It's difficult for me to like writing. I mean, serious writing. Not just jotting down class notes, that's a totally different story. Penning down my thoughts can turn out pretty haphazard. My brain is not used to transcribing and translating ideas into words (hahaa sounds like the Central Dogma). Sometimes, it could take ages for me to do so. Yes, I know, my brain is that slow. That's why I never enjoyed any writing class I attended before. I wonder why some people find it so easy to just write. Luckily, I still have the interest in reading books and learning language. So, I guess that would be enough to compensate for my lack of interest in writing.

Anyway, talking about writing or writing system to be specific, it has long intrigued me why some languages of the world do not have writing systems that are uniquely their own. Needless to go far beyond the national border. As far as I know, our very own Malay language had never possessed one either. Yes, we are using modern alphabets nowadays but I'm just curious where the original Malay writing system had gone.

Is it because our ancestral root is relatively young compared to much older civilizations like the Chinese or the Indian? Being historically young and susceptible, we are often subjected to more dominant influences at the time. All this while, we've been adopting foreign writing systems such as the Jawi script and the Latin alphabets. Some said that literacy among Malay people in the past only prevailed after the arrival of Arab traders. There is no valid answer for this because no one knows what really happened prior to that. Records tell us that the tradesmen brought along with them the religion of Islam and their Arabic literature. Some of them eventually settled on this land, married to locals and a number of preachers started teaching the Holy Quran to the masses. Consequently, education was no longer exclusive to the nobles and people started to read and write.

Or it might be that a long period of political instability and a series of foreign conquests which had suppressed the establishment of the writing system. For a society to establish its own distinguishable writing system, it must have a stable, strong and independent government. Before the age of globalisation, seclusion from the rest of the world can also give rise to a unique identity of a nation. Since writing is the culture of learned society, world's writing system usually originated from societies where knowledge is highly regarded. And it becomes increasingly sophisticated when there is need for documentation. Administrative records, academic publications and accounts to important events all need proper documentation. We hardly see these evidences in nations that are unstable and prone to foreign conquest even though there are some exceptions.

Since the beginning, writing has been driving our world towards progress. Writing is such a powerful tool used to deliver knowledge, ideology and philosophy. It moves people. It stirs emotion in people. It widens up perspective. When abused, it causes people to do the unthinkable. So, beware of those who are gripping the pens. They could be academicians, mavericks, tyrants, secularists or even commoners. But be even more aware of those who intend to make us stupid and subservient through their writings or anything equivalent. Be selective of what you're reading and of what you want to believe for sometime they can lead you astray.