This site uses cookies.
Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site,
while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.
For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
This person has a SecurePRO™ card. Because this person is not a ProZ.com Plus subscriber, to view his or her SecurePRO™ card you must be a ProZ.com Business member or Plus subscriber.
Affiliations
This person is not affiliated with any business or Blue Board record at ProZ.com.
Indonesian to English - Rates: 0.07 - 0.12 USD per word / 20 - 25 USD per hour
Payment methods accepted
Visa
Portfolio
Sample translations submitted: 1
Indonesian to English: Broken Temples and Forbidden Books General field: Social Sciences Detailed field: Journalism
Source text - Indonesian Kuil Ambruk Buku Dilarang
Ketika kaum India-Hindu masih meradang, giliran kartun bergambar nabi dilarang. Sentimen ras dan agama menyala justru menjelang pemilu.
MENGINJAKKAN kaki di Bandara Internasional Kuala Lumpur, Senin dua pekan lalu, Juliana Nicholas bersyukur oleh rasa bahagia. Misionaris asal Malaysia itu baru saja menyelesaikan perjalanan ke Filipina dan menenteng pulang 32 eksemplar kitab Injil. Tapi, di depan aparat bea-cukai bandara, ia tersentak, kitab bawaannya disita habis.
“Saya membeli banyak karena di sana harganya lebih murah," Juliana mengajukan alasan. Disodorkannya pula surat dari paroki gereja Filipina yang menyatakan bahwa 32 kitab Injil itu untuk keperluan gereja, bukan untuk diperdagangkan. Tak ada guna: semua literatur yang berhubungan dengan agama mesti mendapat izin dari Kementerian Keamanan Dalam Negeri.
Selang beberapa hari, "cuaca" berubah. Seorang petugas di kementerian itu menghubungi Juliana dan mengatakan aparat bea-cukai melakukan kesalahan. “Juliana sudah diberi tahu agar mengambil kembali semua kitabnya,” kata pejabat yang tak mau dikutip namanya. Ia membantah penyitaan itu ada hubungannya dengan agama.
Boleh jadi begitu, tapi sejak awal tahun pemerintah Malaysia memang sibuk melarang ini-itu yang berbau religi. Umat Kristen, Hindu, dan minoritas lainnya sungguh cemas, walaupun Konstitusi Malaysia sesungguhnya melindungi mereka melakukan praktek keagamaan dengan bebas.
Pada awal Januari, Wakil Menteri Keamanan Dalam Negeri Johari Baharum mengumumkan pelarangan terhadap penggunaan kata Allah dalam literatur nonmuslim. Larangan juga diberlakukan untuk pemakaian istilah baitullah, solat, dan kabah. Istilah itu dinyatakan milik umat muslim, yang penggunaannya mesti dibatasi agar “tidak membuat bingung umat”.
Masih di bulan yang sama, lebih dari 70 buku kristiani yang mencantumkan ilustrasi gambar nabi disita dari toko-toko buku di negara bagian Malaka, Perak, dan Pahang. Menurut kementerian itu tadi, buku-buku dewasa dan anak-anak yang kebanyakan memuat gambar atau kartun Nabi Adam, Nabi Musa, dan Nabi Nuh itu melanggar aturan yang dibuat Jabatan Kemajuan Islam (Jakim), yang menurut situsnya adalah institusi pemelihara kesucian akidah Islam, tentang larangan mengilustrasikan nabi.
Kementerian juga melarang peredaran 11 buku—delapan di antaranya berbahasa Inggris. Menurut Che Din Yusoh, pejabat unit pengawasan barang cetak di kementerian itu, pelarangan dilakukan “karena tak sejalan dengan apa yang kita sebut sebagai Islam versi Malaysia”. Di antara judul buku itu terdapat The Two Faces of Islam: Saudi Fundamentalism and its Role in Terrorism, Secrets of the Quran: Revealing Insights Into Islam's Holy Book, dan Women in Islam.
*
MALAYSIA memang sedang peka-pekanya—kecuali dalam mengakui warisan budaya negeri jiran. Jakim boleh jadi mewakili kepentingan 60 persen penduduk Malaysia: kaum Melayu muslim. Tapi masih ada 40 persen warga yang juga seyogianya punya hak sama, yakni umat Buddha, Kristen, Katolik, Hindu, atau kepercayaan lain yang dianut berbagai etnis minoritas seperti Tionghoa, India, dan penduduk pedalaman yang menyebut dirinya "orang asli".
Setelah setengah abad kemerdekaan, politik Malaysia senantiasa pekat oleh pengaruh ras dan agama. Tiga kelompok etnis paling besar—Melayu Muslim, Tionghoa, dan India—punya partai politiknya sendiri, sekolah, surat kabar, teater, dan untuk muslim: pengadilan syariah. Selama bertahun-tahun, konflik akibat segregasi dipendam di bawah tanah, namun muncul ke permukaan pada akhir tahun kemarin.
November lalu, warga India-Hindu, yang hanya 8 persen dari 27 juta penduduk, menyaksikan perusakan tempat ibadahnya, Kuil Sri Maha Mariamman, yang terletak di tengah permukiman kumuh di kawasan Shah Alam, 25 kilometer dari ibu kota Kuala Lumpur. Jeri melihat altar sembahyang mereka dibuldoser, sekitar 20 ribu warga India turun ke jalan.
Mereka juga memprotes kemiskinan dan diskriminasi pendidikan yang membuat warga India hidup sebagai kaum paling kekurangan dan paling tinggi tingkat kriminalnya di seluruh Malaysia. “Intinya, siapa yang punya kekuasaan?" kata Murugesan Kulasegaran, satu-satunya anggota parlemen oposisi dari etnis Tamil. Polisi harus menggunakan meriam air dan gas air mata untuk membubarkan demonstrasi.
Akibat aksi turun ke jalan yang dilarang di Malaysia itu, lima aktivis India ditangkap untuk waktu yang tak dapat ditentukan, tanpa pengadilan dan penyelidikan, berdasarkan Internal Security Act (ISA) warisan pemerintah kolonial Inggris. Kelimanya dituduh berkonspirasi menimbulkan perselisihan ras dan mengancam keamanan masyarakat.
Pejabat pemerintah juga pernah menghubungkan kelima aktivis Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) ini dengan kelompok ekstremis Macan Tamil di Sri Lanka, meski hal ini dibantah keras. Awal Januari lalu, para aktivis dan pendukung Hindraf melakukan mogok makan lima hari untuk memprotes penahanan ini.
Pemerintah berusaha menurunkan tensi dengan mengakui bahwa penghancuran kuil itu adalah “salah” dan meminta maaf—tiga bulan setelah kejadian. Tapi, pada 23 Januari lalu, warga Hindu memboikot festival Thaipusam, upacara Hindu terbesar yang tiap tahun diadakan di Kuil Gua Batu di Kuala Lumpur. Dari 1,5 juta penduduk India yang biasanya datang, Asia Times mencatat hanya seperlimanya yang muncul hari itu sebagai bentuk protes terhadap Samy Vellu, pemimpin India di pemerintahan yang dianggap tak mampu membela kepentingan kaumnya.
Butuh beberapa saat sebelum pemerintah Malaysia merespons kaum minoritas yang separuh berteriak meminta Perdana Menteri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi angkat bicara membela pluralisme. Hal itu baru diwujudkannya pada perayaan Imlek, Kamis pekan lalu, di Kuala Lumpur. Dalam pesannya, Pak Lah mengatakan agar semua warga negara Malaysia mempertahankan kultur kebersamaan yang selama ini sudah dijaga. “Malaysia tidak dimiliki oleh satu atau dua komunitas saja, tapi oleh semua warga,” katanya.
Bagi pemimpin United Malaysian National Front (UMNO), partai terbesar di Malaysia, itu taruhan kebersamaan adalah pemilihan umum yang, kabarnya, sebentar lagi bakal digelar. Sayangnya, menurut Pendeta Hermen Shastri, Sekretaris Umum Dewan Gereja Malaysia, peristiwa penyitaan kitab Injil di bandara itu kadung membuat situasi makin buruk.
Kurie Suditomo (AP/Reuters/Asia Times/CSMonitor/The Star)
Translation - English Broken Temples and Forbidden Books
Indian Hindus are still enraged at the shift to forbid cartoon drawings of prophets. Sentiments of race and religion are beginning to ignite as the election approaches.
Stepping foot inside the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Monday two weeks ago, Juliana Nicholas was overcome with happiness. The Malaysian missionary had just finished her journey from the Philippines carrying with her 32 copies of the bible. But in front of the airport tax station, she was stopped, the holy books she was carrying were seized.
“I bought so many because the price there was much cheaper,” Juliana explained. She put forth as well a letter from the Philippines church parish which stated that the 32 Bibles were for the needs of the church, not to be sold. It was no use: all literature related to religion must obtain a license from the Ministry of Domestic Safety.
After several days, the “weather” changed. A person from within the ministry contacted Juliana and stated that the tax station was mistaken. “Juliana was informed so that she could reclaim her bibles,” stated an official that does not wish to be named. He denied that the seizure was connected with religion.
Be that as it may, since early this year the Malaysian government has certainly been busy prohibiting all things smelling of religion. Christians, Hindus, and other minorities are quite disturbed, even though the Constitution of Malaysia actually protects their freedom to practice religion.
Earlier this January, Representative of the Ministry of Domestic Safety Johari Baharum announced restrictions towards use of the word Allah in non-Muslim literature. There are also restrictions on the terms baitullah, solat, and kabah. These terms are apparently owned by Muslims, and their usage must be restricted so as “not to confuse the followers.”
In the same month, over 70 Christian books that include illustrations of prophets were confiscated from book stores in the country from Malaka, Perak, and Pahang. According the Ministry, many of these adult and children’s books use pictures or cartoons of the prophets Adam, Musa, and Nuh which break the rule made by Committee for the Advancement of Islam (Jakim), which according to their site is an institution that looks after the purity of the Islam faith, that restricts illustrations of prophets.
The ministry has also forbidden the circulation 11 books – eight of which are in English. According to Che Din Yusoh, the officer for control of printed material in this ministry, the books are prohibited “because they are not on the same path as the Malaysian version of Islam.” Titles among these books include The Two Faces of Islam: Saudi Fundamentalism and its Role in Terrorism, Secrets of the Quran: Revealing Insights Into Islam's Holy Book, and Women in Islam. *
MALAYSIA is certainly becoming hypersensitive–except when it comes to pronouncing the cultural legacy of its countrymen. Jakim may come to represent the concerns of 60 percent of the Malaysian population: Malaysian Muslims. But still 40 percent of the citizens are also entitled to the same rights, Buddhists, Christens, Catholics, Hindus, and other beliefs held by ethnic minorities such as Tionghoans, Indians, and an inland population that considers themselves “indiginous.”
After half a century of freedom, Malaysian politics have not ceased to be thick with racial and religious influences. The three biggest ethnic groups, Malaysian Muslims, Tionghoa, and India—have their own political parties, schools, news papers, theaters, and for Muslims: syariah law. For years, conflicts that resulted in segregation were buried under the ground, however they began to raise their faces again at the end of last year.
Last November, Indian-Hindus, who make up only 8 percent of the 27 million population, witnessed the destruction of one of their religious sites, Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, located in the central, low district of Shah Alam, 25 kilometers from the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. Afraid to see their prayer alters bulldozed, around 20 thousand Indians took to the streets.
The also protested the poverty and educational discrimination that has made Indians live as the most disadvantaged group and have the highest crime rate in all of Malaysia. “This is the heart of the issue, who has the power?” said Murugesan Kulasegaran, a member of the opposition parliament from the Tamil ethnic group. The police had to use water cannons and tear gas to disperse the demonstration.
As a result of the street protests, which are not allowed in Malaysia, five Indian activists were arrested for an undetermined length of time, without court trial or critique, based only on the Internal Security Act (ISA), a legacy left by the colonial English government. The five people were accused of conspiracy to bring about racial conflict and threatening the safety of society.
A government official has also connected these five activists from Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) with the Tamil Tiger extremist group in Sri Lanka, even though they strongly disagreed with the matter.
The government made an effort to reduce the tension by stating that the destruction of the temple was a “mistake” and apologizing—three months after it happened. However, on January 23 last year, the Hindu population boycotted the Thaipusam festival, the biggest Hindu ceremony that each year is held at Gua Batu Temple in Kuala Lumpur. Of the 1.5 million Indians that usually attend, Asia Times recorded that only a fifth showed up in protest toward Samy Vellu, the Indian leader in government who was considered responsible for taking care of the concerns of their people.
A few moments were needed before the Malaysian government responded to the minority body, half of which were shouting requests at the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to take a stand towards the promotion of pluralism. The matter was recently brought up during the celebration of Chinese New Year, Thursday last week, in Kuala Lumpur. In his message, Pak Lah stated that all Malaysian citizens maintain their cultural unity that has been protected up to this time. “Malaysia is not owned by one or two communities only, but by all citizens,” he said.
For the leader of the United Malaysian National Front (UMNO), the biggest party in Malaysia, the wager of unity is a public choice that, so they say, in a short time will spread. Unfortunately, according to Priest Herman Shastri, General Secretary of the Malaysian Church Council, the incident of Bible confiscation in the airport is an irrevocable step that is only going to make the situation worse.
Kurie Suditomo (AP/Reuters/Asia Times/CSMonitor/The Star)
Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Pagemaker, Powerpoint
Bio
Experienced Bahasa Indonesia to English translator seeking freelance opportunities. Areas of expertise include translating and editing reports and promotional materials for the NGO sector and translating news magazine articles. Will provide professional quality Indonesian to English translations with respect to tight deadlines.
Portfolio