Global Voices in Malay
I am a follower of Global Voices. Only recently I realised there’s a Malay version of the site but its just not any Malay but the Indonesian Malay. Now I happened to notice a link to my blog from the website in Bahasa Indonesia regarding the January’s flooding in Brunei previously put up by Senor Pablo.
Honestly I need to brush up my Indonesian Malay. Without referring to the original post in English by Senor Pablo; what is:
Berperan – I guess its ‘berperanan’ in standard Malay which is ‘role’
Disrik – District (thats easy if you read from the whole sentence)
Dampak – impact?
Merembes – pouring?
Terjebak – involve?
Kemacetan – please help me with this
Petualangan – obstruction?
Berwenang – relevant?
Koran – newspaper
Ijin – permission
Apart from the single words, I have to read twice to understand what these sentences mean:
Lorong jalan lintang susun utama di ibukota dan beberapa sekolah ditutup karena banjir. Ini menyebabkan pengalihan lalu lintas – The main roads in the capital and several roads were closed due to the flood. This cause for traffic diversion?
Polisi Royal Brunai telah menutup semua jalan yang tidak aman untuk dilalui pengendara motor – The Royal Brunei Police has closed all (can’t be peaceful – thats direct translation) roads..oh help …
Siaran langsung video melalui telpon genggam bisa langsung dilihat dalam genggaman tangan Anda. – I know this one as I wrote it in English and was quoted by Senor Pablo. What i meant was that there should be video streaming direct to the handphone.
Did I tell you that my five-year old nephew has an Indonesian accent because his maid is Indonesian? One day I over-heard him talking to the maid: “Cepaten dong. Mana sih? Saya lapar. Kepingin sekali mau cepat minumnya.” (Quick please. Where is it? I am hungry or maybe thirsty. I am craving to drink it quickly) I think its cute but hopefully it wont make him confuse with the standard or even brunei Malay as he grow up.
Okay am back to read the rest of the Indonesian version in Global Voices.
Brunei Lifestyle 
Thanks for highlighting the work of Global Voice Online Bloggers. They work hard to highlight the good work of bloggers around the world. Thank you also for your email to me at the GVO site. I was invited to blog in bahasa but I realised it would be in Indonesian Malay,which I opted out and concentrated on blogging in English, a more comfortable language to work on, instead of Bahasa which is not my mother tongue. It’s great knowing you and I enjoy reading your thoughts. keep it up!
Anytime SP. Thanks too..So do you know what’s kemacetan? I have to ask my mom’s maid soon.
hahaa. Kemacetan comes from the word.. macet.. which mean…heavy traffic.. I think so!!! Best to check with your mum’s maid.
It is Senor, thanks…Es, my mom’s maid, explained in great length on what macet means. She’s happy when we want to learn bahasa Indonesia from her.
At word level, The vocabulary you tagged with ? means
dampak = effect
merembes = asorbed or smuggled into
terjebak = trapped or entangled
petualang = clamity or bad fortune
berwenang = authorized, the right to sthg
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Owh thank you so much…very helpful indeed 🙂