How to use the word "Kot" in Bahasa Malaysia rightfully

Agreeably our spoken language is being molded everyday. We add, subtract, divide and reduce certain Bahasa Malaysia words in our pursue to be "new" or "fashionable" or for no obvious reason at all. My concern is the word "Kot".

ORIGIN OF "KOT"

It was used primarily by Malaysians Malay living in large cities in West Malaysia states like Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Selangor, Johor, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan. When Malaysians of non-Malay origin used "kot" in their daily conversations, they could be considered as a fluent Bahasa Malaysia speaker because "kot" is purely a slang in Bahasa Malaysia. While the use of "kot" in Sabah or Sarawak is an indicator that that speaker is from West Malaysia for sure!

HOW TO USE "KOT"

The word "kot" is used in many settings but its main usage is to indicate uncertainty of a Bahasa Malaysia speaker in a particular subject in a conversation. This is the real meaning of "kot".

Examples should make it easier for us to understand the illusive "kot" word (Bahasa Malaysia- English)

Example 1: Use once at the end of a sentence

"Awak dah bayar bila air?"- Have you paid the water bills?

"Ye kot?"- Yes, probably???

Example 2: Used twice at the front

"Awak rasa siapa yang tumbuk anak saya?"- Who do you think punched my son?

"Kot kot anak Haji Kassim tak...?"- Probably it was Haji Kassim's son..?

HOW TO USE IT WRONGLY

More recently there has been a flagrant misused of the word itself. Why I said it was a misuse is because the "kot" has loss its original meaning to indicate uncertainty. It has been relegated to the point of meaningless. No more question mark, no more uncertainty, thus it became redundant.

Several examples might be sufficed to explain this:

1. "Panas kot!"- It's hot!

The word "kot" has no meaning here. It's just not logical to be uncertain about temperature as in "It's hot, really??". It supposed to be "Panasnye" or "Panas!!!"

2. "Dua ratus kot!!!"-It's two hundred!!!

The word "kot" again doesn't indicate the speaker being uncertain but used for nothing!!! It supposed to be "Dua ratus tu!!!!"

My take

Firstly speakers of this "misused kot" are using it unconsciously because their friends are using it. 

Secondly it is suggestive of their non-determined, non-conforming, nothing-to-stand on, no-self-believe without realizing it! 

Thirdly, some caught it and some not. It is entirely interesting to know how they caught it in the first place and why they used it unconsciously. It is also interesting to see how long this misused and viral slang could be retained in our Bahasa Malaysia vocabulary pool.

Akhir kata, we should be more aware of what words we are using as it might show our inner self to others without we knowing it and being misconstrued of having no self believe!!! How wrong was that!

P.S: This note was written after observing some of my Malay friends talking as well as observations from my beloved sister on her friends conversations. We found that the misused of the word was mainly by young Malays in universities and urban areas in the Klang valley. FORGIVE ME FOR THE ACADEMIC LANGUAGE, I CAN'T HELP IT :)

Hail Obama!-Malaysia's New Foreign Policy

Recently, Malaysia has turn from a openly neutral country in its foreign policy to an openly Pro-Washington. What Bush has failed to do was achieved brilliantly by Obama's "Soft-Diplomacy".

The one-year old administration of Najib has laid out strong foundation in its domestic policy such as forming labs through the Government Transformation Programme to solve the never ending problems of goverment delivery system as well as wooing the disillusioned voters through the "1Malaysia" concept. It has stop short in introducing Goods and Services Tax (GST)this year lest Barisan Nasional would like to lose the next general election.

Based on the "People first, Performance Now" dogma, a recent poll by the Merdeka Foundation has shown that the ra'yat were responding favourably towards Najib and based on this "good-factor", the next GE will probably going to be held ASAP, i.e. 2011. And based on his performance on the domestic front, I am openly supporting Barisan Nasional in the next GE. The mood is there and BN will win big (I mean better than 2008).

However, an issue that might changed my mind whether to vote Barisan or Pakatan would be about his foreign policy. Malaysia's "default" foreign policy since Mahathir is for Malaysia to be neutral at all cost. In other words, Malaysia should never ever openly pro-US.

But the recent news report of Petronas cutting gas supplies to Iran has suggest otherwise. Najib has confirmed this and coupled with his recent meeting with Obama in Washington on Iran nuclear issue etc, has made Najib's credibility to champion the rights of Islamic countries being QUESTIONABLE.

Najib must clarify and discuss this issue openly (if possible go live on TV) because Malaysians are personally proud to be neutral on our foreign policy and our neutrality has made Malaysia a respectable country. And currently, his ministers have kept mummed on this issue altogether.

At the time of the writing, Najib had responded "glibly" on Malaysia's sudden foreign policy u-turn on Iran as reported in the Staronline, April 18 2010:

"The Prime Minister said Petronas was involved in a spot sale to Iran in mid-March through a third-party deal but there had been no requests since.

The transaction, he added, was a commercial deal and it was up to the parties involved to decide on the supply if there were further requests for spot sales."

If Malaysia has turned its back on Iran, it would be his worst political error. I predict the Malay voters will be the most agitated and banking on his "1Malaysia", GTP or whatever of his domestic policies would not be of any help.

Never in my life history has foreign policy was made such an issue during the GE, and it would be played to the greatest extent by Anwar and his colleagues in the running towards the next GE in 2011 (?).

"Hail Obama!" and "Salam Satu Malaysia!!!"