Deaf LGBTQ (Malaysia) We are Anthony (he/him), Velma (he/him), Banderas (he/him), Eddy (he/him), Riana (she/her), Dino (he/him) and Alex (he/him). All of us are Deaf persons. Each of us has a unique personality. Most of us are not fluent in Malay and English. We communicate in Malaysian Sign Language (BIM) on a daily basis. BIM is just like any languages you know. BIM is not an art, but a language. BIM is a visual language, but not Visual Vernacular. BIM cannot be expressed through writing or speaking, however, BIM can be a translation of any other spoken or written languages or vice versa. BIM or other sign languages have been misunderstood that each sord (sign word) represents each written/spoken word. BIM literature, which includes ABC stories, number stories, classifiers stories, handshapes stories, narratives and BIM poetry, has not been a part of Deaf culture in Malaysia yet. This is our first time attempting to invent a BIM poetry. The process was very interesting. The poetry was written in English first, instead of BIM, based on our personal experience as a Deaf LGBTIQ. The poetry was then translated into BIM and Visual Vernacular, which combines strong movement, iconic BIM sords, with gestures and facial expressions, to articulate the poetry. The poetry was magnified when we blacken everything so that the focus would be on our facial expressions and beautiful hand movements. We hope the focus will enable the audience to sense our music. A film by Deaf LGTIQ (Malaysia) In Partnership with VOICE Global and ASEAN SOGIE Caucus Stay in touch with Anthony Chong https://www.facebook.com/veeyeechong https://www.facebook.com/anthonychong... Twitter @anthonychong123 Learn more about the Southeast Asia Queer Cultural Festival 2021 https://seaqcf.net/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fg_9DlrS9E&feature=emb_imp_woyt
Saturday, March 27, 2021
BIM Poetry: WALLS
Friday, February 26, 2021
Malaysian Sign Language and poetry combine in virtual event 'Walls'
Reported by DINESH KUMAR MAGANATHAN
A virtual poetry event that celebrates the Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia will premiere today at 6pm.
Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia (BIM), also known as the Malaysian Sign Language, is the officially recognised language of the d/Deaf in Malaysia and is integral to their identity.
Called The Poet Is The Poem: Malaysian Sign Language Poetry, the event will be streamed live on the co-organisers’ - University of Nottingham Malaysia’s (UNM) School of English and MY Poetry School (a KL-based arts & poetry education centre) - Facebook pages.
Helmed by poet educator/community theatre maker Elaine Foster, the virtual event is supported by the British Council’s Connections Through Culture grant (£5,000/RM28,400).
Other participants include Deaf community leader Anthony Chong, Ana Jonessy (community organiser of Bentarakata) and educator/author/performance poet Sheena Baharudin.
Foster shares that the project is an extension of her Applied Theatre masters thesis on sign language poetry and intersemiotic translation.
"When Covid hit, the project was redesigned to still enable a sharing between the Deaf community in Malaysia, Malaysian poets and educators in the UK to share knowledge and exchange ideas.
"The objective was to learn together how to create a BIM poem translation so that eventually the research could be transformed into a teaching methodology that could be used in schools for deaf children to help improve education for the Deaf in Malaysia," explains Foster.
As one of the pioneers of poetry education in Malaysia, she has coached young aspiring poets around the world for over 10 years. Foster was the recipient of the British Council’s Connections Through Culture Grant 2019-2020.
"My hope is this project will inspire others to want to learn more about BIM, about BIM poetry, about the deaf experience in Malaysia and that it will be a small contribution to a wider body of research on Deaf cultures and identities, sign languages and sign language poetry and arts," she adds.
The Poet Is The Poem will be in English with aMalaysian Sign Language interpreter and English captions.
Expect poetry reading in English, Bahasa Malaysia and the Malaysian Sign Language by UNM’s School Of English students, Shivani Sivagurunathan, spoken word poet Abby Latif and advocate Jessica Mak.
A multimedia poem film in Malaysian Sign Language by Deaf community leader Anthony Chong, called Walls, will also premiere tonight. It is based on a BIM poem about Chong's experience growing up deaf in Malaysia.
The five-minute-long short film, which took six weeks to complete, is the culmination of a year-long online collaboration between Malaysian and British artist/educators.
"People should watch the film because BIM poetry is an exciting and dynamic literary art form that can teach hearing people a lot about the power of non-verbal communication, about language itself.
"It will give people a rare insight into the world of someone who is deaf in Malaysia, their struggles, their world view, their desires, their lived experiences," says Foster.
In tandem with the creation of the film, the team developed a potential teaching methodology for using poetry and other creative signing literary forms to support the education of d/Deaf people in Malaysia.
Hear more from the artists involved after the premiere today and stick around for a question and answer session.
Sunday, January 3, 2021
English ranslation for BIM video: Is BIM worthless?
English translation for
BIM video (fast speed version): https://youtu.be/NEVzc3PXmFk
BIM video (normal speed version): https://fb.watch/2N0EFFu8qq/
Opening:
Hello. I have a question. Do you think BIM is worthless?
My answer is yes.
BIM is very “cheap” or does not have any value.
Why? Let me explain.
Scenario: Malay
Do you remember? At school, we learned BM words. One of them was “baru”. We understand this meaning. We use this word all times until we graduated from the schools. Then only the government told us the correct word is “baharu” instead of “baru”. Both of these words have different meaning. So we adapted to the word “baharu” accordingly. We were so used to using “baru” but now we need to use correct word “baharu”. We follow suit the change well. There is another word, “bincang”. After years of using “bincang”, the government prefers “diskusi”. We also adapted to the new word.
Scenario: English
The word “selfie” did not exist in the past. We may have seen the word on Facebook. Hearing people find that the word is cool, hence the use of the term “selfie” became increased until it was accepted into English.
Scenario: ASL
It was based on my experience in the USA. Whenever, there was no sord existing that express what we mean, we will have to fingerspell it first. We keep fingerspelling it until someone show a sord which is matching to the meaning we sought. Then we will use the sord.
Scenario: BIM
Do you remember the BIM sord “grab”? MFD suggested the sord. However, many Deaf people did not accept it and gave negative feedback about how the sord looked like. It looked like some of action a priest trying to banish a ghost. They had a lot of negative ideas. That was how the Deaf community responding to this.
Do you know the new BIM greeting for “happy new year” was already used for the new year 2019. When the BIM video on this greeting was posted on social media, some Deaf people refused to accept it and suggest another one. Another commented that the sord introduced in the video look like a boiling water. Then there were more feedback about how they could not accept the sord. There was a Deaf person telling his friend that we should follow the new BIM greeting, however, his friend told him, that he has right to use the old BIM greeting instead! Like this, BIM could not be standardised.
Do you still remember about we discussed sords for telecoms, such as Digi, Maxis, Celcom etc? Someone already suggested sords for each of telecoms in Malaysia. However, someone else did not want accept them and then proposed another new sords. Another person also did not like both, hence proposed new sords, and it never ended there! These sords were never accepted. If I were you, I would just accept the first suggestion. I had no issue with these sords because these were just for communication purposes. But many Deaf people were not satisfied. They only keep refusing any sords. Like that, how BIM could be developing? What do you think?
Closing:
So what do you think about these four languages? Do you think they have same equal status?
Based on my explanation, do you think all the four languages are equal?
Alright. Let’s review what I explained just now.
Our government told us to use the correct word “baharu” and we followed suit.
For English, the selfie was totally accepted and used around the world.
For ASL, we will have to fingerspell first until someone shows the matching sord.
For BIM, once a BIM sord was suggested, superstorm arrived. A lot of commotion. They cried out that the BIM sord was ugly. They proposed another one to replace it. For example, there was a Deaf person suggested a sord which I totally accepted it. No question at all. Then another one suggests to replace it.
The incident also happened when the video of BIM greeting “Happy New Year” was shared on social media, another suggested one to replace it. The suggestion never stopped. Many never came to an agreement. If we continue doing like this, we cannot expect BIM will be developed. All these actions will only cause the worst and it may cease the BIM existence. It is because you refused to compromise each other. You prefer your own way. You refused to follow suit. It is your own world. BIM is a mess.
Are we able to standardise BIM? The answer is “no”.
Is BIM worthless? The answer is “yes”.
It is because many of us NEVER accept anything. The suggestion never ends. No result at all. It became uncontrollable. BIM is not able to be standardised. How we could expect the standardisation will happen?
Malay language, English and ASL are true languages because the users totally accept new changes. No question. No discussion. Everyone shares same languages. The only reason is these words/sords are for communication purposes.
BIM does not have same status with these three languages. BIM is vulnerable. BIM is hardly recognised as a language like Malay language, English and ASL. It is because nobody in Malaysia wants to share same BIM.
Malay translation (Google)
Pembukaan:
Helo. Saya ada satu soalan. Adakah anda fikir BIM tidak bernilai?
Jawapan saya adalah ya.
BIM sangat "murah" atau tidak mempunyai nilai.
Kenapa? Biar saya jelaskan.
Senario: Bahasa Melayu
Adakah awak masih ingat? Di sekolah, kita belajar perkataan-perkataan BM. Salah satunya adalah "baru". Kita memahami maksud ini. Kita menggunakan perkataan ini sepanjang masa sehingga tamat sekolah. Kemudian kerajaan kita memberitahu bahawa perkataan yang betul adalah "baharu" dan bukan "baru". Kedua-dua perkataan ini mempunyai makna yang berbeza. Oleh itu, kita menyesuaikan diri dengan kata "baharu". Kita sudah biasa menggunakan "baru" tetapi sekarang kita perlu menggunakan kata "baharu" yang betul. Kami mengikuti perubahan dengan baik. Ada perkataan lain, "bincang". Setelah bertahun-tahun menggunakan "bincang", kerajaan kita lebih memilih "diskusi". Kita juga menyesuaikan diri dengan perkataan baru.
Senario: Bahasa Inggeris
Perkataan "selfie" tidak wujud pada masa lalu. Kita mungkin pernah melihat perkataan itu di Facebook. Orang Dengar mendapati bahawa perkataan itu menarik, maka penggunaan istilah "selfie" meningkat sehingga ia diterima dalam bahasa Inggeris.
Senario: ASL
Ini adalah berdasarkan pengalaman saya di Amerika Syarikat. Bila-bila masa, jika kita tidak ada iskata yang menyatakan apa yang kita maksudkan, kita harus mengeja dengan jari terlebih dahulu. Kami terus mengeja jari sehingga seseorang menunjukkan iskata yang sesuai dengan makna yang kami cari. Kemudian kita akan menggunakan sord.
Senario: BIM
Adakah anda ingat iskata "Grab"? MFD mencadangkan iskata itu. Walau bagaimanapun, banyak orang Pekak tidak menerimanya dan memberikan maklum balas negatif tentang bagaimana rupa iskata itu. Ia kelihatan seperti tindakan seorang guru yang cuba mengusir hantu. Mereka mempunyai banyak idea negatif. Begitulah cara masyarakat Pekak menangani perkara ini.
Adakah anda tahu ucapan BIM baru untuk "selamat tahun baru" sudah digunakan untuk tahun baru 2019. Ketika video BIM mengenai ucapan ini disiarkan di media sosial, beberapa orang Pekak enggan menerimanya dan mencadangkan yang lain. Yang lain mengulas bahawa iskata yang diperkenalkan dalam video itu kelihatan seperti air mendidih. Kemudian ada lebih banyak maklum balas mengenai bagaimana mereka tidak dapat menerima pedang tersebut. Ada orang Pekak memberitahu rakannya bahawa kita semua harus mengikuti ucapan BIM yang baru, namun, rakannya memberitahunya, bahawa dia berhak menggunakan ucapan BIM lama! Seperti ini, BIM tidak dapat diseragamkan.
Masih ingatkah kita tentang perbincangan mengenai telekomunikasi, seperti Digi, Maxis, Celcom dll? Seseorang sudah mencadangkan iskata untuk setiap telekomunikasi di Malaysia. Walau bagaimanapun, orang lain tidak mahu menerimanya dan kemudian mencadangkan tuan baru. Orang lain juga tidak menyukai kedua-duanya, oleh itu mengusulkan iskata baru, dan tidak pernah berakhir di sana! Semua ini tidak pernah diterima. Sekiranya saya adalah anda, saya akan menerima cadangan pertama. Saya tidak mempunyai masalah dengan iskata kerana semua ini hanya untuk tujuan komunikasi. Tetapi ramai orang Pekak tidak berpuas hati. Mereka hanya menolak iskata. Seperti itu, bagaimana BIM dapat berkembang? Apa pendapat kamu?
Penutup:
Oleh itu, apa pendapat anda mengenai empat bahasa ini? Adakah anda fikir mereka mempunyai taraf yang sama?
Berdasarkan penjelasan saya, adakah anda fikir keempat-empat bahasa itu sama taraf?
Kerajaan kita menyuruh kita menggunakan kata “baharu” yang betul dan kita mengikutinya.
Untuk bahasa Inggeris, selfie diterima sepenuhnya dan digunakan di seluruh dunia.
Untuk ASL, kita harus mengeja jari terlebih dahulu sehingga seseorang menunjukkan iskata yang sesuai.
Bagi BIM, setelah cadangan BIM dicadangkan, ribut taufan besar tiba. Banyak kekecohan. Mereka berseru bahawa iskata BIM jelek. Mereka mencadangkan satu lagi untuk menggantikannya. Sebagai contoh, ada orang Pekak mencadangkan satu iskata yang saya terima sepenuhnya. Tidak ada komen. Kemudian yang lain mencadangkan untuk menggantikannya.
Kejadian itu juga berlaku ketika video ucapan BIM "Selamat Tahun Baru" dikongsi di media sosial, yang lain mencadangkan untuk menggantikannya. Cadangan itu tidak pernah berhenti. Ramai yang tidak pernah mencapai persetujuan. Sekiranya kita terus melakukan seperti ini, kita tidak boleh mengharapkan BIM akan dikembangkan. Semua tindakan ini hanya akan menyebabkan yang terburuk dan boleh menghentikan kewujudan BIM. Ini kerana anda enggan berkompromi antara satu sama lain. Anda lebih suka cara anda sendiri. Anda enggan mengikutinya. Ia adalah dunia anda sendiri. BIM serabut.
Adakah kita dapat menyeragamkan BIM? Jawapannya adalah "tidak".
Adakah BIM tidak bernilai? Jawapannya adalah "ya".
Ini kerana banyak daripada kita TIDAK PERNAH menerima apa-apa. Cadangan itu tidak pernah berakhir. Tidak ada hasil sama sekali. Ia menjadi tidak terkawal. BIM tidak dapat diseragamkan. Bagaimana kita dapat menjangkakan standardisasi akan berlaku?
Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa Inggeris dan ASL adalah bahasa yang benar kerana pengguna benar-benar menerima perubahan baru. Tiada soalan. Tiada perbincangan. Semua orang berkongsi bahasa yang sama. Satu-satunya sebab ialah perkataan / iskata ini adalah untuk tujuan komunikasi.
BIM tidak mempunyai status yang sama dengan ketiga-tiga bahasa ini. BIM terdedah kepada yang bahaya. BIM sukar dikenali sebagai bahasa seperti bahasa Melayu, bahasa Inggeris dan ASL. Ini kerana tiada siapa nak berkongsi sama BIM.
Thursday, October 29, 2020
What do we deserve?
Deaf people are not tourists.
Tourists may have encountered communication barriers in certain countries. That is their choice. They decide to travel to countries where local people could not speak their language or English. Furthermore it is just temporary.
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Deaf people already went through hard life due to people ignorance. We have been mistreated in our life. Thousand times. Not just once or twice. You want to give us a long lecture about being nice to those people choose not to communicate directly with us to find out what we want to get. There are thousand ways of communicating with us. Simple way will do.
Sunday, July 12, 2020
Messages about JBIM and BIM in KomPekak JBIM (11 July 2020)
Mesej 1:
Malahan orang Pekak pun tak faham perbezaan Di antara “bahasa isyarat” Dan “Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia.”
Orang Dengar pun suka pakai “bahasa isyarat”. Orang Pekak pun terikut-ikut mereka.
Kalau kerajaan tanya orang Pekak, apa bahasa isyarat kita pakai, orang Pekak akan jawab “bahasa isyarat”, maka kerajaan tiada masalah nak guna bahasa isyarat digunakan di Amerika atau di mana mana Negara. Masa tu, BIM tidak dapat diselamatkan lagi, seterusnya komuniti Pekak RUNTUH sekaligus.
Oleh itu, kami sangat sangat menggalakkan penggunaan “Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia”, “Malaysian Sign Language” dan “Jurubahsa BIM”, “BIM interpreter” Dan “BIM course”, “Kursus BIM”.
Penggunaan seperti ini yang kerap akan dapat membantu orang Pekak untuk membiasakan dengan term ini Dan pada masa sama, mereka dapat tingkatkan passion Ke Arah identiti Pekak.
Sebaik saja mereka Sudah biasa gunakan terma yang betul, kerajaan akan tanya bahasa isyarat apa, mereka pasti akan jawab BIM 💪🏻💪🏻.
Dengan tu, komuniti Pekak menjadi lebih kuat! Oleh itu kerjasama daripada kamu sangat sangat diperlukan.
Itu satu rancangan MyBIM iaitu ubah sikap komuniti Pekak dan juga ubah pandangan umum terhadap komuniti Pekak Dan BIM !
Mesej 2:
Dari segi tatabahasa, susah sebut “jurubahasa BIM”, “BIM interpreter”?
Bahasa isyarat lebih mudah disebut daripada sebut Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia ?
Is it easy if you mention “sign language” than “Malaysian Sign Language”?
Mass media sangat berkuasa dan mampu mempengaruhi orang ramai. Oleh itu, penggunaan term yang benar *SANGAT SANGAT* digalakkan.
Apabila kamu sebut “bahasa isyarat”, reporter dengar ini dan buat anggapan mungkin berbeza daripada apa kita faham.
Kamu tahu apa bahasa lisan?
Apa kamu faham tentang bahasa lisan? Guna mulut kan?
Ok. Bahasa tulisan?
Apa kita faham tentang ini?
Guna tangan tulis perkataan di atas kertas, kan ?
Bahasa lisan Dan bahasa tulisan ialah cara cara kita pakai apabila kita mahu bertutur dalam bahasa Melayu atau Bahasa Inggeris. Setuju ?
Apabila kita sebut “Bahasa isyarat”, apa pula mereka fikir tentang bahasa isyarat?
Sudah tentu mereka akan cakap “bahasa isyarat” ialah satu cara kita bertutur dalam Bahasa Melayu. Sebab tu mereka selalu cakap “bahasa isyarat untuk bahasa Melayu” atau pun “bahasa isyarat untuk bahasa Inggeris”.
Ini bermakna mereka sangka bahasa Melayu dan bahasa Inggeris boleh digunakan dengan 3 cara iaitu b. lisan, b. tulisan dan b. isyarat!
Sebab itu lah ia menjadi satu isu sangat serius dan mereka tidak dapat lihat BIM sebagai bahasa bebas dan bukan Bahasa Melayu atau Bahasa Inggeris. Komuniti Pekak pun keliru.
Oleh itu, MyBIM memperjuangkan penggunaan term JBIM dan BIM.
Penggunaan “Bahasa isyarat” dan “jurubahasa isyarat” adalah tidak digalakkan untuk mengelakkan kekeliruan di kalangan komuniti Pekak dan juga umum.
Mesej 3:
https://www.sinarharian.com.my/article/91730/BERITA/Nasional/Cadang-bahasa-isyarat-dijadikan-bahasa-ketiga
Bahasa ketiga selepas bahasa lisan dan bahasa tulisan?
Mesej 4:
Sememangnya bahasa ketiga selepas bahasa lisan dan bahasa tulisan. 🧐🤔
Mesej 5:
Saya pasti Senator Ras tahu apa bahasa isyarat orang Pekak gunakan. Juga pasti dia tahu apa BIM itu kerana dia ada hubungan rapat dengan komuniti Pekak.
Tapi adakah orang umum faham? Adakah orang di dewan raykat atau negara faham maksud bahasa isyarat sebenar? Itu mungkin akan jadi isu serius.
Seandainya bahasa isyarat diluluskan sebagai bahasa ketiga, pihak jabatan pendidikan tahu apa makna bahasa isyarat? Mereka mungkin akan mengatakan KTBM juga merupakan bahasa isyarat. Masa tu, pasti lebih sukar untuk BIM maju. BIM tiada tempat lagi.
Mesej 6:
Ramai guru mengajar murid Pekak, dianggap fasih dalam bahasa isyarat (untuk bahasa Melayu). Orang dari jabatan pendidikan lihat mereka sangat mahir dalam menggunakan tangan apabila bertutur dengan pelajar Pekak. Pihak kerajaan sangka guru dan murid Pekak bertutur dalam Bahasa Melayu.
Orang kerajaan tu buta iskata (term baru menggantikan “kata isyarat”), sama seperti saya buta Chinese character. Apa saya lihat ialah garisan saja dan tidak dapat menikmati bahasa Cina. Sama seperti lah mereka buta iskata, mereka hanya nampak pergerakan laju, macam kungfu oleh itu mereka tidak dapat membezakan BIM dan bahasa isyarat asing.
Guru guru sering diberi tugas menjadi jurubahasa pelajar pekak dalam mana mana perhimpunan ataupun majlis. Mereka sendiri tahu had mereka. Mereka tidak dapat tolak tugas ini dan terpaksa melaksanakan tugas ini.
Mesej 7:
Penggunaan perkataan yang betul sangat sangat penting untuk memastikan semua orang mempunyai pemahaman yang sama.
Oleh itu, semua JBIM sangat diharap bekerjasama dengan MyBIM 🥰 dengan menggunakan term yang betul. Ini adalah demi kesedaran komuniti Pekak dan juga umum.