, Muslim sensibilities. Shellabear had the help of local persons such as Chew Chin Yong and Munshi Sulaiman Mohd Noor in his translation work. Chew Chin Yong accompanied Shellabear on his missionary work from 1907 to 1913 while Munshi Sulaiman (the father of educationist Ibu Zain and grandfather of writer Adibah Amin) was a teacher at the Normal School in Malacca whom Shellabear regularly consulted between 1904 to 1909.
1924 Discussions commenced between the Bible Society of Britain and Foreign Parts and the Netherlands Bible Society to produce a new edition of the Bible, a unified work that would be acceptable for the Malay-speaking populations of British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. Shellabear was instrumental in initiating these efforts.
1929 The Bible Society of Britain and Foreign Parts, the Bible Society of Scotland and the Netherlands Bible Society formed a translation team under Rev. Werner Bode to prepare a new edition of the Malay Bible, based on the Shellabear, Klinkert and Leidekker versions. One of the members of this team was a Perak Malay, Mashohor bin Kulop Endut, who had assisted Shellabear with the latter’s dictionary. Shellabear did everything to scuttle the project he himself had mooted. His criticism was that the language used was too heavily influenced by Malay dialects in Indonesia, and by earlier works of Klinkert and Leidekker. Shellabear insisted that the Bible ought to use the Malay of Johore and Melaka, which he regarded as more pure. Shellabear was also adamant that the language used should appeal to Muslims, for example insisting on the use of Isa Almasih instead of Yesus Kristus.
1947 Publication of Bode’s translation of the Psalms.
1958 Publication of Bode’s translation of the New Testament with a revised version of Klinkert’s Old Testament by the Indonesian Bible Society. The Second World War marked the end of an era in Bible translation into Malay. The independence of Malaysia and Indonesia resulted in the creation of “national” languages with uniform standards of grammar and pronunciation. The rapid development of Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia left the older translations out of date. Bible societies the world over also drew back from using Isa Almasih for Jesus after the Second World War, both because it convened a false meaning in the context of the gospel, and because its use by Christians was offensive to some Muslims.
1969 The Bible Society of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei commissioned a new translation of the Bible into Bahasa Malaysia. The need for Malay Christian literature had shifted to a need for Bahasa Malaysia literature to serve the upcoming generations of Christians who would be educated in the national language. Supplies of tracts and other outdated literature in both the Jawi and Roman script were destroyed as a result.
1970 A new method – the dynamic equivalence – was employed in Singapore to translate the Bible into Malay, with Rev. E.T. Suwito as its chief translator. Under this method, the form of the original versions gives way to the forms of the receptor language (the language into which the original text is translated, in this case Malay), so that the meaning of the original can be understood by readers using the Malay language. However, “form” here means more than mere sentence structure. Where terms in the original language do not exist in Malay, equivalent terms from Malay culture are sought. Suwito’s work was revised and reviewed by a committee which included Barclay Neuman, Matthew Finlay and Daniel C. Arichea.
1974 First edition of the New Testament translation (Perjanjian Baru, Today’s Malay Version)
1976 Second reprint of the New Testament
1987 Publication of the Old and New Testaments together in the Alkitab (Today’s Malay Version) by the Bible Society of Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.
The Author
Robert A. Hunt was born on 15 December 1955 in Dallas, Texas. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Texas, which he obtained in 1977 followed by a Masters degree in Theology from the Southern Methodist University in 1982. Hunt received his PhD from the University of Malaya in 1994. Between 1985 and 1992, Hunt served as Director of Theological Education and Lecturer at the Seminari Theoloji Malaysia, located at that time in Kuala Lumpur. Hunt is fluent in Malay/Indonesian and German. Currently, Hunt is Director for Global Theological Education at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He is part of a research project studying indigenous Christian movements in Southeast Asia sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Christianity in Asia at Trinity Theological College in Singapore.
・COPYRIGHT © 2010 Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
2. Malay Mail Online（http://www.themalaymailonline.com）
Sabah Christians claim bribed, tricked into Islam, 11 January 2014
by Joseph Sipalan
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — Amid a raging religious row in Selangor, a group of Sabah villagers have alleged they were deceived into embracing Islam for RM100. In a report on its website, The Daily Express reported a group of 27 people from a remote village in the north Borneo state had filed a police complaint last Wednesday, claiming to have been converted from Christianity to Islam on New Year’s Day by a Muslim welfare group without being fully aware of the conversion rites, after being promised aid. “When we arrived at the venue, our MyKads were collected and later returned and we were told to sign a form which we were not able to understand as most of us are illiterate,” Makadan Masabu was quoted as saying by the local Sabah newspaper.
The 54-year-old was reported to be the spokesman for the villagers who hail from Kampung Maliau in the Pitas district. He related that he was informed by an acquaintance last month that a group from Kuala Lumpur would be visiting the district to hand out “welfare” aid. According to the news report, Makadan said he provided his acquaintance with a list of villagers who were seeking welfare assistance; the unnamed acquaintance later told him they could expect RM800 in cash aid at a ceremony on New Year’s Day. On January 1, some 43 villagers travelled by van to Pitas, Makadan recounted, and separated into smaller groups and recite words they claimed not to understand. “After that an unknown man told us we had converted. We were shocked and panicked,” Makadan told the newspaper. He added that the villagers were each given an envelop that contained RM100 in cash.
When contacted last night, Kota Marudu police chief Deputy Superintendent Mohd Isa Yusof — whose jurisdiction covers Pitas — confirmed to The Malay Mail Online that a report was filed. Lawyer Francis Pereira told The Malay Mail Online it is not an offence in Malaysia for a Muslim to convert a person of a different faith to Islam. But he added that the authorities can investigate the case for criminal elements if the claims of bribery, as the villagers alleged, were to be proven. “Those are Penal Code offences, (and) also the Corruption Act,” Pereira said last night when contacted, referring to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009. “Those are criminal in nature,” he added, pointing to the allegations raised by the villagers. Relations between Malaysia’s majority Muslim and minority Christian communities have been strained of late, as the country continues to grapple with who holds the right to use the word “Allah”.
Sabah and Sarawak have largely escaped the religious fires that have broken out in Peninsular Malaysia. The latest flashpoint happened last week, when Selangor Islamic Department (Jais) officers accompanied by policemen raided the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) office in Petaling Jaya and confiscated 300 copies of the bible in the Malay and Iban languages, which contained the word “Allah”. Faced with flak, Jais defended its operation, saying it was empowered by the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988 that prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases, including the word for God, “Allah”.
The incident sparked outrage among Malaysians, with lawyers arguing that the raid — and the very Enactment used to validate it — were unconstitutional, illegal and an act of harassment against Christians in the country. Jais’ recent action reignited long simmering tension in the country that followed the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision four years ago in favour of allowing Catholic weekly the Herald to continue to use the word “Allah” despite an earlier prohibition by the government. The ongoing legal dispute between the government and the Catholic Church is still pending before the Federal Court, which is set to hear arguments from both sides on February 24 before it decides on whether it will hear an appeal by the Catholic Church. Christians make up about 10 per cent of the Malaysian population, or 2.6 million. Almost two-thirds of them are Bumiputera and are largely based in Sabah and Sarawak, where they routinely use Bahasa Malaysia and indigenous languages in their religious practices, including describing God as “Allah” in their prayers and holy book.
3. My SinChew（http://www.mysinchew.com）
Pakistan celebrates the Bible, we confiscate it, 10 January 2014
by Bob Teoh
Islam is the official religion of Pakistan and Malaysia but both have contrasting attitudes toward the Bible.
Just three days after Christmas, Pakistan celebrated 150 years of the Bible Society there by issuing a commemorative postage stamp while in Malaysia, JAIS, the Selangor Islamic agency, stormed into the Bible Society two days into the new year. They confiscated over 300 local language Bibles, while police arrested two of its officials and later released them on bail.
The raid was condemned by both Christians and non-Christians including Muslims except for the extreme right wing within Umno and their sympathisers.
Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy while Pakistan is an Islamic Republic. Islam is the official religion in both countries.
Originally, when the constitution of the then Malaya was drafted by a five-man commission - with members from Britain, Australia, India, Pakistan and chaired by Lord William Reid - before independence was granted by Britain in 1957, it did not specify any official religion for the state.
This move was supported by the rulers of the nine Malay states, who felt that it was sufficient that Islam was the official religion of each of their individual states. However, Justice Hakim Abdul Hamid of Pakistan came out strongly in favour of making Islam the official religion, and as a result the Reid Commission in its final draft specified Islam as the official religion of Malaya. With the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the provision for Islam as religion of the new federation was retained although Sabah and Sarawak objected strenuously to it. They were persuaded to sign the Malaysia Agreement only on the assurance that Islam would not be the official religion in the two states. But this was not to be for long.
Unhappiness remained and Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first PM of Malaysia, on the occasion of his 80th birthday on 9 Feb 1983, had to reiterate that Malaysia must continue as a secular state with Islam as the official religion. He was supported by Hussein Onn, (the third PM), who believed that the country can still be functional as a secular state with Islam as the official religion.
All was well until on 29th September 2001, when during his opening address to the Gerakan Party’s 30th national delegates conference, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamed announced:
"Umno wishes to state loudly that Malaysia is an Islamic country. This is based on the opinion of ulamaks who had clarified what constituted as Islamic country."
Through it all, the various attempted infusion of Islamic values since then began to take its toll, the latest being JAIS’ raid on the Bible Society.
All is not well either in Pakistan as Akbar Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, DC found out when he returned after half a century to his old college, Forman Christian College (now a university) to receive an honorary doctorate. Forman is Pakistan’s leading Christian educational institution. Like the Bible Society of Pakistan, it is now celebrating its 150th anniversary. Only 600 of its 6,000 students are Christian.
"Like many non-Christian Pakistanis, I owed my education to Christian teachers, both at Forman and at my previous school, Burn Hall in Abbottabad, which was run by Roman Catholic priests. Once there, I found myself transported back to one of the happiest periods of my life. It was a different Pakistan and it was a time of hope. Christians were very much part of the fabric of the nation," recalled Akbar, former Pakistani High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, in an opinion piece he wrote in the New York Times over Christmas.
"Times have changed. With increasing frequency, Christians have been attacked and their churches vandalized."
He said, "Many Pakistanis are unaware of the role Christians have played in the nation’s history. Although the Christian population is barely three million, or 1.6 percent of the population--as compared with 180 million Muslims (more than 95 percent)--Christians have had a considerable impact, especially in education."
He added that many of Pakistan’s most prominent leaders--including the current prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, the assassinated prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, and former President Pervez Musharraf--went to Christian schools. Christians also educated Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who founded Pakistan in 1947. Under Pakistan’s Constitution, Christians were guaranteed equal rights.
"The targeting of Christians comes amid a widespread breakdown of public order," he noted.
The contribution of Christians to education in Malaysia stretches back as far as Christian efforts in Pakistan if not longer. Prime Minister Najib Razak is but one such beneficiary of Christian schools. Times have changed indeed.
Malaysia is fast sliding down the incendiary path of self-destruction. The JAIS raid has stoked the flames further. All is not well; not only for Christians but for every Malaysian. Our redemption lies in going back to what the framers of our constitution had originally intended.
（End）
