Biography O f Salleh Ben Joned

Born in Malacca in 1941,

Salleh spent several years Down under as one of the last Colombo Plan Scholars.
He got an Australian fellow student pregnant in his first year and married her. Due to her family's
disapproval of the marriage, the couple moved from the University of Adelaide to the University of
Tasmania, where he became a student of major poet, James McAuley.
He returned to Malaysia in 1973, lectured in English Literature at Universiti Malaya until 1983, and quit to
become a freelance scribbler.
His first book was the bilingual poetry collection, "Sajak-Sajak Saleh"
(Teks, 1987). His publisher later committed suicide.
It was followed by "As I Please" (Skoob, 1994), which compiled his popular New Straits Times column in
Malaysia and is later followed by Adams Dream (2004)
He has also made a few film appearances in Bintang malam (1991) and Paper Tiger (1975).
Also, he writes a drama entitiled Amok in 1997
Salleh Ben Joneds genius has never been acknowledged in Malay literary circles (perhaps they arent
amused by his affecting the Hebraic Ben in place of the Arabic Bin).

Works by Salleh Ben Joned:

As I Please: Selected Writings 1975-1994 (Skoob Pacifica, No 2005)

Sajak Sajak Saleh: Poems Sacred and Profane
Nothing is sacred

Adam's Dream
Poems sacred and profane
As I please
Adam's Dream

MALCHIN TESTAMENT

Our english not punny, you no,

Our twang, our stresses not wrong
Only the donno know complen: say this
say that lah, our english not strong

stress put in all the wrong places

we say cool eeben wen it is hot lah
we hate the mat saleh races
But hijack deh lingo lah!

we true malaysians, you no,

we pree people, you no:
pree to make english not english

but our very own, you see

We tekan words like our leaders

tekan ebri word, ebriting
that should be properly tekaned
por the real good op the nation

just as we make english ideas

not english anymore, but pree
op all that brit liberty shit
that should stay in deh dictionary

we not talk like those lawyers

with their cambridge education
talk this law lah, that law lah
pull of colonial twang and akshen

We tekan words our own always

We tekan the du in education

cause we pree to do what we like
with word meanings and dikshen

we always prefer to differ

(not differ-thats so damn english!)
Our revered leaders taught us that
Donno why you tink it so ticklish

we love to pollow our leaders

in ebri ting that matters
prom what careers to pursue
to what ting to consider true

we do that oso in private matters

Tekan the ni in fornication
cause not like our pormer masters
Some ting we don tekan like deh do

the cras in democracy we stress so oso

the do(o)m in freedom
in patriot, its riot lah like the rest and
never the bore in boredom
what more, we really give full blast
to the id in the idealism
so how dare you say we misplace
our stresses, our nationalism

we always have them about

use ebritim talk english lah
our way of talking the lingo
is our way of being unik oso

Its our great opportunity

to practice our own democracy

MALCHIN

 A hybrid language which is the combination of the first syllable of the words Malayand Chinese.

TESTAMENT

Means showing clearly that the use of Manglish by certain people in Malaysians society like in this poem.

THEME

The scenario of the community in Malaysia on how they use English language.

The poem shows how the Malaysian wants to be totally free. They want to make English as their own and try to
buildup their own identity and nation.
STANZA

14 stanzas.

Ends with couplet

TONE

 Shows that we are so proud being Malaysian with our own unique cultures especially in using English language
on our very own ways.

Example: Stanza 3
we true malaysians, you know,
we free people,
you no: free to make english
not english but our very own, you see

USE OF COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE

Informal language that is not rude, but would not be used in formal situations.

Example:Stanza
we not talk like those lawyers
with their cambridge education
talk this law lah, that law lah
pull of colonial tone and action.

the word of -lah in the poem is the colloquial language.

USE OF MALAY LANGUAGE

Example 1:Stanza 2

stress put in all the wrong places

we say cool even when it is hot lah
we hate the mat saleh races
But hijack the lingo lah!

In this stanza, the word mat salleh is a Malay language

USE OF SUFFIXING SENTENCES WITH LAH

Derived from and has the same meaning as the Chinese expression when saying something more informal

Example:

Our english not funny, you know,

Our tone, our stresses not wrong
Ony the dont know complaint: say this
say that lah, our english not strong

BOLD STRESSED SYLLABLE

Bold certain syllable.

EXAMPLE:

word people. (Stanza 3)

we true malaysians, you know,

we free people,
you no: free to make english
not english but our very own, you see.

REPETITION OF WORDS

Stanza 1
Our english not funny, you know,
Our tone, our stresses not wrong
Only the dont know complaint: say this
say that lah, our english not strong

In this stanza, the poet repeated and use the word our
for four times.

POINT OF VIEW

First person point of view.

we true malaysians, you know,

we free people,
you no: free to make english
not english but our very own, you see

 the poet used the words of we, and our to tell how certain people used English by their own unique ways