• "Acceptability" in the Translation into Malay of Rihlat Ibn Battutah
  Idris Mansor
  
  Abstract: This article reports on a descriptive study of the translation of the Arabic travel literature of Rihlat Ibn Battutah into the Malay language. The study investigated the concept of acceptability in the translation of cultural elements such as food/drink, clothing and religious items found in the 14th century text in its modern Malay translation Pengembaraan Ibn Battutah. The data in the source text (ST) were selected and mapped to the corresponding elements in the target text (TT) using the descriptive translation studies (DTS) methodology. A manual analysis of the ST and TT pairs based on a methodological modification of the taxonomy of Vinay and Darbelnet was then carried out. The findings of the study provides initial guidelines for Arabic-Malay translations of cultural words.
  
  Keywords and phrases: Translation, Arabic, Malay, acceptability, Rihlat Ibn Battutah

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• Implikasi Peruntukan Islam dan Orang Melayu dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan Terhadap Hubungan Etnik Di Malaysia
  (The Implications of the Provisions for Islam and the Malays in the Federal Constitution on Ethnic Relations in Malaysia)
  Nazri Muslim
  
  Abstrak: Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji implikasi peruntukan Islam dan orang Melayu dalam Perlembagaan terhadap hubungan etnik di Malaysia. Kajian ini melibatkan seramai 800 responden yang dipilih dari empat buah Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Awam (IPTA). Data kajian diperolehi melalui soal selidik yang dianalisis menggunakan program Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Statistik deskriptif seperti frekuensi, peratusan, min, statistik jadual silang (crosstabulation) dan correlation coefficient digunakan bagi menerangkan latar belakang responden dan persepsi pelajar tentang implikasi peruntukan Islam dan orang Melayu terhadap hubungan etnik di Malaysia. Hasil kajian menunjukkan perihal Islam dan orang Melayu sangat memberi implikasi terhadap hubungan etnik di Malaysia kerana pelajar Melayu khususnya masih lagi sensitif dan peka terhadap hal yang berkaitan dengan Islam dan orang Melayu. Terdapat pelbagai punca yang menyebabkan isu berkaitan dengan agama Islam dan orang Melayu ini sering muncul. Antaranya seperti semangat tolak ansur dan persefahaman dalam kalangan rakyat yang semakin luntur, peranan media massa dalam mensensasikan isu yang melibatkan kedudukan istimewa orang Melayu dan Islam serta tiadanya pengetahuan tentang sejarah penggubalan kontrak sosial. Berdasarkan dapatan kajian, beberapa cadangan telah dikemukakan bagi menangani isu berkaitan dengan peruntukan orang Melayu dan Islam dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Seterusnya, kajian ini turut menyumbang kepada bidang ilmu kerana metodologinya berbentuk kuantitatif, berbeza dengan kebanyakan kajian sebelum ini yang dilakukan secara kualitatif serta menghasilkan satu instrumen soal selidik untuk kajian selanjutnya.
  
  Kata kunci dan frasa: Peruntukan orang Melayu, peruntukan Islam, unsur-unsur tradisi, etnik, Perlembagaan Persekutuan Malaysia
  
  Abstract: This research examined the level of knowledge, understanding, acceptance and perception among public university students of the implications of the provisions for Islam and the Malays in the Malaysian Constitution on ethnic relations in Malaysia. The research involved 800 respondents from four public universities. The results show that the provisions have far reaching implications on ethnic relations in Malaysia as Malay students, in particular, are still sensitive and responsive to matters pertaining to Islam and the Malays. The reasons for this, among others, are the declining level of tolerance and understanding among the people, the role of the media in sensationalising the special status of Islam and the Malays, and also the lack of historical knowledge. Based on these findings, suggestions are made to address the issue pertaining Islam and the Malays in Federal Constitution. The study contributes towards the area in terms of the quantitative methodology employed that may be replicated in future research.

Keywords and phrases: Provisions for the Malays, provisions for Islam, traditional elements, ethnic, Malaysian Federal Constitution

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• Art Criticisms Versus Art Writings: The Malaysian Situation
  Sarena Abdullah
  
  Abstract: This paper discusses the situation of art criticisms and art writings in Malaysia. Although Malaysian artists have moved into contemporary art practices, the exhibition strategies adopted by private galleries, including the national gallery have not changed significantly for the last fifty years. Curatorial practices have been regarded as unimportant, resulting in repetitive and limited ways of presenting art works. Consequently, art exhibitions tend to be a cluster of work assembled in a gallery premise, and usually connected by a very loose theme. Often art essays are published in conjunction with the exhibitions. Since research papers on contemporary art are limited, the essays or writings published in the exhibition catalogues become an important source of reference on Malaysian art, and they have been referred to as "art writings". Besides the lack of proper "art writings", there is also a problem with "art criticism" in the country. The lack of professional art critics and the multiple roles played by writers, artists, art historians and arts manager are among the main reasons for the present art criticism and art writing scenario in the country.

Keywords and phrases: Art writings, art criticism, Malaysian art

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• Ummi's Obedience in Marriage: A Critical Study of Shahnon Ahmad's Ummi & Abang Syeikhul
  Jyh Wee Sew
  
  Abstract: Malay literature can be a way by which Malay social issues are examined if indeed one subscribes to the Art for the Society movement as advocated by the Association of Malay Writers. Shahnon Ahmad's novel, Ummi & Abang Syeikhul (1992) is a relevant work with which one can contextualise the controversy that the Obedient Wives Club (Kelab Isteri Taat a.k.a Kelab Taat Suami) generated upon its establishment in Rawang, Selangor on 4th June 2011. (The setting up of a Singapore branch of Kelab Isteri Taat followed in July 2011) The club's proclamation that social ills such as prostitution and divorce could be resolved with a wife keeping her husband happy through obedient submission in the bedroom came across as suspiciously provocative. A reflective interpretation to the claim is possible with Shahnon's novel, which explores polygamous issues through the eyes of Ummi. As the third wife, Ummi's efforts in appeasing Syeikhul's insatiable sexual desires, address the conundrum of obedience in a Malay marriage. The complex emotions underlying Ummi's marital subjugation, mental conflicts and cooperative collaboration with Syeikhul's other wives illustrate that an obedient wife is in a constant battle with contradictory intrapersonal feelings despite a resignation to her own fate. This analysis offers a cultural-literary perspective of marital obedience in the interest of utilising literature as an empowering tool towards the betterment of the society.

Keywords and phrases: modern Malay literature, marital obedience, novel as social cognition, Shahnon Ahmad

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Book Review

• Kata Ganda Bahasa Melayu: Tinjauan Bentuk Berdasarkan Data Korpus by Zaidi Ismail, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2008. pp. xx + 90.
  Jyh Wee Sew

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Thesis Abstract

• Tasawur Pembangunan Dalam Al-Qur'an: Kajian Tafsir Al-Mawdu'iy
  Shukri Hanapi, PhD, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, 2012, 546 pp

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