Husni Abu Bakar Code-switching in Kuala Lumpur Malay The “Rojak” Phenomenon HUSNI ABU BAKAR University of California at Riverside AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Husni Abu Bakar received his M.A. in Linguistics and Cognitive Science from the University of Delaware and is currently a graduate student in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Southeast Asian Text, Ritual and Performance program at the University of California at Riverside. Husni’s research interests include classical Malay literature, Buddhist literature, language documentation, sociolinguistics, literary translation and comparative religious studies. Introduction society. This paper invites a reexamination of the In this study, code-switching in Malay is investigated current linguistic situation in Malaysia, especially in the peninsula where KL Malay is spoken. by isolating and concentrating on Kuala Lumpur Malay (KL Malay). Native speakers of KL Malay were interviewed and recorded, and their responses were Kuala Lumpur Malay and Bahasa Rojak transcribed and glossed. Analysis of these responses In Peninsular Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur specifically, suggests a significant percentage of English words there is uncertainty when referring to the spoken have been imported into the KL Malay lexicon and are Malay variant, as it is laced with lexical items from other being used in various contexts to replace their KL languages. The Kuala Lumpur speech community is Malay counterparts. Moreover, it is found that multi-ethnic and polyglossic,1 consisting of speakers of morphemes from KL Malay can attach themselves to various languages such as English, Cantonese, borrowed English words. It is also discovered that Hokkien, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and many more. female speakers use more English words than male Since the Malay variant spoken is not the one taught in speakers. Overall, this study provides concrete schools, the term bahasa rojak2 (lit. “rojak language”) evidence of the occurrence of code switching in KL is used among the speech communities in Malaysia to Malay. The results of this study raise significant refer to the eclectic nature of the spoken language, questions about the acquisition of KL Malay as a native using the metaphor of the local mixed fruit and language, as well as whether KL Malay has transformed vegetable salad. into a creole. From a language planning standpoint, this may be related to the superimposition of English However, the term bahasa rojak in the Malaysian as a second language for all Malaysians, as mentioned context is also used to refer to any mixture of two or by Hassan (2005). Other issues that are connected to more languages in communication, with any of the this matter are the premature selection of Malay as the languages being the base language. A famous example instructional medium in schools despite the lack of is Manglish (Malaysian English), in which words and certain terminology and widespread bilingualism in the phrases from Malay, Hokkien, Cantonese, Tamil and a few other languages are juxtaposed with English Volume 9, Spring 2009! 99 Code-switching in Kuala Lumpur Malay words. The target of much negative attention, bahasa Dewan. Code-switching, as well as other features rojak has been banned from national TV stations, shown in the findings, is an inevitable phenomenon for labeled as “undisciplined” language use and deemed a most speakers of KL Malay. threat to the national language and national identity.3 A possible reason for the lack of acknowledgement of Ironically, local scholars and linguists have kept it at the prominence of code-switching in spoken Malay is arm’s length, never examining the linguistic traits of the prescribed bad reputation of code-switching by the widely spoken variant so as to ascertain the nature Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (translated by Hassan of this so-called threat. Thus, the Malay variant [2005] as “Language and Literacy Agency,” examined in this study has not been analyzed henceforth DBP) through academic articles published extensively, as linguists have focused more on the on and in the Malay language. Below is an excerpt standard Malay variants. Another possible reason for from one of them: this exclusion is the transcription of data into the standard orthography that leads to the assumption that it is standard Malay being spoken and not KL Malay. Maggi 2 minute noodles Maggi 2 minit mee Part of the problem is also a larger, more general trend of obscuring non-standard variants of a particular language and treating them as “incorrect.” Proponents 3 jam servis of this view tell us how a language should be spoken, 3 hour service instead of how it is spoken. An example of this in English usage is the rule against prepositional Dalam hubungan dua contoh yang akhir ini, dapat stranding (ending a sentence with a preposition) dipertanyakan mengapa BM yang mesti diperkosa? taught in grammar school, which does not always apply Apakah tidak mungkin mereka beranggapan in everyday speech. We hear sentences such as “What bahawa bahasa Inggeris ialah bahasa yang utama sedangkan BM bahasa sambilan atau bahasa yang is he talking about?” or “Who did Genie give the boleh diperlakukan begitu sahaja. present to?” on a regular basis, and they sound natural and comprehensible. Prescriptive rules, such as the (Junus, 1996: p.33) one mentioned, are often determined by an authority Translation: and must be explicitly learned by the speakers. More With regard to the two examples above, it is importantly, these rules do not depict how language reasonable to question why is it the case that BM works and how it is spoken in speech communities, [Bahasa Melayu, lit. “Malay language”] must be such as the Malay speakers in Kuala Lumpur. raped? Is it not the case that they think English is A similar disjuncture is apparent in Malay linguistics the prominent language, while BM is a trivial language or “the language that can be used or in Malaysia. There has always been a strictly imposed abused.” good-bad dichotomy between Standard Malay and bahasa rojak by the linguistic authority, with the latter being considered as not the “real” Malay and the The examples given in the article above illustrate how former being considered as the variant spoken in Kuala English has “corrupted” the structure of Malay Lumpur and the southern part of the Malay peninsula. through structural borrowing via direct translation. As Here, I suggest that the Malay variant spoken in Kuala a large portion of Malay vocabulary is borrowed and Lumpur is distinct from Standard Malay. While incorporated from other languages, synchronically and retaining some of the features such as the final /a/ diachronically, the process is often over-generalized ! /"/ alternation in the word-final position, Kuala beyond lexical borrowings to structural patterns, Lumpur Malay (henceforth KL Malay) is not identical resulting in the lament of the linguist mentioned to the Standard Malay defined by Teoh (1994), Nik above. Safiah Karim (1986) and Asmah Haji Omar (1977), who Far from being objective, some research papers assume that the variant is free from any code-switching published by DBP on Malay adopt a preachy tone, and and only includes words from the prescribed lexicon, are chiefly concerned with preserving the “purity” and the official dictionary of the Malay language, Kamus “quality” of the Malay language and shielding it from 100! EXPLORATIONS a graduate student journal of southeast asian studies Husni Abu Bakar undesirable polluting influences, including Pilihan yang best. colloquialisms and unassimilated lexical items from choice rel.6 best other languages (mainly English), instead of giving an The best choice/The good choice. unbiased account of the linguistic situation. Spoken Nik Safiah Karim, 1981 & 1986 Malay in the Kuala Lumpur area is perceived to have remained unaffected by any language change or contact and is almost always equated to Standard In the examples above, we can see that Malay is the Malay. Both dialects are seen as free from any base language as the English pronouns used were not unprecedented phonological, morphological and conjugated to object pronouns in direct object syntactical alternations. The closest attempt at positions (the second example does not specifically describing the real complexity of spoken Malay is the show this, however, as the 2sg form for subject and diglossic categorization of Standard Malay and Bazaar object pronouns are the same). Another sign is the Malay, the latter being the low variety with its main preservation of Malay word order apparent in the third characteristics being mispronunciation by non-Malay example (the same phrase with English as its base and speakers and simplified pidgin-like structures. 4 Bazaar an imported Malay word would be “the best pilihan”). Malay, however, is a vast category, referring to Below are examples showing more imported English numerous non-standard regional variations of Standard words in longer sentences: Malay, not only the colloquial language used in the Kuala Lumpur area. KL Malay does not fit into either the Standard Malay or Bazaar Malay categories, one is Saya start kerja pukul tujuh… too constrained and the other is too broad. High-low 1sg start work hit seven distinctions which conventionally have been used in I start work at seven o’clock. Malay linguistics are now becoming obsolete. In order to accommodate KL Malay, the descriptions and categorizations mentioned above have to be revised in Kita menaip skrip, stensilkan, check stereo order to consider how the Malay language is really recording before rakaman. spoken in contemporary Kuala Lumpur, based on 1pl. meN-type script stencil-kan check stereo concrete linguistic data. recording before recording. We type the script, stencilize it, and check the Malay-English code-switching in context recording stereo before recording. Malay and English are both Subject-Verb-Object Wong Khek Seng, 1987 languages (referring to sentential word order). There are a number of studies that have been done on code- switching in Malay. Nik Safiah Karim (1981, 1986) has The examples above are interesting in the sense that cited the examples below for Malay-English code they have both borrowed and imported words. Here, I switching, for which I have provided glossing/word- provisionally use the term “borrowed” to refer to by-word translations: words which have been assimilated into the Malay lexicon, often with significant phonological and spelling changes. The term “imported” is used to refer You nampak I to words which still retain the phonological and 2sg. see 1sg.5 orthographic features of the source language, in this You see me. case English. In the second sentence, we can see a string of imported words, “check,” “stereo,” “recording,” and “before,” in the same sentence as I panggil you. borrowed words, such as skrip, taip (menaip),and 1sg. call 2sg. stensil (stensilkan). The word “stereo” may be I call you. confusing to classify, as it is both a Malay word and an English word, and it retains its spelling and Volume 9, Spring 2009! 101 Code-switching in Kuala Lumpur Malay pronunciation from English. However, from the word answering the questions. All the words in Table 1 have order prevalent in the sentence, it seems more likely counterparts in Malay, with some of them being that it is an imported word as it modifies the noun borrowed from English such as nota–‘note’, “recording” while preceding it. Also noteworthy are nasional–‘national’, sesi–‘session’ and the occurrences of the word “recording” and its Malay informasi–‘information’. counterpart rakaman in the same sentence, which shows that the English words are not imported due to There are two types of code-switching found in the the unavailability of words with the same meaning in Malay. data: individual words and strings of words 7. Below are some of the responses for each type8 : Figure 2: Location of individual words: respondents’ hometowns Methodology For the purpose of this study, I use the definition of a) …zaman s#kolah dulu macam pressure siket code-switching given by Heller in Nilep (2006), which s#bab ap#… is “the use of more than one language in the course of a era school former like pressure little.bit single communicative episode.” The scope of this because what study is restricted to Malay-English code-switching, …school was more pressuring because… with KL Malay being the base language or code. Sixteen (eight male and eight female) native speakers b) Oh kat sini tido buat homework, layan of KL Malay aged 18-20 were selected to be komput# stay kat s#kolah interviewed. As this is a pilot study, the number of oh prep. here sleep do homework serve subjects was relatively small. Subjects then participated computer stay prep. 9 school in a recorded interview, in which they were asked seven Oh, here (I usually) sleep, do homework, use the questions about school and college life. All the computer and stay on campus. questions were asked in KL Malay and the subjects were only told that they were participating in a social study. The recordings of the interview responses were c) kat universiti ni lain siketlah sebab culture die then transcribed and glossed. Imported lexical items lain so macam bias#ny# kalau kat Malaysia… were analyzed according to their respective parts of prep. university this other little.bit-lah because speech and tabulated. Responses were also analyzed culture 3sg. other so like normally if prep. Malaysia phonologically and morphologically. In this university it is a little different because its culture is different, so, like, usually in Malaysia... Findings In this section, I present all the imported words tabulated and categorized according to their parts of The imported English words in the examples above are “pressure,” “homework,” “stay” and “culture.” All speech, the two types of code-switching that occur, and these words have counterparts in Malay. some phonological and morphological processes that follow the import of the English lexical items. The imported lexical items consist of verbs, nouns, strings of words adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions and prepositions. Table 1 shows the imported English words and their parts of speech and that nouns are the most commonly d) …form four sampai form five kat Perlis. imported lexical items, followed by verbs, adjectives, form four until form five prep. Perlis adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and determiners. (I studied from) form10 four until form five in There were no pronouns found in the responses, as all Perlis. the subjects refrained from using pronouns in 102! EXPLORATIONS a graduate student journal of southeast asian studies Husni Abu Bakar e.g. “responsible” - [r!spons!$b"l] (second syllable to final syllable) e) …bangun pagi pukul tujuh cam tu and then mandi. Although the processes above are by no means get.up morning hit seven like that and then exclusive to imported English words in KL Malay, it bathe might be the case that they are influenced by the (I) get up at around seven in the morning and phonology of KL Malay in which stress and tense/lax then (I) bathe. vowels are non-contrastive. Further research is needed to make phonological statements as to how much the sounds of imported words are affected by the phonemic f) …t#ngah hari p#gi lunch after that p#gi prep. inventory of KL Malay from a theoretical standpoint. middle day go lunch after that go prep(aratory class). Rojak Morphology go to lunch at noon, after that I go to preparatory class. It is found that imported lexical items can attach to KL Malay morphemes, mainly ‘-kan’ and “-lah,” as The imported English words in the examples above shown in the examples below: are “form four,” “form five,” “and then,” “lunch after the verbal “-kan” that” and “prep,” all of which have respective Malay l#pas tu k#n# ensur#kan s#mu# orang masuk counterparts. after that must ensure-kan all people go.in After that (I) must ensure everyone goes in. The morpheme ‘-kan’ turns adjectives into verbs and Rojak Phonology verbs into imperatives in KL Malay. The first function Phonologically, there are several characteristics of is the same as the English morpheme “en-” in imported English words that have been observed in KL “ensure,” which makes the form ‘ensurekan’ Malay: redundant morphologically. ii) the emphatic “-lah” Consonant cluster simplification Bez# di# aku ras# macam basically ko puny# Deletion of final consonant in word-final consonant time, time managementlah clusters. difference 3sg 1sg feel like basically 2sg own e.g. “predict” - [$predik] time time management-lah “breakfast” - [$brekf"s] The difference, I think, like, is basically your time management. Deletion of non-stop consonant in word-medial …pas tu continuelah. consonant clusters after that continuelah e.g. “library” - [$la!b"ri] …after that (I) continue. The emphatic “-lah”’ is often added at the end to utterances when the speaker expects the listener to ii) ! Vowel weakening empathize. Sometimes it is also added for emphasis. In e.g. “management” - [$mened"m"n] æ -> e the examples above, the attachment of “-lah” to “responsible” - [r!spons!$b"l] # -> o imported English words which happen to be at the end of the utterance show that the morpheme usage iii) ! Stress shifting transcends codes. This morphological feature might Volume 9, Spring 2009! 103 Code-switching in Kuala Lumpur Malay labial dental/alveolar postalveolar palatal velar glottal Figure 3: Consonants of KL Malay. stop p b t d k g fricative f s z sh h affricate nasal m n ny ng lateral l rhotic r also be an indicator of a creolization process within KL Some respondents also used macam, which means Malay, by the incorporation of English words into “like,” as fillers, reminiscent of the Southern Malay morphology. Californian “valley girl” sociolect, which has now become widespread among English-speaking teenagers. Other Findings After tabulating the data and calculating the frequency of imported words from male and female Discussion respondents, it is found that female speakers import more English words in their speech than male a) Code-switching in the Malay speakers, who produced longer responses. Below are Historical Context the total number of imported English words and KL Code-switching is by no means a new linguistic Malay words and the calculated average percentage of phenomenon in the Malay speaking world. Since the imported words in the responses: days of the ancient Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms of Srivijaya and Langkasuka in the seventh century–and Males, 157/1278 words, average 8.5% possibly some earlier kingdoms–language contact has occurred between Sanskrit (and other Indic languages) Females, 121/872 words, average. 11.75% and the indigenous languages spoken in the Malay archipelago. After the establishment of a Sanskrit- Several definitive features of KL Malay also surfaced influenced substratum, Perso-Arabic influences in the responses, such as contractions of certain forms brought by Muslim merchants from the Middle East in of Standard Malay, e.g., lepas to pas and macam to the late fourteenth century began to permeate the cam, and diphthong simplification, e.g.,. kau to ko. Malay language. The interaction of Sanskrit and Perso- Arabic influences can be seen in Malay hikayats, such as Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, Hikayat Hang Figure 4: front central back Tuah and Hikayat Indraputra. Many of these hikayats Vowels of high i u exhibit extensive usage of fantastic elements from KL Malay. Hindu and Buddhist texts and Sanskrit vocabulary mid e ! o side-by-side with Persian and Arabic words and sufistic low a elements from Persian literature. 104! EXPLORATIONS a graduate student journal of southeast asian studies Husni Abu Bakar In the fifteenth century, the arrival of Portuguese, reference materials for these subjects in Malay were Dutch, British and Japanese colonizers marked limited, and therefore English was the more another episode in the linguistic development of the appropriate language to use as a medium of Malay language. Among the colonizers, the British instruction. Hassan (2005) states that there were acute were the most prominent as they established a formal shortages of academic reading materials in Malay at the education system in Malaya in the early twentieth tertiary level, which justified the use of English to teach century. The British education system initiated mass science and mathematics at school. English also borrowings of English words in the academic domain, became the medium of instruction in a majority of especially in translated academic texts. Throughout the private colleges and institutions, and some public twentieth century, English loan words became more universities. Through the implementation of education common, following the change of the standard policies, English has acquired prestige–especially in orthography of Malay from Arabic-based Jawi to the academic domain. In contrast, Malay is slowly Roman alphabets which made it easier to incorporate losing its reputation as an academic language, and only new English words. The British colonization period enshrined as a national language with no practical also saw the establishment of Chinese and Indian appeal. Hence, the high level of sophistication communities in Malaya, both of which have had connected to English as well as the extensive use of significant impacts on the diverse nature of the Malay borrowed and imported English terms in education vocabulary, especially the so-called Bazaar Malay. may underlie the motivations of code-switching in Historically, code-switching has long been a major Malay. linguistic process affecting the Malay language, albeit without facilitation by a prescribed lexicon and c) Word Borrowing grammar from an official institution such as the DBP, As pointed out above, word borrowing is one of the which was only established in 1956. Hence, it is crucial main catalysts for the expansion of Malay vocabulary. for us to have an informed diachronic view so as to This mechanism is often used by scholars in fields such recognize that the code-switching currently happening as science, mathematics and engineering, with the is a tiny part of the bigger linguistic picture of Malay borrowed (usually English) words used in the Malay language change. context–regardless of the existence of corresponding Malay words. Consider the example below: b) Code-switching in the Academic “genre” - genre (academic), jenis (colloquial) Context “discussion” - diskusi (academic), perbincangan Following Malaysia’s independence in 1957, Malay (colloquial) was established as the national language and medium of instruction in national schools, while national-type The English word “genre” already has a Malay word schools still used other languages like English, Tamil with the same meaning, jenis. However, there is also and Mandarin as the media of instruction. Eventually, the Malay word genre, which is frequently used in English schools were incorporated as national schools. academic contexts. The same goes with diskusi and Instead of being used as a medium of instruction, perbincangan, both of which translate to “discussion” English was taught as a second language in all schools. in English. The favoring of borrowed words from This implementation led to English being the more English may be caused by the prestige associated with prominent common language between ethnic the language discussed earlier, and as a result, Malay communities, and thus more widely used than Malay in speakers import English words outside the prescribed communication between speech communities, lexicon. especially in urban areas. In KL Malay and Manglish, there is a growing English was then further elevated as an academic compendium of words imported from various sources, language through the implementation of ETEMS namely English, Cantonese, Hokkien, Tamil, Telugu (English in Teaching Mathematics and Science) and a few other languages, which have yet to be educational policy. Its proponents argued that included in the official dictionary. These words are also Volume 9, Spring 2009! 105 Code-switching in Kuala Lumpur Malay used as telltale signs to identify bahasa rojak. Amir Bibliography Muhammad11, in his essay Unwelcome Words, lists 100 Abdullah Hassan. “Language Planning in words used in KL Malay from diverse origins which are Malaysia: the First Hundred Years.” English not found in Kamus Dewan and their meanings. The Today 84 Vol. 21 No. 4 (2005): 3-12. essay serves as evidence of the linguistic catch-22 in Amir Muhammad. “Unwelcome Words.” In Amir Malaysia, where imported words that are considered Muhammad (ed.) New Malaysian Essays 1. pollutants of the language are not included in the Kuala Lumpur: Matahari Books, 2008. official dictionary, which itself contains a huge amount Asmah Hj. Omar. Language and Society in of borrowed words. Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan dan Pustaka, 1982. d) The Creolization of KL Malay Goddard, Cliff. “The Meaning of Lah: Understanding Emphasis in Malay (Bahasa Asmah Haji Omar (1982) cites examples of the Melayu).” Oceanic Linguistics Vol. 33 No. 1 creolization of Bazaar Malay in other variants of Malay, (1994): 145-165. such as Baba Malay and Ambonese Malay, in which the Nik Safiah Karim. Beberapa Persoalan former pidgins were learned as native languages by Sosiolinguistik Bahasa Melayu. Kuala Lumpur: new generations of speakers. The current state of KL Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1981. Malay, although strictly neither a pidgin nor a creole, Nik Safiah Karim. Bahasa Melayu: Persoalan dan begs the question of what will happen when native Pergolakan. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan speakers of the variant–with all its features Pustaka, 1986. (contraction and diphthong simplification, to name a Nik Safiah Karim (ed.). Unsur Bahasa Asing few) and imported words are born, if there are not any dalam Bahasa Melayu. Dewan Bahasa dan such speakers already. Clearly, this requires serious Pustaka, 1996. attention from linguists, as the emerging language is Nilep, Chad. “Code Switching in Sociocultural going to be a fortified variant of KL Malay, far from Linguisitics.” Colorado Research in Linguistics being just a regional dialect, with its own structure and Vol. 19 (2006): 1-22. importing/borrowing mechanisms. Teoh, Boon Seong. The Sound System of Malay Revisited. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1994. Conclusion Tham, Seong Chee. A Study of the Evolution of the Code-switching occurs in Malay, specifically KL Malay Language: Social Change and Cognitive Malay, a previously neglected Malay variant distinct Development. Singapore: Singapore University from Standard Malay and Bazaar Malay. In the process Press, 1990. of code-switching, individual words and strings of Umar Junus. “Pengaruh Bahasa Asing dalam words are imported from English, and are assimilated Bahasa Melayu: Kata dan Yang Berhubungan through a range of phonological and morphological Dengannya.” In Nik Safiah Karim (ed.). Unsur processes. The occurrence of code-switching in KL Bahasa Asing dalam Bahasa Melayu. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1996. Malay is related to socio-educational conditions such as the implementation of education policies and the Wong, Khek Seng. Persilihan Bahasa di Kampung Kerinci. Bangi: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan superimposition of English in schools. it is necessary Malaysia, 1987. for KL Malay to be researched further, as it has serious implications on future policies, second language education, and Malay linguistics. 106! EXPLORATIONS a graduate student journal of southeast asian studies Husni Abu Bakar End Notes 1 see Teoh (1994), p.5 2 rojak is an adjective that means ‘mixed’ and/or ‘eclectic’ according to Kamus Dewan (2005) 3 “Gag Order on Using Bahasa Rojak” 02 April 2006. The Star Online, http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/4/2/ nation/13849132&sec=nation; “‘Bahasa Rojak’ Is Out, Says RTM” 03 February 2000. Utusan Online, http:// www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp? y=1998&dt=0704&pub=utusan_malaysia&sec=rencana&pg=ot _01.htm&arc=hive&arc=hive; Ku Seman Ku Hussein. “Stesen TV dan Bahasa Melayu,” 05 November 1998. Utusan Online, http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp? y=1998&dt=1105&pub=utusan_malaysia&sec=rencana&pg=ot _04.htm&arc=hive&arc=hive; Noor Hazani Musa. “Bahasa Rojak Melayu Hamburger” 04 July 1998. Utusan Online. http:// www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp? y=1998&dt=0704&pub=utusan_malaysia&sec=rencana&pg=ot _01.htm&arc=hive&arc=hive 4 see Nik Safiah Karim (1986), p. 126. 5 1sg. = first person singular pronoun; 2sg. = second person singular pronoun 6 rel.= relative pronoun 7 Comparable to intersentential and intrasentential categorization. I find it more pragmatic to avoid using sentences to define the categories as it is not very clear where the sentential boundaries are in the recorded responses. 8 All words are transcribed phonetically, except for imported English words which are written with the standard spelling. ‘!’ represents the mid-central vowel (schwa). 9 prep.= preposition 10 ‘form’ has the same usage as ‘grade’ in American English. It is used to refer to the levels in secondary schools in Malaysia. 11 Amir Muhammad is a writer and independent movie-maker. His previous movies include the banned Lelaki Komunis Terakhir (The Last Communist) and Apa Khabar Orang Kampung (Village People Radio Show). He also published the local best-seller Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things (2007). Volume 9, Spring 2009! 107