JAWI SCRIPT AND THE MALAY SOCIETY: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT

Jawi script is always associated with the identity of the Malay community. Since decades, Jawi script has been growing rapidly among the Malay community and is associated with the mastery of the Quranic recitation. This is because most of the Jawi script uses Arabic letters in the Quran with some modification to suit the Malay pronunciation to some extents. Lately, there are some issues related to Jawi script and writing. The disadvantages of writing and reading Jawi writings amongst new generation of Malay Muslims are quite significant. This also affects the reading of the Qur'an either among the young or old generations. Several studies conducted confirm the issue. This paper will therefore discuss the development of Jawi script and its association with the Malay community. Some of the research findings related to the study on Jawi writings will be analyzed, besides looking at the future prospects of the Jawi script in Malaysian context. The study uses secondary data related to Jawi scripts and writings coupled with a survey on selected secondary school students‟ mastery of writing and reading Jawi script. All the data are analyzed and presented according to specific themes. Results of the study show that there are still positive prospects for Jawi writing in Malaysia. Several studies conducted found that student achievement in reading Jawi is good. While the aspect of writing Jawi letters, they face problems with relatively low achievement. Therefore, new approaches need to be done to preserve this Malay heritage related to Jawi script which has long considered part of the identity of the Malays.