South Korean Students Sent To Japan, Malaysia To Study Jawi Writing

By Fadzli Ramli MELAKA (Malaysia), June 29 (Bernama) -- Daegu University of Foreign Studies (DUFS) in South Korea is sending its students to Japan and Malaysia to learn and study Jawi (the Arabic alphabet for writing the Malay language) writing. DUFS' Dean of Southeast Asia Faculty, Prof Dr Kang Kyoung Seok, who is an expert in Jawi writing, said for a start, the university would send a student to Tokyo University in Japan, and another to Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). He said the initiative would be carried out through DUFS' International Centre for Jawiology, where he is the director. "This is important to realise DUFS' hope to produce more experts in Jawi writing from Korea," he to Bernama. The move, he said, was also in tandem with the introduction of Malay culture studies at DUFS last March. Kang said student Lee Jun Hyeong would be sent to Tokyo University in September, while Lee Han, who is taking Southeast Asian studies, would enroll at UPM. He said both the students were being trained to read and write Jawi as part of their preparation to enter the foreign university. "I teach them to read the basic Jawi words, as well as to read the Jawi manuscript of the Malay Annals and Hikayat Hang Tuah (a Malay work of literature), and the Jawi writing on the Batu Bersurat Terengganu (Inscribed Stone of Terengganu). "The two students are very keen to learn Jawi writing that they are able to do so in a very short time and produce a glossary of the words in Korean, Japanese and roman," he added. Kang showed to this Bernama reporter the 34-page glossary which contained 567 words. Kang said Jun Hyeong would be in Japan for a year on a Munbusho Scholarship provided by the Japanese Education Ministry. "He will do a research on various materials that were written in Jawi, especially books published in the 1940s which were used by the Japanese soldiers sent to Malaysia and Indonesia," he added. As for Han, he said, the student would do his research at the Malay Language Department, Faculty of Modern Language and Communication. "Han wants to be a Jawi expert and hopes to pursue his studies until doctorate level in the United Kingdom , while doing transliteration of Jawi materials kept at the British Library and Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford," he added. On his hope for the two students, Kang said he hoped they could inspire more young people to learn Jawi and be experts in the field. "This is my duty and mission as a Jawi lover for the Malaysian people who taught me Jawi writing," he added. -- BERNAMA