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With the arrival of European colonial explorers in the Malay Archipelago in the 15th century, a Latin system of spelling was introduced as colonial officials sought to learn the Malay language for trade and communication. Simple dictionaries were produced that became reference points for Europeans coming to trade or evangelise in the region.
While colonial officials initially learned jawi, over time they switched to romanised Malay. This consists of 26 letters of the alphabet, sufficient to spell all the phonetic sounds in Malay. Rumi especially facilitates the learning of the Malay language for non-Malays like the Peranakan Chinese or indigenous groups whose mother tongue is not Malay such as the Javanese, Baweans, Bataks, Sundanese and Bugis.
To the Malays, there has never been any difference between using jawi or rumi. Both are scripts that have been appropriated to represent the Malay language in writing. During the colonial period, jawi still predominated throughout the Malay Archipelago, particularly in the literary and artistic domains, Islamic theology, philosophy and mysticism, commerce and trade, as well as in feudal governance and laws. Over time, with the preponderance of rumi, jawi has become primarily reserved for Malay religious discourse.
Penjajahan memperkenalkan sistem tulisan rumi. Ia digunakan agar pegawai kolonial dapat memahami bahasa Melayu dalam urusan perdagangan dan perhubungan. Banyak kamus dan daftar kata dijadikan rujukan oleh mereka. Pada awalnya pegawai kolonial mempelajari Jawi, tetapi kemudian mereka bertukar kepada rumi. Sistem rumi ada 26 huruf, cukup untuk mengeja kesemua bentuk bunyi dalam bahasa Melayu. Rumi memudahkan pembelajaran bahasa Melayu untuk bangsa asing seperti Cina Peranakan dan suku-suku dari Jawa, Bawean, Batak, Sunda dan Bugis. Walaupun rumi sudah diperkenalkan, jawi tetap digunakan dengan meluas terutama untuk teologi Islam, falsafah, perdagangan dan hukum kanun dalam masyarakat Melayu. Namun, akhirnya jawi hanya bertahan dalam wacana keagamaan. |
