Delegates of Jawi writing seminar return
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Participants from Brunei Darussalam returned home recently after attending a Jawi writing of Malay language seminar hosted by Malacca October 1-3.

The seminar, Jawi Writing in the Malay World 2003, was also attended by participants from South Africa, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia as well as academicians, Islamic Religious Council officers, local authorities, public and private sector and relevant students from Malaysia.

Themed "Empowering Jawi Writing in the Globalisation Era", the seminar was regarded as a serious discussion activity in relation to Jawi writing of Malay language which in turn provided ideas towards elevating and popularising such writing where its usage is declining in the Malay world now.

The activity was organised by the Malacca State Government, with cooperation from the Department of Islamic Development of Malaysia, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Malaysia, Utusan Melayu (M) Berhad and Malaysian Arts Institute in Malacca.

The seminar was conducted at the Malacca International Trade Centre (MITC), Ayer Keroh, Malacca where some 11 working papers were delivered in relation with the influence of Jawi writing on Malay language.

This year's seminar had been regarded as crucial as it managed to attract intellectuals in the Muslim world who participated in the discussion towards recognising ways to empower the usage of Jawi writing of the Malay language.

From such discussion, strategies towards elevating and popularising Jawi writing among the Malay community had been noted and penned down.

The declining usage of Jawi writing of the Malay language had alarmed relevant parties in the Malay world as they considered such writing as a Malay heritage. Jawi writing also held a special position in the context of regional cultural development.

The alphabets of Jawi writing are derived from Arabic language which is also the language used in the Islamic Holy book, the Al-Quran.

However, Jawi writing is now on the decline, overtaken by the usage of Romanised alphabets.

The seminar was organised to ensure that Jawi writing will not be forgotten at all especially in this era of globalisation and trade liberalisation.

It was also hoped that Jawi writing could be popularised again by properly utilising the growth of technology in this era of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Apart from the seminar was hoped to create awareness on the issue in order to think over ways to popularise Jawi writing once again.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin